How easy is it to sell equipment?

[fotografixx]

I am having the hardest time selling:

H5D-40 with 2 batteries

With the CF to H adapter

Hasselblad CF lenses

SCHNEIDER VARIOGON 140-280mm f/5.6
Planar T* f/2.8- 80 mm
Makro-Planar T* f/4-120 mm

Hasselblad H lenses
HC f/3.2 150mm
HCD 4-5,6/35-90mm

Used camera shops in Japan and the US will only give me 50% of resale value because they claim the market is next to nonexistent.

What do people here think this kit is worth?

Is it any better in Europe?

[Michael H. Cothran]

I believe it is due to two things -

1. Simply put, there are many Hasselblads, both V & H, on the used market, with not enough buyers. Check the listings on Ebay at any time. Since the V cameras have been interchangeable since 1957, AND since they were built so well, there are now so many of these on the market compared to the amount of potential buyers. Which translates to the demand being far less than the supply.

2. Referencing the H cameras, even these have been flooding the used market venues. But even at greatly reduced prices from their original cost, most buyers are either not that familiar with medium format and/or are still not willing to spend the kind of money necessary to own a respectable H system.

Your potential buyers are either established photographers, knowledgeable of medium format, or those few who want to upgrade from the DSLR cameras. And there are just far fewer of these buyers than there are available Hasselblad cameras & lenses.

I feel your frustration. I am also trying to sell an H4D/50, a handful of H lenses, plus lots of H accessories. Even for pennies on the dollar, I get lots of views, but no takers.

[davidthescot]

The used price list from the Pro Centre in London is a good guide to the market. 

http://www.procentre.co.uk/sales-secondhand-hasselblad-h-system.php

Like other dealers you have approached they will buy but only at an attractive price.  Personally I think that the used H series cameras listed are a steal compared to many DSLR's.  I have only ever sold one camera privately (through Ebay) and that took some time.  On every other occasion I have traded up as newer and better models appear and if the trade-in cost is added to the "real" value of my trade-in this represents, for me, a cost-effective solution.

Like many other pieces of complex equipment with a limited professional market depreciation is much more savage than for many consumer items.  As an example you can pay somewhere around £30-40,000 for a complete Zeiss microscope system but the same item will (eventually) only fetch £3 or £4000 if sold secondhand.

I guess that the answer is to trade in if you are sticking with Hasselblad but if changing brands accept the loss and move on.  If swapping within MFD both Hasselblad and P1 offer competitive upgrades I think.  Personally I have tried other systems but always come back to the reliable solidity of my Hasselblad

Pro Centre also offer other professional brands and may offer a better trade-in package than a consumer oriented dealer would.

In conclusion I think that these cameras are designed to give many years if not many decades of reliable use and if looked at in this way the cost of ownership is actually quite low notwithstanding the poor resale values.

[KeithL]

I've only ever bought used H equipment which means someone other than me takes the hit.

I've had no trouble selling via this forum, LuLa and eBay.

[fotografixx]

Thanks for the replies,

It is not fiscally responsible of me to trade up. That would put me out a huge pile of money. the H6D-50c was just reduced by 33% in June. They took away the trade in for that one. H6d-100 still has the trade in program.

Thanks for the feedback

[Hassilistic]

Bought a couple of lenses from Japan in near mint condition for less than nothing.  But when I wanted to sell they made me a similar offer to the one you mentioned, so I knew straight away that they're interested, I told'em instead that I will be around for the next 11 days and this is my contact and asking price, any offer higher then they can keep.  Sure enough 6 days in, he makes me an offer and I sold it.  Shops that don't wanna buy, will offer to display your product, not buy them.

in UK ProCenter will buy almost anything your willing to sell.  However don't go too low on the H-system camera and lenses, specially not H5D.

Don't forget Hasselblad Dealers will find you buyers most of the time.  As customers feel better buying from dealers than eBay .
And if you live in one of those places were you can Both Upgrade and Finance, you are so lucky!  take it while you can.

Good luck.

[davidthescot]

Bought a couple of lenses from Japan in near mint condition for less than nothing.  But when I wanted to sell they made me a similar offer to the one you mentioned, so I knew straight away that they're interested, I told'em instead that I will be around for the next 11 days and this is my contact and asking price, any offer higher then they can keep.  Sure enough 6 days in, he makes me an offer and I sold it.  Shops that don't wanna buy, will offer to display your product, not buy them.

in UK ProCenter will buy almost anything your willing to sell.  However don't go too low on the H-system camera and lenses, specially not H5D.

Don't forget Hasselblad Dealers will find you buyers most of the time.  As customers feel better buying from dealers than eBay .
And if you live in one of those places were you can Both Upgrade and Finance, you are so lucky!  take it while you can.

Good luck.

+1

[fotografixx]

Thanks for the replies

Hasselblad Japan will not support me at all unless I am buying H6D. I get it but it is really annoying as I heard they used to have a pre-owned section and they have a H4D in their case for 1.2 million yen (like 11,000USD).

There are a few large camera shops in Tokyo that made me offers but the one has 3 H5D-40s online all of which are double what they will offer me.

The CF lenses do not hold value nearly as much as I thought even if they are rarer.

The best offer I got was adorama in the US which is what I am thinking at the moment.

[fsprow]

I have bought and sold many items (including Hasselblad cameras and lenses, both V and H) on eBay with solid results.  I believe a well written and accurate listing, good photos (should be easy for the members here!) and a good eBay "rating" from a substantial number of previous purchases and sales are what it takes.  Results of previous auctions for the same items are available on the site and should generally reflect the actual market - one can then decide whether to list or not.

I always use an eBay "auction" with a starting price just under what I would like to accept at minimum.  Sometimes it goes for that minimum price but usually above it.

Good luck

[Michael H. Cothran]

Hot dignity!! I just sold my H4D body on Ebay 7/22/17, after running for two weeks.
I now have all my HC lenses on the Ebay block, so we'll see how those do. As I said before, there is a LOT of competition. More items for sale than buyers.

FWIW - I decided to run my items (including the H4D) with a Fixed price Buy-It-Now rather than the usual auction. It certainly worked on my H4D.

[fotografixx]

Thanks for all the replies.

I ended up just going with a "recycle shop" (that is what they are called in Japan) Basically a warehouse kind of deal.

I ended up getting 400,000JPY for the H5D-40
220,000 JPY for the 35-90 lens (low in my opinion, but after using it I can't see the appeal so there must not be that many buyers. It was a great first lens though)
and 40,000JPY for the 150 (I had a tiny chip on the lens and it was a second hand purchase)

All in all not too terrible.

I am keeping the CF lenses and I picked up an adapter from amazon to use them with the nikon

[Hassilistic]

Wow missed 2 (35-90mm) in one month.
Here is an image of the one I was hunting in japan, came back next day with money and its gone!

Price range is about the same with there margin added as you can see from image.

What was the condition of the lens you sold, this one was -AB?

[fotografixx]

My lens was nearly new. We had not used it all that much. It is way too heavy for me to use a lot and I preferred the 150, 120 and 80 for what I was shooting.

Try the smaller shops around Japan. The large ones like MAP or whatever are expensive because of the overhead.