Selling Photography Equipment on Consignment in Canberra?

* As others have said, Ted’s in Baileys will sell second-hand on consignment.

* I wouldn’t say “rushing onto ebay” is a way to lose money, I’ve sold a lot of cameras on there and always been happy with what I got. You will need to be able to list exactly what you’re selling, and be able to take some decent photos of it and show and/or describe the condition. If the photos/description aren’t good then it can sell for a lot less than what it’s worth. Selling in individual pieces on ebay will get you more money than a job lot, although it’s a lot more packing/shipping/fuss.

* Canberra Photographers group on flickr has a healthy community, and a few film nuts. You’ll have to join flickr, but if you posted a few detailed pics and said “What is all this gear worth? Is anyone interested?” then I expect it’d work out OK. http://www.flickr.com/groups/canberra_act

* Canberra Photographic Collectors run a bi-annual “fiesta” swap meet type thing. I think tables are only $5 or $10 or something. If you took the gear along, with a rough idea what it was worth, you could sell it there offline. Catch is that they just had one, I think November is the next one. http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/CanberraPhotographicCollectors/

Hth.

Go where the film nutters are. I particularly suggest putting a for sale notice up at the Photography Department of the School of Art.

Business 101: an object has potential value. By rushing and selling it to someone looking for a bargain, you risk losing part of it’s potential value. You lose, or perhaps “miss out” on the money.

As for film dying, it’s already dead. My point is large format’s position in the market as a niche hasn’t changed for decades. It’s not going to suddenly lose value in a week, a month or even a year. MF and 35mm long ago pushed it onto the periphery of professionals who have the knowledge and demand the quality.

I’ve heard about a ‘Canberra Photographic Collectors Society’ – maybe give them a shot?

There is another photographers group ‘Canberra Photographers Society’, they have a website & might be of more help.

creative_canberran said :

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You’d be mad to rush it onto eBay, you lose money that way.

One could argue that as it’s been inherited with no expenditure, it’s hard to lose money on it.
Film based photography is dying as the technology makes inroads into the large format cameras.
Hobbyists will keep it alive for as long as possible, but as the effort required exceeds their interest, digital will eventually erode film afficionardos.
Thus the price of equipment will fall.
Advertise it far and wide, as quickly as possible.
PS. People will argue that film will never die, but they’re the people who invested in Buggy Whip factories too..

you’ll probably be best off selling it on APUG, its a film dedicated forum with classifieds and a large user base of large format cameras
http://www.apug.org/forums/home.php
also KEH is the largest used camera store on the internet.
they buy cameras so you might want to contact them too
http://www.keh.com/
also B&H photo and adorama buy used but they will probably pay less
good luck!

RedDogInCan said :

EBay it. And do it quickly – wet film based cameras are depreciating rapidly and the market is getting smaller by the minute.

I recently sold some top of the range specialist photographic equipment that I held on to for much too long. I ended up getting barely 10% of what it cost when I bought it secondhand.

This isn’t 35mm or medium format, it’s a large format camera, made of wood and brass. It’s as depreciated as it will ever be. If it’s still functional and in good condition, it could be worth a couple of thousands, or at least hundreds if it needs some TLC. If it’s from a well known brand or of a certain vintage, it could even have antique value, pushing the sale price up.

You’d be mad to rush it onto eBay, you lose money that way.

EBay it. And do it quickly – wet film based cameras are depreciating rapidly and the market is getting smaller by the minute.

I recently sold some top of the range specialist photographic equipment that I held on to for much too long. I ended up getting barely 10% of what it cost when I bought it secondhand.

Teds at Bailey’s (not the one in Canberra Centre) is about the only reputable place that do sell second hand photographic equipment that I can think of.

The market for large format cameras I suspect is rather limited so you may have to go beyond normal means to find buyers. Photo Access comes to mind as does the Canberra Photographic Society. These organisations do not sell themselves, but may be able to advise how best to sell.

Depends on the condition of the equipment to some extent. To be honest, not sure there’s anyone in Canberra anymore who deals with this stuff specifically. You may be limited to more general places which wouldn’t be likely to attach the proper value to it. For the field camera in particular, I would try and have it professionally valued. Even used, they can be worth thousands still.