Deecee

I had two lenses that I wanted to sell. One was a Nikon 24-85mm 2.8 lens that was in perfect condition. The second was a 24-70mm Sigma lens that was in good condition but there was a problem with the auto-focus. The auto-focus worked but it had a “tight spot” which required the user to manually focus the lens sometimes.

I went to the B&H website and listed both lenses. B&H gave me on-line quotes for both lenses along with a pre-paid mailing level. I got an e-mail form B&H a couple of weeks later telling me that they would pay me for the Nikon lens but they were not interested in the Sigma lens. No problem

I decided to give Adorama a try on the Sigma lens. After looking at their web site for used lenses, some of the lenses they were selling are rated “F” for condition. These lenses have been beat to death but still function. Since my lens was in excellent condition with the exception of the focusing problem, they might be interested. So I contacted their used department

Instead of getting a price estimate via e-mail, I received an e-mail the next day telling me I need to call this number and speak to a particular individual from the used department. I called this gentlemen and he says “Well, the best we can offer is around $100.00” Best you can offer? I felt like I was talking to a used car salesman. They haven’t even seen the lens and they are already giving a “best” price. But since I still wanted to sell the lens, I agreed to the price. I mailed the lens using their pre-paid mailing label. I received an e-mail a few days later telling me they had my lens and they would get back to me in five to seven days.

Ten working days later, I get another e-mail telling me they are ready to discuss a price with me for my lens and I had to call again. I called but had to leave a message. I received another e-mail telling me that they got my message and wanted me to call again. I called, the salesman tells me that the lens is a high demand lens and the best they could give me was $25.00. I baulked at the price and told him I was looking to get $50.00. He put me on hold for a few minutes and then agreed to the $50.00

While I am happy that they bought the lens, the whole process of e-mail, having to call, leaving messages, and having to call again is a bit much for me. The whole time I felt I was dealing with a used car salesman, start the price low and see what they can get rather than just giving me what the lens was really worth. I have other lenses to sell and I will NOT be using Adorama again. When I dealt with B&H, it was done all through e-mail, the price was based on what the value of the lens was, and I didn’t have to call anyone just so they can low-ball me on my lens.

PS.
It's been a week and I have yet to see my check. I looked in my e-mail and saw an e-mail dating back to the day I talked to the last salesman. It stated that they have agreed to send me $50 for the lens but I needed to reply to the e-mail agreeing. What a pain in the ##$%^$. I have now replied, should see my $50 in a week or so...

jfn007 Loc: Close to the middle of nowhere.

I sold five lenses to keh.com. I sent them in, they emailed me with their offer, I accepted, and had a check for $900.00 in a week.

tamalero Loc: Mexico

noone will give you more than 70% the real value of the lens.. they have to resell them...
hence if your stuff is worth 900 on a direct sale, they will hardly give you more than 750 USD imho.

HelenOster Loc: New York

I am deeply concerned to see this; please email me: Helen@adorama.com and I will give this my immediate attention.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

There's no way they can give you what the lens is really worth. They themselves aim to sell it what it's worth, so they must give you significantly less such that they can make a worthwhile profit on its resale.

MarkD Loc: NYC

I've sold several lenses to keh. It's all done online. They give you an estimate contingent on the condition. If you accept you download a form and a prepaid FedEx shipping label.

skidooman Loc: Minnesota

Way to step up Helen, I hope DeeCee sees your post and responds to it.

moondog Loc: afton ny

I was looking to sell a large format lens and shopped it around and ended up at all the usual places KEH, Adorama, and B&H. Adorama made me an offer that was about 20% lower than the other two (with the same email / call in BS) then said that was retail and then said they would only pay 70% of the price I was quoted. If that's the way they stick it to you buying your used equipment, think about what they do to the uninformed buyer.

