How to Sell Your Photo Gear
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How to Sell Your Photo Gear
If you are a PEN member it’s likely you have found yourself with a camera, lens, or other bits of photo gear that you no longer need. In today’s tip I want to share some options for letting gear go to a new home, and getting a few dollars too - you know, so you can buy some other piece of gear. I have these in order from most work with the most dollars for your gear to less work but less money for your gear.
Selling Locally - Avoid fees and shipping costs by selling locally - options for selling locally include your local camera club and camera club message boards, local Facebook Photo Gear Group, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and even eBay can be included in this list - though there will be some fees with the last three and you open yourself up to potential scammers when using FB Marketplace, Craigslist and eBay.
By selling within your local camera club or Facebook Photo Group you have the benefit of working with other people genuinely interested in photography and you are much less likely to run into scammers.
Clean up the gear you are selling and take nice, well-lit photos of the gear, with lenses be sure to capture a clear look at the front glass element - showing any issues. And, be ready to share the shutter count for cameras. There are different ways to find the shutter count depending on your camera make and model. The best advice I can give you is to google “shutter count for [[Your Camera]]” and you will be pointed in the right direction.
Selling locally means you can avoid shipping costs but that means you will need to meet the person- you might find some people are reluctant to meet during a pandemic so for the foreseeable future this will limit your potential selling audience. If you do meet, be smart about the location. Many police precincts offer a spot to meet where everyone should feel safe. Inside a Starbucks or other fast food restaurant works too. Again the pandemic might limit your options.
How to price your gear? Search eBay for completed listings, look to see what B&H Used is offering, and cross-reference with used sales on Amazon. That should provide a pretty solid starting point.
If you have a local camera store you may check with them, they sometimes will buy used gear and resell it. You won’t get nearly as much as you would if you sold it yourself but it is an easy way to get some money for your gear.
Selling Online. Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and Amazon open up a much larger audience to you but it also opens you up to a world of scammers. Take some time to familiarize yourself with scams and the settings in each selling platform that will minimize your risk. If you are selling from the United States I strongly advise that you limit your sale to inside the US. Several very effective scams take advantage of issues with international shipping. I know of photographers that have great success selling on these platforms but the last few items I sold I had several scammers message for each real person that was interested. These days if I don’t sell locally I just use the next options.
Selling Online - Third Party. B&H Photo, MPB.com, and KEH.com all offer to buy your gear. You won’t make as much as you would if selling directly to someone but this is the no-hassle approach. I have personally sold to B&H Photo and MPB and found the process very straight forward. They provide a portal to enter the details on your gear and the quality and then provide an instant quote. It’s worth using, sometimes the quote is close to what you were hoping to get when selling. If you agree to the price a couple more clicks and you have shipping labels and instructions for sending. In my experience the quotes were accurate and I received my payouts not long after the gear arrives. In some instances, you can receive a slight increase in the payout if you opt to take store credit. Be sure to check all three - I have found that MPB often provides the most $$$ for your gear. Once the company receives and evaluates your gear, if your description was inaccurate they will let you know the updated quote and give you the option to decline, shipping your gear back.
Donating. If you don’t need the funds from selling your gear or the amount you would get for the work makes it impractical, consider donating. Reach out to your local high school to see if they have a photography program. Many schools do have programs and are always looking for the gear they can loan to students. You could also ask your local Boys and Girls club as they often provide education programs.
I hope this article helps you Marie Kando a few pieces of photo gear that no longer sparks joy.
All the best,
Toby
