Nikon S3M on the 'bay

Hello,

My name is Pat. I have the Nikon S3M kit up for sale on Ebay. I would like a little help. Honestly, I did not know anything about the camera. My dad passed away in 2010, so I cannot go back and ask him. This was my inheritance from him. My father did have a lot of reproduction equipment, but I have not found any of it. I suspect when he died my mother threw some of it away. Dad bought this camera in Japan, and was stationed in Germany in the vault at Hof airbase. He spoke German, Japanese and Yiddish. I would appreciate some help or direction. Maybe a point in the right direction. I used the camera for about 3 months, then bought an SLR for use. I know a little about how it works, but did not plumb its depths, or even have seen all the pieces and parts until recently.
 
Pat ,
The outfit you listed on ebay is rare and valuable ,
Everyone is Hopeing to buy it at a great price .
Westlicht had an s3m with motor in their nov 2015 auction ,
Google westlicht camera auction , it is under the subheading nikon rangefinder cameras ,
Yours is probably not as nice , however is still worth quite a bit .
I'm the high bidder on ebay, It's going to go a lot higher , more than my bid by perhaps 3-4 times .
There are dealers waiting to pounce at the last second on your camera .
You will never get full value on ebay , but I assume the auction will end at 15-20 grand .
Maybe I am wrong here ,
But that is my gut feeling .
Al

pfhurleyp2 said:
Hello,

My name is Pat. I have the Nikon S3M kit up for sale on Ebay. I would like a little help. Honestly, I did not know anything about the camera. My dad passed away in 2010, so I cannot go back and ask him. This was my inheritance from him. My father did have a lot of reproduction equipment, but I have not found any of it. I suspect when he died my mother threw some of it away. Dad bought this camera in Japan, and was stationed in Germany in the vault at Hof airbase. He spoke German, Japanese and Yiddish. I would appreciate some help or direction. Maybe a point in the right direction. I used the camera for about 3 months, then bought an SLR for use. I know a little about how it works, but did not plumb its depths, or even have seen all the pieces and parts until recently.
Click to expand...
 
Is $50,000 too high?
I would stop the auction and make it BUY NOW, if this is possible.
 
My personal opinion is that Westlicht is very different from eBay. Westlicht's fees are twice as much at least, potentially more. Don't forget the buyer's premium, which the buyer considers and then bids accordingly.

Who knows what you will/could get in either venue. Having been really deep into Nikon RF gear for a while now I've seen most things trend downwards lately, with the inflated prices of dealers skewing things a lot.

However, I will say this - if you haven't signed up to eBay's official seller system or whatever it's called, you should, and relist, because your fees will be significantly lower I believe. The savings will easily beat out what you pay for the year's membership.

On the negative side, you're going to have some issues receiving payment, not to mention shipping, insurance, and the potential for the buyer to complain. I believe there's a limitation to Paypal's payment size or something, unless that's changed. I'm guessing you've sold enough not to be on "probation" or whatever, but if for some reason eBay holds the money, are you going to ship it out and just hope it works out?

Tough decisions. Good luck.
 
raid said:
Is $50,000 too high?
I would stop the auction and make is BUY NOW, if this is possible.
Click to expand...

Raid ,
Westlicht would pay about 70% after all the fees and insurance ,
Still you would have to submit to them , it takes perhaps 3-5 months for the listing , catolog and settleing the account .
So 35 grand and the westlicht camera looks mint .
And there is no guarantee that this s3m would do that well .
It's a very nice desirable outfit ,
Any collector would love to have it .
I really don't know what it is worth ,
If I had 15 grand I would bid it . I don't .
It is one of those leap of faith things .
To get the top buck ,
You would need to offer it serviced/restored so there is investment
To get it to that condition level .

It's currently at 6 grand and the real bidding has not began .
It will be interesting to see the final bidding .
It will end up in someone's collection .
Al
 
I know what you mean, Al. If I had such extra money, I would use it for a Europe vacation with my family instead [in my case].

I was more thinking of having the owner stop the ongoing auction "due to an error", and then relist the set with BUY NOW on ebay.
 
raid said:
Is $50,000 too high?
....
Click to expand...

Out of this world!
The kit may be worth $50K to someone but then the kit sitting in Japan would have a better chance.

I rarely see anything get past $10K on ebay, lets not forget what 10 grand buys these days.

If it was me I would think this way:
S3M $7500
S72 Motor $7500
Micro with collar $2500
2 battery packs $2000
Everything else $500
-------------------------
Grand Total $20,000

My estimate has a big margin though! Why?

How can I judge anything with the few pictures that are included?
A personal inspection by an expert such as Bob would not only authenticate the kit but give a better estimate to Mr. Pat of what the kit is worth. After-all, when talking about collectibles, condition is the main thing.

Kiu
 
Westlicht plays all sorts of games, delays payments, withholds fees, it's a negotiation nightmare.

I'd put the seller in touch with some high-end dealers in Asia, they can presell it to one of their collector clients, and it's a much smoother/faster/easier transaction.
 
splitimageview said:
I'd put the seller in touch with some high-end dealers in Asia, they can presell it to one of their collector clients, and it's a much smoother/faster/easier transaction.
Click to expand...

I'm interested to know these dealers, I have something that is really high-end collectible territory. Can you PM me more info with regard to this?
 
splitimageview said:
I'd put the seller in touch with some high-end dealers in Asia, they can presell it to one of their collector clients, and it's a much smoother/faster/easier transaction.
Click to expand...

I see too many fake or repainted cameras listed as genuine in Asian shops to trust any of them. The 250 S back pictured in this thread is good reason to be very skeptical.

A HK dealer cheated a friend of mine of $15,000 US by none payment. HK police would not even take the police report.
 
"when talking about collectibles, condition is the main thing." Usually true...Except with an S3M when a mere 200 or so were made. It could be nonworking with holes in the curtains and it would command big money to some collectors because, as with th e collar for the Micro-Nikkor and the gray-green battery pack: "when was the last time you saw one offered?"

I wish Pat well, and I wish he'd researched the S3M more, thenset a buy-it-now with a "make offer".
 
8***w ( 332Feedback score is 100 to 499) US $15,877.77
Dec-13-15 11:14:11 PST

n***i ( 1201Feedback score is 1000 to 4,999) US $15,777.77
Dec-13-15 11:14:08 PST

s***e ( 524Feedback score is 500 to 999) US $12,000.00
Dec-13-15 04:14:29 PST

0***6 ( 1073Feedback score is 1000 to 4,999) US $12,000.00
Dec-13-15 10:18:05 PST
 
Jumped $3700 at the last second.

I spoke to one of my contacts in Hong Kong last night, his exact words:

“the whole collector market vanished…”

I have sold him many rare items over the years...he was looking at this listing, but said none of his collector buyers were willing to pay a 'good price.'
 
That's been the case for many years, however...

There are many Chinese buyers who bid directly on ebay, most of them are dealers/flippers. There are many more collectors that only buy from their trusted suppliers, and those suppliers get much more than ebay selling prices. I've sold rare items to this one particular dealer, who has paid top dollar for them, and he still was able to mark up significantly from there. He never sits on inventory, either, most of the time the stuff is sold before he receives it.

This is a guy who has paid me $2500 to drive 3 hours and back just to inspect and pick up an item.

For the past 6 or 7 years, almost all my ebay sales went to China, but they just aren't bidding things up anymore, due to their economic downturn that started a few months ago.
 
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