A local Canon dealer will take my Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS in trade toward a Canon 200mm f/2.0L IS and I have to add $1000. Both of my lenses are in perfect condition. I bought the 300 from B&H about 3 or 4 years ago, and bought the zoom locally about 4 months ago. I have never sold or bought anything here on the Buy/Sell forum and I'm not too excited about packaging the lenses to ship them to an anonymous buyer. Does this offer sound reasonable?
Depends on how badly you want the 200. It's $4800 new and you'll get it for $1000, which means he's giving you $3800 in trade. I figure that's $2900 for the 300 and 900 for the 70-200. As trade-ins go, I think that's pretty damn good. Of course you could sell those two lenses for more money, but you have to decide if it's worth it to you to go through that process.....twice.
I would say its unacceptable for me. Why are you trading 2 lenses, totalling over 5500 in price + 1000 cash, for ONE lens that cost 5000 new? I would need a really really really good reason to convince myself to do that. But that's just me.
Russ Isabella wrote:
When's the last time and where's the last place you received full NEW retail value for a trade-in?
Ebay takes a big cut out from the slice, but it still beats trade-in.Seller assume very little risk in the transaction. When the buyer pays and the payment clears, you ship. Same with FM B&S forum.
If OP wanted a 200mm F2 that badly, he should just unload the two lenses here and take the cash to buy it off straight away. Thats much more financially sound.
I don't think it's a horrible deal. But you could advertise your stuff here or on your local craigslist for virtually nothing (there's a small fee here I forgot what it is). If you only trade with someone with tons of great feedback or get cash I don't see a great risk. If you've got time I'd at least try it. Be sure to include fees and shipping in your asking prices.
phillipyan wrote:
Ebay takes a big cut out from the slice, but it still beats trade-in.Seller assume very little risk in the transaction. When the buyer pays and the payment clears, you ship. Same with FM B&S forum.
If OP wanted a 200mm F2 that badly, he should just unload the two lenses here and take the cash to buy it off straight away. Thats much more financially sound.
On ebay all the risk is one the seller's part. The buyer can always claim that the box arrived empty. If you're a new seller ebay/paypal will put a hold on the funds until after it arrives and after the buyer has had time to approve it.
If your lenses are perfect, you should be able to get $2800 for your 300 and $1350 for your zoom on the B&S board without working too hard. It seems like the market is a little soft for the 300 though. That's putting your new 200/2 at a cost of $5150. You'll do better just selling your own gear if the $350 is worth it to you. I don't think the dealer is ripping you off and if you don't want to mess with shipping, potential PayPal fees, etc., the trade-in deal is OK.
dcaswell wrote:
On ebay all the risk is one the seller's part. The buyer can always claim that the box arrived empty. If you're a new seller ebay/paypal will put a hold on the funds until after it arrives and after the buyer has had time to approve it.
I guess there's always a way to get around the built-in security system
jdben622 wrote:
If your lenses are perfect, you should be able to get $2800 for your 300 and $1350 for your zoom on the B&S board without working too hard. It seems like the market is a little soft for the 300 though. That's putting your new 200/2 at a cost of $5150. You'll do better just selling your own gear if the $350 is worth it to you. I don't think the dealer is ripping you off and if you don't want to mess with shipping, potential PayPal fees, etc., the trade-in deal is OK.
$2800 for a mint 300 f/2.8L IS, in what parallel universe?
If you are worried about getting the best deal (purely in $ terms), a dealer trade-in isn't the way to go. As others have suggested, if you can be bothered, a private sale of the lenses (here, CL or eBay) will get you a better price & the 200mm f/2 L will cost you less in the long run. Price isn't the only factor in making a deal, however, only you can say how much convenience, risk avoidance, time, etc., etc., is worth to you.
Yes it is reasonable. You would be getting ~66% of the new value ($3800/$5800). Typical used values at photo stores are about 60%. You can check KEH.com, but I doubt it would be much better.
To echo others, it's as bad a deal as trading your car in to buy a new one. You're not going to get FMV, but you don't have a hassle as well. Once fees, shipping, etc., are taken into account, I think you're eating about $1K. But I don't think you'll get a better deal other than selling it on your own, so you have to decide the hassle factor.
For what it's worth, I'm sure I could get more money for the lenses if I took the time and effort to post them on a site like this. But then I put myself in the buyer's place and wonder why anyone would buy expensive lenses from an unknown individual without actually seeing them or trying them out. I've sold lenses through Craigslist but always as face-to-face sales after the buyer agreed that the lenses were as advertised. I did a preliminary price check on KEH (I've had good luck buying from them) and it looks like they would offer me dramatically less money than my local dealer.
The notion of trading the two lenses for a 200 also occurred to me but the same issue applies. I would want to actually see the lens before buying it.
