How do one determine the resale price of a Canon camera body, lens, speedlite, etc?
After some buying and selling on clubsnap B&S section for 4 years, I noticed that the following "criteria" seem to more or less determine the resale value.
- item condition (cosmetic appearance, shutter counts, fungus presence, etc)
- age of item + number of current successors (e.g. a 30D has two successors)
- Is it still in production? (linked to previous)
- any warranty left
- any competing sellers
A couple of months ago, I bought a speedlite from an expatriate. He was selling lower than most of the current sellers (15-50% lower) and when I got the speedlite, it was almost as good as new. Before concluding the sale, I told him that the other sellers are selling higher than him and asked him why did he sell at such a low price. He said he bought the speedlite a year ago and so priced it about 50%. His depreciation value was 50% per year (of course there is a base price of sorts, if not it will be close to zero after 5-10 years!)
Another recent buyer (Brad) of my 10D mused about how some buyers would purchase a second-hand 50mm F1.8 lens for $100 when a brand-new one costs $130. He was puzzled at the behaviour of buyers in the resale market. He thinks that the reason for purchasing resale is to get a really good price for a old piece of equipment (Maybe if the 50mm was selling at $50, he would consider that a good buy)
So what do you think is the depreciation value of Canon equipment (seems to be much higher than Nikon's)? 50%, 20% or 10%? And do you agree with Brad's comments?
After some buying and selling on clubsnap B&S section for 4 years, I noticed that the following "criteria" seem to more or less determine the resale value.
- item condition (cosmetic appearance, shutter counts, fungus presence, etc)
- age of item + number of current successors (e.g. a 30D has two successors)
- Is it still in production? (linked to previous)
- any warranty left
- any competing sellers
A couple of months ago, I bought a speedlite from an expatriate. He was selling lower than most of the current sellers (15-50% lower) and when I got the speedlite, it was almost as good as new. Before concluding the sale, I told him that the other sellers are selling higher than him and asked him why did he sell at such a low price. He said he bought the speedlite a year ago and so priced it about 50%. His depreciation value was 50% per year (of course there is a base price of sorts, if not it will be close to zero after 5-10 years!)
Another recent buyer (Brad) of my 10D mused about how some buyers would purchase a second-hand 50mm F1.8 lens for $100 when a brand-new one costs $130. He was puzzled at the behaviour of buyers in the resale market. He thinks that the reason for purchasing resale is to get a really good price for a old piece of equipment (Maybe if the 50mm was selling at $50, he would consider that a good buy)
So what do you think is the depreciation value of Canon equipment (seems to be much higher than Nikon's)? 50%, 20% or 10%? And do you agree with Brad's comments?