Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/09

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Subject: [Leica] Re: R5 & R7 prices going up
From: drodgers@nextlink.net
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 10:14:21 -0800

John

>>You guys must be kidding.  Last year when I was looking for my first
Leica,
I was lucky to find a used R7 for under $1000.  Since then,  I've sold and
bought several in the $800 range.    The dealers were blowing them out for
brand new prices of $1495 or $1395.<<

A friend of mine just purchased a new M6 from a dealer for just over
$1,500. It was part of a promotion, probably to clear out reamining stock.
It includes passport warranty. The dealer sold about 10 M6 bodies in 2 days
and is ordering more from Leica.

I think it will be interesting to see what happens to pricing for durable
goods, including photographic equipment, over the next year. My sister
manages international sales for a large company. She's been fighting a
difficult battle since the onset of the Asian crisis. I spoke with her over
the weekend and she indicated that her counterparts in domestic sales are
starting to feel the pinch. It's becoming more difficult to prop up demand
through innovation and marketing. Supply is there, because many companies
are focusing sales on countries, like the US, that still have a robust
economy.

This all leads to deflationary pressure on durable goods, new and used. I
think Ebay is quite interesting in terms of the market for used goods. Much
better, IMO, than classifed listing. On Ebay you don't just see an asking
price, but you see what people are actually willing to pay. However, I've
seen items on Ebay go for more than new, so I'm not sure how much credence
I put on the final bid of any individual item. But over time I think trends
will appear.

Dave