Grandfather's M3 now mine - advice?

[Oscar Levant]

Whether you claim "as is, no returns" in your auction is meaningless.

PayPal will force you to accept a return from an unhappy buyer no matter what the terms in the auction state.

Josh,

In the absence of precise descriptions, you should list this sale "As is. No Returns." Otherwise, you may be in for a lot of grief.

 

[Oscar Levant]

Absolutely correct, there are a lot of people here with delusional ideas about the sentimental value of hobby objects.

When you kick the bucket, it doesn't matter if they bury you in a coffin full of your favorites cameras or with 50 pounds of horse manure, you won't know the difference.

What an insulting, asinine thing to say. This guy wants information on his grandfather's camera gear, and you're telling him he didn't love the old man enough? What kind of crap is that?

When somebody is dead, their descendants are not required to be interested in the same things they were. You owe this guy an apology.

If it were my stuff, and i didn't want it, I'd list it all in one big lot and start the bidding at a buck with no reserve, and let the chips fall where they may. $2500 has no chance of happening, I don't think. Good luck to the OP, and I'm sorry you lost your grandfather.

 

[kully]

When you kick the bucket, it doesn't matter if they bury you in a coffin full of your favorites cameras or with 50 pounds of horse manure, you won't know the difference.

This is a candidate for the "common sense wall".

 

[Al Kaplan]

It's a good idea to make a detailed list of your better photography equipment, art work, jewelry, etc. along with information on how to get it appraised, and where/how to best sell it. Give copies to your spouse/partner and each of your kids, and put one together with your will in your safe deposit box. Hopefully they'll be too upset over your death to be in a frame of mind to do it themselves.

 

[venchka]

Whether you claim "as is, no returns" in your auction is meaningless.

PayPal will force you to accept a return from an unhappy buyer no matter what the terms in the auction state.

Thanks. I didn't know that. I don't buy from ebay nor do I use PayPal.

 

[Oscar Levant]

"Thank god the old alte-cocker is gone. One more day and I would go crazy. I never have to listen to his cranky voice again!"

"You said it. Now we can clean out all that filthy camera trash and sell the house. His car is pretty good, you want it?"

"Yeah, it's like new, a 2007 Acura. Get the neighbor's kid in here to throw all those smelly negatives away, they're taking up a whole room. We can't sell the house if it's full of garbage."

"You want his cameras?"

"Nah, they're old. Some of them are so dirty they might be diseased. The guy was nuts. Just put them in the trash or give them to the kids to sell on eBay."

"I'm so happy we can clear out all this old crap. He's got an online blog. Cancel the web-hosting, its embarassing for us. He posted any crazy stuff that came into his head and all those weirdo photos. Someone might sue us."

"What a relief. You want to order a pizza? I'm starving"

 

[josh b]

First let me say the advice posted here has been noted and is well appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to type out the detailed estimated values too. I suppose that since some of you all have conflicting opinions that I won't be able to make everyone happy no matter what🙁

Oscar - I can see that even though you just joined the forum as well that you are going to have a respectable post count in no time😛

I listed the camera at that BIN price because I wasn't sure what it was worth as a set with the documentation and I didn't want to leave money on the table. The auction is setup to accept offers for consideration as well.

I actually had another Leica that belonged to a great uncle that I already did the low starting price no reserve strategy on. It went for less than I was hoping hence a different strategy on this one. Here is the link to the completed auction - might have to be an ebay member to see it as it is over.

As an aside - I've found on ebay that in the heydays a couple years ago you could list items at a buck with no reserve and feel reasonably confident the market would ensure a fair price. In a depressed economy though unless you have to sell quick I have better luck listing items available for immediate purchase at a researched fair price. Something about the item being available to anyone at any moment drives a purchase even if the item might be found at a lower price at the end of an auction. Some people hate the stress of scheduling for the end of an auction and then fighting off snipers in the last 10 seconds.

I do like photography and have some pictures I've taken that I'd like to think turned out well - although I am sure they fall way short of the ones you all post out here. I just prefer the ability to focus through the viewfinder and don't want to have to deal with carrying around the gear required with a professional camera.

 

[thomasw_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robin a
Damn,I hope my grand kids think more of me.

What an insulting, asinine thing to say. This guy wants information on his grandfather's camera gear, and you're telling him he didn't love the old man enough? What kind of crap is that?

When somebody is dead, their descendants are not required to be interested in the same things they were. You owe this guy an apology....

Wise words, Mabelsound. I do not like to golf and I have no intention of picking up the sport. My father loves the sport and excels at it. When he dies, if no one in the family shares his passion for golf, his equipment will be sold to someone who wants it. I fail to see how Josh's situation is any different. How in anyway is keeping my dad's unused clubs around going to honour his memory?

Some here need to step back and get some perspective. Josh is in no way tarnishing his grandfather's memory by selling off his old, seemingly long-unused equipment.

