Look what $60 bought me!

BillBingham2 said:
The $60 for the F2 and lens is low by about half of what you might pay on EvilBay, maybe a little more. Being a resale shop and needing to make money $60 is reasonable. There are alots of them on the market these days.

I think the folks here have the problem with you setting the original price. If you found it for $60 at a garage sale you would be a hero. But she came into you for help and guidence and that is where you took the wrong turn.
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I'll play a little the devil advocate's role.

I think you summed it up with this two phrases perfectly. Having a balanced opinion here is difficult. If someone offered you a 35 'Lux for 50 €... well, I doubt very little people would say, "hey man, charge me 2000 € for it, I don't want it for 50 €. I don't want to rip you off". At least it's hard not to do it.

I agree too that the woman should have researched the prices. Second hand photo stores are like that. If you don't know what your gear is worth, they rip you off. Information is the key.

I'm not saying that she deserved to be ripped off, but with an attitude like that she is going to be ripped of sooner or later. That things happen everyday. Is it bad? Yes, but it's how life goes.

That kind of low offers happens all the time, but you have to be informed.

Maybe it's my point of view due to my job, where everybody I deal with is trying to extract the maximum benefit from me to the point of trying to rip me off, and I have to keep them honest (and try to get the maximum benefit from them too :) ).
 
She "found it in a closet". She asked FIVE bucks above the offer. Not fifty, not double, but FIVE bucks.
I'd say she obviously did not give a damn about what it is worth and was glad to get rid of it.
Would she be happier if u offered her 300$? sure, we are all greedy. Is she unhappy now? I'd say not, since she got what she asked for.

I mean, what's the difference between this good deal and a good deal on eBay of "my fathers old camera not sure if it works" in similar conditions?
The difference is, on ebay we all have a chance; in this case, the OP had the only chance. I am SURE nobody would consider it a ripoff if it happened on ebay.

Now, if she was entering only to ask if the gear is working fine or what the value is, and the employee would say, the gear is not fine needs fixing here and there and the value is this or that while it was all fine, THAT is a ripoff. (such thing happens to me every time i go er.g. to a bike repair shop!!! the most annoying thing being, they always think i am totally stupid and don't know that fixing a brake cannot cost 55 euro)
But if the employee offers a price of what he is ready to pay, and she accepts it (well, forget about the five bucks) then it is not a ripoff.

Just my oppinion, without knowing the full story.
 
If I had an unknown item that I wanted to sell, it's extremely easy in the modern world to do basic research and find out a ballpark figure of it's value.

Someone who does not do this will probably lose money. Darwinism.

The entire diamond/jewelry business is based on ignorance.

The average person who wants to buy a diamond ring or sell some valuable family jewelry is probably going to get eaten alive.
 
BillBingham2 said:
Taking the devil advocate role a bit further, I wonder if it was stolen?

B2 (;->
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Well, if it was stolen, and that's MY way of doing things, I'd never ever buy it. I don't want stolen goods, that simple. I know how hard is to earn money and can imagine how someone feels when is being stolen.

Anyway, I don't think she felt stolen, as she agreed to the offer. I sure would be pissed if someone offered me that kind od lousy deal though.

So we learned that when you bring an item to someone who knows a lot about it, and he starts throwing money at you to buy it: take it, go home and google it
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That's interesting. What would you do if someone wants to overpay an article you sell?. I see that happening a lot on Ebay, by the way. When a bidding war starts, anything can happen. Maybe those persons has their reasons to overpay it.
 
I seem to remember recently an RFFer picked up a genuine black M3 and black summicron for a song and we all slapped him on the back and admired his camera and his luck ... I can't remember what he paid for it but it was around a quarter of what it was worth from memory.

Admittedly he didn't come across as a bragger which 'sound mind' did a little (sorry dude ... I'm trying not to get at you personally) but hey why not, he had a windfall!

His big mistake was letting you lot know so you could pass judgement on him and the circumstances he got the F2 under!

[edit] ... and oh yes, personally I think the F2's an ugly looking clunker that I wouldn't give anyone more than $60.00 for anyway. Give me a graceful looking black OM-1 any time! :p
 
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Keith said:
I seem to remember recently an RFFer picked up a genuine black M3 and black summicron for a song and we all slapped him on the back and admired his camera and his luck ... I can't remember what he paid for it but it was around a quarter of what it was worth from memory.
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The difference was that RFFer did not set the initial price. In this case the person who sold the F2/lenses came in asking what it was worth. If she (the seller) had come in and asked for $55 or $5,500 that would be a different story. She asked the business for help and might have gotten taken.

B2 (;->
 
BillBingham2 said:
The difference was that RFFer did not set the initial price. In this case the person who sold the F2/lenses came in asking what it was worth. If she (the seller) had come in and asked for $55 or $5,500 that would be a different story. She asked the business for help and might have gotten taken.

