Value of Boxes/Packing Materials

[LocalHero1953]

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The Leica cameras I have bought new have come in those cardboard miniature chests of drawers. Although they are an utter waste of effort, money and material resources, in the few minutes it takes to explore them after getting home I get a brief rush of dopamine, so I'd be sorry to see them go.

Leica should redesign them so they could be in permanent use as decorative storage units (perhaps in walnut) for lens and body caps, VISOs, OUFROs, filters, SD cards, batteries, hotshoe covers, QR plates, dioptres, soft releases, thumbies, filter thread protectors, L-M and L-R adapters, red dots and black dots, TL2 strap lug blanks and, finally, the little tool that removes the TL2 strap lugs.

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[pippy]

58 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Leica should redesign them so they could be in permanent use as decorative storage units (perhaps in walnut) for lens and body caps, VISOs, OUFROs, filters, SD cards, batteries, hotshoe covers, QR plates, dioptres, soft releases, thumbies, filter thread protectors, L-M and L-R adapters, red dots and black dots, TL2 strap lug blanks and, finally, the little tool that removes the TL2 strap lugs.

Funnily enough there has been a leaked image of the box for the upcoming M11 'Arthur Negus' Limited Edition which seems to cover your wish;

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Personally when I buy a camera or lens and it comes in a box I do, in fact, use it to store stuff such as you mention.

Philip.

[mmradman]

Sturdy cardboard boxes with good lids are handy for storage, shoes and leather goods packaging for instance (want mention brands) also airplane personal hygiene pouches.

Leica packaging, not really all that useful except some of the lens leather pouches.  

[Dennis]

11 minutes ago, pippy said:

Funnily enough there has been a leaked image of the box for the upcoming M11 'Arthur Negus' Limited Edition which seems to cover your wish;

And this is the perfect case when the "box" will value more than camera over time 😳

[Dennis]

I usually don't keep boxes after one year approximately. As someone said in other posts here, after a trial period, when everything is doing well with my purchase, I just use the lens for life (if I don't sell it within the first 12 months). Why keep the boxes? I buy for use, not for collecting. I would say that I hope I don't sell anything in the future 🙂 Because this means my purchase was the right choice.

[mmradman]

Suppose this could be a good subject for Barnak's bar. 

Humans always seek good containers, ostrich egg shells as water containers seem to recall are popular with old African tribes. I observed this fascination with handy containers at the gates of Kruger Park many years ago, group of park rangers, who were not bushman but white settlers variety, seem to be more fascinated with metal box containing mints rather than mints itself.  For instance I like instant coffee metal containers with plastic lids, plastic film canisters.  All good for nails, bolts, screws, nuts, washers, etc.  Bigger things like lens filters sit well in shoe boxes 😀.  

[pgk]

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21 minutes ago, Dennis said:

Why keep the boxes?

Useful for sending stuff off for service although most are actually too bulky to be honest. When I've sent in lenses to Leica, on two or three occasions I think, they have comeback in a far more useful foam lined cardboard boxes which I do keep for the same purpose.

[ianman]

Boxes can be undone and stored flat. It’s all the rubbish inside that takes up space. Meaning boxes within boxes and cardboard inserts, not the gear!

[Dennis]

21 minutes ago, pgk said:

45 minutes ago, Dennis said:

Why keep the boxes?

Useful for sending stuff off for service although most are actually too bulky to be honest. When I've sent in lenses to Leica, on two or three occasions I think, they have comeback in a far more useful foam lined cardboard boxes which I do keep for the same purpose.

 It makes sense. But I've been lucky enough to never have sent stuff for service in 20 years. How great is that? Lucky? Best practice? 

I keep them a while just in case (warranty, plus if for some reason change my mind). And if I will need to repair something in the future, I will create my super-rugged (ugly but effective) custom box 🙂 

[ravinj]

On 9/2/2021 at 10:09 PM, BKimelb1 said:

I had water in my basement due to Hurricane Ida and boxes/packaging for my apo-Summicron 90 f/2, Summicron 50 f/2 and others were ruined.  Many ads for used Leica lenses say they have boxes.  Is the value of these well-kept lenses diminished if you don't have them?  My lenses were stored two stories above the basement in my dry bedroom.  They were unaffected.

Yes. It may impact the price by $100-$300 (or more) depending on the item. This is based on my experience buying and selling  several dozen Leica M and SL lenses / cameras over the past few years. I had buyers that would not only inspect the box but also that the serial numbers on the outer gray box, inner box and test cert matched that of the lens. Given the value of some of the items it makes sense.

If your Summicron 50 is not the APO version and not 6-bit coded, then little to no impact on price, box or no box. A bit of price impact likely on the 90 APO. I assume you are taking about M lenses. 

As a buyer, I would definitely not buy some lenses like the SL primes and 35 Lux FLE, M 50 APO without original boxes unless a meaningful price reduction was done. Same for M10 and above. Less important for M240 and older.

