Buying a used lens

[thephotoroom]

Where do you guys find used equipment?

Looking for a few lenses without having to knock over a bank. They are for a nikon DX sensor.

 

[480sparky44 43]

Local camera stores.

Try a local photo club.

Craigslist.

Ebay.

ThePhotoForum.

Nikonians.

 

[joealcantar]

Well you can post what you want to buy in the buy/sell forum here.
WTB: Nikon Lens for blah, blah, blah etc. and see if someone has one laying around. Most of us hang on to our lenses but am sure we will get sell if the price is right.
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Shoot well, Joe

 

[thephotoroom]

cool. I'll keep an eye out on those sites. thanks.

 

[sassygrl]

Buy & Sell New & Used Cameras
I've ordered from here a couple times and they were pretty reasonable and fast to ship. I've ordered 2 Len's and a Flash and a remote from them. All in Exc conditon and all worked great.

 

[djacobox372]

Keh.com is an excellent source for used lenses, they typically underrate the lens quality and their prices are the best youll find outside of ebay and craigslist.

Ebay is my favorite source, but you need to be a bit savy to snag the best deals. I typically search for someone selling a camera with the lens i want, and then i just resell the camera--by doing this i have purchased lenses for 1/2 or less of their actual used value. Also ebays return policy is very good, they heavily favor the buyer in a dispute. Ive never had a problem getting reimbursed for a bad purchase, even when the seller refused--ebay/paypal refunds your $$ and deals with the crook for you.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Keh.com is an excellent source for used lenses, they typically underrate the lens quality and their prices are the best youll find outside of ebay and craigslist.

Ebay is my favorite source, but you need to be a bit savy to snag the best deals. I typically search for someone selling a camera with the lens i want, and then i just resell the camera--by doing this i have purchased lenses for 1/2 or less of their actual used value. Also ebays return policy is very good, they heavily favor the buyer in a dispute. Ive never had a problem getting reimbursed for a bad purchase, even when the seller refused--ebay/paypal refunds your $$ and deals with the crook for you.

Is Ebay really so good?

 

[Tomasko]

Keh.com is an excellent source for used lenses, they typically underrate the lens quality and their prices are the best youll find outside of ebay and craigslist.

Ebay is my favorite source, but you need to be a bit savy to snag the best deals. I typically search for someone selling a camera with the lens i want, and then i just resell the camera--by doing this i have purchased lenses for 1/2 or less of their actual used value. Also ebays return policy is very good, they heavily favor the buyer in a dispute. Ive never had a problem getting reimbursed for a bad purchase, even when the seller refused--ebay/paypal refunds your $$ and deals with the crook for you.

Is Ebay really so good?

If you find a reliable seller, then YES.

 

[memento]

i've bought two lenses and a flash off of Craigs List.

i'm currently searching for a new (to me) body...

if you're patient you can find awesome deals.

 

[KmH]

Adorama and B&H Photo Video both have used gear departments.

I also keep an eye on used gear on Amazon.com

 

[djacobox372]

If you find a reliable seller, then YES.

95% of all sellers are reliable, and you have third party protection from the ones that aren't.

As a buyer i trust ebay more then any other merchant that sells used equipment. As a seller, ebay is a bit of a pain, as they will almost always side with the buyer in a dispute. Basically if a buyer wants to smash his purchase with a hammer and claim it arrived that way, the seller is screwed.

 

[480sparky44 43]

In my 1500 or so Ebay transactions, both as a seller and a buyer, I've only been screwed twice. Total is around $160. Yeah, it sucks, but I've probably saved $thousands over the years, so it's a small percentage in the end. Only once have I had to make a claim to get my money back when the item wasn't what the seller claimed, and it was a piece of cake to prove it.

(Seller sold a 'book-on-CD', claimed it was "As Published By BlahBlahBlah". It was really just a cheap scan he had burned onto a CD. I made the claim, and backed it up with links to the actual publishers web site, and sent photos of both the real deal and the cheesy burned-CD-with-a-paper-label. Not long after I got my $40 back, the seller was banned.)