UK - Jessops Used Equipment

Has anyone been able to get onto the Jessops online used equipment database recently?

It seems to have gone, wondering if they are winding that bit down?

Yes. Jessops announced some months ago that they were abandoning the secondhand camera gear business. Basically, that puts them out of business as they're now competing with Smiths, Dixons and Asda!

Jessops 2nd hand was never the best. Most times that I would phone up the regional store that was indicated as holding stock for the 2nd hand item only to be told that said item was sold 6-8 months previous and that the website was slow to update....

triumph wrote in post #2048103
Jessops 2nd hand was never the best. Most times that I would phone up the regional store that was indicated as holding stock for the 2nd hand item only to be told that said item was sold 6-8 months previous and that the website was slow to update....

My local Jessops when I lived in Britain had an assortment of lenses in their window - secondhand lenses - that they removed the filters and caps from in order to sell separately. The glass accumulated dust like anything. I've seen staff dropping secondhand goods and say "it's only secondhand - nobody will know".

Actually, most camera shops got caught with their pants down when digital arrived because now very few people are interested in old manual focus kit nor in old auto-focus film kit. That's largely what they have in their secondhand assortment. Also the digital stuff depreciates so rapidly that unless they pay a really insulting amount for it then they're going to lose money by selling it.

My favourite local shop in Britain changed its camera sales totally. They used to sell secondhand lenses etc but those are now its camera museum. They used to have a whole wall dedicated to films, papers and developers. Now they have a single shelf devoted to films, papers and developers. The rest is all digital. They always have short supply of digital purely because it's not possible now to order 20 cameras of each type. They depreciate so rapidly that by the time the 20th has sold, it's barely selling for what the shop paid.

They were selling it on ebay (canon style) but that appears to have gone too now!

BTW I believe that ebay killed the 2nd hand stock in camera stores. By the time the store had cleaned and inspected a piece, then added the cost of the warranty, there's no way they could compete.