Trying to gauge equipment popularity. Input desired!

Greg Thompson · Sep 12, 2014

Hey all,

I am trying to get an idea of popularity in terms of equipment as I sell a few different bodies a month however, the whole business is based on getting a few bodies that I know sell and not sitting on this stuff for weeks on end because I have to pay for this stuff outta pocket and its super expensive (news to you right?! lol

)

So I kinda know what to get Nikon wise because I shoot Nikon (sorry guys I love the 5d MK III but for a hobbyist the now internal flash and not as user friendly thing killed it for me).

Anyway I try to say 6d and above for profit margins but is there anything I am missing or should remove.

5d Mark III: literally the best selling camera period
6d: also pretty great seller
1dx: been hesitant on bitting the bullet to get one
1dc: SUPER neverous to shell out that much cash to have it sitting on a shelf

In terms of Nikon

d800/e: great sellers but those are out now
d810: basically like the nikon version 5d Mk III
d750: should be a hot seller
d610: pretty good pretty much on par with the 6d
d300s: good seller on par with the 5d MK II havent found a Canon replacement yet, ideas?
d3x: same as the 1dx 1dc...wondering if enough people use them to buy
d4s: same as 1dx 1dc...

Do you guys have any canon bodies that I am leaving out, that are at least $1200 price wise.

What are your thoughts on both the canon and nikon more expensive bodies? stay away, buy a few, or just wait for specific requests?

Thanks for any input everyone. *whispers go Nikon lol*

Overread · Sep 12, 2014

I'm not exactly sure what you're doing - or rather why you need the information.

If you're running a shop chances are you'll have better data on what does and doesn't sell than random people from market regions that might not even be in the same country as you; let alone the same region; so you'd be best set to know what does and doesn't sell in your locality.

If you're just buying and selling bodies that doesn't make much sense unless you're buying wholesale where, again, chances are you'll be in the best position to harvest sales data. Otherwise anything in that market should sell so long as you've a legitimate trading platform and good advertising - so pretty much anything current that isn't being phased out of manufacture should sell at profit.

Greg Thompson · Sep 12, 2014

Overread said:
I'm not exactly sure what you're doing - or rather why you need the information.

If you're running a shop chances are you'll have better data on what does and doesn't sell than random people from market regions that might not even be in the same country as you; let alone the same region; so you'd be best set to know what does and doesn't sell in your locality.

If you're just buying and selling bodies that doesn't make much sense unless you're buying wholesale where, again, chances are you'll be in the best position to harvest sales data. Otherwise anything in that market should sell so long as you've a legitimate trading platform and good advertising - so pretty much anything current that isn't being phased out of manufacture should sell at profit.

I am going to assume that the "tone" of your post is because I am a new member and im selling stuff...I get it lol...I am a member of other forums (car and real estate) and as soon as a new person is like hey im selling **** people are like "burn him to the state/stone him in the town square" etc...

As for what im doing and why i need the info..its simple...I am selling camera bodies to make a profit and instead of just buying random bodies that take thousands of dollars out of my checking account and into equipment that is sitting in my living room on a shelf I would rather purchase with a bit of insight. This is not my main job or even a secondary form of income...so I tried to be straight forward and honest of my intentions yet I seem to still have gotten the "who's this shady guy" response.

As for harvesting data...I am going to make a blanket assumption that you aren't in sales...what data says is for someone that owns a store..be it brick and mortar or virtual..People like myself..."flippers" we dont...do look at data and charts because for us that doesn't apply...as for regions...anywhere in the us is a region and hell if they cover the shipping anywhere in the world for that matter. The purpose is to do less work and get more gain out of all that I do since time is limited to 24 hours a day for all of us.

This response was not meant to be rude or argumentative, I just dont get why people respond to a a thread without actually addressing the questions in the thread if they want to provide a critique...its like people who complain about an issue at work but dont have a solution or idea how to fix it. I do value everyone's opinions so if you would like to address the actual question in the thread that would be great

Cheers.

robbins.photo · Sep 12, 2014

Guess I'm a little curious how you make money at this, I mean if your selling new you can't possibly compete with a retail store that buys in bulk. If your selling used then I guess the question would be why would anyone pay your markup if they can buy the same thing used from pretty much the same sources you have available.

Greg Thompson · Sep 12, 2014

robbins.photo said:
Guess I'm a little curious how you make money at this, I mean if your selling new you can't possibly compete with a retail store that buys in bulk. If your selling used then I guess the question would be why would anyone pay your markup if they can buy the same thing used from pretty much the same sources you have available.

