When to Sell Lenses

[Brassai]

I'll start off by saying I'm not really a collector. I'm just a guy who gets a huge thrill out of actually using something from a distant age to take photos with in the present world. It gives me a sense of connection with those in the past, a feeling of "continuity" in the flow of time. Someone owned and enjoyed the lens in the 1860s, then someone else around 1900, someone else in the 1950s, and now me. And then it will be someone else's turn. I like finely made old things, and am a natural pack rat. I find that camera gear seems to accumlate in my closet like snow! My philosophy is if I haven't used something at least once in two years, I should sell it. Another philosophy is to acquire nice things and then sell them to buy something even nicer.

I have a pretty nice little collection of about five pre-Civil War Petzvals, all work on 4x5. Do I need five of these? No. I'm thinking that in the months ahead I should sell some of these and put the money into something I will use more often. I will keep my best lens from that period, but just don't need or use five. (Or is it six?) SO, while I hate to see my pets go, I'm a practical Midwestern guy. I'm not using all of them and it's tying up money better used on something else. My question is, when is the best time of year to sell something like this? Ebay seems a bit slow right now. It might pick up in November with people looking for gifts, but really how many gift buyers would venture into something so specialized? There's a flurry in January, and then prices really drop in February until the weather warms up in late April. Should I wait until then to sell a few things off? I could sell a few here on the B&S board and not have to deal with the fickleness of ebay, or the high fees of Westlicht. I can wait; I have no immediate need for the cash, and the money will just go back into vintage photo gear.

[John Powers]

but really how many gift buyers would venture into something so specialized? .

The other day, the wonderful girl I married 22 years ago asked, " Is there anything you need for Christmas, a power tool or something for the LF cameras?" She wouldn't know a Dagor from a Petzval, but she has gotten very good at clicking on links. Two months ago after I had done the research, she clicked on a Nikon D7100 at B&H so I could take a college course in Digital photography. After watching our parents let their brains disintegrate as they aged, she likes that at 73 I want to keep on learning.

In my opinion, gift buyers want to make the recipient happy, while keeping them away from danger or things that will damage the relationship.

John

[jp]

If you're in no hurry, put some nice pix of the lens and images you've made with it and a buy it now price on Ebay.

Or make a whole bunch of nice LF images with it, posting one a week on here, then put the lens up for sale. Someone looking for a magic bullet might buy it seeking similar results.

I'd think tax refund season would be a nice time to sell stuff like this. But I'm not great at selling.

If it's a peztval, perhaps wait till the lomo petzval mania peaks this winter with the release of their 35mm lens.

[Steven Tribe]

I am completely convinced that the "profit maximisation" place to sell is the dreaded bay. Only a very few real auctions approach the level of bidding that E**y does. Obviously, we all want our equipment to go to good homes, preferably to be used, at least occasionally. I can also see the interest in keeping tabs on previously owned lenses - now under new ownership. Especialy for genuinely early American-made objectives which have a cultural interest for so many active LF practioneers. But the chances of disappearing for ever to a far away land with language barriers is just as great in the For Sale section here as it is with E**y. Certainly for "famous" lenses which a recent "Wanted" poster came to write rather than the, more acceptible, "Universally Recognised".

If there are apparent "ups and downs" in bids for similar items, it is more a question of bad/insufficient photos, non-comprensive description. The soft focus sales list for the more commonly sort-after items shows quite consistent prices for E**y items of matching condition. Even when there was a deluge of L'eidoscopes this year, the winning bids were quite firm. It is more "comparible" no-name items which appear to fluctuate dramatically when listers are unable to describe the lens.

I personally only use the F/S section here for items which I would like others to have and use, without any "black book" check to see how much I paid for them. Payment is basically covering my costs and, if it was part of a lot, then it is a token contribution to the item I was really interested in. I have enormous difficulty in putting fixed prices on things and have my own internal valuation of the usefulness and uniqueness of the lens - but also based also on the skills, workmanship and time it took to make them. So, no BIT or reserve prices on the lenses I list.

[IanG]

Steven makes a good point about sales here. I see items listed and when not sold in a day the seller drops the price, and often more than once. We area small community so patience is required, I listed something, no bites but waited and sold for my asking price months later with no bumping.

I would add that good honest listing sells an item, so if it's an un-named lens it's got to be sold as such. and images made with the lenses might be useful.

As with any sale or auction a lot depends who's looking to buy at the particular time and regardless of how good an item and description etc that part is random

Ian

[goamules]

There are several corollaries for selling lenses:

Risk vs Profit - if you are willing to sell on Ebay, you will make the most money. But you also have very little protection from bad buyers. There is a chance of fraudulent damage claims, or fraudulent claims of non receipt. If that happens, ebay will side with the buyer, and sometimes sucks a refund out of your accounts without you being able to stop them. Then they'll leave you high and dry to try to recover your lens. They don't monitor or care about that part. So you may "sell" a valuable lens to a buyer in Outer Mongolia or Tibet for the highest price, but hang on for a 45 day (or longer) ride to find out if it really "sold."

