Only Bargains selling ?

[Tim Gray]

Yeah it is unfortunate. But so it goes. That's why it's nice to have a warrantee when you buy new gear 🙂

You are right, some buyers have different priorities. And I guess there are enough of them out there that make enough money that spending an extra $1k on a lens to get it RIGHT NOW isn't an issue. I'm assuming a $200 repair fee on top of that for focus adjustments wouldn't be a big deal either. Suffice to say, I don't make enough for that to be part of my thinking 😀

I haven't really checked the RFF classifieds in a while since I stopped receiving email notifications from it. But if a lot of gear is sitting around, then it seems like it IS overpriced.

 

[semilog]

I've heard all the arguments for rising used prices, but frankly, the used Leica prices are just getting offensive. I saw a version 2 50 Summilux priced at $2200 the other day on some site. That's nuts. I just don't think that some of this stuff is worth what the sellers are asking, which is why they aren't selling.

Yeah. Leica lens prices are through the ceiling, and frankly it's generally not worth it if you're buying a lens to use. For most practical purposes the ZM lenses are as every bit as good as the stuff out of Solms... though I really would like to get a 75 Summarit (probably I'll end up with the Color Heliar; based on Sean Reid's comparisons it should do nicely).

Anyway, not wanting to deal with photographing, describing, posting the lens here or at Ebay (to say nothing of Ebay or Paypal fees), and not wanting to risk dealing with an unknown buyer, I just sold my 50mm Summicron IV to KEH. I paid a reputable seller less than $450 for the lens about 10 years ago. KEH gave me about $1150 for it, and they will sell it for $1800 or more, most likely to a seller in Asia.

i respectfully submit that there's just no way a used gen. IV Summicron 50 is worth $1800 or more, even if it is in excellent condition.

This is, of course, largely a function of the weak dollar and euro.

 

[thegman]

Not telling you or others how to price your items, but I've found that when I need to sell something in a reasonably quick fashion, I go to the photo boards and/or ebay, find the going prices for the item, and price it at about 90% of that. If it's an item that can still be bought new, 80-85% of the new retail price seems to make items move too.

The way I look at it, if I had the item for any length of time, I basically got to use it for for a very small fee. Also, if shaving 5% off of my asking price lets me sell it quicker on a forum as opposed to ebay, it's worth it with all the ebay fees and relative lack of seller protection.

To be fair on eBay, their fees (combined with PayPal) are quite a lot, but for that, you are covered, either as a seller or a buyer. On RFF, there is zero protection, aside from RFF members generally being salt of the earth types.

As a seller you're pretty much safe anyway, just don't send anything off until payment has cleared, and not much can go wrong. Mark your ad as "no refunds" if you don't want them demanding a refund for no good reason.

 

[johannielscom]

Just dropped prices on my sales to bargain levels...

Just sayin'...

 

[srtiwari]

Just dropped prices on my sales to bargain levels...

Just sayin'...

Hehehe...😀
I may have to do he same...🙁

 

[Tim Gray]

As a seller you're pretty much safe anyway, just don't send anything off until payment has cleared, and not much can go wrong. Mark your ad as "no refunds" if you don't want them demanding a refund for no good reason.

Hypothetical situation. The buyer says the item was damaged when it arrived, even though they damaged it themselves after arrival. They send the item back to you, you have to refund it, and you end up with a broken camera. I know that can happen anywhere, but I'd rather it happen OFF of ebay than on.

Or the item breaks in shipping. I once sold a bass amp on ebay, insured and packed by UPS. The item didn't work upon arrival. I refunded the buyer and ended up with a broken amp. UPS refused to honor the insurance, because 'they don't insure electronics.' Wish they had've told me that while when they accepted the shipment.

I sold an SWC on ebay. The buyer never did give me positive feedback (or any feedback whatsoever). Since I was a new seller and the item was expensive, paypal held the money for 30 days or until the buyer gave me feedback. So I waited for 30 days. Mind you, the buyer said he was very happy with the camera via email, but refused to leave feedback.

Ebay is great if you move enough stuff to deal with hassles. For a once every 3 years type of seller (me), I think you are better off selling on forums. I know I maybe have some unusual cases, but still...

