Pyrogallol Posted January 21 Share #1 Posted January 21 Advertisement (gone after registration) I saw this enquiry yesterday. I found the response blunt if not rude. If I was someone making my first enquiry about a Leica camera/lens I would find the response off putting and would dismiss the Forum as not friendly. By all means say that the Forum rules do not allow valuations, though all over the Forum are discussions about cameras and lenses costing tens of thousands of Pounds/Dollars, But please make suggestions of places to find the relative value of the item in question, E Bay etc., how common it is or how scarce. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 21 Posted January 21 Hi Pyrogallol, Take a look here Poor response to valuation enquiry. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted January 21 Share #2 Posted January 21 ?? I linked to Collectiblend. I fail to see any rudeness. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesphoto99 Posted January 21 Share #3 Posted January 21 1 hour ago, Pyrogallol said: I saw this enquiry yesterday. I found the response blunt if not rude. If I was someone making my first enquiry about a Leica camera/lens I would find the response off putting and would dismiss the Forum as not friendly. By all means say that the Forum rules do not allow valuations, though all over the Forum are discussions about cameras and lenses costing tens of thousands of Pounds/Dollars, But please make suggestions of places to find the relative value of the item in question, E Bay etc., how common it is or how scarce. It opens up a can of worms to make evaluations without seeing the actual item in person. And if a member makes a wrong one.... well we all know how that might go. Best bet I've used is to look up what has sold on eBay. Or peruse KEH, MPB, etc etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deeetona Posted January 21 Share #4 Posted January 21 No such a post will ever make people happy. It will end up in endless discussion over an object that only the TO has ever seen or handled in real life. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 21 Share #5 Posted January 21 The main reason is liability for the forum if a wrong valuation is given. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted January 21 Share #6 Posted January 21 Maybe saying “cannot” rather than “will not” might be better. And refer them to to pinned thread about “Inheriting a Leica” Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesphoto99 Posted January 21 Share #7 Posted January 21 Advertisement (gone after registration) I think per the O.P.'s comment that we talk about the cost of gear on here, it's typically done in vague terms, such as "old 50 Summitar's tend to run between $200 to $500 these days (check date), all depending on the condition," and not "Your Summitar should fetch $500, don't accept a penny less." I'm also on the Naim hifi forum, and there they don't allow for any links to commercial products of any kind, for sale or not. This forum is pretty easygoing compared to many. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtodrick Posted January 21 Share #8 Posted January 21 Doesn't seem rude to me at all. I'm on a couple different forums...watches and archery...none of them will give evaluations sight unseen. The fact that jaapv posted a link is a bonus. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 21 Share #9 Posted January 21 If the OP found us I expect that they could more easily have found eBay and searched sold items for realistic ideas of values. I’ve seen instances on other forums where a new poster asks for advice about something they’ve been given/found/picked up at a jumble etc., really fishing for a buyer, only to disappear into thin air when someone transfers the funds…. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jankap Posted January 21 Share #10 Posted January 21 (edited) I wrote a message 11 hours ago. Contents: expect no high revenues. Together with a page from EBay. Edited January 21 by jankap Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted January 21 Share #11 Posted January 21 vor 3 Stunden schrieb jaapv: The main reason is liability for the forum if a wrong valuation is given. Your decision to close the thread was right. No discussion about this. Though I think the Forum‘s liability is not stake in any of these cases. Imagine I had written: „Oh, this is a 9 cm Elmar from 1952, it‘s certainly worth more than 50,000 €.“ This would have been nuts and caused no liability of the Forum. Same if someone had stated: „Maybe …€“ and another „…€+30 or -30€“ It‘s just individual responsibility. If you havn’t seen the item in reality you cannot give any evaluation of it‘s worth. Even more important: the discussion threads of this Forum are no market place for people who obviously have only commercial interests. They may offer their items in the „Classified“ section of this Forum https://www.l-camera-forum.com/classifieds/ but not expect the help of others for their sales. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 21 Share #12 Posted January 21 The liability lies in:” I was told it was worth 100€ and sold it for 120 and now I find it was a prototype worth 12.000…” Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted January 21 Share #13 Posted January 21 I could sleep very well with liabilities like this. Does any user here offer certificates of the qualification of their „valuation“? It‘s just opinion - and therefore not worth a dime. No. The header of this thread is wrong. It should be: „Right resonse to valuation enquiry“. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 21 Share #14 Posted January 21 Another issue with ‘valuations’ on unseen items is condition. The OP may say that the lens is in great condition but how much do they know in order to make that assessment? I bought a ‘great condition’ lens from an eBay seller once that turned out to be more fungus than lens, with a heavy dose of cleaning marks thrown in for free. When I pointed out the issues they responded saying they didn’t know about such things but it looked OK to them. It was returned and refunded but unless someone knows what they are talking about a condition report is meaningless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted January 21 Share #15 Posted January 21 As Jaap has done, I always give a link to Collectiblend. Leaving aside liabilities for this site, it is, indeed, very difficult to predict what price a person might get any vintage or used cameras. I spent last Friday valuing a camera collection for a good friend who had several very nice Hasselblad and Nikon cameras and lenses. She also has a Sinar F 4x5 which I have not seen for some years and I just gave her a rough estimate of what it might be worth now depending on how many backs, boards, lenses etc she might have with it. I gave her several links to Collectiblend in the note which I gave her afterwards, plus a list of caveats at the end. That is about all you can do. At the end of the day the value of any of these things is what someone else is prepared to pay for it and that needs to be emphasised. Collectiblend is based on that principle. William Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 21 Share #16 Posted January 21 You know better than I do that Germany has a Rechtsanwalt on every street corner and a Gerichtsurteile section in many newspapers. We simply don’t want the potential hassle. 33 minutes ago, UliWer said: I could sleep very well with liabilities like this. Does any user here offer certificates of the qualification of their „valuation“? It‘s just opinion - and therefore not worth a dime. No. The header of this thread is wrong. It should be: „Right resonse to valuation enquiry“. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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