Why do people over value their film gear

[Designer]

Still free. Send essay.

 

[compur]

Tell me about it! I run into this on a daily basis as I buy lots of used film gear.

It usually goes like this:

Somebody wants to sell Dad's old film gear so they look up on eBay for the same stuff and they look at the highest asking prices and decide that is what their stuff must be "worth." Never mind that the high eBay prices (asking or selling) are for mint equipment that is guaranteed working (and still overpriced) and their stuff looks like it's been through a war and they have no clue if it works at all! And, there is no telling them any different. If you try to explain the realities of older gear they will assume you are trying to "rip them off."

And, with Leica gear --- OMG! --- it becomes astronomically silly! ...
I recently bought some Leica equipment and the seller (who never used any serious film gear) was convinced that a particular 180mm lens she had was "worth" $6,000 yet even on eBay they commonly sold for about $300. In this case they had confused the 180mm APO lens for their more common 180mm Elmarit. This is just one tiny example.

They always seem to create their "value delusions" toward the highest price they can find that seems (to them) to describe what they have. And, they are clueless about the importance of condition. The innumerable fake TV shows (yes, they are mostly fake) about antiques and collectibles reinforce these misguided over-valued delusions. These shows have created a culture that believes that practically every thing they own, if is old, is worth a fortune and it is just plain nonsense. And, to boot, may of the things you see on these shows are not just "found" items as they are claimed to be. They often come from local dealers, collectors or even museums and are loaned to the show where they are falsely presented as "family heirlooms," found items, etc. It's all made-up Hollywood BS and it plays a major part in the over-value mentality that is placed on all older items, including photo gear.

 

[astroNikon]

I'm glad my Kodak 110 film camera is super rare and still worth $1100 like I saw on ebay

 

[480sparky]

I'm glad my Kodak 110 film camera is super rare and still worth $1100 like I saw on ebay

Get it gold-plated and sell it for $25,000!

 

[Josh66]

They always seem to create their "value delusions" toward the highest price they can find that seems (to them) to describe what they have. And, they are clueless about the importance of condition. The innumerable fake TV shows (yes, they are mostly fake) about antiques and collectibles reinforce these misguided over-valued delusions. These shows have created a culture that believes that practically every thing they own, if is old, is worth a fortune and it is just plain nonsense. And, to boot, may of the things you see on these shows are not just "found" items as they are claimed to be. They often come from local dealers, collectors or even museums and are loaned to the show where they are falsely presented as "family heirlooms," found items, etc. It's all made-up Hollywood BS and it plays a major part in the over-value mentality that is placed on all older items, including photo gear.

We had a yard sale recently, and I saw what I would consider a result of this mentality. On the one hand, you have the people that think their stuff is still worth what they paid for it (or maybe even more than that) - but on the other hand, you have people that expect to get good stuff basically for free. They see these guys on shows like American Pickers and think that you can just walk up to a yard sale or something and get something for nothing.

I had a guy say my price was too high for this one item (I had already heavily discounted it - more than I I was comfortable with), so I told him, "Well, that's the price." He went home, looked it up online, saw that I was only asking a quarter of what it was worth, and then asked for half of that. I said no thanks, of course.

 

[Josh66]

I was selling a hi-lift jack, BTW (near perfect condition). It sells for $80 just for the jack- I was asking $40, which included a ton of accessories, which separately are worth more than the jack itself. The chain and hooks I had with it were easily worth $40.

The guy actually said, "Yeah, it's a good deal, but that's a lot for something you're giving away." Hey, dumbass, I'm not "giving it away"! If you want to buy it, I'll give it to you for a steal, but I'm not going to "give it away". I still have it. Didn't really want to sell it anyway, but I would have if somebody was willing to pay a fair price for it.

Some stuff we were pretty much giving away (25 cents per item on clothing - some of which were never worn), but $40 for about $200 worth of 'stuff' was not asking a lot, IMO.

 

[limr]

Still free. Send essay.

So what am I getting for free? Three pages is nothing for me

 

[Torus34]

The prices for film photo gear on EBay are a good example of a 'free' market. Sellers can ask what they wish, and buyers can pay what they want. The larger the market, the more sales will occur and thus there will be more information available as to the right price for an item. In a flea market, by comparison, there may be only one of a particular item available and neither the seller nor prospective buyers may have prior knowledge as to the right price.

The right price is that reached by an informed seller and an informed buyer. Perhaps, just perhaps, mind you, the world of used cameras would benefit from something similar to the Scott(r) catalogs of postage stamps.

And yes, folks will initially overvalue rather than undervalue stuff they wish to sell when entering a market in which bargaining will occur. It's a logical and economically sound strategy.

 

[Designer]

Still free. Send essay.

So what am I getting for free? Three pages is nothing for me

My vastly-overpriced film camera, three exorbitantly-priced lenses and a FREE electronic flash. It is listed on the buy and sell forum at an extremely over-valued asking price. Minolta Maxxum 7000 two zooms and a 50 prime.

 

[Braineack]

High number of cameras
low number of users
low amounts of film
Low number of places to process film

All that equals dirt cheap bodies and lenses.

supply and demand? who would have known.

 

[usayit]

It's worth whatever someone else is willing to pay for it.....

 

[Overread]

It's worth whatever someone else is willing to pay for it.....

Which is often highly dependant on the market you're selling to,

I nabbed a Benbo mk1 tripod with cast and ballhead on Friday for around £30 - on ebay they go for around twice as much.

Market stalls and such can give you really really amazing deals on things because there is often so much less market interest in specialist goods. Thus you can get things for far less than you could on places like Ebay where you get much larger specialist markets going for things.

 

[Derrel]

Reminds me of this famous clip from the movie Trading Places!!!!



"In Philadelphia, it's worth fifty bucks!"

 

[Iloper]

It's worth whatever someone else is willing to pay for it.....

Exactly

 

[Mike_E]

If you're willing to take a chance try shopgoodwill.com

Plenty of Minolta stuff over there at a great price, but you won't know the condition until you get it and there are no refunds.

I bought a Nikon N80 with a 28-80mm f3.3-5.6 for right around $15. Turns out they were both pristeen.

I did cheat a little bit because I noticed a B+W filter on the lens and guessed that anybody that would put one of those on their camera would probably take care of it.