Anyone ever sell gear to Adorama?

[dcpotter22]

My mistake on the terminology, but as I clearly stated in my last message, $959 is the brand new selling price, here is the lens, not able to post links so take out the extra spaces before the .com

adorama .com/NK10528AFVRU.html

and right there is a link to the used lenses, 4 of them at $849 in the USED price, again $849 is the USED price. 70% of that is $595, I have a screen cap of when the resale price was $859 which I'm sure is the resale value Charles was looking at because he said I'd get $600 if its in excellent condition and $600 is exactly 70% of $859, and my lens was definitely in E+ condition. It makes no sense the lens would be sold at $600 thats severely underpriced. I understand prices fluctuate some, but not hundreds of dollars. And again the prices are right there in that link, I absolutely am not confusing the brand new retail price for the resale price.

I don't understand how adorama can say 70% of the resale price goes to me, then use completely different prices after the lens arrives. One of the agencies I sell photos through, ImageBrief, they give 70% of the selling price to the photographer when an image sells, its not 'this image sold for $1000, but actually we're going to give you $500 instead of $700 even tho we advertise paying out 70%, thats just a marketing ploy". I have a charity portion of my business where 70% of profits sold from prints goes to the charity that the photo is associated with so the buyer knows where there money is going and is clearly laid out, these are the production costs, these are the profits, this much always goes to the charity, this much I keep for myself, I don't take the money then make up numbers completely different from whats on the site or change the percentages afterwards saying its actually just maybe 55-65% or less. But adorama clearly does.

Jack called again today while I was in a dead zone, I didn't want to speak with him again but I'll call in tomorrow because this has just become pathetic.

[Darrell C]

Your experience is not alone Mr Potter, but I opted to have Adorama send my gear back to me at their cost, sorry to hear a rise in your blood pressure, we all learn from our mistakes.....................

And Helen, It looks like you should get hazardous pay, as it seems all you do is try to put out FIRES!

[HelenOster]

.....I have a screen cap of when the resale price was $859 which I'm sure is the resale value Charles was looking at because he said I'd get $600 if its in excellent condition and $600 is exactly 70% of $859, and my lens was definitely in E+ condition. It makes no sense the lens would be sold at $600 thats severely underpriced. I understand prices fluctuate some, but not hundreds of dollars.

As I said above: "In my personal experience, (and this isn’t an official statement from ‘Used’!) while you will be offered 70% of the current expected selling price unless you are selling a genuine collectors' piece you possibly shouldn't expect to receive more than 55-65% of any prices you see on the website."

There are two reasons for this:

1. the selling prices on the website can only be a ROUGH guide if you are trying to figure out how much the used department might be able to pay you for your gear.
When new models are released, the overall market tends to soften. Pre-owned units will usually drop in value, but ‘Used’ will still be looking to sell existing pre-owned stock (which may have been warehoused and therefore costing revenue for days, weeks or months) without making too great a loss on the price originally paid out.

2. Many of the units sold via the used department are ex-demo, stock in damaged boxes bought from bankrupt retailers, overstock from distributors, customer returns, and more. These do not fall into the same category as units which have been owned and used for maybe 12 months (or more), and are therefore graded and priced higher.

Charles will not have based his estimate of resale value pon the prices advertised on the website. As I stated aove, the current estimated resale value is established by using a calculation which takes into account:

the number of exact same units in the warehouse at the time of your trade
the average number of that exact same unit in stock over the past 6 months
the average selling price of the unit over the past 6 months PLUS
projected decreases in the pre-owned market in the coming months due to new models becoming available.

I'm not defending the way the figures are arrived at, just trying to clarify the process. At the end of the day, your gear can be shipped back to you, shipping and insurance paid.

Looking at eBay, there is one for sale advertised as “Excellent used condition” for $551 but on Amazon Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens they are going for $815 - $890. In your position I would simply ask for it to be returned and sell it privately.