B2 (;->
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And from memory the seller of the black M was short changed by about $5000.00 on the real value of the camera ... it's a tough world and it pays to be informed!
 
So let's all add up all the money for all the bargains we ever bought below the "book value", and then send the additional money to the sellers. I feel you owe it to them.

Let's all do it today.

Who will cast the first stone?
 
Unless he took the gear from her without her knowledge, she wasn't 'ripped off.'

And unless Wolf has a policy against employees buying gear from customers, he didn't rip off Wolf. Maybe he got permission to do this? That's unknown and any conclusions here are speculation at best without further information.
 
Here's a case that was recently in the news involving Diane Arbus photos. One dealer bought the photos from another who found them in a storage locker.

Now that the photos turn out to be worth a fortune, he wants more money. He claims, retroactively, that the guy promised him "more money" if he made money, which I doubt.

The crux of the case is because the dealer had expert knowledge of what the items were, which he allegedly withheld.

These cases are very tricky.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--arbusauction-laws0307mar07,0,7017125.story

http://www.newsweek.com/id/129316

Here's a Daily News story about same. The comments are interesting:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local..._dealer_lost_out_on_lost_diane_arbus_art.html

.
 
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The local thrift store had a original lithograph (5 of 10) and two serigraphs brought to them. They were sold for $10.00 each and purchased by a lady friend of ours who seems to have a eye for these things.

When I saw them I realized they could easily be valued at $1000.00 for the lithograph and the serigraphs could be sold for about $800.00 for the lot. Fairly good return on her $30.00. This sort of thing happens far more than I am comfortable with.

I think is important to really investigate what it is you have to sell or give away, but if you know the value of an object I think it is reasonable to advise a vendor what you know. Too many poor seniors get picked off by unscrupulous buyers.
 
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Knowledge is power, and knowledge is a valuable commodity.

The person who buys something valuable for very little money may have spent decades of study acquiring that knowledge, and may have spent thousands of hours or many years "on the hunt".

Isn't this person entitled to a profit? You can't paint these things with a black and white brush.


literiter said:
The local thrift store had a original lithograph (5 of 10) and two serigraphs brought to them. They were sold for $10.00 each and purchased by a lady friend of ours who seems to have a eye for these things.

When I saw them I realized they could easily be valued at $1000.00 for the lithograph and the serigraphs could be sold for about $800.00 for the lot. Fairly good return on her $30.00. This sort of thing happens far more than I am comfortable with.

I think is important to really investigate what it is you have to sell or give away, but if you know the value of an object I think it is reasonable to advise a vendor what you know. Too many poor seniors get picked off by unscrupulous buyers.
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"The difference was that RFFer did not set the initial price. In this case the person who sold the F2/lenses came in asking what it was worth. If she (the seller) had come in and asked for $55 or $5,500 that would be a different story. She asked the business for help and might have gotten taken.

B2 (;->"

Bill, i read the full original post again and i see it nowhere written, that the woman asked what is it worth.
She asked what is "wrong" with the stuff. I don't really understand that question, but it certainly does not sound like "what is the value of this gear".
The employee also did not tell her "the value is 55 bucks". He said "i can offer 55 $ for it".
If you come to me with an M8 that you obviously do not want to keep, i can clearly not buy it for the "real value", but i still will offer some price that I could afford paying. If you goi for it, well, good for me, good for you!

Definitely not good for the photo store, though :D as nikon... said above. But that's a different story.
 
And now be serious. If you have something for sale, and you go to a second hand shop specialized in selling that stuff, do you expect to get a price that equals the "real market value" of the stuff? Why would they buy it at full price?? (again, does not matter here if the shop or the guy bought it)
 
M. Valdemar said:
Knowledge is power, and knowledge is a valuable commodity.

The person who buys something valuable for very little money may have spent decades of study acquiring that knowledge, and may have spent thousands of hours or many years "on the hunt".

Isn't this person entitled to a profit? You can't paint these things with a black and white brush.
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I don't condemn or friend for his purchase. If his was a sin it wasn't that great a sin. (Who knows, maybe someone will get him one day.) What is the real value of his purchase anyway? Perhaps he'll have to spend a few hundred to get the stuff CLA'd etc.

My wife and I are in the position of buying and selling (occasionally) some fairly valuable pieces of art. We often will evaluate, or have things evaluated by others in return for our advice. The potential for taking advantage of a situation is excellent. We pride ourselves in not taking advantage with our knowledge and profiting with the trust we have built up.

This is OK too.
 
Hello...people, have you ever tried to sell your gear off to a camera store? They all rip you off then turn around and make at least 50% off you. Whats the difference? Go to the KEH webpage and get an estimation on your camera gear if you want to see a real rip off.

And though I dont think what happened here was ethical it is not something that seems so uncommon.
 
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