Deals RF 200-800mm up for auction

[StevenAunan]

For anyone interested, Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona is selling a Canon RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS USM lens. Current bid is $1,101.

Used RF200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM

shopgoodwill.com

 

[JCBigler]

Still 4 days to go. Someone is going to watch it and push the price up at the last minute and snipe out from under everyone else. Then it will show up on eBay for $100 less than retail next week.

 

[ShipleyNW]

Still at $1,101. I predict the final prices will be ~$1600.

 

[ShipleyNW]

Well that took a little bit. Still nine hours left in the auction, but my bid of $1111.11 finally got beat.

I bid early, which I never do, but I started watching this auction early and I wanted to weed out the looky-loos; the ones who'll make 15 bids in $10 increments to kick the price up to $400. I figured my bid wouldn't win but it would change the tenor of auction so that only real bidders would participate.

So I had no real hopes of winning, but if I had won, I'd get a great lens at a steal of a price, use it a couple of times (maybe take it to the horse track where I test all my new telephotos), then sell it for a $500 profit. But with 9 hours left, no more need to worry about any of that. Still, in the unlikely event this thing is still near $1100 with a few minutes left, I may reassess.

 

[AntonLargiader]

It's only a dollar up from your bid... but there's no guarantee that it works properly, and it sounds like being broken isn't a reason for returning it. But their wording is a bit ambiguous as far as returns go.

 

[ShipleyNW]

You gotta go by the pictures. It's a newish lens, there's some rub marks so it's been used, but it's not beat up. It started solid, it's a Canon, probably donated by a widow or a business. I bet it's fine. It ended up selling for $1501. That's a very good price but probably too high for flipping, so I'm thinking it went to someone who intends to use it. Good.

If I had intentions of buying that lens to keep it, I might have tested that winning bid there at the end. Might be a long time before you see another one at that price.

 

[Archibald]

It looks very speculative. No warranty, sold as is. I don't think I'd have the nerve to bid a significant amount. Still, somebody probably got a bargain.

 

[ShipleyNW]

I outfit all my hobbies with used gear. I was brought up that way. It's the only way I know how. I've never bought a new camera, although I am kinda warming up to the refurbished market. I just bought a refurbished Garmin Epix 2 watch that replaced the Garmin Venu that bought on Goodwill for $60 and wore for 3 years. If it weren't for used stuff, I'd still be wearing a Timex and probably wouldn't have taken up photography.

I got into digital photography when I retired in 2020. Between 2020 and 2023 I had 32 lenses pass through the quiver. I tried everything I could find in an EF mount for <$700. The thing about used gear is that it doesn't depreciate much. If I'm smart enough about it, I can try a lens and if I don't find it useful, sell it for about what I paid for it and buy something else. And I shot with all of them. If you need a review of an EF lens, I probably have some thoughts and could share some shots. A few I bought just to flip when I saw a deal I couldn't pass up, but the goal was usually just to break even.

Mirrorless broke the bank. Selling all the EF stuff I had left only paid for about half my RF conversion, and there was hardly any used RF inventory on the market so I was paying top dollar for used gear.. After trying all those EF lenses, I came to the conclusion that I mainly use the trinity lenses. I run with the 3 f/4 options plus a 100-500 now and probably will until I die. Mirrorless cured my GAS.

But even with mirrorless, paying retail is dumb. RF lenses are sturdy. If it make it through the first year of use -- and I don't mind a little evidence that the lens has been out of the house and exercised -- it should last 10 years or more if it was treated well. Buying one in the middle of its life is way, way, way cheaper in the long run. A little riskier, sure, but not really.

 

[Archibald]

In the olden days I also bought lots of used stuff, including some high end stuff. Nowadays that's rare - I usually only buy new. Part of the reason is that current used gear goes for high prices, often about the same as new. You might save sales tax and that's it. Another reason is that some used gear has hidden defects. What happens when someone owns gear with a hidden quirk? They sell it on the used market. That's where that stuff ends up.

Refurb gear is used gear. It might be fine, but it might also have a hidden fault.

If you follow the forums for long enough, you will come across posts asking how an item is supposed to behave, because it sometimes does something unexpected. Then it is revealed that the item was bought used.

In the long run I think you will come out ahead with used gear, but it takes more work, and will occasionally result in a failure.

 

[JCBigler]

I’m always leery of buying used gear. Some sources have a better reputation that others, buying used from B&H, Adorama, KEH, etc… usually is a pretty solid bet. But it’s still a gamble. Personally, I wouldn’t buy used from an individual unless I know and trust them.

Buying refurb direct from Cannon I have full faith that the item is going to work or Canon will replace it under warranty.

 

[ShipleyNW]

I'm curious. With all the GAS discussion in the forums, what do you guys do with your old gear when you upgrade? Do you trade it in? Sell it? Keep it in storage? How much of that old gear is defective or broken?

Would you buy your old gear from you? I might. Look me up when you're ready to sell. If I was interested I could probably beat the price you'd get on a trade in and still pay less than what I'd pay to a used-camera middleman.

The 200-800mm lens at the top of this thread is exactly like that. It sold for more than you'd get from a commercial reseller, but less than you'd pay if you bought it from that same reseller. The only real difference here is that lens is a current production model and and its price will continue to depreciate as a newer model becomes eminent. The sweet spot with used camera gear is one generation old; still modern, but the price has mostly settled. If you decide to sell it once you're done with it, you can get back what you paid for it. You could look at that gear like a free rental.

 

[Archibald]

I sell my gear once it is replaced with a successor. I don't like having unused stuff around. (There are exceptions!)

The stuff I put up for sale is always 100% working and as-described. At times the person who shows up at the door to buy my article is someone I recognize, and that is never a problem.

 

[Archibald]

Maybe I should add, about selling used stuff... sometimes I'm not exactly sure of an item's state. I had an EF-s 18-55mm f/2.8 that randomly focused too close, often way too close. Sent it to Canon six times for this fault. They never corrected it. When stress levels got high, they told me by phone that it was a "feature". None of the online reviewers mentioned this issue except for Ken Rockwell. I sold it, as it was deemed to meet specifications. Later on, Bryan Carnathan also mentioned the focus inconsistency.

And there was the EFS 15-85mm, wonderful zoom range. But the photos were not sharp. They were almost sharp, but not really sharp. Everybody loved that lens, and nobody complained about the sharpness. What to do? I sold it.