"Lay People" out of the used camera pricing loop

It is sort of funny the local "want ad" paper here in upstate NY's camera

prices. People are still pricing film cameras as if digital hasn't knocked out

the bottom out of the market. For example how do you tell someone that their

Minolta X370 with aftermarket zoom, isn't worth $400? Or that their Mamiya 645

isn't worth $600?

 

 

A quick perusal of KEH or other online dealers prices tells a different story.

used M645's can be had for $150 !

Well, through the miracle of the free market, they'll figure it out pretty quick! And if some else, who is equally clueless, doesn't check online before buying from them at those prices, they also have only themselves to blame. I know that I'm sitting here looking at a pile of nice Nikon F prisms and parts and whatnot, knowing that they used to be treasures that could draw a good price, and now they're merely interesting/quaint. The 'net certainly has lubricated the market's pricing machinery on this front, sometimes to a rather shocking degree if you don't pay attention to it every day!

Hi,

 

Steve..it is the same here in the UK. We have a camera magazine called the 'Amateur photogrpaher' which I believe is the oldest photo mag in the world and is a weekly.

 

There are ads in the back and some are still a real joke. Just this week some 'lay person' is advertising a Canon F1N for 295 GBP (about 600 USD) an FD 100/4 macro for 175 GBP (350 USD) and other rather silly prices....I even considered ringing them to say the real values are about one half (or less) of their asking prices, but decided it was a bad idea..

 

cheers Steve.

Steve, you are correct with your observation. Like others have mentioned, these sellers will eventually realize that they cannot get the same price they might have gotten say 3-5 years ago. Locally, I find a Canon 7N with Tamron mediocre zoom being sold for $750 and I can't believe it. Locally, I bought a Canon 1V HS for $600 with only 80 rolls put thru it so there are good deals to be had on film SLRs. If a used Nikon F6 ever dropped to $600 I might be able to justify having two film SLRs.

I have to agree Steve but maybe they did do some research on Ebay and found people buying it recently at that outrageous price. I shake my head when I see people paying more on an Ebay crap shoot than at a dealer like keh.<br>

Marcy (new to this forum and also from the Mid-Hudson Valley)

<em>"... I shake my head when I see people paying more on an Ebay crap shoot than

at a dealer like keh..."</em></p>

 

<p>I've seen people pay more on eBay than at B&H... <em>brand new</em>!

I see the same thing here (Vermont) in ads and also at yard sales and the like. People will ask top Ebay prices for broken junk box cameras because they are "antiques" or "collectible," or price a 20 year old consumer-level SLR with a generic zoom lens as if it were a high ticket item even though they haven't bothered to put batteries in it and don't know if it works. At the same time you can go down the street and find nice old cameras at another sale for next to nothing. I think Ebay has raised expectations for a lot of people, and they end up overpricing everything, but there's also a mind set that some people have about getting back their investment. I've run in to many people whose price is determined by "what they have in it," and they won't budge below that magic return figure, even if the alternative is that the item will rust, rot or go to the dump unsold.

 

I remember years ago a garage which had an old school bus for sale. Nobody would meet their price, so they dug a hole and buried it. "I couldn't sell it, so I had to get rid of it somehow," said the owner.

Where are those really cheap Nikon F prisms? They may be cheap on your block, but the F plain prism (non-functional Photomics are another matter) are still not 'free', since so many of us have non-functioning Photomics and want a plain jane replacement.

Believe it or not, not everyone is internet savvy. Not everyone selling stuff has the internet.

 

A few years ago I was out west and there was a fellow alongside the road in the desert with a giant "flea Market" set up. Claimed the locals were trying to run him off because his place looked like a dump and was a hazard. He had everything there from hand guns to furniture.. some of it was good stuff (too bad the car was so loaded and the back seat was likely hiding children and small pets by this part of the trip!).

 

Anyhow, he said he was not on line so his prices were a little out of line with reality (both high and low).

 

It was amazing to me that anyone in that business would NOT have the internet. He did not.

 

Three weeks ago I picked up a Jaquettes Instrument in perfect condition for $1. It is worth no less than $80. the seller? One of those permanent flea market guys and again, NO internet.

 

So, it is not surprising to me to see this same phenomena in the local papers and market.

 

BTW have you been tracking stuff in Wantaddigest? Again.. not everyone has the internet and the prices can be out of whack.. hi and low (tho not as much as a few years ago).

It's either sheer ignorance or wishful thinking, Steve. At a big semi-annual photo swap meet in Toronto recently, prices were all over the map. Vendors with an eBay business were reasonable and open to offers, while the recluses tended towards delusional prices on so-so to ugly merch.I leave the economics tutorials to others and just walk. Sooner or later they catch on or retreat further into denial of current realities.

The prices in classified ads and company bulletin boards tend to reflect the full "sentimental" value of the goods. How many 5 year old computers are listed for nearly full price. Flea markets are another thing altogether. If it's in your nature, try bargaining (dickering) with the proprietor. If it's a longer term relationship (e.g., with an established antique dealer) you should let him win once in a while and pay a little more than you think its worth. My $0.02 (but I'd take less).

Some people expecting unrealistic prices for their used equipment isn't a new phenomenon--I encountered the same thing regularly before everyone had the internet and before digital was mainstream. I remember a guy at a camera trade show over fifteen years ago who got really nasty when I tried to haggle a bit by pointing out that I could get a brand new copy of the same camera he was trying to sell me for less money at B&H. I saw the same kind of ridiculous pricing in want ads twenty years ago.