Why the hell is everything rare?

Well it's easy, if it's overpriced and over-advertised you just go back and buy it from a different, saner seller.

If you fail to locate such sellers though, it means the item is indeed rare.
 
All P&S film cameras are rare in that no one is making any and their depreciation/destruction rate is likely quite high.

The reason the price is deemed too high for a P&S (the etsy offering) is a correlation between it being now part of an endangered product category and its propensity for non-repairable and irreplaceable utility.
 
Here in the State, how about deep, dark chocolate covered with a cool, peppermint center...then you could call it York-ish.
 
i've noticed such a mint, ex-minus, etc loaded ad here on rff too, where in detail the faults and scratches are described and later it is still called excellent minus or such. I was surprised...
 
Anyone blindly believein gthose kind of adjetives (or adverbs) is a chump. They are marketing noise that is intentded to be ignored by anyone who is knowledgable. It is so common that there seems no need to either fret over it or be amazed.
 
There are a lot of sellers who do not speak English or speak it as a second language.

They simply copy the text from other successful sale listings.

In any case, just ignore the ad copy. Look at the feedback and the photos of the item.

A majority of the sellers don't even really know what they have or whether it is "rare" or not.

(and the buyers too, for that matter. they don't have any real idea what they are bidding on)
 
Advertising the term "rare item" is the new trend these days, especially with Leica gear. I wonder if it originally started with Leica gear?
 
I reserve mint for something completely new and usually sealed (as with mint coins - where the term originated). I use minty sometimes to describe an item if it is indistinguishable from new, but has been removed from its packing and perhaps tested - it's a matter of being honest for me since calling it mint in that situation would be dishonest. Of course one needs as well to explain why something is called minty is not actually mint. I have no real gripe about creative and descriptive adjectives so long as they actually apply to the object under consideration.

One reason rare is used a lot, is that unfortunately in the world of fine film cameras there really are quite a few hard to find and expensive lenses and cameras, and a fair number of actually rare ones too (thus of course expensive). The less scrupulous or just ignorant sellers tend to pick up on this and market almost everything that way! Just look at the number of $30 film cameras listed on eBay every day for $300 by surplus and junk sellers as being rare.

I often use uncommon or hard-to-find to describe many rangefinder cameras and lenses, since a lot of them are just that. There are many rare ones too and if that term is apt, I use it. I have one or two cameras and lenses in my collection for which no more than 300 or so were made, and others where the production was probably less than about 1500. These are rare, not necessarily that valuable, but certainly rare.
 
Field said:
Seriously. I hate advertisements for cameras online. Like Russian lenses as "rare" um no. Russia has so many damn lenses they are going to be selling them on Ebay for the next couple of decades it appears.

Prices are soaring for P&S's. I'm not talking about 28/35Ti, or T4's. I'm now seeing rather cheap ones trying to sell in the triple digits. Many of which probably didn't cost that new. Uh $150 for a cheap not--so-sharp (even though advertised as so, not that they provided crops) P&S or a T4? Durrr. :bang:

Not everything is sharp. Zeiss Sonars are sharp. ASPH Summicrons are sharp. Every lens is reasonably sharp stopped down some. But "tack" and "pin" ? If that were true no one would of ever paid for Leica gear. I flag craigslist ads that advertise stupid, as well as lies.
Click to expand...

Everything is described as being "rare" or "Mint", or "Mintish" or "Minty" or "Pristine" or whatever because the sellers are trying to get as much for an item as possible, while hoping that Lenny and Squiggy will somehow arrive on this planet and be fooled into buying the item for more than its worth.
Not long ago I bumped into a seller at a photo swap meet who knows me from business. He had an old Nikon SLR body for sale at an outrageous price. After I told him what it was likely worth and what I'd be willing to pay, he informed me that I was the worst kind of potential customer: an informed buyer.
All the verbiage used in the ads means nothing to those who do their homework, and quite a bit to those who don't.
 
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