Ask LH: Where Can I Sell My Second-Hand Camera?

Dear Lifehacker, I have been the proud owner of a Canon 7D camera for the last few years, and have some nice lenses to boot — a 24-70mm Canon L lens, a 30mm Sigma prime, and a 50mm f/1.8 Canon prime. But I’d like to upgrade. I’m eyeing off the Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras, but I don’t have the money to just go out and buy something off the shelf. So I was wondering: what if I trade my camera in? Or should I sell it as second-hand on a forum somewhere? Thanks, Time For An Upgrade

Dear TFAU,

It’s great that you’re thinking of selling your 7D if you’re planning to upgrade. The 7D is still an excellent camera, and you have some excellent glass to go along with it, but if you want to move on to a new model I’m definitely not going to stop you — and then someone else can enjoy your old camera while subsidising your new purchase.

If you want to sell your 7D and lenses, then you’ve got the choice of selling them together or separately. Selling separately will probably get you a better price overall, since each item can be reasonably fairly sold for what it’s worth, but selling your kit as a bundle makes it easier to send on to a single buyer and also saves you the hassle of multiple listings.

Your obvious options for selling a second-hand camera and lenses online are eBay and Gumtree. Gumtree is free, where eBay charges a final seller fee of around 10 per cent on electronics products. More people use eBay and it’s very well integrated with PayPal’s payment and address systems, which is a big plus for getting cash into your account and tracking your delivery. Gumtree is a little more barebones, but you can also spruce up your ads if you’re willing to pay a relatively small extra fee.

Trade-ins, in our opinion, are a bit of a no-go zone. We don’t know of many camera retailers that will accept a trade-in, and those that do will generally try their hardest — just like a car dealer — to take your camera from you at the lowest price possible to maximise their resale potential, and will simultaneously use your trade-in as an opportunity to keep the highest possible price on the new camera they’re selling on to you.

But beyond the usual online classifieds, if you’re a member of the Overclockers Australia camera forum community, you’ll have access to some excellent member-run for sale sections there. There are a few other Australian sites like PhotoForum that do the same thing, and especially within a specific niche like cameras they’re not too hard to find. Forums are generally a little hard on price — the people there know what they want, what it does, and how much they’re willing to pay — but you’re more likely to get yourself a fair price with an enthusiast than you are with the general public.

So — if you have the option, sell to enthusiasts on a forum, otherwise throw it up on eBay and try to get the best price possible for it. Be careful with the prices you will accept, though — unlike the camera body, which will likely have taken a significant price hit (we’re seeing them for less than $500 body only), your lenses are worth $1000, $100 and $50 or so respectively, so you don’t need to budge too much on these. Good luck!

Cheers
Lifehacker

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This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.


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