So it is not a big catastrophic loss in your case. More important is that you are safe. 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by ravinj

[BKimelb1]

Thanks for all your replies. Ironically a cleaning service unplugged our sump pump to connect a vacuum cleaner and forgot to plug it back in. I checked  the pump after Hurricane Henri a week ago and it was fine then. 

Also, inexpensive Nikon lens and camera boxes were dry..  The apo-90 was my most expensive lens.. My 35mm is not an FLE just your basic asph cron.  I have all the other stuff: cases, caps, inspection cards and instructions in my home office on 1st floor.  Also have the boxes for my M10 and MP there. 

Drying the boxes was out of the question.  I wouldn't want to put them on if I sell.  That would be very shady. 

Not that much damage but  a really mess. Our basement is unfinished just painted.  People who finished them had huge problems.  

We are very lucky a woman died nearby and they were still doing fast-water rescues today.  Our daughter barely make it to us. 

[ravinj]

Good to hear the gear is safe and obviously that you and family are safe. I live near Princeton and the overall flood situation is worse than what I saw after Sandy. 

[cheekz4dayz]

On 9/3/2021 at 11:11 PM, BKimelb1 said:

Thanks for all your replies. Ironically a cleaning service unplugged our sump pump to connect a vacuum cleaner and forgot to plug it back in. I checked  the pump after Hurricane Henri a week ago and it was fine then. 

Also, inexpensive Nikon lens and camera boxes were dry..  The apo-90 was my most expensive lens.. My 35mm is not an FLE just your basic asph cron.  I have all the other stuff: cases, caps, inspection cards and instructions in my home office on 1st floor.  Also have the boxes for my M10 and MP there. 

Drying the boxes was out of the question.  I wouldn't want to put them on if I sell.  That would be very shady. 

Not that much damage but  a really mess. Our basement is unfinished just painted.  People who finished them had huge problems.  

We are very lucky a woman died nearby and they were still doing fast-water rescues today.  Our daughter barely make it to us. 

Glad to hear you and your family are safe! That's most important!

 

To your original question: personally if I'm buying from a forum and you disclose what happened and are honest I would still purchase the lenses. Especially if it's a Lens I really want besides I live in NYC I have no space for all the boxes 😂

[plaidshirts]

On 9/2/2021 at 7:09 PM, BKimelb1 said:

I had water in my basement due to Hurricane Ida and boxes/packaging for my apo-Summicron 90 f/2, Summicron 50 f/2 and others were ruined.  Many ads for used Leica lenses say they have boxes.  Is the value of these well-kept lenses diminished if you don't have them?  My lenses were stored two stories above the basement in my dry bedroom.  They 

From my experience, yes, and it isn’t unique to Leica lenses. I used to collect, buy and sell quite a bit of video games across different platforms. Although the rarity and condition of the game discs or cartridges were paramount, the next biggest delta was the original packaging and literature. All things being equal the more complete package always fetched a higher price. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by plaidshirts

[BKimelb1]

PS, given that it was an extreme situation such as Hurricane damage and I am the original owner, Leica has agreed to very kindly replace my boxes.

[rsolomon]

I think that the bottom line is that it’s important to some, so yes there is some value, pert the real question is how much value 

[RexGig0]

I just followed some “evil-bay” auctions, in the USA, that ended yesterday. The seller was liquidating an estate. None of the lenses had boxes, but appeared to be in quite good condition. An 18mm SEM ended at $3383. A 21mm SEM ended at $2213! An APO 75mm ASPH ended at $2632!

For reference, I had noticed that pre-ownedAPO 75mm ASPH lenses, listed on the evil bay, with boxes and papers, had recently tended to sell for about $3K. That is about what I paid for my pre-owned APO 75mm ASPH, with box and papers, in February 2022.

Edited March 13, 2022 by RexGig0

[idusidusi]

On 9/3/2021 at 1:16 PM, Ouroboros said:

If I buy new I keep the box, original packaging, leather pouches and all the other stuff that Leica use to bulk-up the perceived value of the contents because it does seem to make things more saleable further down the line.  If I'm buying used, it doesn't bother me if there is a box or not as long as the 'grading' is truthful.

 I would be happier if Leica simplified and reduced the amount of crappy, over-designed and environmentally unfriendly packaging they seem to think photographers want (along with a commensurate cost reduction, of course!)  🤬   

 

I can partially agree. The outer grey box serves no purpose for me, that they could do without. Inside that is the standard lens box which is fine. Most camera makers including Leica add in a camera strap with the camera, I could do without that, so for me if there was none in the box I would not miss it. I would appreciate a lower cost taking out these items.

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Hallo,

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[idusidusi]

On 9/3/2021 at 4:54 PM, pgk said:

I think, they have comeback in a far more useful foam lined cardboard boxes which I do keep for the same purpose.

Definitely worth keeping.

[LeicaS2]

I have kept the boxes just to keep bits and pieces organized. I done use lens shades with my M lenses so they stay in the box.

I keep the boxes for resale too. I have more than ten boxes so that’s $1,000?

But with M lenses I have learned the hard way, never to sell an M lens. So frankly, I should throw away the boxes?