Do you have any regrets on selling your camera lenses?

This is a learning experience for me.

I also noticed the person who I dealt with wasn't friendly to me. Is this common when you sell something to a store like they look down on you / belittleness etc? He looked dead serious about the price and didn't want to waste time. Instead he managed to chat to another girl who stood next to me trying out an old camera. I'm still a "customer " to him. And I was thinking of upgrading to a new camera once my financial situation has sorted out. If that's how he treats customers like that I will shop elsewhere.

Tangles wrote in post #18276191
I also noticed the person who I dealt with wasn't friendly to me. Is this common when you sell something to a store like they look down on you / belittleness etc?

This is a well known negotiation technique. If you tried to walk away, that person would have suddenly shown much more interest in buying your lens for a steal.
I suggest you shop elsewhere. Honest persons do exist, they are just a little harder to find.

Tangles wrote in post #18276191
This is a learning experience for me.

That's about as good as it gets!

I sold three lenses here. I priced them on the lower end of their worth, even though they are all in pristine condition. A single buyer asked me to discount each lens $25 and he'd buy them all. They were all priced to sell quickly so I wasn't sure. Then I figured.... one insured shipment instead of three. I made the deal.

I sort of regret selling the 35mm f/2 IS lens. I might end up buying that one back one day.

I sold my 70-200 f/4.0L IS, 17-55 f/ 2.5 and 60D because I was very sick and needed the cash to make my Health Insurance deductible. I regret the living crap that I sold the gear. I'm in the processes of saving for another 70-200L or a 100-400L II...............

Chief_10Beers wrote in post #18277753
I sold my 70-200 f/4.0L IS, 17-55 f/ 2.5 and 60D because I was very sick and needed the cash to make my Health Insurance deductible. I regret the living crap that I sold the gear. I'm in the processes of saving for another 70-200L or a 100-400L II...............

wow thats a bummer, fortunately where I live we have a great health care system, I know from experience that if I need surgery or whatever its all taken care of,so I dont bother with health insurance although I could as an extra but not worth it right now.

As for lenses I have sold two and I regret it, my 8-15L fisheye and my 100L macro and I miss them all the time.

OP, I've been in your shoes before, I've had to make sacrifices in order to make ends meet financially, and it's painful. Do whatever it takes to get out debt, as it is really is a huge weight on your shoulders. In the end, the small loss you took on selling the lens will be forgotten, so don't let it bother you too much.

I've regretted selling 3 lenses in my time: 100L, 16-35 f/4, 100-400 II.

I've since repurchased each of these lenses, and will try not to sell them again.

Great advices everyone. Looks like I will need to let go of my 100 f2.8 L lens pretty soon. I resigned without a job lined up so I need to sell stuff to get through rough times. Don't want to borrow money from my family members because they don't know about my situation.
Some of you guys raised some good points here. I can always buy things back when my situation improves.
Should have sold these lenses earlier instead of become attached to them because I'm paying almost double the interest to the bank for being late with the min payments.

100mm f2.8 L is a pretty good lens but I were to start again I would buy a zoom lens rather than a prime lens since it covers more focal distances.

Question: when you sell personal things on ebay do you need to create an invoice?

Tangles wrote in post #18278554
Great advices everyone. Looks like I will need to let go of my 100 f2.8 L lens pretty soon. I resigned without a job lined up so I need to sell stuff to get through rough times. Don't want to borrow money from my family members because they don't know about my situation.
Some of you guys raised some good points here. I can always buy things back when my situation improves.
Should have sold these lenses earlier instead of become attached to them because I'm paying almost double the interest to the bank for being late with the min payments.

100mm f2.8 L is a pretty good lens but I were to start again I would buy a zoom lens rather than a prime lens since it covers more focal distances.

Question: when you sell personal things on ebay do you need to create an invoice?

Sorry to hear about the hardships, man. And you're in the right frame of mind: do what you have to do now, and come back to photography later once you're able. It'll be here, don't worry

As for an eBay invoice, the only time I've done that is if the buyer didn't pay the day of auction ending, or if I charged for shipping and had to send them a final price. Otherwise, not usually.

Boy, a lot of different responses here. Firstly, photography equipment is a luxury item unless you pay the rent/mortgage and food with the income earned from photography. Credit cards are not "free money" to just buy stuff. Unless you have the funds to pay the credit card debt, don't buy stuff on credit.

Regarding selling used camera euipment to camera stores. The price the store offers you for your gear is the wholesale price which is usually 50% less than the used selling price. Therefore, if the used selling price for a Canon 135L is $700 and the store offered $400, the OP got a good deal.

Photgraphy is an expensive hobby. The cost of this hobby is from discretionary funds and not from money needed to repair your house or car or pay your debts or living expenses. If after you pay for all this stuff and there is money left over, then use that money to buy cameras and lenses. If there is little or no money left, you may need to re-consider the photography hobby.

I just sold my 100mm lens on eBay ( a quick sell that took only less than 5 mins) but nobody had told me that PayPal will hold the funds up to 21 days until the buyer receives the goods! I would not have sold anything if I didn't need the money. I had to ask my brother to lend me some money so that I could ship the item. I just hope the buyer is genuine one.

I also didnt realise how expensive the paypal fee was - $15!! I'm not sure how much eBay final fee is. All that bring the price down to $550 AUD included shipping!

Selling seems to be a very interesting field - I still haven't master the negotiation part and I'm too soft in accepting what ever price the buyer has to offer me. By looking at the buyer's profile he seems be like someone who buys and sells things to make a profit.

Notastock - Thanks for your enlightening post. In my last job I was making good money but I fell into hindsight in believing that things will stay the same. Off course everything is temporary -including my current situation . I try to look for the good in every bad situation. At least I get to know that I can survive on a simple life and what to spend on. Clothes and books are bad investment. But with camera lens you just need to know where to sell so that you don't end up with a huge lost.
My mistake was leaving selling to the last minute because I got attached to my possessions.

** update: this is bad. EBAY final fee is 59. Shipping cost 38 ( since I provide free shipping). Packaging material $5...... in the end I priced this lens too little and not much difference than selling my 135mm.

The poster doesn't have enough posts to sell here. I feel his pain.
As I'm about to sell my first, I made a small upgrade so I won't notice much. On the note of debt, being able to sleep at night without worry is worth far more than some toys. Good luck OP.

Have you sought legal advice about your debts? Here in the UK it isn't difficult to at least get interest frozen during times of hardship.