[hoanpham]

Prices are different from the US and other countries.
Gears do have higher prices in Europe, Australia, also shipping cost.

Buying new from the US might be the cheapest, and that reflects the used prices - taxfree/no VAT for interstates.

Buying import from US to Europe one need to add: VAT + shipping + custom fees and paperwork.
VAT% is high in EU but worse is guarantee conditions:

Some items, typical Sigma with US-guarantee or store-guarantee only, the buyer have to ship the item back to US, lots of paper work for custom declaration, shipping cost is high.
Gray items and many items are not allow the store to ship outside US, EU-buyer need a relay service if the price is so low and worth that extra work/money.

Prices adjust themselves if item is not sold. Me no worry.

[Schraubstock]

and a 4% import tariff for items over A$1000

There is no import duty levied by Australian Customs on cameras and lenses, these products are not manufactured in Oz. Only the 10% GST applies on imports over $1000.00. (Combined value which includes the value of shipping).

Greetings

[bossa]

There is no import duty levied by Australian Customs on cameras and lenses, these products are not manufactured in Oz. Only the 10% GST applies on imports over $1000.00. (Combined value which includes the value of shipping).

Greetings

Thanks for the correction. I thought the shipping was included even though several sellers have said otherwise in emails.

[normhead]

I would only negotiate price for an item I wanted to buy... I'm not into negotiating for others on the forum, which is what suggesting that they lower their price would amount to. After all in any private sale, it's expected the asking price may not be the final price. Usually the seller puts out what he'd like to get for the item, the buyer puts out what he'd like to pay. They come to some kind of agreement, possibly a sale, possibly an agreement that that they are too far apart and no sale is going to be possible.

I have all kinds of issues with level of the prices asked... because I know if I wait for a sale, I'll get it cheaper at one of the on-line stores I shop at. If an item is in perfect condition but used, in my mind it's worth at max 3/4 of the lowest new price I've seen for it. Most of the items I've bought have been closer to 60%. But I'm not going to argue that with anyone, especially not in a thread where they want to sell something. My feeling is, I'd really rather buy new anyway, it annoys me when I find something I want at a price I can't refuse. Others are more comfortable with used equipment, even happy to find something used , and save a couple hundred bucks. I find the whole second hand thing unpalitable. Others find it invigorating. To each his own. And as others have pointed out, often there is someone out there who will pay what you ask, if you wait long enough.

There was a guy by the highway selling apples. His sign said "Apples , one million dollars". Someone stopped and said "Isn't your price kind of high?" He said , "ya, but I only have to sell one."

So a lot of the prices I see both on Ebay and here I think... "Ya, but he only has to sell one."

But then, if you only have one to sell, there's no point in selling it as a loss leader.

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Last edited by normhead; 08-10-2012 at 05:41 AM.

[magkelly]

I've never really gotten the prices here and on CL sometimes. You'll have the same camera and the same lens and there can be a very wide variance on what people seem to think their gear is worth. The price on the K1000's I see for instance vary so widely that I really don't know what to ask for mine. You see people selling them for $30 and people asking $200 for them and it's the exact same darned kit. I expect a price bump if the camera has been CLA'd but half the time that's not the case. Someone just lists their K1000 for $200 and expects it to go for that. Yeah the lens is worth $50 blah, blah, except it's really not because the F2 50mm and the K1000 are about as common as dirt and you can't hardly give one away unless it's pristine and still boxed. It's all about what the used market will bear I guess but sometimes what people ask just isn't very realistic.

I tend to just ignore the stuff I can't afford but I don't get all huffy about it. People can ask what they like. It's their gear and it's not my call to make. If it doesn't move they'll lower the price until it does move, end up keeping it or finding some other use for it, I guess. But I'm not the pricing sheriff even though I do get really tempted sometimes to IM someone and remark something to the effect of "Dude, are you nuts? Do you think your 25 year old ubiquitous K1000 is made of gold or something?" Politeness dictates that I refrain and experience has told me that they'll figure it out for themselves and lower the price if they actually do want to sell something rather than just keep listing their unwanted gear for fun.