I only sell new and I do buy in bulk which is the MAIN reason why I posted lol the key for me is getting bodies that have the quickest turnaround not the largest profit. The biggest piece of advice I got when I started my first company was "watch the pennies and the dollars will follow"...profit is profit for me. If I make $50 bucks or if I make $500 bucks its still in the green. By knowing what stuff to get and what not to get I dont waste liquidity on products that are going to sit for a while when I could be reinvesting into products that sell constantly. I probably could do well in the used market but im not a pro...i dont know what to look for when buying a used cam so I wouldnt put that on someone else that I am selling something to...even if you say AS IS a person will still blame the seller if they get a bad experience so I have learned to have the best product and the best price and stick to your guns. Now cars? Thats a different tomato lol...I can look at pretty much any car and know what its worth sitting...fixed and how much I can sell it for...which is why I try to keep a keen eye on how much I put into cams since the avg car is usually $10k in with a goal for a 3-5k profit on the backend. Liquidity is the name of the game in the flipping business...be it cameras, cars, or pokemon cards.

robbins.photo · Sep 12, 2014

Greg Thompson said:
I only sell new and I do buy in bulk which is the MAIN reason why I posted lol the key for me is getting bodies that have the quickest turnaround not the largest profit. The biggest piece of advice I got when I started my first company was "watch the pennies and the dollars will follow"...profit is profit for me. If I make $50 bucks or if I make $500 bucks its still in the green. By knowing what stuff to get and what not to get I dont waste liquidity on products that are going to sit for a while when I could be reinvesting into products that sell constantly. I probably could do well in the used market but im not a pro...i dont know what to look for when buying a used cam so I wouldnt put that on someone else that I am selling something to...even if you say AS IS a person will still blame the seller if they get a bad experience so I have learned to have the best product and the best price and stick to your guns. Now cars? Thats a different tomato lol...I can look at pretty much any car and know what its worth sitting...fixed and how much I can sell it for...which is why I try to keep a keen eye on how much I put into cams since the avg car is usually $10k in with a goal for a 3-5k profit on the backend. Liquidity is the name of the game in the flipping business...be it cameras, cars, or pokemon cards.

Well I guess I'm still not seeing the business model here - I mean I can't for the life of me imagine that you can buy more cameras in a month than say Adorama, B&H Photo, etc - and their markup on camera bodies really isn't that much to begin with, they make most of their money selling accessories.

So really the only profit margin I see is if your buying "grey market" and avoiding the tariffs - I mean otherwise you might be able to undercut some of the larger retailers by a few bucks here and there occasionally but I don't see how you could undercut them enough to convince people to buy from you instead of from a large well known, established business.

Greg Thompson · Sep 12, 2014

robbins.photo said:
Well I guess I'm still not seeing the business model here - I mean I can't for the life of me imagine that you can buy more cameras in a month than say Adorama, B&H Photo, etc - and their markup on camera bodies really isn't that much to begin with, they make most of their money selling accessories.

So really the only profit margin I see is if your buying "grey market" and avoiding the tariffs - I mean otherwise you might be able to undercut some of the larger retailers by a few bucks here and there occasionally but I don't see how you could undercut them enough to convince people to buy from you instead of from a large well known, established business.

You are correct on all your points! Lets just say this without getting to much into my own finances lol I can afford to buy more bulk than say the average ebay seller or craigslist'er...big box stores also have to deal with other things like employees, insurance, advertising, web hosting, shipping, taxes, etc...

My costs are minimal. I only focus on products I know sell and quickly. Plus I am willing to do business everywhere.

Its the exact same as why I make more money than a big box car dealership that owns multiple lots and has tons of inventory...sticking to my "market" I have less overhead and my pricing is still more competitive. Took about a year to figure out that cameras was the go to in terms of new products that I could get in bulk and beat stores with. The same existed with cell phones, but it got hard with that because people started burning that industry with bad esn and stolen phones. So then I found a few buyers overseas that werent concerned with bad esn's and then its eliminated the risk on my part as a buyer. Less profits but stability and consistency in pricing whereas I could do better forecasting of my monthly and quarterly profit margins.

As for the trust..that is just built over time...pictures and good pitch over the internet is going to make someone trust me....it will be them taking a chance..buying an item and having a good experience and telling all of you...then slowly it "should" in theory replicate lol.

robbins.photo · Sep 12, 2014

Well I guess I will wish you well but really doesn't sound like an endeavor I'd care to assist, I have to be honest and say the whole thing sounds a little sketchy and I just don't really want to even offer advice under those conditions.

So I'll just say good luck and leave it at that.

Greg Thompson · Sep 12, 2014

robbins.photo said:
Well I guess I will wish you well but really doesn't sound like an endeavor I'd care to assist, I have to be honest and say the whole thing sounds a little sketchy and I just don't really want to even offer advice under those conditions.

