Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/12

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Subject: Re: <FS> Canon FD 400 f/2.8 L (off topic)
From: "Patrick G. Sobalvarro" <pgs@sobalvarro.org>
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 19:53:31 -0800

At 11:06 AM 11/12/97 -0800, Jim Brick wrote:
>My good friend George Nakamura (my roommate while at Brooks Inst.) just
>stopped by and asked me if I knew where he might sell this lens. It's a
>Canon FD 400mm f/2.8 L including Canon 1.4x & 2x extenders, and extended
>shade, all in a Haliburton case. It's exe+. No dents or dings, a few paint
>scratches. Beautiful lens. Neither one of us knows the value of this lens
>(non-autofocus) nor how to sell it. If anybody has any suggestions, I would
>like to hear from you, PRIVATELY PLEASE. This is not a LUG topic so please
>keep all correspondence PRIVATE.

Your question may not be a Leica topic, but my reply is.  Your friend
should sell his equipment at www.ebay.com.  Equipment sold there fetches
near-retail prices.  I sold a camera and lens there to a buyer in Hong Kong
at an excellent price, and all concerned were happy with the transaction.

Currently there are 35 Leica cameras, lenses, cases and books for sale
there.  I heartily recommend it to people who want to sell Leica gear, and
if your local Leica dealer charges usurious prices, you can buy gear there
at pretty reasonable New York used prices.  I check EBay once a day or so
- -- I often bid on items, but I've only had the winning bid on one item, a
book called "The Leica in Technical Practice," which I got at an excellent
price.

I'm not one of these net evangelizers, but one of the things the net offers
us is a rationalization of prices through the creation of a large
competitive market.  If you can use the Web, there's little reason to pay
anything but reasonable prices for photo equipment.  And conversely,
there's no reason to sell your old photo equipment at a 40% loss to dealers
if you can sell it for retail prices on EBay.

- -Patrick