Then again I'm usually pretty reasonable about selling mine and I can't get a break no way, no how it seems. All I get lately are tons of requests for info and tons of scam emails in my inbox as a result of providing it, sigh. Without access to Pay Pal or multiple feedbacks from here or Ebay or something I might as well be trying to sell newspapers on the street corner in a town where 99.99 % of the people that live their either get it by subscription or don't care to read one anymore which is to say frying my arse in the sun for several hours and selling maybe 2 copies if I am lucky.

Selling anything online I think is a total crapshoot these days. You can't hardly sell anything without signing up for Ebay and Pay Pal and giving them all your personal info and a big hunk of any potential profits besides. Between them they have an almost total lock on people selling things. Don't have Pay Pal you're pretty much screwed from what I can tell unless you can actually get someone to meet you from CL who isn't intent upon messing with you by not showing up or maybe mugging you for what you have to sell.

You might as well give your old gear away becuase unless you do probably no one will buy it from you anyways. It always amuses me how people will line up if you put something in the free section vs actually trying to make a few bucks on it once in a while. Try to sell a camera and a lens for $50 and you'll get 125 scam replies and tons of junk mail. Give one away and you'll have 50 people ready, willing and able to meet you anytime, anywhere, anyplace you want. We live in a world where a garage sale mentality rules and people really just don't seem to care what things are "worth" much anymore so much as how little they can get it for.

I tend to take prices I see online with a big grain of salt. I don't really expect much lately when it comes to that. People aren't spending like they were even when you do have good stuff to sell. The economy all over pretty much sucks. Collectors and gearheads are being very stingy with their bucks. Goodwill is doing okay but go look at paid auction sites and CL and the number of realistically priced ads has really decreased dramatically from what there once was. All that's practically left really is a few determined people doggedly trying to move stuff that mostly won't sell.

I see the same ads, over and over again for months and the stuff just sits there. We all do I think. There are people on here who have been hawking the same lenses and whatnot for months. Lowering prices to an extreme doesn't even seem to help. I honestly do not get why they continue to bother. Why even bump an ad for the umpteenth time if you know it's not going to move unless you pretty much give it or maybe trade it away? If you can't sell diddly then why even keep trying? I'm not a masochist. Sooner or later I get the message and I stop trying. I either use what I'm trying so vainly to sell or I donate it so I can at least get something off my taxes. I figure I might as well...

[LaurenOE]

Like most folks who have LBA and other "Pentaxian-based-diseases" I scour the internet for prices for everything I buy. I routinely laugh at what some sellers want to sell things for, but it's up to the buyer to understand the price and do their own homework. The marketplace pricing has also gone both ways where I have gotten/seen great deals. I have my own personal rules for what I will buy used. I rarely buy something used, for greater than 75% of what it costs new. My sweet spot is around 65% of new (or less). To be honest, B&H usually has the best prices given their level of customer service, so that is my first choice most times.

[NaClH2O]

I personally don't think buyers here need to be protected. It is sufficiently easy enough to find going prices for used equipment. Do a marketplace search. Do a marketplace archives search. Look at the lens reviews, prices are listed there also. Check out KEH, and the Used dept at Adorama. Between all of the above you should be able to figure out if a price on the marketplace is valid or not. If it's not, then you are free to PM the individual with your information and offer a different figure. If someone is too lazy to do their homework, I don't feel that PF, or anyone on PF should hold their hand.
The prices offered for new equipment have little to do with the prices of used equipment. Some people are willing to pay 75% of new price, some 60% and some less. As almost everyone above has said, a seller is perfectly free to offer what ever price he wants. I don't follow the marketplace closely, so I don't know if the price of used lenses increased when the price of their new counterparts did. But it makes no difference. The "value" of a used lens is the price someone pays for it. Whether that person is knowledgeable or not as to the "worth" of the lens is immaterial. In addition, the worth of a lens can change, sometimes drastically. My much loved FA 20mm f/2.8 is worth about $600-$650 right now. However if Pentax ever comes out with a FF body the worth of that lens will increase markedly, because it will then become the widest AF prime lens you can buy for your shiny new FF body.

