I have a new treasure for you today
Ready?
Lets go…
A few months ago I was at a friend’s parents
house. Her parents had recently redone the
garage and turned their attic into some
extra living space (Their attic lookes huge now)
Anyway, the mom was showing me around when
she told me she had something for me to sell
on ebay
I thought to my self…
What could this item be…
So she took me up the attic, went around the
divider and came back with a basket that
contained some “stuff”
I chuckled.
I was thinking… Lets see what kind of
girly stuff are in there…
She lays the basket on the table and starts
pulling out things and places them on the
table.
I was like, oh my gosh, I dont want to sell these
things. I want to keep them for myself
See…
When she started showing me these old SLR
cameras (one of them was a Canon, the other
was an older Olympus), and all the accessories
that came with them, I felt like a little
kid in the playground.
I love photography. I would buy vintage
photography equipment at a good deal ANY DAY.
After thanking her forever, I took the
basket home and “played” with its contents
the whole evening.
Then next day hit me…
I wonder how much these would sell for on
ebay. so I looked into it and what I found
can be very lucrative to the right person:
Nikon F2 SLR Sold for: $219.51
Pentax LX SLR Sold for $200
Here are the data from my eBay Research Tool
63% List to Sale Ratio for the term “Film SLR”
with an average price of $77.03
With the rise of Digital cameras, people that
arent really into Photography, just decide to
get rid of their old cameras for pennies.
I ve bought vintage cameras from flea markets,
yard sales and thrift stores before. Now I dont
sell them because I am the kind of guy that
likes to buy them (I am the customer 
Dont forget that lenses, and other accessories
also do well on ebay. Some times vintage lenses
do better than cameras themselves.
Post your comments below
and let me know what you think about today’s
treasure
-Socrates
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59 Responses to 'Vintage Film SLR Cameras for Profits…'
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WOW!! That’s great info! I have an old Pentax camera I purchased back in 1972, along with several lens. Now if I can only talk my son into giving it back to me!!
I have a couple of older SLR cameras that I’ve been meaning to sell. Guess I should get busy! Love the overlooked treasures - keep ‘em coming!
You are absolutely right. I still have my Canon Sure shot from my Marlboro miles with case. Used very little. 35 mm.Only thing is, we wrote my son’s name on the camera and case because he took it to camp in the 6th grade. That was 9-11. A day never forgotten!!! Jenny from Ohio
I agree. I’m an old photo nut myself and am always on the lookout. I can’t believe what some of the old cameras will bring. I even found one of those little “spy” cameras from the 50’s that was in near perfect condition in a group buy for $10 and sold it for over $100 plus got over that for the other SLR lens that was with it. No one thought the little camera was real.
Al
I must be dumb, what is an SLR camera? Thanks.
I print some of your treasure News letters for my new eBay Students. I suggest they subscribe to your news letter. Thanks….Jim Sanderson, eBay Education Specialist, Tampa, Florida
I go to auctions and cameras always go for little or nothing, the only problem is that I know nothing about cameras and I wouldn’t know if they worked or how to run some of them. I agree, cameras can make you alot of money on ebay, alot of people just throw away the older ones! maybe an ad in the paper offering a little bit for old cameras can make someone a nice profit.
Hey Socrates,
Thanks for the heads up. Even though I have a digital point-and-shoot camera that I use most of the time, I still love my Olympus SLR film camera. When I want to take really good photos, I pull it out of the case, pop in a roll of film and snap away.
When I get the film processed, I have the photos put on a CD for just a couple bucks more. Then I can email them or post them to the web. The best of both worlds.
Think I’ll start looking around the yard sales (and eBay) for some more lenses. I never did get that telephoto I wanted a while back.
Keep up the good work!
John R. Cumbow
http://www.MisspelledBargains.com
Find the misspelled eBay auction
bargains that other bidders miss!
Hi Socrates,
I can’t wait to show my husband this post. Last summer he hit a bunch of yard sales. He has 3 cameras here that he has yet to list. One of them is an Olympus. You can tell they are all really good cameras. I think he has the same problem you do - he wants to keep them
Who knows, maybe this will motivate him.