HelenOster Loc: New York

Please can you email me w/ your quote number? Helen@adorama.com. I'm really trying to get these used issues sorted out, but need more detailed info!
Thanks so much

Helen

daldds Loc: NYC

I'm in NYC, but sold a large amount of used equipment to Jack's Camera Shop in the midwest. Very professional, and actually gave me $150 more than the phone estimate, which was higher than B & H's visual inspection. I dealt with Joseph Carroll there.
I find that B & H is honest if they see that your equipment is in good shape, but still not as good as Jack's.
I learned about Jack's in a class at ICP in NYC.
http://www.jackscamera.com

xiphios

When I needed to sell my Canon equipment (cameras, lenses) plus other gear (tripods, monopod, non-Canon lenses, etc.) I sent the entire list with the condition of each item listed to both B&H and Adorama.
The suggested purchase price (quote) for the equipment of interest to each company was similar but slightly higher for Adorama. Upon receipt of the equipment Adorama stated that they would pay only 70% of their quote because they needed to make a profit! After several telephone interactions, they would pay approximately what they first offered. I refused and had them return my equipment. I received the equipment MINUS the monopod. I was so entirely disgusted with their procedures that I never brought this to their attention. The end result is that I will never use Adorama for any photographic matter.

Just as a note, after all the above I resigned myself to the use of eBay to recover some of the original equipment costs. This resulted in the sale of almost all of the equipment with a total of approximately 2.5X the highest offer with still more equipment to go. Please note that all purchasers have been pleased with the quality and condition of equipment as determined by their comments.

By the way, I have found many interesting and unusual photographers from this first attempt to sell via eBay. It was work but I enjoyed it.

j-p Loc: CT

I sold a lens to KEH. I was satisfied with the price but I followed up with asking for specifics as to why the lens didn't rate EX+ of LN-. That's when the BS started.

HelenOster Loc: New York

Again, IF you really care about protecting the future interests of other photographers, emailing me directly: Helen@adorama.com with information that can assist me in identifying the culprit in the used department, will be considerably more effective than posting here.

Thank you. I very much look forward to hearing from you: Helen@adorama.com


For future reference for anyone thinking of selling to Adorama; the used department get upwards of 1,800 pieces sent in for evaluation every week........that's a LOT of used gear (there are around 26-27,000 used pieces in our warehouse right now!) The way the value is established is by using a calculation which takes into account the number of exact same units (of the same grade) 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 and projected decreases in the pre-owned market in the coming months due to new models becoming available. That gives them the ‘value’.

Then they offer up to 70% of that figure, (to cover shipping, insurance, staffing, advertising, the warranty (which for most items is 6 months), warehousing costs; plus the costs of shipping and insurance in to Adorama for evaluation, and shipping back if the offer is not acceptable - AND the boss expects them to turn a profit).

Of course, a final figure can only be given once they have had the opportunity to physically appraise gear. They send out a pre-paid shipping label so units can be sent in for a thorough evaluation – fully insured – at no cost to the seller! And as you know, if no price can be agreed, there is the cost of returning the gear to the seller.

They generally need to arrange for at least 2 (and sometimes 3) highly-skilled technicians to examine and test pieces, and maybe carry out basic servicing to see if minor issues can be fixed fairly easily.

Finally – and this is important – 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.

Each time 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.

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 the price you see on the website.

BTW negotiation can be a factor if you are trading up, or if you are confident enough to insist that your gear is returned if the offer isn’t raised by an amount you feel is reasonable. But this may not be a route for the faint-hearted! At the end of the day, if there are 40 almost identical units in the warehouse and demand has fallen in relation to supply, they will take you at your word and ship it straight back……

This was supposed to be a brief note – I hope I haven’t sent you to sleep!

Helen

RLSeipleSr Loc: North of Boston

Helen,

... not sleeping yet ... many thanks for the information ...

Bob S

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Jack47 Loc: Ontario

Helen,
Protecting the interests of photographers is exactly the reason why others should post their problems here. Gives us info on where to go and where not to go. Sounds like your store should just give sellers the info on what you will pay for an item and not what you will sell it for. It can be confusing.
BTW....I have shopped at Adorama...long time ago, even though I am in Canada.