The stuff looks to be in horrible shape, Josh. I think getting around what Roland suggested -ferider- would be very lucky. Strange transactions do occur, but you are going for the unknowing bidder in your current auction. Bear in mind most folks into Leica know a bit about it. The cost to bring that kit back to useable shape would be close to a grand. Honestly I wouldn't buy that kit off of you for more than 500 to 600USD because I know I'd be spending about 1K on CLA/repairs. This assumes the Viewfinder in that M3 is clear, too. If a M3 VF sucks, the resilvering fix is very expensive.

My 2 cents.

Respectfully,
Thomas

 

[Oscar Levant]

You got pretty much the market price on the IIIC.

One "lens" is a LENS not "lense".

Multiple lenses are "lenses".

"I am selling one lens"

"I am selling three lenses"

This is an error of the highest magnitude and you're at risk of being considered an illiterate and hence you'll get lower bids.

Oscar - I can see that even though you just joined the forum as well that you are going to have a respectable post count in no time😛

 

[yoyo22]

My most recent wife is an antique dealer and I've seen a lot of Rollies, Leicas, Hassselblads, etc. sold by the children as "Grandpa's old film cameras" for next to nothing. Some of those boxes of old cameras looked like they were hardly used, but the kids didn't have a clue as to what they were selling or what it might be worth.

Here in Germany it's most often the opposite of what you describe. I usually have some WTB ads placed in local papers and usually I encounter people who inherited some old camera, who think they hit the jackpot. Everything that is old and has some famous name like Rollei, Leica, Hasselblad is supposed to be scoring several thousands at least.
Recently someone called and offered me quite a broad variety of Leicas and lenses he got from his grandparents. When I told him the normal price an M4 would score he became snobbish, claiming that he sold a Noctilux for 6000 EUR - I asked if it was an f1.2, he replied: "Heavens no, it was the better one: f1.". He expected the M4 to score around 2000 EUR (used, dented, no box, unknown mechanical condition). I wished him good luck.

 

[johannielscom]

Josh,

to optimise hits, list the auction title like: "Leica M3, Summicron, Elmar, Summaron, accessories"

Take a moment to consider, if looking for Leica camera gear, what would you enter to search? 'Lenses' will not get you anywhere. 'rangefinder' won't do the trick either.

Again, like others said, its best to end this auction NOW, break up the set and significantly add to the description of items, or you might be in for a lot of trouble. The condition of none of the items is described satisfactory, any buyer of the set through the current ad will surely give you a hard time and PayPal will force you to refund.

EDIT: This is a well meant advice, I'm not planning to buy any of the sets pieces, being in The Netherlands and being the owner of nice gear already.

 

[bob338]

why did anyone even respond to the original post? they get these things all the time on Pnet, i would hate to see it start to happen here.

bob

 

[ferider]

why did anyone even respond to the original post? they get these things all the time on Pnet, i would hate to see it start to happen here.

bob

With such a huge potential customer base, the threads are un-avoidable, Bob. But if we believe we are different from pnet, we might want to treat them differently than pnet would.

Roland.

 

[Benjamin]

Yes, why is it that Pnet is so aggressive? Whenever I look at a thread there, I'm not a member or whatever, someone get's roasted and usually immediately.

 

[bob338]

With such a huge potential customer base, the threads are un-avoidable, Bob. But if we believe we are different from pnet, we might want to treat them differently than pnet would.

Roland.

you have a point. i got uppity about it because this is the last place where these threads don't turn up every day.

bob

 

[venchka]

I think we all benefit from the collective experience here.

Josh, are you paying attention?

 

[Al Kaplan]

P-net does it for the same reason that some talk radio shows do it. People like the craziness. The dishonesty starts at the top, where the Leica Forum is dominated by friends of the moderator. The whole lot of them shoot digital and make fun of Leica users, but they like that contrasty grainy look of overdeveloped Tri-X so they discuss how to best achieve that with P-shop.

 

[josh b]

I think we all benefit from the collective experience here.

Josh, are you paying attention?

Yes sir. BTW - lovely botanical shots in your gallery. The plant you labeled "pin cushion" is a coneflower also known as Echinacea. It appears there is a cool red hot poker plant behind that and probably phlox to the left.

I rooted through some of my own pics for a coneflower shot and the one that I found certainly paled in comparison in quality.

 

[venchka]

Thank you so much.

This is what Josh is talking about.

Taken with the Leica my grandkids will get someday. LOL!

 

[chris00nj]

...

I actually had another Leica that belonged to a great uncle that I already did the low starting price no reserve strategy on. It went for less than I was hoping hence a different strategy on this one. Here is the link to the completed auction - might have to be an ebay member to see it as it is over....

I'm surprised you got even that for that Leica IIIc. I'm not sure what you were expecting? First off, it's a IIIf. I'm not even sure what the lens is. There are 3 possibilities.

Why would someone pay top dollar for camera and lenses that they knew little about? There was scant indication that the equipment is in working order. You wrote that the shutter "seems to work correctly." What about the shutter curtain, the viewfinder, etc?

People selling broken cameras or hazy lenses claiming "that they don't know anything about cameras" are very common. We're certainly not going to pay the price of a camera in excellent shape when there is little description. Lack of information increases risk. This is priced into the final sales price.