Should I Discount For Age When Selling A Zoom?

bigeater

I am selling a 10- or 12-year old 24-70 f/2.8 and I'm wondering if I should adjust the price based on its age? It's in great condition, the zoom mechanism was rebuilt about 3 years ago, so it works about as well as it did when new. Everything else on it is great.
But I also want to be fair to the person who buys it. Or do I set a price, tell people its age and let them decide what they want to offer?

PB_PM

No need to adjust for age as long as it is in good operating condition. Just go for the most you can get, which is better now than a few years ago. If anything the refurbishing is a plus, not a negative.

Pistnbroke

Check the price on ebay and mpb who will give you a price ..depends which model and if its screw drive etc etc ,,often I find not worth selling on e bay ..just go to MPB.

Never seen anyone quote the age of the lens, its up to the buyer to do there research

mhedges

Yeah I would just look at what the same version lens in similar condition sells for. Age doesn’t really matter that much.

spraynpray

I bought a 17-55 f2.8 that was old and heavily used and that lens cost me a lot to get serviced. If the owner had been honest I wouldn't have bid so high. A recently serviced lens is more attractive.

PB_PM

Pistnbroke said:

Check the price on ebay and mpb who will give you a price ..depends which model and if its screw drive etc etc ,,often I find not worth selling on e bay ..just go to MPB

No Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 has a screw drive, the AF-S was the first 24-70mm F2.8, so it will be no more than 12 years old, the G first shipped in the fall of 2007. The last screw driven F2.8 mid-range zoom from Nikon was the 35-70mm F2.8D and that was replaced in 1999 by the AF-S 28-70mm F2.8D.

By the way, what is MPB? Must be European thing. Personally I agree to avoid eBay, they take way to big a cut on high priced items. Last lens I sold between eBay and Paypal taking a cut I lost over $100 of the sale price. Much easier to trade in at a local dealer, and no hassle with shipping etc.

bigeater

Great thoughts. Thanks. I agree on eBay, it can be a nightmare. The problem here in the United States is that dealers will offer you about half of what they can sell it for, which is understandable if you're in business. But that means if I took it into a dealer I'd get $500 to $550 at which point I might as well give it to an up-and-coming kid.

mhedges

Yeah eBay has it's faults but it is still the best option, I think. Trying to sell anything locally through Craigslist or Facebook is kind of a nightmare, Craigslist especially. I sold all my DX lenses and the grip for my D7200 on eBay last month and did very well, even after the fees. I got more than I expected, and had zero issues.

Pistnbroke

MPB is a large reseller of used photo goods ..They are in the us MPB.com . They collect and pay the postage and money straight to your bank account.
With e bay/paypal you loose 13% + the postage if you do freepost. If there is a problem you have to take it back and pay the return post...

mhedges

Yep eBay has risks, no doubt. They will side with the buyer 99% of the time in the event of a dispute. Still, you get so much more money for your stuff selling there vs. anywhere else, at least here in the states.

Symphotic

Absolutely. I think you should give us old guys a break.

Oh...Nevermind...

EricBowles

Yes and no. I don't think age by itself is a problem if you can get replacement parts and repairs are reasonably handled - so a 10-12 year old lens that can be repaired will carry a value similar to a 4-5 year old copy of the same lens with similar use.

Your 24-70 f/2.8 is a very nice lens and remains optically better than the VR version that replaced it. The issues with that lens are mainly related to the amount of use - not the age. In the case of that lens, if it squeaks when you zoom or focus, that's a very bad thing and drops value significantly. A squeak or stickiness in the zoom indicates potential problems with the Zoom track, which is very hard to fix and requires complete disassembly to repair. An AF squeak indicates a possible failure in the AF motor - a bigger problem and expense.

When you look at older lenses with AF motors - often from the 1990's - parts can be very hard to find. In particular, the AF motor of older telephoto lenses is no longer available so the lens can't be repaired. I'd expect those lenses to carry a much bigger discount for age than your 24-70. You can't expect someone to pay $2000 for a telephoto lens that has an old AF motor that can't be repaired.

If you want to evaluate your lens and get a good idea of condition, send it to KEH. They will clean and evaluate the lens and make an offer. If you don't like the offer, they'll return it to you at no charge. Their offer will probably be around 50-60% of their current selling price, but for an EX or LN condition lens, that may be okay for a quick sale. If they see any issues - squeaks, fungus, rough zoom, etc. - they will deduct a large amount from the value. They consider those things to make any lens "Ugly" and have to build in cost of repair even for potential failure in the future. But at least you'll know and can price it accordingly or keep it.