Is it worthwhile to sell Classic cameras to KEH?

[jrschlauch]

<p>I have a large selection of classic folders that I have decided to sell. KEH made what appears to me a nice offer on my Voitlander Bessa II with Heliar lens. I have to send it to them for better evaluation and pay for shipping and insurance. If they decide its worth considerably less, they will deduct that from their offer. If I am unsatisfied with the final offering, I will most likely have to pay shipping and handling to get it back. My question is: Is this procedure worthwhile? In short, I will be out $30 if the offer holds and $60 if I need to get it back and try to sell. I have no worries about Keh's reliability or the process, just the cost effectiveness of it. Has anyone else faced this dilemma and if so what would you suggest?</p>

 

[eric friedemann]

<p>I've found KEH to be honest and reputable to deal with. I'm sure they aren't trying to sucker you into sending them the camera so they can make you a lowball offer.</p>

<p>Is the procedure worthwhile? Probably- a local camera store isn't going to have KEH's potential buying pool of customers, so you won't get a better offer there. Also, if you sell the camera on eBay, you're going to pay listing fees. Unfortunatley, your options are limited selling esoteric, old film cameras these days.</p>

 

[SCL]

<p>I usually wait for them to come to the local camera shows where they can examine stuff on the spot and make an offer if they think they can resell it. OTOH if you have a lot of stuff, then it may make sense to send it to them, assuming you have already done your research on prevailing prices.</p>

[eric friedemann]

<p>Yeah, per Stephen, you might ask if one of KEH's buyers will be in your area where you can meet. KEH buyers travel around the country- occasionally, a KEH buyer will come into my store and clean out our whole used shelf.</p>

[harris_goldstein2]

<p>First, confirm whether you will have to pay return shipping. <br>

When I sold some items to KEH by mail, they felt one item was not in as good condition as I said but that another item was better. IIRC, they gave me slightly more than their online offer. If you're not going to sell it to a private party yourself, I think KEH is the way to go.</p>

[maiku]

<p>I think you are better off selling them on your own. Try selling them here on photo.net or some other group you belong. Try selling on Craigslist. On craigslist just use commonsense and meet the buyer a public locale. I know it seems like a hassle to do it on your own, but you get can get top value for the stuff. Just sell it slowly over a period of time. Good Luck.</p>

[peter_simpson1]

<p>I sold some of my father-in-law's Olympus stuff to them. The offers are pretty low, you could probably do better if you tried to sell it yourself. I didn't feel like making that effort. Given the deals I've gotten buying used gear from them, I think I'm ahead. They're good guys, but they are in business to make a buck.</p>

[william_roberts4]

<p>I have bought from KEH and never had a problem. BUT, the one thing I tried to sell them a Asahi ESII black, that had no brassing, it just needed new seals. The meter matched my DSLR and I rated it conservatively maybe VG... when they got it they held it for three weeks, then told me it was not in good shape and decided not to buy it... they were kind enough to send it back for free since they had taken forever to evaluate it... I ended up selling it on Ebay for 100 bucks more than their original quote. I think they are fair and I know they have to make a profit, just wish they were faster... just my experience, take it how you want it.</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Market prices on eBay are midway between what they pay buying and what they charge selling. If you're a good eBay seller, with good reputation, and provide good photos and documentation, you can get more than KEH will pay you. Or you could get ripped off by a sleazeball buyer on eBay who returns a different camera as "your camera" but defective.<br>

If you want a "no trouble" approach, there's really no place better than KEH.</p>

[marc_rochkind]

eBay is the place to sell classic cameras. Some hints:

 

1. Can't have too many well-lit, high-resolution photos taken with macro lens.

 

2. Describe the camera in complete detail.

 

3. Note every ding, smudge, scratch, blemish, etc.

 

4. Insert the listing on a Sunday at about 7PM Eastern time (if you're in the US or Canada).

That ensures that last minute bidders have the time available to bid.

 

5. If you know anything special about the camera, such as that it was once owned by

Douglas Fairbanks, or it is covered in very rare red lizard skin, include that.

 

6. If the camera has been in your family since new, say that.

 

7. Make the sale final. No refund. (See the post from John just above this one.)

 

8. Do not make shipping charges excessive.

 

9. Do not make your listing too professional looking. Buyers prefer buying from people, not eBay businesses. (Which is not to say there's anything wrong with them... many of the 100 or so cameras I've bought on eBay are from outfits like that.)

[SolaresLarrave]

The one time I tried to sell something to KEH, their offer was downright... unpleasant. Their online calculation thing offered a price I could take, but upon inspection their offer was less than half that, so I took it elsewhere, and I sold it at my price. It was a Mamiya C220 with two lenses (80 and 65, the latter with hood), including paramender and viewfinder. It's now in Paris, France.

 

In short, I wouldn't sell to them. I'd buy from them in a heartbeat, but not sell or trade.

