The eBay blues

[BassO]

I decided to follow through with the sale of my M3. Though I highly admire the quality and pictures that go with this camera (and the very relaxed rangefinder.com forum to go with it), I simply need a faster way of working for the things I do. At this point, I can't afford to keep it 'on the side' either. I'll probably get another one sometime in the future and carry on where I'm leaving off right now.

Of course there's a question involved (ain't there always), so please hang on to those rotten tomatoes a moment longer 😉 I put mine up for sale on eBay (7612920327) for what I consider to be a very good price. Obviously, I'm the only one, since I have had a number of questions but no serious bids yet. Sales of previous M3s vary wildly on eBay, so I'm kinda lost for what a good price would be. I'm not looking to make heaps money out of this: I just don't want to lose too much either. Is there a list somewhere that has the 'going rate' on Leicas and what elements influence the price?

As a conclusion, I would like to thank everybody for helping me find my way around this camera. Despite the fact that circumstances force me to part with mine for now, I do understand your fondness for this system. There's a bunch of great people on this forum, too: Leica should be proud to have such a userbase.

(Okay, I'm ready for those tomatoes now 😀)

 

[pvdhaar]

I talked to a guy who'se selling Leica gear through a Dutch auction site a couple of weeks back. He said that he had trouble selling camera bodies without a recent CLA for a decent price. His statement was that he consistently got better results by having the CLA/refurb done through a repair facility with good reputation before selling. That is, he earned back more than the cost of CLA/refurb alone.

I guess that it's not only the price of a CLA/refurb that detracts, but also the trouble and time people have to go through..

 

[sf]

Your starting price is maybe $200 less than it should sell for. So, you started in the right place. The bids will put it up there, no problem, exactly where you want it - or higher.

 

[Marc-A.]

Hi BassO, I looked at your advertisement and it is a very beautiful M3+Elmar. You should not worry about the sale ... usually when the starting price is high (even though much below the final price), bidders wait the very last hours for bidding; sometimes the last minutes and seconds ... You should not worry about then.
What I found out on eBay, is that the market is never (or very very seldom) wrong ... at least on eBay! The second thing I discovered is that you have better chances to sell at a higher price when your starting price is 1€ (or 1$): bidders have the feeling that they can have the item at a low price; when the bids go up, bidders don't want to loose and place higher bid, and at the end, thank to the competition spirit, they often buy the item at a higher price than they wanted at first. So when the market is wrong, it often benefits the sellers.
Bests,
Marc

 

[waileong]

No feedback, people just don't trust such sellers...

 

[BassO]

Fair enough. I'm not new to selling and buying online but I always used other sites (we have some pretty good ones here in Holland). It's a bit of a stand-off: I'm going to stick to these other sites if bids on eBay are bad so I never get feedback... Well, you get it. Thanks for all the replies though. If no-one buys it, I have no choice but to experiment with it for a little longer. 😉

 

[Solinar]

If you have more than 10 people watching this on eBay, I'm sure it will sell. Look for a last minute flurry of activity.

 

[Nick R.]

Here's a good way to advertise your ebay sale on this site. Pose it in the form of a question.

 

[BassO]

Considering 'Check this funky green/blue/polka-dot Mx' + link works just as well on this forum, I could have saved me a lot of typing. If that had been my intention in the first place, anyway. But since pretty much everyone got their M2/3/4/5 used, I figured there must be a lot of experience in buying and selling second-hand camera-gear here.

 

[tkluck]

ebay is like basketball, only the last two minutes of the game count. I rarely bid on anything before the very last day.
Prices tend to get lower if there are several of the same thing listed at the same time. Got a lens for $1 that way...

 

[rich815]

I think your main issue is at the bottom where it says "To Netherlands Only"....

 

[laptoprob]

wrong there Rich, it says worldwide shipping. The low feedback count could hurt, though.

good luck!

 

[Andy K]

I think a fair price would be about £75.... which I just happen to have in my pocket right now... 😀

Seriously I think the lack of bids could also be due to the page taking a very long time to load. I opened your auction 5 minutes ago and the page still hasn't finished loading.

 

[hiwatt]

...there! now you got a bid 😀 😀 😀

 

[BassO]

Somehow I figured that bid originated here 😀 Feels good to get it started, thanks for that. As for the page loading: it's either long loading times with relatively good pictures or fast loading with worthless pictures. Take it from me: the pictures you still didn't see after 5 minutes would have been really good 😉

 

[rich815]

wrong there Rich, it says worldwide shipping. The low feedback count could hurt, though.

good luck!

Under "Shipping, payment details and return policy" it says Available to: The Netherlands.

I see where below that it says Worldwide Shipping but that is added as an addition and those who quickly refer to the Shipping policy area may indeed think it's only for buyers within the Netherlands and leave the auction without reading anymore. Go take a look.

 

[bob cole]

BassO, you will do very well with your M3/lens sale...The big surprise will come with your PayPal fee, which should be about 4%...regards, bob

 

[ch1]

BassO, you will do very well with your M3/lens sale...The big surprise will come with your PayPal fee, which should be about 4%...regards, bob

Actually the PayPal fee is 3% which, BTW, is 2% less than what your average retailer pays for credit card services.

Geez....

 

[ch1]

Somehow I figured that bid originated here 😀 Feels good to get it started, thanks for that. As for the page loading: it's either long loading times with relatively good pictures or fast loading with worthless pictures. Take it from me: the pictures you still didn't see after 5 minutes would have been really good 😉

Actually, what I do not understand is why you chose a picture of the lens as your Gallery Picture (cost, btw, is US$ 0.50) instead of the camera body.

It is "killing" your market exposure after you paid for extra attention! :bang:

 

[amateriat]

ebay is like basketball, only the last two minutes of the game count.

That's classic. May I quote you? 🙂

Sometimes it comes down to the last 90 seconds. I've learned this much from buying and selling on the 'Bay: I've had items sell for as little as $50 and as much as $1300. Presentation counts a lot as well: good, detailed pictures of the item, and a well-written description (a tad of wit helps, too). And, let's face it, eBay is sort of like the stock market, where we all hope to buy low and sell high. If I manage to make back a little, it's not a bad day.

Of course, I've always thought Leicas should be listed next to precious metals...


- Barrett

P.S. Unwritten eBay Rule #6: the item you can get the most money for is the item you're most reluctant to part with.