Trading in Equipment at Adorama/B&H

I'm considering trading my 1Ds in for a 5D at Adorama or B&H. They

told me on the phone it would probably get me $3000. That's more than

I'm being offered for private sale. My concern is shipping it all the

way down there and them then telling me they'll only give me much less

money for it.

 

Anybody have any experience with this situation? My 1Ds is spotless,

with only one tiny scratch on the top. Has anyone done a similar deal

with any of these companies?

I personally went to B&H to trade in a 1 year old Leica Digilux 2, with a SF24 flash, 2 memory

cards, and all original packaging. Purchased new this was $1750. They wanted to offer me

$600 for the whole package.

 

Needless to say, I walked.

 

Jn.

http://www.nakleh.com

Just an absolute no no to trade with B&H/Adorama/Keh. They will treat your gear as garbage and pay you for a garbage can. Post your own ad here in PNet. Your best bait will be fredmiranda.com buy&sell forum. Best of luck.

Remmember they are in the business to make money you will not get top $ ebay is the ay to go

If someone is willing to offer someone $3,000 for a 1Ds, people think he is being ripped off... what? $3K for an old camera that is easily superseded (but eh 1Ds2 and the 5D) already is an excellent deal. I would JUMP at Adorama's offer. Who in the world would pay more than $3K for a 1Ds that is in reputed excellent shape? No one.

Yeah, right John... like all the Ebay people are not trying to make money, nonsense.

"If someone is willing to offer someone $3,000 for a 1Ds, people think he is being ripped off... what?" They are "offering" - that does not mean that's what they will actually give him when his gear shows up.

<p>

 

"Yeah, right John... like all the Ebay people are not trying to make money, nonsense." Ummm, no middle-man on Ebay my friend.

I traded in some equipment at Adorama and feel like I got the short end of the stick, can't blame anyone but myself because after mailing them all my used equipment and "making a deal" with them on a 20D and lens I didn't want to go to the trouble of having it all mailed back and trying to sell it on Ebay. The problem didn't end there, after receiving my new equipment and being assured that the "Demo" models I had bought would have a full one year warranty I soon discovered that what I got were "refurbished" items and were not covered by Cannon, I had to complain loud and clear and thankfully I had everything docuemented and Adorama had to step up to the plate and pay for a one year warranty. I also wound up exchanging the "refurbished" lens for a new one. But once it all was said and done I only received about $200 for well over $1,000 worth of equipment (if you were to buy the items new). If you'll go to my personal PN page you'll see a complaint I posted about my Adorama experience......"I feel like I got the short end of the stick". Take the time to sell privately and you'll receive more value and avoid feeling like you're a victim. I'm learning......

Did you try KEH? The few times I actually traded-in instead of selling I got a lot more than

what Adorama or B&H offered. My last experience was a $700 difference between KEH and

B&H! At KEH you can do it online and get a quote by rating the condition of the equipment

yourself. Of course they can call and offer less but that has never happened to me yet.

Although they are similar for new camera sales. B&H is much better for trading. Usually B&H will offer more after evaluating the cameras. I've traded in several cameras this past year. Keep in mind that they will probably offer about 50% of what thaey expect to sell it for....and then warranty the used cameras when they re-sell them. It's old fashioned standard retail mark-up. They are both currently loaded with film cameras that are dropping in value as we speak. Look at their used camera inventory for similar items and expect about 1/2 for a trade...if they take it. I saw B&H turn away a mint Nikon N70 in new packaging. If you want more try Ebay, but you will probably not do that much better selling in an open auction for film cameras.

I am certainly well aware of the usual bad strategy of selling gear to a store. It is the last thing I would normally do. This situation appears to be an anomaly where the store is actually offering more than the open market is. The only explanation could be that they are not quite up to date on the fast dropping prices of the 1Ds.

 

My concern is I'll send the camera to them and they will suddenly find all sorts of reasons to mark it lower, and meanwhile I've spent big $$ just to mail it there.

 

Unfortunately, B&H is on a holiday break for another week, so they're out of the picture short term.

 

I think I'll just take my lumps and continue trying to sell where I've been selling it - Fred Miranda, Photo.net. and Rob Galbraith. If no sale, it will be on the Bay in a week.

 

This is the worst experience I've had yet in selling digital gear. My D60 and 10D never dropped quite so precipitously. I'm actually cursing my ISP for this as well. I was ready to sell a week and a half earlier but they couldn't seem to get my internet service working at my new house.

 

Lately, I've been thinking of selling all my digital gear and just carrying on with my Leicas. A nice idea but not too practical from a business standpoint unless one can nail down a certain little niche in the market.

 

Anyway, thanks for all your thoughts and ideas. Illegitimus non carborundum, I believe they say.

When I was buying my 20D last February, B&H offered me a whopping $250 for my 300D. I sold it witht he kite lens for $600 in a private sale instead.

 

Love 'em for buying new stuff, but I was seriously underwhelmed by their used equipment offers.

Lee, as well as Ebay, try Craigslist. Not as wide an audience as Ebay, but it's local to wherever you live, free and anonymous also. In fact, I just bought some darkroom equipment from a NY seller off of Craigslist...I'm in Seattle.