Selling Used Equipment!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am interested in knowing what is the best way to sell used camera equipment?

I recently sent two lenses to a large company located in New York City (not B&H) to get the value of some used equipment. Specifically, I want to sell my Canon 18-200 mm lens and my 50 1.8 lens. I know I am not going to get what I paid for, but here is what happened and I want to know what others think.

I bought the 18-200 from this same company refurbished for $399.00. I bought it in April, 2013. I was told they gave it an E rating (for excellence) and valued it at $200.00.  The guy also told me Canon had dropped the price of this lens new to $473.00 and that is why they had to give me so much less. On their website this camera is still selling new for $699 and used for $359. The 50 mm was valued at $50. He also talked about 70% the value, but I misunderstood what he was saying.

I decided not to sell the 18-200 mm for that price and was still willing to sell the 50 mm.  I also offered to trade both for a used 50 1.4 lens for $299.00.  When I called back, he was not willing to do the trade and then said I would only be getting $10-$15 for the 50 mm. Apparently, it was a package deal. In addition, the 70% he was referring to is, if I sold both lenses, I would only be getting 70% of the $250. This all seems a little dishonest to me.

I am new to all this, so it may be how things are done, but I am curious to know how others sell their used equipment. Luckily, it was free shipping to and from, so this experience cost me nothing. Live and learn.

[Camilla and Darwin]

In some ways I think this is true for the Canon 50 lenses. I think there is more chromatic aberration with the f/1.8 version. However, (at least Canon) the 50mm f/1.4 is vastly superior overall, I feel, than the f/1.8 version. First of all, it has a USM, which makes focusing faster, quieter, and more accurate. Second, the bokeh is much nicer and since my style of photography is all about bokeh, that is a big deal to me. It finds focus better in low light, it's more durable and of better build quality, and it is a better low light lens. It has been worth the upgrade for me, absolutely.

With the selling of the f/1.8, I only could have sold it used for 80 dollars or so, online. Then you'd have to reduce anything that the company would take, which would probably be a lot. I didn't know anybody who needed the 50, and I DID need something from Amazon at the time, so I just went ahead and sold it to them. 

If it were an L lens, I would be able to sell it for near what I paid for it, because they keep their value very well.