What photo gear would you buy to resell for $5,000?

[Steve M.]

I want to buy out my partner on something that we co own, and getting a cash advance on my credit cards involves way too much interest and other charges.

I once needed cash for a home refurbishing that was mortgaged to the hilt, and was able to get cash for the contractors by buying photography equipment on fleabay w/ my credit cards, reselling it on the same site, and transferring the money from the resell to my bank account through paypal. It worked well enough to get the home finished, and when the home was sold I paid off the mortgages and the credit cards. If you do it right (and get lucky) you can resell for a small profit that will cover the ebay and paypal fees.

I "just" need $5,000 this time, and it has been a while since I played the Buy/Sell game because I went back to painting and don't buy or sell photo gear anymore.

So what would you recommend buying for this purchase? Im thinking of simplifying this into one or two purchases at the most, and sticking to film gear (NOT collector stuff) because that is all I know. Maybe a Noctilux lens, or other high end Leica stuff would be a safe buy w/ a good resell market?

 

[farlymac]

Look at what is selling, and at what price levels. Then hope you can find something at a low enough cost. It's hard to find such items around here, your area may be different.

PF

 

[enasniearth]

The market is in general down and selling purchased items is more difficult than 5 years ago .
You would have to find items mislisted or offered buy it now by sellers that had no knowledge of cameras . Still you take a big risk as these sellers
Are not able to accurately judge condition .
It is possible to find a deal but $5000 made ?
I doubt it .

 

[Bill Clark]

I would recommend you build up a savings account that could provide the funds necessary for your transaction.

Undercapitalization is the kiss of death for anyone starting or having a current business.

Just to help.

 

[Ronald M]

and get lucky is the operative word. That means buying low slow you can move at a profit. I go to Photorama and it used to be crammed with buyers. Today same sellers and less buyers than sellers. I don`t see a profit here today. I do know one who bought a lot of old soft focus lenses cheap and the market went hot. He made enough to buy a car and more.

Photo equipment is going down in value generally speaking. Hasselblad RB67

9 of 10 businesses fail early. Unless you have a crystal ball and can predict market, I suggest you find a better plan. Depending on election, we face years or decades of trying to right this sinking ship. Demand for luxury goods is questionable.

 

[michaelwj]

If I understand, you're not actually trying to make money, just turn a credit purchase into cash to get an interest free period and lower rate right?
So you need something you can buy, have delivered, and then resell and be paid at the same amount quickly. I assume you want to do that with photography equipment because you know it, but you are asking enough questions to make me believe you don't really. I think you should look elsewhere, the photography market is not strong enough at the moment to fit your needs.

 

[nikonhswebmaster]

Buy Twitter or Deutsche Bank stock and hold your breath?

Seriously, it is sometimes very easy to make $5000 on a camera deal, but it will very seldom happen on ebay. You have to find a "mistake" on eBay, or Craigslist, or the like.

 

[nikonosguy]

if it were easy, we'd all have a pocketful of money to buy more gear

maybe you need to Deuce Bigelow this situation

 

[helen.HH]

in this present economy, I don't think I would risk buying an Expensive piece of Gear
hoping for a quick turn around
Gear and people's whims as of Late are so Unpredictable

Though I wish You the Best of Luck 😉

 

[kxl]

If I understand, you're not actually trying to make money, just turn a credit purchase into cash to get an interest free period and lower rate right?
So you need something you can buy, have delivered, and then resell and be paid at the same amount quickly. I assume you want to do that with photography equipment because you know it, but you are asking enough questions to make me believe you don't really. I think you should look elsewhere, the photography market is not strong enough at the moment to fit your needs.

+1. You are better off finding something else to sell for $5K. Or, find something that you own that your partner may want in trade for the proposed buy out.

 

[______]

By the time you pay eBay and PayPal fees, and for packing materials and shipping, you have to sell for about 15% more than you paid just to break even, not counting your time. Unless you are very knowledgeable - and lucky - making $5000 is going to take some time and involve buying and selling tens of thousands of dollars worth of gear, and is not without significant risk.

