What's the easiest and safest way to sell photo gear?

Question

I'm looking to make some upgrades in the next couple of months (new camera body, new lenses, new tripod); and will no longer be needing some of my equipment (old camera body, some old lenses).

I'd like to sell the stuff I'll no longer be using in order to lessen the economic impact of the new purchases. I've heard great stories about eBay, Craigslist, and local classified ads; and I've heard horror stories about eBay, Craigslist, and local classified ads.

I'm trying to strike a balance between ease of sale, and not shipping my lenses to someone who has no intention of paying. I'm curious as to where you've had successes, or failures, selling your gear.

Answer

The easiest and safest way to sell photography equipment is to sell it to people you know! I've had the good fortune to be able to do this in the past. Failing that, I've also sold stuff on eBay and not had any problems. You only ship when the buyer's funds are in your paypal account, and using an insured & signed for delivery system prevents them from claiming they never received the goods. I'm not an eBay expert but it seems relatively safe these days and gives you access to a very large market.

With any service you have to use your wits to spot potential scams, it's usually fairly easy to tell if someone's a photography enthusiast or not. I would recommend selling to those who are!

Remember, the scare stories you hear are always the exception to the norm, "man doesn't get ripped off on eBay" isn't as newsworthy!

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Is a “Zone” Large Format Camera with gold plating legit?

Question

Has anyone heard of the brand "Zone", who makes large format cameras? I've been looking into buying a 4x5 large-format camera, and have been digging through eBay items. I came across this one:

NEW ~ Zone VI 4x5 Large Format Field Camera RARE MINT

It looks nice...however I am curious about the "Gold Plated Hardware" comment. Seems a little sketchy for a $1200 camera...a Linhof costs some five times as much, and it looks a lot less pretty. Is this thing legit? Is "Zone" a viable brand, or should I stick with the well-known brands like Linhof, Wista, Tachihara, etc.?

Answer

The brand is actually "Zone VI" and yes, it's a real, legitimate LF camera. Here's a blurb on that camera from largeformatphotography.info (which has a lot of good info on various large format stuff).

No idea on the gold plating, through.

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