Where To Sell Used Camera Gear

Well, you finally did it. After months of thinking most it, pining over the pictures and recommendations of others on social media, and constantly inflating your upkeep, someone's got a new camera. But after spending all that time thinking nearly your new purchase, you neglected to put any serious thought into what to do with your old stuff. And so where do you commencement?.

In my feel, there are three major factors to consider where you volition ultimately determine to sell. Those factors are: offer price (for your gear), speed (of transaction), and convenience (or hassle, for you lot).

Uh oh.

Now we have an unattainable triangle, and you tin can only pick ii. Really. Hither's how this impossible triangle works:

A convenient, loftier offer, won't come up fast. A fast, high offer won't come user-friendly. And a fast, user-friendly offering won't be loftier.

Now that you know the 3 factors which will contribute to how you volition sell your used equipment, allow's examine the 'where" in the equation.

There Are Iv Types of Used Markets

Major Dealers

Major dealers include Adorama, B&H, KEH, and MBP.

Major Dealers offer many perks to help entice you. All of them have free (usually instant) quotes, costless shipping to them, and even free returns if you don't like the offer they give you. Information technology'south pretty user-friendly in that all y'all accept to do is send your stuff to them and then sit back and wait for payment.

Just it'southward their reputation and size that puts the major dealers at a disadvantage for some people who want the highest possible cost for their stuff. In order to make dealing in used equipment more assisting for them, they routinely offering a lower amount than what your equipment will retail for when they resell it. So in essence, you are paying for the convenience and speed.

Auction Sites

Sale sites include eBay, Gearup, and Gear Focus.

Auction sites cater to the more do-information technology-yourself personality, as there's definitely more piece of work involved in selling your own stuff. It'south true that you can become the "highest cost" for your equipment on auction sites. And I'm putting that in quotes because the highest price simply means what the market volition accommodate. Your equipment is but worth what others will pay for it. And researching an auction site is the best mode to determine what the true value of a used product is (if they support transaction history – similar eBay).

All of these sites accept unlike protections for buyers and sellers, as well as different commissions and transaction fee schedules. Simply this process is more involved in that you volition have to research which site will work best for you, write a clarification, have photos, deal with packaging, and prepare aircraft, payments, etc. And it might have re-list your item multiple times to get the highest possible price.

Then, needless to say, it'southward a lot more involved and requires a significant time investment to get superlative dollar.

Note: GearFocus is non an sale site but it has more than in common with eBay and GearUp than with the other examples beneath.

Local Marketplaces

Local marketplaces include craigslist, OfferUp, and Facebook Market.

These sites offering potentially faster transactions and potentially higher market place prices at the expense of consumer protection. The inconvenience factor is slightly different in that you have to bargain with each potential buyer instead of through a proxy (like an auction site). Then the back and forth betwixt multiple potential buyers might be a elevate, only photos and descriptions tin can exist more than casual, and you'll almost never take to deal with aircraft.

Most people steer clear of local marketplaces considering you will have to actually meet the person who is interested, let them inspect your stuff, and (well-nigh likely) renegotiate the cost. Also physically meeting someone you lot don't know with your expensive camera equipment might be enough to keep well-nigh people away. It is also an unverifiable market; you have no way of establishing what has sold (and at what toll) or who is ownership it.

That being said, if you are willing to sell at an attractive price, it's possible to do and then in less than an hr.

Enthusiast Classifieds

Enthusiast classifieds include Fred Miranda, Cloudy Nights, etc.

Any site that has a forum for dedicated enthusiasts is most likely going to take at least a very rudimentary classified organisation. These places are kind of similar a hybrid between an auction site and a local marketplace. Some might feel more than comfy with the people on an enthusiast site because at the very least you "know" that you share a common interest.

Only these sites too share most of the drawbacks as well. Photos, descriptions, packaging, shipping, payment method, etc. Also just like the local marketplaces, there is no consumer protection and no verifiability.

Allow'due south Get Technical Near Price

I spent a month researching prices for all the sites listed above.

All the quotes and prices were plant using the following example:

Canon 5D Marker IV (Body Simply) (Splendid Condition)

Major Dealers

Auction Sites

Local Marketplaces

What'south Actually Going In Your Wallet?

So now that nosotros've covered all the numbers, from the data that was bachelor at the time. We can brand some assumptions near what you'll actually exist putting in your bank account.

If yous get a quote from one of the Major Dealers, (bold your equipment is accurately rated) that is the number y'all'll be depositing. Period. If you don't like it, they will ship back to you free of charge.

If you lot were to list on eBay for the average sold price of $one,708.42, bold the buyer pays for shipping, eBay will take a 10.two% committee. which amounts to $174.26. So afterwards that, y'all're left with $1,534.16.

Since all the other sites have zero data on actual sales, let'due south use the average eBay sold price.

Gearup takes a half-dozen.five% commission and a $1.99 transaction fee. That would net you $1,595.38

Gear Focus takes a iii.5% committee and a ii.9% + $0.35 transaction fee. That would net you $1,598.73

The local marketplace sites are only as unreliable for studying recent sales trends. So I'm not even going to attempt to make assumptions about internet price. Yous'll just accept to employ your imagination.

Conclusions

After looking at all the factors; price, speed, and convenience, which is the best pick?

Well that depends entirely on what kind of person you are and what means the nearly to you; price, speed, or convenience (call back to selection but ii):

Simply it'south also important to think that the only verifiable numbers (price & speed) come from the major dealers. Regardless of what you encounter being sold anywhere on the net, merely the four major dealers mentioned higher up have concrete numbers in offering quote, and fourth dimension till payment. The prices you lot meet from eBay, Craigslist, and others, but represent potential toll, not bodily toll. And at that place's no way of knowing how long each individual listing took before the item was actually sold.

Personally, I'm going to have a difficult look at Adorama and the other dealers on this list before making my decision next time I need to sell something. Knowing that in 3-5 days I tin exist done with the entire process and movement on, is something that is very appealing to me. I don't know if the "potential" of a couple of hundred bucks is worth the effort to babysit an auction or haggle with a stranger. But that's just me.

The quote and toll examples used in this article are but valid for the month of July 2021. Prices fluctuate and then frequently based on a big number of factors. Exist smart, do your own research.

Near the author: Scott Donschikowski is a photographer and photography educator. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer. You lot tin can find more of Donschikowski'south work on his website, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. This article was likewise published here.