No doubt, there are good deals and unique items to be had on the B&S board, and with some luck and patience one can get a nice piece of gear at good savings.
Yet, there are many instances of sales which defy my comprehension.
Particularly with those "minty", "LNIB", BNIB" and "perfect" items where the buyer might save $50 relative to the brand new price in exchange for:
* Lack of warranty. (I know, sometimes Canon departs from their "original purchaser" warranty provision, but that's at their discretion, so it's a bit of a gamble the buyer takes).
* Not having easy merchandise return/refund/exchange option, such as that offered by reputable companies like B&H.
* Higher than normal copy variation risk: private sellers do not always sell their "stellar" gear specimens.
I'd be interested in your comments about that sort of relationships involved in the B&S Board marketplace.
I am less interested in the incidental feedback of the type "I bought my used nifty-fifty from Joe Blow, saved a bundle and the lens is tack sharp".
Keep in mind that the listed price is not always the selling price. The seller is also less likely to edit the listing to reflect a lower actual selling price.
For bodies and lenses I subtract 20% from current new prices and use that as the upper limit of what I will pay for used. Granted, deals like that don't show up often here but every so often they do come along.
The buyer has to decide what value to put on the possible lack of warranty or the chance of receiving a less than stellar lens or body. For me it is 20%, YMMV.
i know, it is so much more worth it to buy Brand New. It comes with assurance. Unless you HAVE to save every dollar so as not to get evicted, id buy new. Hew, spending an extra 30 bucks for new is better than spending 500 and it not working. Also, one example of this is the 70-200 f/4L. Is sells for about 70 bucks less than new, and most of the copies on Ebay and the buy and sell forum here are over a year old. A year is a lot of time for "accidents to happen." I made the mistake of buying a used Xti for 50 bucks less, and that is the last time i buy something expensive new. My 2cents.
Jack M wrote:
The buyer has to decide what value to put on the possible lack of warranty or the chance of receiving a less than stellar lens or body. For me it is 20%, YMMV.
Some people are just idiots and pay near full retail and some are getting a good deal if purchasing from Europe or outside the U.S. as they can typically fudge purchase values to avoid or reduce VAT, duties, brokerage fees etc.
Kanon Kid wrote:
I made the mistake of buying a used Xti for 50 bucks less, and that is the last time i buy something expensive new. My 2cents.
Well, same here. The only used things I've ever bought were the ones which are out of production......no new ones available.....so I did not have a choice.
If the price for a used lens was really close to that of a new lens I'd never buy used. But in truth, all but two of my lenses were bought used and most for a serious discount. I've done my research, selected carefully from among sellers and have not had a single bad transaction or a single problem with a lens. But then I never buy a new car either. I learned long ago that prices plummet the instant you drive out the door. I know lenses and to a lesser extent cameras don't drop quite so dramatically in price, but the same logic applies.
If I didn't trust the seller, I'd never go this way. Fortunately, FM offers an excellent resource with its Feedback thread. I've met some fine folks and bought some great gear. What's not to like?
There's always the suggestion given to people wondering about some lenses, usually the high end ones, "You can always sell it for almost what you paid for it."
You're always welcome to PM the seller and ask if they're willing to sell at a lower price. If someone can get a higher price for an item, well more power to them.
Buyers should do their homework. Research how much other similar items are going for, and bid accordingly. Ebay, craigslist, and the board are excellent resources.
Sellers should also do their research to be more successful. I've only sold one item on the board, but have purchased numerous items with no problems (knock on wood).
It's the same story when buying something that's technically new in the box, still sealed and all, from eBay. You don't have the same return policy, you're gonna wait a week or two for it, and they're not usually registered sellers of Canon/Nikon gear. But people still pay the same price or sometimes more than B&H. Craziest thing was seeing 580EXII's selling for $380+ when the rebates had them at $340 brand new. Same thing happens with iPhones. But I digress.
What I've enjoyed about our B&S here is that while prices of many items, lenses especially, are often not significantly less than a "new" lens, it works both ways, if you wish to sell an item you can get a very "fair share" return on your investment. I'd hazard a guess that a large percentage of us take good care of our gear and so buying something saves the buyer some money and gives a fair shake to the seller.
That's right, many buyers here paid more than B&H. If not more it's 95% of new price. Just the other day I saw a used 17-40L sold for $590, while the avg. is $500-540. I was going to post this here but was sold in an hour.
carlsbadbum wrote:
That's right, many buyers here paid more than B&H.
Yeah, I've seen a few cases where that might have happened. Typically, whenever Canon have their instant rebate thing while B&H sweetens the deal with their promo codes, an uninformed buyer is risking paying for a used warranty-less lens more money than what a new one would cost.
<shrug> It's up to the buyer to pay attention. I have an upper limit I will set on what I'm willing to pay for used gear--usually set after doing a bit of research on the best real price I can get it for new. I've seen many any ebay auction go for higher than easily-found new prices. I've seen many of the almost-new prices on B&S here. Simple solution: pass those up. I have also done some deals matching my criteria here & been satisfied. Again, it's just up to the buyer to educate himself. If they are willing & happy to pay near-new prices for used gear here, that's their business & more power to the seller for making the deal.
bacilonur wrote:
It's the same story when buying something that's technically new in the box, still sealed and all, from eBay. You don't have the same return policy, you're gonna wait a week or two for it, and they're not usually registered sellers of Canon/Nikon gear. But people still pay the same price or sometimes more than B&H. Craziest thing was seeing 580EXII's selling for $380+ when the rebates had them at $340 brand new. Same thing happens with iPhones. But I digress.
There is a culture whereby one expends more energy in making a small saving.
A new lens only has its new lens bloom for a few days, once that's gone it's 25% depreciation and 'wear n tear' can only be worth, at best 50% of the original price, and not the new replacement price.
But there are plenty of ...... people who pay these silly prices, which means lots of folk can buy new first issue lenses and never buy second-hand themselves
Here's an example for you. I just bought a used 85 1.8 for about $30 less than retail (B&H and Adorama). Two reasons I did this: 1) Both Adorama and B&H are out of stock right now, and Amazon lists the lens for $100 more than either of them; 2) I'm trying to build feedback and a reputation. Buy purchasing here rather than retail, that contributes positively toward my future sales and purchases! I DO carefully review feedback on each person I buy from so as to not get stung, so far, so good! Would I pay equal to or greater than retail, NEVER.....
