Tips for Selling Used Cameras & Lenses

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[YuriFineart]

Step 1: Put D5 sticker on D3100
Step 2: Sell
Step 3: Profit
Step 4: Repeat

[ChipMaker]

Another good tip is to include a picture that was taken with the gear you're selling. If you list a lens and say something like "has a tiny scratch in the coating, doesn't show up in photos" Take a photo with that lens so buyers can judge for themselves. You also mention not trying to hide any flaws... I make sure to clearly highlight and photograph them. I've found that my well described flawed/damaged items consistently sell for more than ones that claim to be perfect but lack any other description and have crappy photos of the items.

[jekuch]

In addition to all of the obvious pictures of the camera or lens - I find many questions are answered and it helps sell the gear when you also include pictures that you took with the camera or lens. It helps with addressing how sharp, background blur etc. A random shot of the family from a distance will not help - it needs to demonstrate the capability of the lens (including settings used can also help).

[jonathanlogan]

*gasp* It's not sponsored by Squarespace!

[AgrajK]

This video gave me some good ideas. I am a frequent second hand stuff but and seller. Value retention difference in body and lens was a great information.
My tip... dont put selling price from the price you bought it, put it for the current market price of the lens.

[csgulyas]

Thank you for the coupon. It is a great learning site. Already diving into - Photography. No worries, I will keep watching you guys, too!

[mustermanmusternmann]

please update your "my camera gear" section. I know it is too much to list it all at once, but its interesting. You could upload once in a while another selection. I would click it & support you.

[PostColorGear]

In reference to the boxes, my ex can agree with that :) She always wondered why I kept that stuff. - another thing I've had success with is including things that have no value, to me. Like the things you mentioned that dont have much, if any, resale value. If I have an extra ND filter lying around, or a lens cloth, it seems to sell quickly. (depending on what being packaged with with the sale. ONE lens cloth wont change anything lol)

[joebeard]

When I upgrade my cameras as a hobbyist, my wife likes to take the previous version, eg I have just given my Fujifilm XP60 as it is replaced with the Olympus TG870 with GPS and Wi-Fi. As that is just an upgrade and she is giving her previous Olympus SW? to extended family. However, after seeing your video, if I upgrade DSLR then, I would now sell by Amazon. Good to know about keeping the boxes.

[churchillcoins]

I also use Offer Up and Let it Go which are similar to Craig's List but allow communication within a phone App.

[ExploreAroundUsOfficial]

There are craigslist apps that allow you to set up alerts for certain search terms. Set those up, wait for a great price, and buy. Usually, I can buy locally at a great price (after a little haggling) to where I could even immediately turn it around for a profit, if I wanted.

Also, for selling and buying there are the apps VarageSale, which is good because it verifies through Facebook (like a safer Craigslist) and LetGo, which is great because there isn't as much traffic, so there can be desperate people there willing to make a deal.

For selling, Facebook Marketplace is awesome through your mobile device. If you live in a big city, like Houston, it connects you with hundreds of thousands of people in those buy/sell groups. It's pretty great!

[RyanH]

Just wanted to revisit this video and say that since this episode was published, I've managed to sell all of my Canon gear with some of the good advice Tony and Chelsea gave. I sold a Canon t6i, EF-S 18-55 kit, Sigma 17-50 2.8, EF-S 10-18, 50 1.8 and Neewer Flash with a total cost of ownership being right at $200. I bought many of the lenses used from reputable sellers on Amazon and Ebay and I managed to sell them for basically what I paid. Careful purchases and accurate honest ads on Ebay and Amazon enabled me to use this gear for about a year and a half for less than if I had rented it.

I'd like to also add, that Ebay is easier than Amazon in my experience, Amazon is more straight forward with its buyers but more complicated to navigate and feel comfortable selling. I fielded zero questions from buyers on Amazon where as I fielded at least two dozen on Ebay. And not in any single sale was the person asking questions, the one who purchased the items... I will say that Amazon holds your money and settles your accounts in at least 7 day periods. That is a bit annoying.. If you have a paypal, you receive funds almost immediately through Ebay. I will have waited 20 days for my payment on a lens through Amazon, reason being that new seller accounts are settled after 14 days initially. So be prepared for that. On Ebay, I also had at least 2 bidders request that I cancel their bid... That was annoying.. Just a few of the things I experienced as they relate to this video. Patience and reading up on policies is absolutely key.

