I wonder if you can give me advice for selling two mint, barely used Deardorffs, a 5x7 and an 8x10. They were both purchased brand new from Lens and Repro in 1979. I used the 5x7 twice, and the 8x10 just once. There are lenses for both cameras. I have no idea whether ebay is the way to go or there is a better way to do this. I live in NYC. Would appreciate any suggestions from people here who know about how to do this in an effective way. Thanks very much.
You could go back to Lens and Repro an get an appraisel (no commitments to sell).You could try E-Bay. I am not sure if you have to sell once you list an item if you do not like the price. You could also call Midwest Photo and get an appraisel. And you cen gt some suggestions here as well.
steve simmons
Mara,
Deardorffs are very sensitive to changes in ownership. Sometimes they will get cranky and refuse to go to work if they feel they are being "unloaded" or "dumped" especially if they've been subjected to eBay and the new buyer will no doubt give terrible feedback if the cameras aren't what they expect---mint, barely used---instead of barely usable. I suggest you donate them to the Old 'Dorff's Home, of which I happen to be the Chairman of the Board, Night Porter, and Chief Administrator;-)
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
If you don't have to sell in a hurry, you could learn quite a bit by watching eBay for a while. Start by doing a scan of completed sales, and then watch it for a while going forward. Deardorffs come up for sale quite regularly in a range of conditions, and you can get a good sense of what the market will bear.
I'd also second the suggestions of checking again with Lens and Repro, and calling Midwest Photo Exchange.
Hi Mara,
Used 'Mint' Deardorffs sell easily and for high prices. It would be fairly hard to find a Chicago made camera that was barely used. Lens and Repro will make you an offer. They are looking for these cameras. I would also talk to Louis Shu at Photo Gizzmo (in NYC). I am sure you will get a few private emails to purchase the cameras also.
I've bought plenty of stuff on eBay but only tried to sell one item which didn't sell. Plenty of people wrote me and emailed me about the camera and they seemed quite interested. I think the problem was that I didn't offer a credit card which I guess I could have done through PayPal. Alot of people who might be interested in an expensive camera will only buy it with a credit card, not having to lay out that much cash all at once. Another point is that unless you have a good track record of selling things on eBay people are loathe to send a check or money order without the protection of a credit card. Those are some of the reasons, I'm sure, that so many eBayers have started using PayPal. I finally decided that I didn't want the risk of someone paying with a credit card and finding out later that the card was no good - after I shipped the camera....Selling it to a dealer would not bring that much money, so I decided to give it to a dealer on consignment and let him worry about the authenticity of credit cards, etc. I found a dealer who charged 10% of the selling price and it sold in one week. I probably could have gotten more money but the risk would have been greater. That's my one experience...
Good Luck,
Jerry
Although John Kasaian's offer was quite generous, Mara, I'm feeling so good today, I'll go one better, and agree to pay the shipping costs to take these duds off your hands. ;-)
Seriously, as you probably guessed, John was joking. Deardorffs in truly mint condition are quite marketable, and should fetch a decent-good price, depending on how much trouble you want to go to in selling them. A direct sale via dBay will likely net you the highest price, but as others have suggested, being to accept PayPal is a big advantage there. Doing so involves jumping through a couple of hoops with PayPal, but it might be worth your while. Additionally, selling the cameras and lenses separately on eBay is likely to get you the best prices. Selling them back to Lens and Repro would likely net you the least cash (they need to make a profit on the resale) , but would probably be the easiest and quickest.
Another option would be to sell through one of the participants on this forum who already have excellent reputations on eBay, assuming they might be interested. I have no idea what sort of commission they might want, but I suspect they might contact you if they are itnerested in that sort of arrangement.
If you haven't sold on Ebay before some people arn't going to bid on something that expensive if you haven't got a LOT of positive feedback.
You might be better off to use one of the new third party Ebay sellers if you can find one you can trust. They are going to charge you a precentage of the price but because of their feedback you will probably net more in the end.
If the camera is truely brand new you might also offer it in one of the Tamarkin auctions.
I'd second the suggestion to go back to Lens and Repro and see what they say. They might not give you a cash refund for cameras bought a few years ago, but they might give you comparable value in trade, if you have other photographic needs (and who doesn't have other photographic needs?).
I saw a beautiful 5x7" Deardorff at Photo Gizzmo recently. It's also worth stopping in there and seeing if Louis Shu might be able to work out a deal with you.
Another option would be to put them up on ebay with a much to high reserve price and wait to see what they are run upto. This will cost you a liitle for the reserve auction, If you get a price that you can live with you can always contact the high bidder at the end of the auction and offer them a second chance to buy. This will give you the option to sell and also allow you to get an idea of their value so you will not be taken advantage of later if you sell.
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