 

[Talus]

I think he wants to cash in on his credit limit. Meaning he buys a Noctilux on his credit card for $6500, and then turns around and sells the lens for the same value or more. He would get $6500 for the lens from the buyer which he could transfer as cash to his account. That $6500 could go towards his buyout of his friend. Meanwhile he's paying off a $6500 credit card bill at whatever interest rate he has on that card vs. the 23% rate or whatever credit cards charge for cash advances. Correct?

 

[aizan]

leica m 240, m-p, m 262, m-d, 50/1 noctilux, one of the new wide angle summiluxes.

can't really think of anything rare and in such high demand that people won't care about a bump in price.

 

[skibeerr]

I would recommend you build up a savings account to build the funds necessary for your transaction.

Undercapitalization is the kiss of death for anyone starting or having a current business.

Just to help.

Might not help you right now but best advice so far.

When you say partner do you mean business partner? Is it essential to providing you with an income or will it increase this significantly?

I learned the 'very very' hard way to ask these and more questions to myself.

 

[Steve M.]

Those are exactly the things I was looking at aizan. Thanks. I saw a Noctilux that recently sold on eBay that looked perfect and it sold for just a little over $4,000, which is about $1000 less than it should have sold for.

Yes, a business partner. There is no time to build up a savings account as that money is elsewhere for a bit, and I would like to make the $5000 happen pretty quickly or the opportunity will be gone. I just found out w/a phone call that I can get half that w/ a cash advance on a credit card and the hit wouldn't be as bad as I thought, so I just need $2500. I could do it by funding my paypal account w/ a credit card and "buying" something from the partner, but I don't want to violate the TOS agreements. Buying and selling photo gear is pretty easy IF you know what you're doing, and w/ over 4,000 eBay transactions and no negatives, I do. I just got sick of that whole scene because it takes up too much of your time. In this case I don't need to make money, just get it back (less the 10% to 15% ebay and paypal fees), then pay that back to my credit card in a few months when there is more money available.

In the past I found that things like Rolleiflex cameras and Leica M cameras, along w/ your usual Summicron/Summilux are easy to sell because those markets tend to be different than other photo stuff, especially when we're talking film gear, as that market is pretty steady. I know what that stuff is worth, and the worse that can happen is if an item is not as described. In that scenario, ebay/paypal will always allow a return, and you just have to pay shipping and fees, so it's low risk as long as you buy from sellers in your country. To ship and insure an item to Canada or overseas from the US can be costly.

I may as well get started trolling some auctions in the hope of making a low bid on several items and see if something materializes when they end. It's amazing how sometimes people just won't bid on something, for whatever reason, and sometimes they will bid up the same item to more than it's worth.

 

[Talus]

I'm not well versed in PayPal's TOS, but isn't the model for sending money from one individual to another whether it's goods, a service or as a gift? Your transaction doesn't fall within one of those categories?

 

[splitimageview]

Doesn't matter what you sell, just make sure you buy it right.

There are too many eyeballs on Ebay. Likely will need to find the gear in other places.

Further, maybe sell ten $500 items instead, or some other variation of lower prices

 

[farlymac]

Well, after your explanation, Steve, I can say that recently I purchased two cameras, four lenses, two finders, and four film magazines for one of the cameras for around $200. After looking at what prices they normally go for, I have around $1500 to $2000 worth of gear, if it was all in good shape.

But that's the problem with buying stuff on eBay, you never really know what you are getting unless it is coming from a reputable dealer you approve of. They are not the type who would normally be selling things at a deep discount. If I had planned on reselling my items, it would be a while before I could realize any profit from the deal, as most of it needs attention such as a CLA, or repair (which fortunately I can do myself, but it involves a lot of time). With the fickleness of buyers these days, it might linger for quite a while.

Good luck on your plan, but I'd also check out other revenue streams first before taking a chance on eBay.

PF

 

[LChanyungco]

Buy a couple of the new Summarons.

 

[Tompas]

Frankly, and FWIW, I think this is a bad idea. Too risky.