Time vs Profit - if you want the maximum for your lens, be prepared to wait. Sometimes you have to wait months or years for the right buyer, that wants that exact lens, in that focal length, from that maker. If you are in a hurry, you get paid the amount that someone wants to pay, that day. When I sell a lens, I want it gone, so I usually price between 75-85% of the going rate. 95% of my lenses sell within one week. Could I make more if I put a super high price, and waited months or years? Sure, some sellers do it that way.

[Tim Meisburger]

Interesting topic for me, since I have two lens on sale now. I'm the one that keeps dropping prices. I'm a conflicted seller. For example the soft focus lens I'm selling is really beautiful, and very rare, so I don't really want to sell it, but I want an Ebony 4x5, and I have three other soft focus lenses of similar focal length, so I should sell it. What to do?

I would be happy to sell the lens for fair market value, but it is so rare that seems impossible to establish. I could humbly ask the forum to help me value it, but then all the snarky guys will say sell it on ebay. The strategy I adopted we used to call a Dutch auction (I don't know why), where you start high and drop the price every day until someone pulls the trigger. Maybe that is a stupid strategy...

[Brassai]

I had not thought of the risks on ebay, as generally I am only buying. That gives me real pause, to be sure. I'm smart enough to not sell something to someone in Nigeria etc., but on international sales I could easily get stuck. There are excellent buyers out there, though. Many have taken a chance and sold to me I suppose. I'm still wondering if sales on this sort of stuff could be slow until January, when people get year end bonuses or gift money. Yes, people do buy photo gear for gifts, but something like a Petzval is very esoteric and requires a lot of specialized knowledge, unlike something like a Nikon D7100.

I also wonder just how large the market is for this sort of thing. The lenses I have (with one exception) would almost have to be used on a LF camera, and probably only 4x5 at that. How many people are out there who shoot LF in the first place, and then have interest in something as awkward to use as a shutterless lens? There's always the reenactment crowd, and the wet plate guys. That's a pretty narrow niche though. Still, I suppose there were enough people bidding against me when I bought the lenses in the first place! I do like the idea of taking some shots with the lenses, to show it works and to show how well it covers 4x5. I have no problem doing that--I like to use them! I'm not looking for maximum $$ either, just a fair return. I don't want to end up selling something for $200 that I paid $800 for. If I price things fairly and am patient, this might be as good a place as any to sell. I'm in no hurry, but I would like to get the money out of them and buy something else in a timely manner. As for the Lomo Petzvals, I don't see those as a factor. They are designed to go on a DSLR. LF is a totally different animal. I do have one 1870s vintage Darlot that could be mounted on a DSLR via a SK Grimes adapater. I have a small Petzval that I've already done that to and love it! I see the Lomo Petzvals going for $800. I didn't pay anywhere near that for the Petzval I had put into an F-mount. Maybe I should look into F-mounting my two smaller Petzvals and then try selling them, or doing a Hassleblad mount.

[eddie]

Interesting topic for me, since I have two lens on sale now. I'm the one that keeps dropping prices. I'm a conflicted seller. For example the soft focus lens I'm selling is really beautiful, and very rare,

if you want/need to sell a lens and it is not selling the only real recourse is to drop the price. if you do not want/need to sell a lens you can keep your price the same until someone buys it, possibly years in the future. this is what i think the e bay guy "go kenvins" does he prices his stuff so high that eventually, years down the road the prices are "normal"

as for your "very rare" lens.....that sometimes leaves a bit of a pricing problem. while you may think cause it is rare people will pay for it, that may not be the case. the antique lens market is being propelled by users. these users are buy lenses that they want....the famous brands. dallmeyer 3B to name a specific. if you had one of them it would have sold already.

now, back to your lens. you have a lens you say "has very limited info" so how are people to know that it is in fact rare and desirable? no one has told them that except you.
you have said it was similar to a cooke SF lens. one small problem is that a cooke SF knuckler lens that is 10 inch f3.5 is worth lens than $1000.......IMO this is where your problem is....that and the fact there is "no one" out there saying your lens is odd, rare, desirable, collectible, or "the best lens for wet plate collodion" ever made.

anyway, to the OP. if you dont need to sell the lenses dont bother. if you want the most for them, put them on e bay. if you want to sell them here list them with a price and some photos. in my opinion the OP has made this post just to get offers on his stuff. i am sure a bunch of people PM'd him to buy the lenses......he is just fishing for pricing ideas.....IMO.

[Brassai]

anyway, to the OP. if you dont need to sell the lenses dont bother. if you want the most for them, put them on e bay. if you want to sell them here list them with a price and some photos. in my opinion the OP has made this post just to get offers on his stuff. i am sure a bunch of people PM'd him to buy the lenses......he is just fishing for pricing ideas.....IMO.

Well, that's not true. I know what I paid in a competitive environment within the past two years, so I already have an idea. Since I have never sold anything like this before I was needing timing information more than pricing. As for "fishing," I still haven't decided which to sell exactly. I just know I have too many to use and need to thin the herd. I hate having thousands tied up in something I'm not using, while there are things out there I would like to buy and try.