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Post by genazzano on Nov 3, 2014 2:21:25 GMT -5
I suppose that I am somewhat of an expert on buying cameras for the collection, but disposing of them is quite a different matter. Although I have bought about 400 cameras and related accessories, I have sold only a few and that was a decade ago. I realize that ebay is the prime marketplace for vintage cameras,. However, other alternatives have appeared of which I am generally unaware. It would seem that selling or trading are the general options but where and how to do that is something about which I would appreciate advice from other collectors. Any guidance would be of value.
David
David,
Seriously, although I have never sold my cameras.
Flea or antique markets.
Antique shops.
Boot sales.
Your own garage sale.
Private collectors by word of mouth.
Photographic Society and Club publications.
Internet camera groups if they allow sales.
Some dealers will sell for you on consignment.
Some auction houses will also try to sell them for you.
I have bought most of my 250 pieces from eBay and a much lesser quantity from a weekly flea/antique market here in Toronto as well as Toronto's first boot sale which was held by the Photographic Historical Society of Canada.
Mickey
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mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
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Post by mickeyobe on Nov 3, 2014 3:24:32 GMT -5
David,
You sound very concerned.
Just ship them to me and you will no longer have to worry.
I will even buy a new duster.
Mickey
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Post by philbirch on Nov 3, 2014 4:50:55 GMT -5
I buy and sell cameras. There are many options. Here in the UK we will have auction rooms, Gumtree and Craigslist. Each has its own character.
Gumtree is a place to get bargains when people don't know what they are selling, but mostly - because people don't know what they are selling they are priced too high, ads run for months e.g a Zenit E with Prinzflex zoom lens for £49. But its not a great place to go for collectables or to sell them.
Craigslist outside US is patchy. I just counted 15 film cameras for sale in the entire UK (not including dealer ads)
Auction rooms fetch low prices, if you have only one collector in the room he will win, the others are dealers hoping to turn it round for a quick profit and they only bid low. A specialist auction is best for this. Though they are rare and probably involve a lot of travel.
Camera fairs are a good place, Lloydy visits them, he may be able to give more information on this.
Look for antique or collectible sites like Junkables, TIAS, Delcampe, Bidstart. But they are mostly US based. Delcampe is French. Descriptions and images of camera stuff on them are usually crap and its mostly things like Box Brownies, Polaroids and Kodak Instamatics.
You then realise how good ebay is. Like them or not - its the place to go. Collectors can search for a specific camera by model. People selling collectibles have a good knowledge of their camera and will generally give a good description.
The trick to selling on ebay is the listing title. You have 80 characters (including spaces) to attract the attention. I always use the words old and vintage then as good a description as you can in 80 characters. Auctions can be a bit of a gamble, a rare piece can go for a stupid low price. A Buy It Now option must be priced properly. At a price not too high that will scare off buyers and low enough to be acceptable to you. An honest description detailing faults is best, because if you are selling a valuable camera the buyers will be more picky. I sold a pre-war Contax for £250, the buyer complained bitterly that there were 'Zeiss Bumps' and that I hadn't mentioned them nor were they visible in photos. He demanded a partial refund of £50. I offered to collect the camera and give him a full refund but he refused. We settled on £25. This is the kind of crap you get when selling high value items.
Of course you can advertise them here but the response rate is pretty low.
I hope you find this useful
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Post by genazzano on Nov 3, 2014 19:15:48 GMT -5
Thanks Phil. Yes that is very helpful. I recall Craigslist from back when it started in San Francisco. I moved from SF to Rome back in 2003.
Mickey, thanks for the smile.
Later.
David
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lloydy
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Posts: 506
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Post by lloydy on Dec 1, 2014 13:46:36 GMT -5
Camera fairs are very good, they are attended by people who are interested in cameras and all things photographic, so that's a good start. The downside is, they are also tight and wont part with money - unless the item is something they want. Good stuff doesn't necessarily sell just because it's good, even if reasonably priced. Just yesterday at the biggest UK camera fair I was looking at a Canon T90 with 4 Canon lenses, Speedlight and a pile of accessories all in a fitted case that the guy was asking £120 for, it was a steal. But I know I could have got it for £100 right then. At the end of the day it was still there, maybe £90 would have got it by then. But I saw someone pay £65 for an Argus brick.