I can hope.
Thank you for all the great ideas!
Tara
Thanks Socrates!
I really enjoy your emails, and look especially forward to hearing about the great finds you come across and how lucrative they can be on ebay!! I constantly get people trying to get me to see things for them on ebay. From furniture (which i would never sell on ebay), to the colored golf balls that you told us all about before. Keep the emails coming! If I lived closer to you we could get together and do some thrift store shopping and really make some dough. Great minds think alike!
Since Im a flower child, I never really used those old cameras, but I love to sit and “play” with them, and of course run it through ebay to see what its worth.
Thanks to you I dont look at garage sales or those bargain thrift stores the same at all!
Im sure I speak for all of us when I say thanks so much for all your great insight and I look forward to many more! ~Sebastian Michael
I don’t know how else to reach you. I purchased Joel Comm’s program through your link and I never received any link to the bonuses you promised.
Thank you
Michael Mehring
Hey Michael,
Please submit a ticket at:
http://mydigitalDispatch.com/support
with your receipt number, and one of our
support staff will get back to you with
instructions how to get your bonuses
Regards
-Socrates
Love your information. Looked at your video. Was great. I keep looking forward to reading your e-mails. LOADS of information and ideas.
Thanks.
Great information to know. A couple of years ago I bought some SLR cameras, including a Minolta, other cameras, plus a bunch of different lenses and cases and other interesting stuff. I thought it was a good deal for $100.00 for everything, so I bought it. I started to use it, and after fooling around with it, I put it in the closet. I will eventually sell them, but my daughter may need them for a future college class.
P.S. Check out my website for lots of info on marketing on the internet.
Well i have to agree with you yard sales can sometimes yield some mity fine slr’s
I like nikons “dont everyone ?” and Pentax i started with a old pentax 1000 many years age .My latest yard sale find is a nikon f1 i got it with four extra lens’
plus the standard 50 mm.They even thru in a whole box of old filters didnt think they would sell:-) .i gave $750 bucks for everything .that was good except i cant bring myself to sell them. I like your articles they help me brain storm .
Hi
Great treasure. Nice idea for some extra income.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Meditation
Great idea, Socrates. I must rummage around in the lumber room and look out my old SLR’s. I think there’s an old Poloroid 660 there as well.
Thanks for your emails. Always iteresting: keep ‘em comin’ !!
Answering Lin’s question in No. 5 - an SLR is a “Single Lens Reflex” camera. What that means is when you look through the viewfinder on the back of the camera you are actually looking through the main lens. What you see is exactly the same as what the film will see - a big advantage when taking closeups or switching between lenses. On other cameras the viewfinder has its own separate “lens” or window on the front of the camera body.
Hey Lin,
I didn’t know what an SLR camera was either so I just did a search on it. Check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-lens_reflex_camera
Hi Socrates,
I just loved this email and will look around now in the garage sales and auctions for it. I have an old handheld projector for slides. Are they worth anything?
And what about an antique watson microscope?
Thank you so much for your newsletters. Cheers from Hermina.
Hi
I have sold seven BROKEN old camera’s on eBay!!
Great info, thanks.
I see these items at estate sales from time to time. Thanks for iformation
I just got some of this old equipment. I will be posting it. Let you know how I make out
I have been afraid to buy SLR cameras at sales because I don’t know how to tell if they work good or not. Can you give any tips on what to check for. Obviously, I am not a camera buff like some of your fans. But, I would love to sell some for a profit. Thanks for all your good information!
Lin asks,I must be dumb, what is an SLR camera? Thanks.
SLR is short for Single Lens Reflex.
Great tip…just in a camera shop the other day and you can’t hardly find film anywhere so these are definitely collectors which makes the price go up!
Hmmmmm……I wonder if my husband would miss his Chinon slr and several lenses.
Nice idea but it did not work for me. In fact I still have a few vintage camera accessories listed in my eBay store. I have tried them several times at auction - NADA. They have been listed in my eBay store for months with a Best Offer option - NADA. Oh well, maybe it’s the ad.