NaCl(the information someone needs to make an informed purchase isn't hard to find, people should do their own homework)H2O

[normhead]

If you look in the lens reviews and look at the average price paid, most of the time I would droll to find the item at that price. Apparently there is a difference between what people ask for, and what they get. The prices asked in the Marketplace, and prices reported to have been paid in the reviews are hundreds of dollars apart.

[Colbyt]

So...I'm wondering about the forum rules that prohibit 'table' talk which might disparage a price or piece of equipment. Is there a sound reason for this, other than to seemingly protect sellers?

IMO, a free exchange of information will only make the marketplace a better place to browse, be educated, and buy.

I have to respectfully disagree with your statement. Over the years I was a member a in a lot of forums. The ones who allowed 'discussion' in sales threads seem to lose their better members. You can always negotiate the price via PM. And, as far as I know equipment specific pricing can be discussed many places on this forum but IMO within a sales thread is not the proper place.

[normhead]

And, as far as I know equipment specific pricing can be discussed many places on this forum but IMO within a sales thread is not the proper place.

That would be my vote as well.

[Rondec]

I really don't know that I would change anything. My experience has been good -- if I want gear and I think someone is selling it, but it is over-priced, I send them a PM and ask them to accept a cheaper price. If they won't, it's no big deal. Just wait for someone more reasonable to come along.

The reality is that there are four or five sites to check to see new prices and old prices -- KEH, Amazon, B and H, Adorama -- and someone who is selling in the United States for a lot more than what the market value is just won't sell.

My experience has been that most sellers are pretty open to negotiation and prices on the marketplace are a lot more reasonable than on e bay (and you can trust the folks to have taken care of their gear too).

[monochrome]

The Marketplace doesn't need nanny's weighing in to protect us from ourselves, as if they know better then us what prices we should pay for used lenses.

Commenters who do not know me, my circumstances, my history or my items have no business commenting on my FS price or publicly on my thread.

The problem with price discussion in FS threads is that it eventually will ALWAYS become price bullying. There is always some a$$hat who will poison a FS thread in order to exact personal revenge, try to force a price down or just plain be a troll.

Our Marketplace is clean, pleasant and efficient as it currently runs. I take my photos, Post my thread, ask my price and wait. If I'm in a sweet spot I don't wait long. If I'm not I either change the price, withdraw the item or wait a long time. If I don't want to sell to a particular buyer for whatever reason (even if it just doesn't "feel" right) I don't have to. If I want to add something extra in the package for an extra-nice buyer I can.

If I want to sell in a "Big Brother" Forum I can always go to eBay and PayPal, B-I-N or Reserve - and charge more "Shipping and Handling" to cover the transaction fee.

The only problem I've ever had was from a Canadian buyer who thought he didn't recvieve his package quickly enough - as if I control CanadaPost - and even then he gave me a "Fair" Feedback and explained. I replied. NBD.

[Just1MoreDave]

If you check the marketplace once a day, you can get the impression that lots of sellers are asking high prices. These are just the ads that are left. A low-priced item can be posted, find a buyer, paid and shipped in an hour. You'll only see it in the Archives.

A good general rule is to laugh at high prices and move on.

edit: put something up for free and it moves even quicker!

[vonBaloney]

Sales threads with negative comments become poison -- it is rude and I'm glad it isn't allowed (even though I've had it happen on a thread here recently, and the thread was filled up with crap). You post something for sale, someone else posts "that price sucks -- lower it", probably by someone that has no interest in the item anyway. Now that is scaring away buyers who are being told they are suckers if they buy, so the seller has to weigh-in to defend the price and all the sales threads are filled with bullying and arguments. It lowers the entire tone of the forum, and you'll end up with a lot less stuff for sale in the marketplace.

Banning comments isn't perfect, but it is way better than the alternative. Just do your research, and get over your impulses to have to take care of everyone around you. They can take care of themselves.

[dmytty]

If I go to buy a used lens and don't do my research via eBay/PF's lens database/B&H, etc its not the sellers fault if I screw myself.

If I go and buy my groceries at one store only to find that the place next door was selling the same stuff for 20% cheaper, the only one I have to blame for shopping at the wrong store is me.

Agreed. However, would you agree with a rule prohibiting you from telling someone else that there was a place next door selling it for 20% cheaper?