Ask Me Help Desk - Polarioid 430.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyrocket Away

Hello. I'm an 18 year old girl. I own about 11 OLD, expensive, perfectly working cameras. But, I am moving 330 miles away in august and am in need of extra cash, fast. I was thinking of selling my cameras. One in particular was my Polariod 430. Its in perfect condition. I was wondering how much I could possibly get for it if I sell it on ebay or in a store or pawn shop.
Thanks to anyway who answers! (:!

Old cameras can be worthless, or valuable. Old cameras that were formerly valuable may now be worthless with the advent of the digital age. Or they may still be valuable.

The best way to find out if there's a market for them on eBay is to search for what you are selling, then click to view "completed auctions" and see what they actually SOLD for, as opposed to what they were listed for. Many listed auctions get no bids because the starting price is too high. Since you have some time before you have to list and sell, you should also set-up an alert so you get email any time one of these cameras is listed. SAVE the alert email (make a special folder for this email). When you get ready to list a camera, click on the auctions you were alerted for, and see A) if the camera sold, B) what it sold for, and C) how they described it. This will help you determine what approach to take for your camera. Pay close attention to the subject line because this is what brings people to your auction when they browse or search eBay. Once they are IN the auction, they want data - pictures of the item, a list of features, a list of added parts (lens cap, case, flash, cable release, camera bag) and a list of flaws. (List EVERY flaw, no matter how tiny. Buyers expect to read about flaws and HATE to be surprised.)

Ebay selling tips:

Keep it simple!

Have good photos.

Make sure you list all the features and possible flaws (or not-flaws) e.g. if the camera is a 4x5 view camera, are there any pinholes in the bellows? If there are, you need to disclose them. If there aren't you need to mention that you checked for pinholes, and the bellows are perfect. If you don't know all the important features to check, your research of similar auctions should help you determine how to check and describe the cameras so buyers can be confident they know the exact condition of each camera you list.

Have the item weighed and packed so you can enter this in the shipping area so they can calculate the shipping cost. Sellers who don't list a shipping cost or weight often surprise buyers with unexpectedly high shipping costs after the auction is over, savvy buyers avoid this like the plague. They need to be able to calculate the cost to their location or they won't bid.

Don't start the price too high, or set a high reserve. Yes, you have to take a risk that it won't get a high bid, but low starting prices get people excited about bidding and bring more viewers and bidders to your auction.

Allow plenty of time for the auction to end, the buyer to pay you, and for you to get the items shipped off in a timely fashion. Don't wait until you are about to depart. Don't nag the buyer about paying immediately - read eBay's rules on payment and don't try to add new rules of your own (problem buyers ignore this anyway, and again it just pisses off the non-problem buyers).

Make sure you get return mail if there's a shipping problem. If possible use your NEW address as the return address so that the item doesn't have to chase you 300 miles to get to you if it doesn't reach the buyer.
Keep your terms simple. Avoid a long list of negatives (don't bid if you have negative feedback etc.) - they just turn off legitimate buyers and problem buyers ignore them anyway.

If you aren't already established on eBay, you need to get established before you try to sell a bunch of items. You can either A) list a few of the items you expect will bring the lowest $ to start (do that right away) or B) buy a few items and pay immediately so you can get positive feedback from the sellers and start to build your eBay rating.

Finally, if this seems like too much work, you might want to contact some sellers on eBay and ask if they would like to buy your cameras as a lot. However, expect to get much less if you sell them this way - they will offer you between 10% and 50% of what you could get if you listed them yourself. OTOH you won't have to do all the research, take multiple photos of each item, write up detailed listings, pack and ship, etc.

Do NOT expect anyone to do this for you for a percentage of the sales. This never works out well. The item's owner always thinks it should sell for more and the person doing the work shouldn't get a big enough share because they always underestimate how much work it is to properly list the item. If the percent is too low then the person doing all the work will skimp on the listing, and this brings the sales price down even lower. This NEVER works well. EVER.

Finally, you can also try Craigslist. Craigslist is easier in that you don't have to worry about packing/shipping and customers can more easily communicate with you, email or call to ask questions, and can look at the item in person before handing over the money. Craigslist is harder because there are fewer buyers, and it's much harder to research what an item is worth on CL - you have to go to eBay to do the research. It also depends on how active the photographer area of CL is in your area - here in SF it's very active, but other areas can be much quieter.

You could try a pawn shop but my experience is that few take older cameras anymore, and if they do they will pay you a tiny percent of what they are worth if you take the time to market them directly.

Good luck!