I just dug out my old Minolta SLR camera while unpacking an old box from my move. I had planned on putting it in the “Amvets” box, but now I believe I’ll see what I can get on E-Bay. Thanks!!
Thats interesting
Will look around for something old and let u know
if it can be sold
TQ for the info.
I finally let go of my old Pentax K1000 about a year ago, but it took forever to get a sale on it. And I had 4 lenses, a handful of filters, tripod, lots of other accessories. I think I listed it at auction and in my store for about 8 months before someone finally grabbed it. Wish I had Hammertap back then, I’ve always suspected I would have made more if I didn’t sell the whole thing together as a lot!
I sold my old Nikon SLR film camera and lenses on ebay for almost $200. A local camera shop offered me only $30. I then turned around and bought a Nikon digital SLR on ebay. Later on I sold the lens that came with that camera and bought a better one on ebay. There are many things you may have around the house that can be put up for auction.
WOW guess I know what I will be looking for this yard Sale season as that is one thing I see alot of is old cameras. Thanks
My friend son stumbled upon this same “find” a few months ago and has done pretty well with it. I have hesitated as I don’t know if they work or not, but one respondent wrote that they have sold several broken cameras on E-bay, so, I may be rethinking my approach to these items.
Thanks for the tips.
Jackie
This is only a half truth. If you want to make money selling cameras you have to KNOW which ones are worth anything and which arent. Trust me, I sell cameras on ebay almost exclusively, and it takes more knowledge than just going to yard sales and estate auctions and buying stuff and reselling it.
Do you know how to properly test a camera so you can write up an accurate auction listing? Does the shutter work, and are the shutter timings correct? Does the meter work? Is there fungus in the lens?(most people who aren’t ‘into’ cameras wouldn’t even know how to look for fungus). Are there any light leaks in the back? These are things people really need to know.
You’re potentially doing people a disservice here just throwing out numbers without educating anyone on what to look for. I see it all the time…I have people bid against me at auctions and they bid through the roof…then I drop out of the bidding and they tell me weeks later when I see them again that they lost money on a camera.
Excuse my pessimism…but it’s people that go out and get cameras they don’t know anything about, list it ‘As Is’, or worse, list a broken camera as working, and leave a bad taste in buyers mouths because they got something that wasn’t in the condition they were expecting…it makes it harder for sellers like me to sell stuff.
And just to clarify my last post…I’m not trying to discourage anyone from reselling cameras, but the term ‘Film SLR’ is just way too broad and I’m a little disappointed that Socrates would direct people in this manner. For every example he gives above I could give you 10 examples of a Film SLR that only gets $20 or less on eBay.
Thanks everyone for the great comments. keep em coming.
John, I am not teaching how to run a camera shop
in this post. I identified an opportunity that
obviously exists on ebay. Thank you for confirming it.
(if this is what you do exclusively then it should
be profitable for you)
When people go out and sell used things As-IS
it is the buyer’s responsibility to bid appropriately.
Of course, you should describe the item to the best of
your ability.
Thank you for bringing this point up John.
Since you are an expert in this field,
it would be nice if you could share some tips
that could help our readers do this successfully.
Thank you.
Keep posting your comments…
-Socrates
Wow! I wish I had my old Pentax now! It was a great camera. Got lost in so many moves! Thanks.
Pat C.
I have been liqiudating NOS and vintage cameras for a consignment client who is a retired camera shop owner. He does great inspections and descriptions for the eBay listings, so we get top dollar most of the time. Cokin filters are VERY hot right now. Thank you so much for the “Treasure” newsletter. It allows me to give suggestions to members of my church to help our efforts at fund raising through my eBay selling. Keep ‘em comin’
Sue
A few comments, A pentax K 1000 (camera alone is a standard required students camera)Lenses with auto focus features will fit some digital cameras thus are worth
good usable prices.Selling as a package including lenses is always a good for the buyer.Film will be a usable item for a couple of years yet.By the way don’t touch Polaroid cameras.They don’t make polaroid film anymore as of two months ago. I could go on for ever
but being a collector for many years takes a lot of telling.