I also sold a few items via Craigslist... It proved to be worth it in the end, but I had mostly given up when my final sale actually went through. I had probably 30 inquiries for each item I sold and in both cases, only one of those wasn't a scam. So be aware.

This will hopefully fund my recent Fujifilm obsession.

Good luck to everyone.

[jsal]

About 2 years ago, I upgraded from the 7D to the 7D Mark II. Then this past year I got a 5D Mark IV. I decided to look into selling the 7D, but one of the major stores (we all know) only offered so little I decided to just keep it and eventually give it to a friend. Retail stores seem to expect to make such a high percentage, it wasn't worth the cost to me to have them buy it from me.

[CiroPerez]

Hi Tony & Chelsea. Love your videos :)
Quick tip to check almost any shutter count: Take a RAW image. Open in Photoshop. Go to File/info, then "advanced" tab, and check under exif/1.0/aux
"Image number" tells you the actual shutter count number of that image. (much better and precise than counting your catalogs ;)

Cheers to you both!

[michaelgaraphoto]

Thanks Northrups! I've signed up with Skillshare :) And am about to sell off several lenses I'd like to upgrade from, so.... Thanks!

[mdturnerinoz]

Because renting camera gear in Australia is so obscenely expensive, I often will buy a piece of gear that I have been lusting after and then sell it after a period of time using it. I do not worry about how much it cost me in general because I know that based on the obscene Australian rental prices, I have saved some money and save some of my time (which time is something that none of us can have too much of). Add to that that often certain items are just not available with in Australia.

I practice most of the safe-practices you mentioned in that I so far sell exclusively on ebay.com.au. So far I have not had that much of a bad experience other than a few people saying they would buy but never did causing me to hold my listing open for a day or two before re-listing it. (I then block those folks so they cannot bother me again.)

I do the professional picture of each item or set of items I am selling and I either use a light table or a light-box. Also, with lenses, I take pictures through the front and back of the lens so that it can be seen that the lens is not moldy or scratched. With the camera body itself I usually include some number of pictures or videos (with links via DropBox) from the camera showing that it works and also pictures of the settings screen showing that the camera does power on. For iPads and iPhones I have often made videos showing they power up and at least basically work. For all cameras and iPhones/iPads I reset them to “factory” settings so personal data is removed.

Also regarding returns: here in Austrfalia we have the Australian Consumer Law which says that returns have to be possible if the item being sold is not "fit for use"; being that this is highly subjective, you can get the occasional jerk, but I have only had that once out of 100 sales. I only sell within Australia and I take all the precautions that you mentioned and probably a few more that are necessary here within Australia.

Also depending on how long I have used an item, I generally use a personal algorithm to compute the price based on the cost in Australian vs US dollars. This is because some items are just flat out not available in Australia and if ordered from the US the Australian purchaser would have to deal with the current exchange rate and shipping costs.

Anyway great suggestions and as usual thanks heaps for posting this video!

[njco]

This is a great argument for film and analog gear/shooting! A lot of the gear holds its value if not appreciates. That film Leica holds its value if you treat it well.

[monstermayank]

Please make a video on best vintage lenses to get and best digital camera to go with it fr manual focusing.

[TreacherousFennec]

Please answer me... Can you make a review or tutorial about the Kodak DCS Pro 14n? Really needs your opinion about this camera. Thanks.

[fabianfeldmann]

Where i bought some gear the last years for cheap was around black friday. Here in germany Amazon occasionally gives extra 20-30% discount on top of the warehouse deals prices. Combined with cashback for example from canon you can get some really sweet prices that often lie below the typical used prices on Ebay, Amazon or forums. But one surely has to be careful, that the stuff, especially lenses, don't have focus problems or something like that, since they tend to be already returned from other customers for some reason. But the conditions you get the stuff from Amazon Warehouse Deals usually is pretty good.