The problem is, collectors and enthusiasts either have what they want already, or have made a choice as to what they want to concentrate on collecting, they will only buy what they want at what is regarded as the going rate if they really want it, anything else, no matter how good, will only be bought when they happen across it at rock bottom prices, or better still when some distant relative dies and they get given it!
Selling to those that know about the product is hard unless you are selling something rare, collectible and desirable. Being 'good' isn't enough. So ebay is probably the best bet, it's a huge audience and the newcomers to camera collecting or those wanting to try film photography go there first to buy, and equipment that is listed well attracts the buyers. As Phil says, use the key words in the listing title and the description and people will buy. Perhaps it's a bit mercenary to aim at the burgeoning newbie market, but when you see the junk some people buy at stupid prices just because it's described as "a classic piece of German photographic history" rather that "A broken Praktica" you do have to wonder?
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Post by belgiumreporter on Dec 2, 2014 3:58:03 GMT -5
Quote lloydy : "Perhaps it's a bit mercenary to aim at the burgeoning newbie market, but when you see the junk some people buy at stupid prices just because it's described as "a classic piece of German photographic history" rather that "A broken Praktica" you do have to wonder?" LOL !!!  I have a lot of classic pieces of German camera history stacked up in boxes, maybe i should dispose of some of these classics while they are "hot" |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2014 12:16:40 GMT -5
In the U.S. about the only way you can find buyers willing to pay a decent price is on Ebay. I've purchased some cameras on Craig's List but only because they were really good deals. There are more people watching Ebay, hence more chance of finding a appreciative buyer. I my case I have my own web site so if I decide to sell all or part of my cameras I'll post them there and eliminate the middleman -- or put them on Amazon.
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Post by paulhofseth on Dec 3, 2014 4:12:42 GMT -5
Or try Westlicht. I have only bought from them, not sold, but was totally stisfied. They have fairly thorough listings and publish the prices achieved so that you can compare with Ebay provided the descriptions are equivalent. They do not just sell rare prototype Zunows, but also appeal to more serious collectors of fairly inexpensive stuff.
Years ago I sold some duplicates at Christies. High fees, they disregarded one or two of my reserve prices and put a lower quality rating one one item than I would have done.Fees can be justified by the cost of their excellent expertise and glosy catalogues (at that pre-internet time), ignoring reserve -not by much- is inexcusable, rating: matter of opinion.
So with 400 ? pieces where you wish to weed out some, it might be worthwhile to split your efforts and test camera fairs v\s websales v\s webauctions.
p.
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Post by genazzano on Dec 3, 2014 13:36:29 GMT -5
Ahem... Excuse me but I must confess... When faced with the decision to select which cameras would go first, I chickened out. Today I got a new Kodak Duo 620 "art deco" Series 1.  |
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Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
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Post by Stephen on Dec 3, 2014 16:39:13 GMT -5
Ahem... Excuse me but I must confess... When faced with the decision to select which cameras would go first, I chickened out. Today I got a new Kodak Duo 620 "art deco" Series 1. . The golden rule of collecting, never discuss reducing your collection habit, like London buses, another one will come along, that you just have to have...... Stephen. |
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Post by philbirch on Dec 4, 2014 3:48:16 GMT -5
Ahem... Excuse me but I must confess... When faced with the decision to select which cameras would go first, I chickened out. Today I got a new Kodak Duo 620 "art deco" Series 1. . The golden rule of collecting, never discuss reducing your collection habit, like London buses, another one will come along, that you just have to have...... Stephen. How true. I bought 3 cameras since announcing my end to collecting, and none of them was the Leica I was dreaming about. Unfortunately the passing of my ex-wife (my childrens' mother) and all the financial crap that goes with it means that my windfall later this month is all spoken for. Ho hum, back to broken German cameras of obscure origin. |
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Post by herron on Dec 5, 2014 21:54:46 GMT -5
Well, I just announced (in another thread) that I'm going to "reduce" my collection. I'm going to use evilBay, just because it's the easiest to deal with and I'm not imagining high prices for most of my Mamiya stuff. One or two pieces are quite rare (I have at least one of every 35mm they ever made), and I have some of their medium-format cameras, too.
Along with a rather large assortment of "other" cameras and lenses I picked up over the years.
My bride and I are contemplating a move to Florida as soon as we can find a suitable place (I've only got one more Michigan winter like the last one left in me...tops), and I'd rather not have to cart ALL of this stuff down there with me.
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