So I'll just say good luck and leave it at that.

No worries haha most people who don't dabble in flipping assume its a dark and mysterious underworld of crime ninjas and thieves, when its really just a bunch of people who have a good handle on finance and negotiations. In the end people could buy from me here and I could make a little money or I could just soak up knowledge from the boards as I have when I was learning about cars on other forums...either way the forum will be a benefit to me one way or another.

Cheers

Pejacre · Sep 12, 2014

And no arms ripped off. Well done Todd.

Greg Thompson · Sep 12, 2014

Pejacre said:
And no arms ripped off. Well done Todd.

to be the kid on the outside of a inside joke...*sigh* alas. Lol jk nice sig tho with the kitty with heterochromia (sp?)

bratkinson · Sep 13, 2014

Whether it's cameras, cell phones, computers, automobiles or anything else that has multiple options, the manufacturers and retailers alike have various 'price points' they target.

Not everyone has $8-10,000 to spend for camera gear, so the 'entry level' gear is priced for someone with less than $1000 to spend for camera+lens. Then there's a 'mid-range' price point of perhaps $2500, and then the 'above $4000 or so' price category. Like any retailer, the goal is to 'know your market' and have enough stock to satisfy demand.

Depending on where/who your expected market is, and understanding how much money they are willing to spend on a hobby is critical to having the correct inventory. For example, marketing high end gear to high school students won't make many sales unless the students are in Beverly Hills, CA. where the money is.

Obviously, selling on the internet provides an 'instant, worldwide marketplace' for a very low cost. But the competition is extremely great. How to get your 'store' noticed in Google searches, for example, is just one hurdle to overcome. Giving the perspective customers a reason to buy from some new seller that doesn't have a reputation yet is another hurdle.

Best price alone may not be sufficient. In the past week, an ebay seller had listed a brand new, out of production Epson printer like the 2 I already have (and 2 I've literally worn out and replaced) for less than half what others were selling the same NIB printer for. As their rating was zero and they were more than 500 miles from my home, I passed it up. Whether it was genuine or not, I don't know. However, 'credibility' plays an important part when I'm going to part with more than $50-100 or so.

So, in answer to your question, which cameras sell more, "it depends" on who is buying them.

Greg Thompson · Sep 13, 2014

bratkinson said:
Whether it's cameras, cell phones, computers, automobiles or anything else that has multiple options, the manufacturers and retailers alike have various 'price points' they target.

Not everyone has $8-10,000 to spend for camera gear, so the 'entry level' gear is priced for someone with less than $1000 to spend for camera+lens. Then there's a 'mid-range' price point of perhaps $2500, and then the 'above $4000 or so' price category. Like any retailer, the goal is to 'know your market' and have enough stock to satisfy demand.

Depending on where/who your expected market is, and understanding how much money they are willing to spend on a hobby is critical to having the correct inventory. For example, marketing high end gear to high school students won't make many sales unless the students are in Beverly Hills, CA. where the money is.

Obviously, selling on the internet provides an 'instant, worldwide marketplace' for a very low cost. But the competition is extremely great. How to get your 'store' noticed in Google searches, for example, is just one hurdle to overcome. Giving the perspective customers a reason to buy from some new seller that doesn't have a reputation yet is another hurdle.

Best price alone may not be sufficient. In the past week, an ebay seller had listed a brand new, out of production Epson printer like the 2 I already have (and 2 I've literally worn out and replaced) for less than half what others were selling the same NIB printer for. As their rating was zero and they were more than 500 miles from my home, I passed it up. Whether it was genuine or not, I don't know. However, 'credibility' plays an important part when I'm going to part with more than $50-100 or so.

So, in answer to your question, which cameras sell more, "it depends" on who is buying them.

Very good point. The midrange market I feel like I have a good handle on...I guess its the higher end market that I am more curious about...its not just wondering how much stock to keep on hand for cams that are 5-9k but also worrying about the turnaround time. Its all a game of say i can make $250 on a 5d mark III and $750 on a 1dx..but it takes a month to sell the 1dx and 1 week to sell the mark III...by that its more profitable to do the mark III as I could have cleared $1k in a month based on averages.

I guess my point is I'm really wondering if people on this board actually even use those cams and if there aren't alot of people that do then its no point in taking the risk...or for those that do use those higher end models...where did they buy and why...what type of photography do they do...how long have they been in the business..its info like that which can help me.

Thanks for your input btw!

Greg Thompson · Sep 13, 2014

well no worries to anyone here I am not going to sell here because I was informed that you aren't supposed to sell new equipment that wasn't purchased with the intention of using. Can a mod please lock this thread