Selling to Adorama (feedback)?

I'm thinking to changing my 100mm macro to the MP-E and was wondering if it may be easier to just sell the 100mm to Adorama and use it to get the MP-E, than selling it to a person and paying all kinds of fees.

Anyone sold to Adorama before? Would I get a fair price for my lens?

With all due respect to our friend Helen, you'll never get as good a price selling to a retailer as you could selling it yourself.

They need to leave margin for a profit when they flip it for re-sale. You don't...

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #12357550
With all due respect to our friend Helen, you'll never get as good a price selling to a retailer as you could selling it yourself.

They need to leave margin for a profit when they flip it for re-sale. You don't...

Absolutely. Not hating on retailers doing what they have to do, but that's just the nature of the beast.

Naturally I don't expect to get as much as I would if I sold to a private party, but at the same time I don't have to pay shipping, ebay fees, paypal fees, wait for a buyer etc.

I see the 100mm macro going on ebay for about $400-$450, so if I can get $350-$400 from Adorama I would be more than happy. Do you think this is possible, or would I be offered something funny like $200?

I.e., what I am asking is - has anyone attempted a sale with Adorama before, but the offer they got was so appalling that they just had to laugh?

I've not tried Adorama, but I have fed some stuff into the automated system at KEH and yeah, I sort of chuckled as I clicked BACK...

If all you're trying to get is around $350-$400 after fees, shipping, etc...Sell it for ~$430 here on the boards. Adorama will probably offer you a little over 50% of that.

your not going to get close to 350 my guess is they will offer you 250 max based on other threads I have read like this

atlrus wrote in post #12357727
or would I be offered something funny like $200?

Exactly like that.

B&H will offer you 175.00 if it's mint. I dont see Adorama offering you all that much more. Seriously, it's worth the wait to find someone to buy it for $300+. It's not all that difficult to safely ship a lens (nor expensive), and if you sell north of $300 and it brings you down to netting $300, I think that's much better than the instant gratification of selling for $175 (probably closer to $150).

From what I've seen people get offered approx. 70% of an average sale price here on the forum when they sell to Adorama.

What you get from Adorama also depends on whether they feel there is a market for the used equipment. They do not buy everything that is offered, and my experience with them is that they do tend to lowball, although they do a bit better if the money is going to be spent in the store.

Private sale is generally better.

I am not too concerned about safety shipping since I have the original box with the styrofoam, but I was hoping to be able to kill two birds with one stone

I would do ebay only as a last resort, since I hate being hit by ebay and paypal, just on principal, but I guess I would give the local CL a shot, since it's not an expensive lens I may get some buyers in the area...

Thanks for the info!

atlrus wrote in post #12357533
I'm thinking to changing my 100mm macro to the MP-E and was wondering if it may be easier to just sell the 100mm to Adorama and use it to get the MP-E, than selling it to a person and paying all kinds of fees.

Anyone sold to Adorama before? Would I get a fair price for my lens?

I would shy away, you'll never get a good price, in my case I was told one number but totally different quote when they actually got the item. I just asked to send it back and sold in on CL in 2 days for a much more fair price.

They have an 800 number. Is there any reason you will not call them and get an actual price from them? Then you could ask about the price of the lens you are interested in after the trade-in.

I sold a lens back to Adorama once, as part of an upgrade. As others have described, you will not get anything near to what you could sell it for or anything you would consider "fair value". If you have the time and put a little effort, you will definitely get a better price.

I do not plan on selling to Adorama or any of the retailers again, as at the end of the day, it seems to be the standard business model.