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Where to sell camera gear in Canada?

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:53 pm
by Tim Zurowski
I have been trying to sell my Nikon 500 f4 VR locally here on Vancouver Island for two weeks now and not one person of interest. Can anyone recommend an online place in Canada to sell gear with a Canada wide exposure? I don't expect anything as busy as fredmiranda.com, but something along those lines would be great. I haven't been able to find anything Canada wide yet.

Much appreciated
Tim

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 3:20 pm
by Gary Irwin
Hi Tim;

Sorry, I don't know of any photography gear forum in Canada. I usually just try the local Kijiji board but unless you're in a large market it can be tough to sell expensive gear. Most of the time I end up putting it up on FM and am forced to deal with the exchange/paypal/shipping hassles. There's still a market for good used photography gear, but it's not nearly as strong as it was a few years ago.

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:54 pm
by Tim Zurowski
Thanks Gary. I have it on our local Used Victoria ads and Craigslist. Kijiji doesn't seem as popular out here, but maybe I put it on there as well.

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:26 am
by Gary Irwin
Tim, yes, the local favourites (Kijiji/Craigslist etc.) seem to be regional in nature. The "problem" with all of these types of boards are that buyers generally want to deal face-to-face and are often unwilling to travel any distance which limits their effectiveness in areas with lower populations. I live within 1.5 hours of the GTA with a population of 6.5million and never get any interest from there.

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 1:12 pm
by Tim Zurowski
Thanks for the info Gary. And I thought this lens was going to be a real "easy" sell :(

Re: Where to sell camera gear in Canada?

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 1:39 pm
by Gary Irwin
Post it on FM and price it "right" and it'll sell!  :)  My only "beef" with FM is that prices are usually lower in the US than what I should be able to get here in Canada where prices are generally higher. I expect you've found that as well.

Re: Where to sell camera gear in Canada?

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:46 pm
by Pete Zwiers
Being in the northern BC is even worse for trying to sell camera equipment! 

I've always just posted on FredMiranda, and have gotten plenty of hits on all kinds of lenses (& a few cameras) - I think I've sold every piece of gear within a week of posting. There was only a couple of times when I sold to someone in the States (and then with the appropriate warning that duties would be their problem). I'd say that about 80% of the time I sold to a Canadian contact through FM, and again, very quickly after posting the sale.

The only thing I'd recommend is to have the subject line description start with "CAN or CANADA" ... so make the subject line something like: "FS (CANADA) Nikon 500 f4 VR".

Also, to facilitate a faster sale I'd offer to pay the freight (in Canada only) and accept Paypal. I just built those into my expected price - which I kept very realistic so that a fast sale was possible.

Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:16 pm
by Karl Egressy
Posting it on FM might bring in some local buyers from Vancouver or Victoria.
This is what happened to me a few years back.
I put it up on FM and within an hour I got a call from Toronto and sold it on the same day.
It was the Canon 500 f 4.0 Mark I.

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 7:17 am
by Gary Irwin
I recently put both my D500 & D810 and a 35mm lens up for sale on Kijiji and FM. Sold the lens through FM to a USA buyer, the D500 through Kijiji to a local and the D810 to a fellow Canadian who responded to my ad on Kijijj but also saw it on FM! I guess there's no best method, but you do have to do your homework and be realistic about pricing. Although I get a lot of "low-ballers" on Kijiji, I find buyers generally know the market prices as well as FM'ers.