DAG CLA has "no value?"

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kevin m

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I've received a few offers for the Canon VI-T I'm selling here on the forum and nearly every person who has made an offer has also made a comment that puzzles me completely. Nearly word for word they've said that a CLA adds "no value" to a camera.

They're interested in buying a camera that's been CLA'd, but they're not willing to pay more than a few dollars more than they would for a camera that hasn't been serviced. That stumps me. We're talking about cameras that are 50-plus years old, with lubricants that have longs since dried out or gummed up. And the CLA was done, by DAG, in March of this year.

Does this seem plain weird to anyone but me, or does everyone simply expect a "free lunch" when buying used gear? :confused:
 
It's seller bargaining Kevin - of course a CLA with documentation is worth more.

I'd suggest pointing them in the direction of eBay with the ads "I know nothing about cameras and found this in a shoebox, seems OK"...
 
So wait until you get your price.

If you have the receipt for the service, that is a huge value for an end user.

For a reseller, not such a big value.
 
PS: I also buy and sell vintage military watches.

I routinely expect that any vintage watch that I buy will need cleaning, lubrication, and possibly parts. I always figure that into my buying price.

There are some sellers that either service the watches themselves or have watchmakers that do it for them. I'll pay a premium if I know the work has been done.
 
If I were interested in a camera, I would certainly be willing to pay more for one with a CLA, especially from a great repairman like DAG. Some people are always trying to get something for nothing.
 
Kevin, I can't honestly say that I'm familiar with what value current buyers place on a CLA, but (to me) your title sounds like you're specifically calling Don's CLA worthless and he's out of the business.

Doesn't Don provide a receipt or document when the CLA was done? Seems to me if you could provide that, it would place a lot more credibility and value in it. I think I've heard of some sellers claiming to have had a CLA done when at times it might not much more than a "dusting off". But if you could provide some prooof of what was done, I'll bet that would make a difference.
 
...your title sounds like you're specifically calling Don's CLA worthless and he's out of the business.
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Exactly the opposite, actually. I would hope the punctuation (question marks, quotes) would make that evident.


And I've placed a photo in the ad of Don's receipt, dated March of this year....! I never expected to get back what I paid, but I did expect that it would have some value.
 
It is what it is - some will pay extra for it, some won't. Unfortunately, once all is said and done, its only worth what people are willing to pay, regardless of what you think its worth...
 
It's just a fact of the market. Since a lot of bodies are quite usable (if not well adjusted) without a recent CLA, people are disinclined to spend $200 more for a body that has been serviced. No matter the logic, $700 is always going to be easier to stomach than $900 or $1000 for a nice M2 for example.

Matthew
 
Whew. I saw the title of the thread and thought DAG had passed on. Glad he's alive and well and still adding value to old cameras. :)
 
kevin m said:
I've received a few offers for the Canon VI-T I'm selling here on the forum and nearly every person who has made an offer has also made a comment that puzzles me completely. Nearly word for word they've said that a CLA adds "no value" to a camera.

They're interested in buying a camera that's been CLA'd, but they're not willing to pay more than a few dollars more than they would for a camera that hasn't been serviced. That stumps me. We're talking about cameras that are 50-plus years old, with lubricants that have longs since dried out or gummed up. And the CLA was done, by DAG, in March of this year.

Does this seem plain weird to anyone but me, or does everyone simply expect a "free lunch" when buying used gear? :confused:
Click to expand...

Not everyone expects a "free lunch". I think that mindset will change after their first eBay cheap camera costs them a CLA after the first roll of film. You might want to use the camera for a year, then sell it. That way you get the benefit of the CLA.
 
If you were seliing a used car, would a recent engine overhaul increase the sales price for what you paid for the overhaul? Not much if any, unfortunately. Its just the nature of selling used merchandise-including cameras.
 
of course a DAG CLA adds value.
a clean 400 dollar Canon VIT that has had a full 265 dollar DAG CLA done on it is like winning a clean Canon VIT on that auction site for 135 dollars, a rare lucky event, if not impossible.
 
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I think the the camera would have sold for the asking price if it was a VIL instead of a VIT.
Bottomwinder Canons are not very popular and are getting even less popular as the years go by.
 
I think just about any CLA should "add value" to the camera.

Heck, I know it would cost me $150 CAD (or thereabouts USD) to get a CLA from David Yau (I use David because he's local to me and well trained via Leica) on my M2 (that's because I had one done late last year).

Now, if I had bought the camera in early March and got it for a bargain price but ended up having to get a CLA done on it within a couple weeks of getting it, well, then to me, that camera really is not much of a bargain anymore now is it. . . .

People have to keep these sorts of things in mind, as you have said, when we're dealing with mechanical beasties that are upwards of 50 plus years old.

Cheers,
Dave
 
Almost 75% or more of the Postwar "Wartime Styled" Leica IIIC`s (what I`m interested in) have been CLA`d or adjusted or fixed by the factory, to find unmolested cameras is a rarity

To Photographer`s a CLA increases the value, to Collectors it decreases it, it`s just which side of the fence the grass is greener on really - I personally prefer cameras that have NEVER been touched before, that way I can see what`s original and keep it that way if I have to

For some cameras a CLA is important, Leica IIIFBD runs had poor quality production parts and after sitting or working 50+ years the shutter curtains and the viewfinder/beam splitters are always gone, camera`s worthless unless it`s CLA`d

Tom
 
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