Wow,
That takes me back to Jr. High where our school was considered to be cutting edge because it had a full dark room for us to develop our pics in…(and sneak kisses
Hot Tip! Thanks Socrates, I’ll be digging for days looking for my boxes of early 80’s photo equipment! LOL
Savage
Thanks for the tip. MY dad has an old SLR. These tips are gold mines. Thanks again. Keith.
Good ifo. Very instructive. I am running adds for cameras. I use “completed sales” as a guide to figure purchase prices. Any suggestions. Thanks.
Good ifo. Very instructive. I am running adds for cameras. I use “completed sales” as a guide to figure purchase prices. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Once again a great “Heads Up” for folks. Thanks Socrates, I’ve sold 3 SLR cameras on Ebay over the last couple of years and got great money for them. Also thank you for all the other great info you’re always sending out. You’re kind of like a private motivator!
the information on the SLR cameras was very interesting but since i am not a camera buff i was just wondering what the SLR stands for.
I love your ideas and look forward to the e-mails. Once again, you’ve hit the nail on the head. I have and old Olympus OM10 camera with TONS of accessories that I have been wondering what to do with. Now I know! Well, gotta get busy listing it… Thanks!
Love your advices! Been eyeing some old SLRs at an Amvets thrift store in San Diego. Should go and check them out. Thanks for the tip, guys! Awesome!
Great info! I picked up a Cannon SLR for $25.00 just by hapstance at a garage sale because it seemed to be such a nicee quality thing..funny thing is was looking for those old Craftsman wrenches from your last Email!! LOL! Anyway..I have done very well with buyers locally as I am not an EBay person really although its a very good tool to mine information on what people are buying. YThanks for the tip!
Several years ago I was finishing up a Citroen DS21 Restoration for a customer. He suddenly passed away. His lastest bill I figured would go unpaid, but his wife insisted on paying me with his cameras. (He had been a professional photograper) I got 2 large boxes full of all vintage Leica and Rolliflex cameras, lenses and equiptment.
This was my first experience with eBay. I did my research and sold the items one piece at a time. That was the secret!
I was really amazed at what I got for those items, and how they were snapped up my people from Iceland to Tiawan.
Yes, there is a great market for that stuff out there! I wished that used car parts did as well.
Glad I read a few posts about the downfalls of this “treasure”. Socrates must be a collector, he is very happy about old cameras. Don’t spend any real money on cameras in shops to make anything on eBay. You really have to know what you are doing to sell vintage camera stuff. I’ve had old 1930’s Japanese lenses and equiptment, including original bulbs, and finally sold the whole thing for 99 cents…. Because I could not give much info on condition I suppose. Use the want it now posts to guide you-look at what people are looking for and if you see it - then go and get your find ready for resale.
MIchele
Well since you asked for tips I will give you my best one…Look for manuals. If you go to a garage sale and the manual is included with the camera and equiptment then you can bet has been well taken care of. Same goes for buying in pawn shops, get the packages that have manuals with them, they are almost always in excellent working order and clean. That will get you top dollar. I’m talking about the novice now, the one who does not have any experience with cameras and can’t check them out themselves - like me. The manual tip is one I followed and made many dollars from when selling on ebay.
Hey.. great ideal I have some older SLR camers and lens setting arround..and some SLR lens from a broken camera and some other cameras ..will post on ebay..thanks Socrates keep informing us .
I have sold many older cameras on ebay with very satisfactory results. also doing quite well at present are older Polaroids like SX70s
Yes, I think you are absolutely correct. People are obsessed with digital camera and many are off-loading their old film SLR camera. It is the right time to do some bargain hunting for old film SLR camera for ebay. Thanks for the great tip again !
GREAT Information Socrates - I appreciate you taking the time to send this stuff out - we can ALL use valuable information like this, ESPECIALLY in THIS economy!
Scott:
haven’t seen any updates to this blog in a quite a while… Are there no more overlooked treasures? Have all treasures been found? That can surely not be true…
No one’s minding the store?
Would love to have another issue of Overlooked Treasures… :\