Where is the second hand market ?

[q.g._de_bakker]

eBay still has lots.

[fredscal]

Hello.

 

I've been away from photography for the last 5 years, and I'd like to renew my equipment.

 

Back then, eBay was the place to buy and sell gear. I don't suppose it is anymore, is it?

 

Is there a new site for second hand photo equipment?

I am located in Europe, so Craigslist won't do.

 

Thanks

[Edwin Barkdoll]

Although the prices may not always competitive with eBay, I find the reliability and honesty of KEH.com and B&H (fewer options than KEH perhaps) can outweigh the eBay preice advantage.

[steve_gallimore1]

In europe, mpb and kamerastore (kameratori) are probably your best bets

[SCL]

You may be in for a price shock. The really new and used good stuff has shot up in price and sellers are very much aware of what they can charge. Certainly there are still bargains out there, but the competition to get them is much greater than 5 years ago, so diligent searching can certainly pay off.

[Sandy Vongries]

The Classified section here and on some of the other reputable photo sites are another option. I have bought and sold successfully in the past. IMO, the prices may be better on occasion.

[za33photo]

Those of you who live in Europe and the USA have a big advantage.

Elsewhere in the world there are no second hand bargains to be had.

Edited June 1, 2022 by za33photo

[John Seaman]

I buy and sell on eBay quite a lot. It takes time to troll through all the items in Vintage Photography and Film Cameras but the good buys are there. It's best to look for complete kits rather than for individual items. Watch out for customs charges now the UK has left the EU though.

[rodeo_joe1]

Now that Covid has subsided - or so they tell us - anyway, the restrictions on public gatherings are lifted, and Camera Fairs are making a comeback here in the UK. There are bargains to be had on many items, although maybe those in need of minor repair or some TLC.

 

Car boot sales, charity shops and other flea-markets are also a (hit & miss) source of under-priced items. Often the seller doesn't realise what they've got.

 

!Rambling anecdote follows! —

My biggest recent bargain was a Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 lens; found sitting on the ground amongst old electric drills, hand tools, cutlery and other bric-a-brac. Some ham-fisted person had fitted the Adaptall mount incorrectly and seized it in place, causing the aperture to be inoperative. Otherwise the glass was clean and it looked only lightly used.

The price asked? A princely £25! Needless to say, I snapped it up.

The Adaptall mount needed disassembly to release it, but that was all. The mount was bent and a write off, but I had a spare, so Result!

Another goody in the gadget bag.

[paddler4]

You have to decide about your tolerance of risk.

 

The advantage of eBay is that you can set a limit on what you are willing to pay. The disadvantage is that you are rolling the dice in terms of the condition of the equipment and honest of the seller.

 

The advantage of reputable second-hand vendors, like KEH or MPB, is that you have both an honest evaluation and a limited warranty. The downside is that someone has to pay their rent and their salaries, so you may end up spending more.

 

You can get prices online for comparison. Check the prices of what you are interested in at reputable vendors, and then look at sold/completed sales on eBay.

[John Seaman]

The price asked? A princely £25!

Offer them £15?

 

I've given up on car boot sales. The nice things are there but you have to wade through acres of tat to find them. You have to be there at 6AM to try and beat the dealers, who often watch while the vendors get their stuff out, even diving into the boots themselves, later selling the things on their own stalls for twice what they paid. There was a golden age at the start of the digital era when you could find pro's selling off their whole film kits, sadly I often passed them by.

[BeBu Lamar]

Ebay now collects tax and they force you to use paypal which has fee and the seller would have to get more to compensate.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Ebay now collects tax and they force you to use paypal which has fee and the seller would have to get more to compensate.

And it still is a good place to find what you are looking for, for a decent price and relatively hassle free.

[John Seaman]

they force you to use paypal

 

No, eBay and Paypal are now separate. You can still pay with Paypal but you can also pay via a bank account. Also income from sales goes into your bank account, not into your Paypal.

[robert_ante]

Igor’s Camera is another reliable option.

[paddler4]

Ebay now collects tax and they force you to use paypal which has fee and the seller would have to get more to compensate.

 

I don't think they require using Paypall, but they do charge sellers a fee of 12.9% up to $7500, even if the seller doesn't choose any options. When I've sold things, I've sometimes found that the price I would get hassle-free from KEH was similar to the mean sale price on eBay after deducting 12.9%. However, in the auction format, the seller has no way to compensate for this; the sale price is whatever the highest bid is.

