where do you buy used leica gear?

[mheine]

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I got all of my Leica equipment on EBay and had great experiences. My Leica Q did „just“ 2.600 Euro cost in January 2019 (bought February 2018) and my M10 went for 4.300 Euro (bought late 2017, Leica check April 2019) on July 2019. The Q was in a good / new condition, the M10 was like a new, not any scratch. 

[JeffWright]

In addition to Leica Store Miami, Leica Store SF/Camerawest. Popflash, I recommend lensauthority.com. Lensauthority.com basically sells lensrentals.com's gear after it's been used. You get the added advantage that each lens gets tested on an optical bench and assigned a quality rating. Very professional outfit. Also give you the option of purchasing extended warranty service for a reasonable price.

[Nachtmsk]

20 hours ago, JeffWright said:

In addition to Leica Store Miami, Leica Store SF/Camerawest. Popflash, I recommend lensauthority.com. Lensauthority.com basically sells lensrentals.com's gear after it's been used. You get the added advantage that each lens gets tested on an optical bench and assigned a quality rating. Very professional outfit. Also give you the option of purchasing extended warranty service for a reasonable price.

I've been a customer of LensRentals.com many times. They are excellent.  For those who might not know, when you rent something from them, they often give you the opportunity to buy your rental. There is a 'buy it' price quoted in your rental information. Prices tend to be on the high side though, at least from what I have seen.  I wasn't aware of lensauthority though, that's interesting. Checking that site, one thing I noticed that I'm not a fan of is the photos are not of the actual equipment, at least not the lenses I just checked out. They explain it keeps the cost down, but if I was going to buy something that went through a lot users all over the country, I'd want to see actual photos of it.

[BKimelb1]

The late, great Ken Hansen's family took over the business.  https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2019/06/17/ken-hansens-business-still-open-for-leica-orders/ Claudia Hansen his daughter with the help of his son-in-law Vico Sanchez are operating the business Khpny19@aol.com ,  (201) 410-7464.

I recently did business with Vico and am pleased to report that the  transaction went as  well as if I were dealing with Ken.

[pixeljohn22]

On 4/6/2020 at 7:05 PM, BKimelb1 said:

The late, great Ken Hansen's family took over the business.  https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2019/06/17/ken-hansens-business-still-open-for-leica-orders/ Claudia Hansen his daughter with the help of his son-in-law Vico Sanchez are operating the business Khpny19@aol.com ,  (201) 410-7464.

I recently did business with Vico and am pleased to report that the  transaction went as  well as if I were dealing with Ken.

Hi,

I am glad to hear this as I am about to purchase some gear from Vico. Do you know if he/they are an authorized Leica dealer?

 

Thank you.

[LeicaR10]

Pixeljohn22,   Yes, Ken Hansens is an authorized Leica dealer.  Been that way for many decades.  r/ Mark

[Scrapbook]

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My number 1 choice in Europe is: New Old Camera Milano. Very good material, kind and experienced shop manager (Mr. Watanabe) and good prices. 

Claus

[sunung1188]

I feel wherever you are, locally it is best. 
Being in Asia, BHPhoto, etc all have high shipping costs (naturally) and customs tax issues.

However, if it is something I need to have not available locally, I’ve had really good experiences on eBay with the stores from Japan.
They are generally a tad more expensive but provide FEDEX (most of the time free) and more importantly, amazing response time with items exactly as described.
So my go to on eBay is: Leica [model name] Japan lol 
And no, I’m not Japanese promoting the stores

[Olivier76]

In France I’d recommend the Leica Stores. I found out that other Leica Dealer, EBay or from owners always have flaws. Most of the time it’s just more expensive, plus (sometimes) the items are not as pristine as in stores, misses box, misses pictures, misses accessory, don’t accept card or check or money transfer, don’t accept to send the item by mail (mostly for items sold on forums), etc… 

Where as in Leica Stores, you go to the online second hand website and the cameras has good description of it’s conditions, photos and what’s in the box. You get 6 month warranty and if you can’t go to the store you make a money transfer and they send it to you. So to me it’s a no brainer 

[MikeMyers]

In the USA, the best place I have found to buy used photo gear is KEH.

https://www.keh.com/shop/search?q=leica

They grade their gear so you know the condition before buying, and they have a real warranty.  I bought a Nikon lens that had a problem with image sharpness, sent it back to KEH, they sent it to Nikon for repairs, and when it got back to me it was perfect.

The only "issue" is that they are so good, what they have sells quickly, so they often don't have what I'm looking for in stock.....   

B&H is always one of the first places I look, and that's where I got my M10 and several lenses.