For many photographers, gear is personal and hard to part with. However, selling off gear that’s collecting dust can be a great way to clear up space or buy other products that might get more use. In addition, I like the idea that my old gear is useful or valuable to someone else; some of the products I’ve sold have gone to young kids or budding photographers. You can sell your bodies and lenses to photo stores like BH Photo. However, you typically trade convenience for lower prices. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, selling on eBay is likely the way to go.
What sells?
My Vivitar 285 HV flash photo for eBay. There’s a much higher supply for these flashes than demand. It took me several weeks to sell and it only went for $10.
You can probably sell anything on eBay. However, what you are selling has an impact on how quickly and competitively it will sell. Name-brand bodies, lenses, and computers seem to sell quickly and have high demand. I’ve found it more difficult to sell accessories like flashes and camera bags especially if they are not name-brand.
Before you sell anything, you should get a sense for how much the item typically goes for and how often people actually buy the item. To do this, search for the gear you want to sell. Select the condition (e.g. used) that your product has. Then scroll down to the “Show Only” filter options and select “Sold.” These prices are what you should expect to get for your product. Also glance at how often the item is selling. Some products may be selling multiple times per day whereas other ones only a few times per week. If there is a much greater supply than demand, it may take longer to sell. For example, there are dozens of used Vivitar 285 flash variants on sale. However, on average, only about one per day is actually sold.
Lately I’ve decided that if an item is in low demand and worth less than $20 then I don’t personally think it’s worth the effort to put it on eBay. I either try Facebook Marketplace, donate the item, or bundle it together with other gear on eBay.
Sometimes bundling gear together is a good idea. This saves time compared with making individual listings and it may be difficult to sell obscure or very cheap items (e.g. filters) individually. However, for more expensive or popular products, you will probably make more money selling items individually than together. This is because the number of people who want the bundle is likely lower than those who are interested in the individual items.
The Listing
To create a good listing, it helps to have experience buying on eBay and paying attention to what draws you in as a buyer and motivates bidding. For me, the top three things are
Catchy title
Detailed description
Pictures that show the condition of the product
Having a good title helps your listing stand out from the rest. As a buyer, I gravitate towards titles that feature words like “mint”, “excellent”, “like new”, or “perfect.” These are good words to include if they actually describe your product. With that said, I have a tendency to be afraid of overselling and often label things as “very nice” or “great condition” instead. I recommend making the titles as descriptive as possible within the character limit.
For the product descriptions, I try to include all the details that I would want to know if I were buying the product:
How does the product look aesthetically?
How does the product function?
Any known issues?
How has the product been tested?
When applicable, has the product been factory reset?
Finally, try to create somewhat of a human connection. Explain why you are selling the product. I often say things like “I’ve shot with this trusty lens for many years but no longer need it anymore and I’m hoping that I can find it a new home.” I think that adding this small human touch can make the difference between someone bidding on your listing instead of another.
Taking Great eBay Pictures
Having nice pictures can help your listing stand out among your competitors. Photographers are visual people and I think they have some added appreciation for high quality photos on eBay. I’m more likely to click on a listing with a high quality photo than an otherwise equivalent one with a lower quality image. However, it’s important to prioritize function over form. The functional purpose of the photographs is to show what you are getting in this listing and what the condition of the products are.
My strategy is to have one comprehensive picture that shows everything in the listing and then a number of detailed shots to show the condition of the main product or products. I usually put the comprehensive shot as the main image for the listing. This will include things like the original box, manual, and the piece itself. If it’s a kit then it will show every item in the kit. For the detail shots, I show the product on all sides and make sure to highlight any defects. Before taking the photographs, I always dust and clean the products as much as possible.
Whenever possible I shoot the images inside a “light box.” I got mine on Amazon but there are many versions of this available. This product makes it really easy to shoot high quality images with little effort. If I cannot fit the gear inside this box, I place it on my kitchen table. Bouncing flash off the ceiling produces a nice effect on the reflective table.
In general, having a low-key simple background works well. I typically shoot f/11 to keep a large depth of field. It’s helpful to shoot manual so that every image is exposed the same. Because of this, I can edit one image in Lightroom and sync the settings to every other photo in the set.
Shipping
The cost of shipping was surprising to me when I first started selling on eBay. I’m used to paying nothing for 2 day shipping on Amazon prime…and so is everyone else. High shipping rates will deter people from bidding even if your listing has a good price otherwise; people feel like they are being ripped off. Here’s some tips:
Ship in envelopes instead of boxes.
Use the smallest box you can.
Get USPS flat rate boxes and check if you can ship cheaper with this method. The boxes are free and you can pick them up from a Post Office or order online. If you are shipping something heavy then this is probably the cheapest option.
Ship through eBay which is supposed to be cheaper than shipping external to eBay.
If you are selling something relatively expensive (>$100) you might consider offering free or flat rate shipping to attract customers. If you do this, be sure that you know the maximum shipping price your item could require and make sure you will still be satisfied with the sale at that price.
As of this writing, eBay actually stores four addresses for each account:
Registration address
Shipping address
Ship from address
Return address
For most people, all four of these should be the same. However, it’s important to keep them all updated. Recently I sold an iPad but the buyer decided to return it. Although my shipping address was correct, my return address was a previous residence and the returned iPad was shipped there without my knowledge.
Planning Ahead
If you think you will sell your gear on eBay in the future, there’s some things you can do now in the meantime to help prepare. First, keep your gear in good shape (e.g. use UV filters on the lenses). If you have space, consider keeping the original box, manuals, and accessories that come with new gear purchases. Buyers like to have these items since it feels more like they are purchasing a new product.
When a buyer looks at your listing, they will probably look at your eBay feedback score. As of this writing, feedback scores are only based on the last 12 months. If you don’t buy or sell on eBay very often, this can be a problem because your feedback score will be 0 if you’ve had no activity in the last 12 months. This turns away some buyers particularly if you are selling something expensive. For this reason, it may be useful to maintain a feedback score by occasionally buying or selling.
I’ve noticed that most buyers don’t leave feedback scores. I’ve started politely asking for feedback from buyers if they don’t leave feedback after 2 weeks. I’m not sure if this is common “accepted” practice or not. But be sure to leave feedback for the buyer before asking them for feedback.
Conclusion
Selling on eBay does take some effort but once you do it a few times it becomes pretty easy. If you’ve been shooting for many years, you may find that your collection of unused gear is worth a lot. Selling it off may allow you to get that new lens or body that you otherwise thought you couldn’t afford.