 

[Steve M.]

This camera market makes no sense to me either. I see things like an ad here on RFF for a particular lens that, to me, is worth MAYBE $400 to $500 tops, but it's priced at nearly double that. OK, it has some filters w/ it, maybe a hood (while looking at the ad I got disgusted w/ that price and just quit reading what came w/ it), but the price is still nuts. The lens isn't worth it, yet now, when sales things are slowing down, people are jacking up prices? Crazy.

Doesn't bother me, I know what things are worth and won't be buying any of these items w/ inflated prices, but it's really odd. It's like having your house on the market for a long time, so you decide to raise the price. Ha! As for my own sales, I have to discount things almost to the give away point to sell them, and that's here or eBay. If you have a very high end lens/camera things are different, or a highly collectible item. Otherwise, it's strange as heck.

As for the prices at KEH, Koh's Camera, and Collectible Cameras....I'm beginning to suspect they all went to the same picnic and got some sort of brain fever. Lower your prices guys, don't raise them in a down economy. Jeez, this ain't rocket science.

 

[sazerac]

Interesting discussion! A friend and I were discussing the haggling practice at a camera show. One guy had a price of $200 on an old Kodak box camera. I wasn't particularly interested in it but thought that was high. Someone came up later and offered the seller $50 which he took immediately. I found it odd that someone would take a quarter of the listed price.

I guess I take things at face value and think that if someone has a price on something that they think it is worth that price. If it doesn't have the same value to me then I just move on. I feel that if someone puts a high price on something deliberately because they think they can get more than the value then there are probably more things they are not being honest about.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Prices for classic gear are way up. Leica raising prices makes used/vintage gear look good. I am guessing that prices are up by a factor of 4 to 6 in the last 7 years.

My stuff tends to sell very quickly. The last lens in the classifieds went in 1 minute.

 

[Glass Addict]

Honestly, this topic comes out so often and people don't seem to realize it's a free market.
I can't tell anyone how much to sell his/hers for, and you can't tell me how much to sell mine for. You and I alone aren't the market.
You and I can complain all we want about pricing, but what we perceive as the market value can be different from the actual market value.
As a seller, it might not be ethical to ask for more than the new price, but sometimes market reacts that way due to supply/demand ratio. Why would anyone sell something at a discounted price when the same item can be sold at a higher price?

Would you complain about price of a discontinued item? It has a finite supply and an increasing demand, and that would drive the price up. Why can't that happen to a production item as well if supply rate is much lower than the increase in demand?

 

[srtiwari]

Honestly, this topic comes out so often and people don't seem to realize it's a free market.
I can't tell anyone how much to sell his/hers for, and you can't tell me how much to sell mine for. You and I alone aren't the market.
You and I can complain all we want about pricing, but what we perceive as the market value can be different from the actual market value.
As a seller, it might not be ethical to ask for more than the new price, but sometimes market reacts that way due to supply/demand ratio. Why would anyone sell something at a discounted price when the same item can be sold at a higher price?

Would you complain about price of a discontinued item? It has a finite supply and an increasing demand, and that would drive the price up. Why can't that happen to a production item as well if supply rate is much lower than the increase in demand?

If you read the Intro, you will realize that I was merely making an observation. Of course, its a free market, and prices reflect this. It is interesting to me that in the midst of this horrific economy, Leica glass still keeps rising in 'value', while other film stuff is becoming cheaper.

 

[FrankS]

The free market: it is what it is. Some folks make careers trying to understand and predict it.

 

[rxmd]

The free market: it is what it is. Some folks make careers trying to understand and predict it.

What's even more interesting is that they usually make careers failing to predict it.

 

[Brian Legge]

So you're saying we should make small bets shorting M in case some sort of black swan event occurs and the price of Ms crashes? 😉

 

[Sonnar Brian]

There are some great bargains to be had, i'm quite happy with the items bought in the last week. Finally added a 2.8cm Nikkor to have all 6 focal lengths for my SP finder, picked up a Retina IIIS from Ebay, and an S-Mount Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5 dirt cheap that needs a rear element. I'm thinking one from an early F-Mount will work.

I also replenished my Paypal balance today, brought it back up to where it was last week.

"works for me!"