Used Gear Buyers

[MBrown]

I just took delivery of a new D-700 from Adorama. Everything went fine no problems at all. During my decision process I sent in a request for a quote on my D-200 with 18-70 kit lens and the optional vertical grip and battery attachment. I was promptly called back the next day and spoke with a very nice man who encouraged me to send in my camera for an inspection and if I had any other gear I wasn't using I should send it in as well. He told me my D-200 should be worth about $ 600. So I sent off my Nikon gear along with my old Minolta 7000i and 2 zoom lens and a Canon A-540 point and shoot. After the package was sent off I looked on line and did a quote on the Gear through KEH. I just wanted to see where I stood on value. Adorama told me at the time that they paid the highest in the industry for used gear. So to make a long story short Adorama offered me a total of $580 for all my gear. KEH online quote was $760. I told the Adorama rep of the KEH quote but their offer remained the same. So I asked to have my gear sent back and hopefully I will have it soon. So my question is this the way it is in the used camera world? :thumbsup:
Thanks MBrown

[Frog]

I really don't know, but my first thought is that Adorama had seen your gear and KEH hadn't.
Neither can buy gear at market value and then hope to make a profit re-selling it.
You could probably do better than either by selling on craig's list or ebay but I also realize that sometimes the hassle of selling yourself is not worth the time and effort for the difference in price.

[Liz]

From my experience, KEH is the most honest and fair dealer of used equipment - both buying and selling. This is what they are known for - they are now the largest dealer of used equipment in the US. I got an email about 6 months ago saying they were looking to expand their used equipment stock and were notifying some of their customers. I had sold equipment to them previously.

It just so happened I was looking at the E-P1 and had been trying to "let go" of my heavier Canon equipment. Their email pushed me over the fence and I made the final decision to sell all of my Canon stuff.

At any rate, I got an estimate for a lens from KEH for $265 which I took and sent the lens to them to evaluate. I couldn't believe what they did - they gave me a call to say their "final estimate" was $278 - I had a check within a week.

BTW, B&H gave me an estimate for the same lens - $175!

KEH has enjoyed a great reputation for many years and can be trusted. I had one experience there years ago when they evaluated a lens and offered me less than the on-line estimate because they found dust in the lens. However, I trust them because that was one time out of many - and I hadn't been into photography to know what dust looks like on an image. Now I know!

I recommend KEH to everyone who wants to buy or sell used equipment . As I said I believe they are very honest and fair. I don't know any dealer that beats their offers.

Liz