 

 

 

To each their own, but my way of thinking about this is that eBay allows anyone to sell anything and to say pretty much whatever they want about what they are selling. Not appealling to me unless the price is low. Reputable resellers post on their websites what their condition ratings mean.

[AlanKlein]

You have to decide about your tolerance of risk.

 

The advantage of eBay is that you can set a limit on what you are willing to pay. The disadvantage is that you are rolling the dice in terms of the condition of the equipment and honest of the seller.

 

The advantage of reputable second-hand vendors, like KEH or MPB, is that you have both an honest evaluation and a limited warranty. The downside is that someone has to pay their rent and their salaries, so you may end up spending more.

 

You can get prices online for comparison. Check the prices of what you are interested in at reputable vendors, and then look at sold/completed sales on eBay.

I'm nervous to sell on ebay.

[paddler4]

I'm nervous to sell on ebay.

 

I am nervous now too. I used to feel safe selling on eBay but not buying. No longer: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tessier-ebay-camera-refund-not-returned-1.6479463?cmp=rss. I mostly sell to KEH anyway--simple, and zero stress--and will probably stick with that in the future.

[John Seaman]

I've bought and sold many hundreds of things on eBay over the last seven years or so, both within the UK and internationally, and have never been scammed in any way. To be fair quite a lot are low value items, I think I would be nervous about high value stuff. The most I've ever sold for was £390, for an Envoy Wide Angle kit. The biggest problem is non payment. You can cancel a sale now if the buyer hasn't paid in (I think) six days. I just re-list and move on, having added the non-payer to my blocked bidder list.

[JDMvW]

As I 'filled in' the missing items in my list of most wanted, I've bid pretty infrequently in the last several years, so I'm not 'current' on conditions on eBay.

However, in all the mass of purchases I've made, I've only been 'stiffed" a couple times, and eBay refunded my money eventually.

 

You do, of course, need to exercise good sense and caution. First-time sellers are problematical - let others try them out first, I feel especially for pricey items.

[paddler4]

I haven't yet been scammed either. Still, what I've found for most of the small amount I've sold is that the mean sold price in eBay, minus the 12.9%, is often quite close to what I can get from a reseller. I have only a small sample, but the exception seems to be very old stuff, where eBay often nets more.

 

But again, my sample is small. I doubt that I've bought or sold more than 25 items on eBay over the years, or perhaps 30 tops.

[SCL]

I've been buying and selling on Ebay since the early 2000s. Early on there were lots of bargains in the photography arena as people were switching to digital, and most non-commercial sellers had no way of really valuing their goods in an auction style market. Fees were low. I picked up a lot of premium gear that way, as well as thru KEH occasionally. I also sold lots of premium gear, and never got stiffed. I did lose out on a Leica Noctilux once because, as it turned out, it was part of an FBI sting operation, so my money was quickly refunded to me. Today, though, Ebay's selling fees discourage me from much selling, and sellers asking ridiculously inflated prices for items worth much less makes it less appealing. I recently did several $6-700 transactions (buy & sell), but these days I just don't often see many true bargains domestically. I seem to find more good pricing and conservative condition descriptions among a number of Japanese sellers right now, but their prices are increasing pretty quickly to meet a market of new film users.

[c_watson1]

Agree with SCL. The eBay of yore is no more. Also bought a trove of nice film gear in the early 2000s with nary a glitch. Today, though, there's far more junk than jewels on offer on eBay. I've all I need but friends patiently snag nice gear off local sites like craigslist. Japanese sellers pretty much own the used medium format market and seldom-if ever-knowingly screw buyers. Those new to the film camera market often assume there's a pile of cheap, quality gear languishing waiting for buyers. Hardly... Edited June 9, 2022 by c_watson|1

[glen_h]

You have to decide about your tolerance of risk.

 

The advantage of eBay is that you can set a limit on what you are willing to pay. The disadvantage is that you are rolling the dice in terms of the condition of the equipment and honest of the seller.

 

 

(snip)

 

I try to bid low enough, that if it doesn't work I don't feel so bad.

 

I used to buy camera things from Goodwill, either through eBay or shopgoodwill, an pick them up at the local store.

I got way too much camera stuff bidding $10.

 

I suppose it doesn't count as cameras, but my favorite once was buying Bose noise-canceling headphones,

and replacing the ear pads. (Pads on eBay for about $5.) Great for reducing noise while flying.

[rconey]

I have had very good experiences on ebay buying manual focus lenses. I buy better condition, and have not yet had a problem. Buying from Japan works fine. I also use KEH, both buying and then reselling the ones I don't keep. Edited June 18, 2022 by rconey