[david_smith110]

<p>try ecrater.com</p>

<p>Its a mixture of ebay and craigslist but webwide. No fees, you basically just sell your stuff.</p>

[vince-p]

<p>My experience with KEH is that they offer reasonable sums for what would qualify as EXC or above; but abysmally below that, and they often rate things below that. We are grateful for this in so far as we can buy BGN rated equipment from them feeling confident that it's still in decent -- even stellar -- shape. Works against us when selling. And Joseph -- they pay the return shipping. At least that was the policy when I worked with them a year or so ago. So here's my advice: look carefully and dispassionately at the equipment, free of wishful thinking, and say to yourself, will this make the rather tough grade to EXC? If so, send it. If not, don't. For what doesn't: Offer the folders at three a week on eBay, photo.net, APUG, and rangefinderforum.com. For eBay, this is important: clean the equipment really well and take the good photos mentioned above. It's amazing how much grit shows up in a well lighted close up that you don't notice standing a foot or two away. Second: write your ad. Put RARE in the headline. I have no idea why but cameras with Rare in the headline even when they aren't that rare get tons more bids. Most important though, set the ad to run in teh future: not immediately. Specifically, set it to run sometime in the mid afternoon EST on a Saturday or Sunday. This means it will expire on a weekend afternoon across the US and into the manageble times of late evening/night in Europe. ASIA , I don't know. Products that expire on the weekend when people are able to be at their computers get a ton more action. Many savvy eBay buyers are now using "snipe" services: they decide what they're willing to bid, fill in a form on a snipe service, and the bid will come in five seconds before end of auction. So if you're not seeing much action up even to the last hour, don't worry. When you list the camera specifically address what most concerns the buyer: does everything work. Is the lens clean? Is the viewfinder clean? If not, how bad? Etc.</p>

[vince-p]

<p>Actually Joseph -- I never fully thought this out before.... Hong Kong and Singapore are thirteen hours ahead of EST. So if you go to 5:30 pm, say, EST, you'll be 12:30 a.m. in Athens (that's nothing for them -- dinner time) and 6:30 a.m. in HK etc. Enterprising people, they get up early.... And it will be 2:30 in Los Angeles. People will be feeling light and self-satisfied after their salad lunches.</p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>If you don't mind the hassle, just put it on Ebay, collectors go nuts for Bessa 11's with the Heliar lens....you will be swamped by bids!</p>

[richardsperry]

Rule of thumb, if they are selling something for $100 they paid $50 for it.

 

They have at least one person assigned to shopping eBay for bargains.

 

Why sell it to them straight up at $50 when you can sell it for $100 yourself? It costs you 9%

for eBay and 3% for PayPal. Even with that overhead you still have a chance to

make $88 instead of $50. USPS pays for the box and buyer pays shipping.

[JDMvW]

<p>KEH and other used camera vendors have to pay a wholesale price. If you are lucky you can get retail prices if you sell on eBay, but you have to be lucky and it takes a lot of fussing to do eBay or other auction sales, and you can always be unlucky on any given day.</p>

<p>So it's a question of how highly you rate your own time and convenience.</p>

<p>Note that KEH <strong><em>selling</em></strong> prices are often as low as products actually sold on eBay - (which is why I always check KEH first, unless I get careless or carried away).</p>

[marc_batters]

<p>Before going the KEH route, I would try selling here on P-Net, APUG, Craigslist, and finally the *bay.<br /> If you are in a hurry, you can list in all of these places at the same time. Just indicate in your listings that the camera is also being offered locally, and may sell before any of your listings end.<br />Purchase from KEH, but don't sell to KEH...except as a last resort.</p>

[ian_gordon_bilson]

<p>If KEH is a great place to buy,you can pretty much join the dots. If the favor is to the buyer,it must be at the expense of the seller.<br>

Otherwise,the whole system breaks down..</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>I like KEH: eliminate the hassle! their offers are about half what you might think you can sell it for (although sometimes you are in for a good surprise). My feeling is that if you are lowballed, then you probably will have to work very hard yourself to significantly better the deal. They generally know what sells. Personally, I would try selling on Photonet (usually has worked for me) or Craigslist (I doubt that will work) first and then try KEH. I find the general issue for many is that they have inflated opinions of what their equipment is worth, as a result they reject KEH and end up with not selling the equipment and it still hanging around a year later. There can be a tremendous hassle factor in private selling which I don't like (returned items, fussing over minute details of finish etc etc). It depends a lot on your personality as to what works for you.</p>

[ridinhome]

<p>A really good place to sell IMHO is rangefinderforum. It's an active market, large enthusiastic userbase and many are also classic camera fans.</p>

[jrschlauch]

<p>Thanks to everyone who have responded so far, I really appreciate it. I am in the process of putting up the Bessa here in the classifieds and see no place to add photos. Is it permissable to direct people in the add to my smugmug site to view it? There I could put up an unlimited number of pics and update them as necessary.<br>

JR Schlauch</p>

[Member69643]

<p>I have had relatively bad luck with KEH as both a buyer and a seller. Their buying prices, as many folk have mentioned are far below what you can get if you expend any effort at all. KEH barely checks their incoming items at all - they grade solely on cosmetics. A real live eBay seller knows his gear and if he's being honest in the listing, you will have few surprises. That being said, eBay too is a horrible place to sell. You get dinged twice by them, with eBay fees and then Paypal fees, and then Paypal will hold your incoming sale funds for 21 days. Both outfits are greedy and very unpleasant to deal with.</p>

<p>But they are the major game in town. Personally I'd prefer to sell here on photo.net or through apug.com's classified section. If you offer something for a fair market price you'll get your items sold. If you think every beat-up piece you own is a priceless collector's item, prepare to be redirected. :)</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>You can uplaod pics with your for sale items. I do it routinely. As with all things here you have to click submit before you see the photo upload dialog box. </p>

[jrschlauch]

<p>Thanks again to everyone that helped me. I decided to start putting them up here in the classifieds under classic cameras first. I will describe them as best I can and provide as many photos as possible. <br>

I guess I'll proceed from there. Thanks again, Richard</p><div></div>