Hi Susan:
I've been speaking with a larger than usual number variety of camera store
owners OR their staff in recent months. The owners who aren't embracing
Internet sales are in dismay as to why their used equipment sits and sits.
They literally wait until the day Grant King (owner of KEH) walks through the
door to buy up half the store at wholesale prices. Or a well to do foreign
buyer shows up. In clinging to the hope that a buyer will eventually show up
for this or that item, they think "why discount it prematurely?" But their
staff are reminding them what their customers are saying, which is "I can get
that on the Internet for less." Or, "I can sell it on the Internet for more."
If the owner is clueless, they think they are just hearing a variation on the
old customer response "I can mail order it for less."
The progressive owners who have aggressively sought Internet buyers are
accepting that fact that selling prices are now generally lower than the old
days when McBroom's values ruled the roost. But, they are holding smaller
inventories, turning goods faster and making more profit through volume. And
those smaller inventories mean less overhead and more capital to acquire
equipment for resale. In contrast, retail camera shops with large inventories
often have goods bought at too high of a price, since they were counting on
traditional over-the-counter, service-added, premium priced sales. They are
caught in a Catch 22 in that they can't let it go at Internet prices because
they would either take a loss and risk the reputation that they give deep
discounts when prodded. And they can't move the inventory enough to get new
capital. The inventory doesn't gain interest like money in the bank. In
fact, it is likely depreciating as the result of Internet price pressure.
With the increase in Internet-based sales, the power has shifted to the
consumer. They can buy from anyone and anywhere. And more importantly, they
can sell to anyone, anywhere. That, in a nutshell, is the force behind what I
see as a radical change in how used photo equipment is beginning to be
redistributed in society. Secondarily, there is probably a trade balance of
sorts in that more used equipment is flowing out of the USA than in.
American's disdain of manual focus equipment, so popular and heavily sold in
the 1970s and 1980s, and their movement towards autofocus or point and shoots,
has glutted the used market. Watch the e-mail addresses of buyers of ebay
offered goods, contrast it to the point of origin, and it will show an exodus
out of the US.
Thankfully not every society is as susceptible to marketing as Americans. The
manual focus 35mm cameras still being made are primarily targeted for non-US
distribution. Used equipment is flowing to the same locals. To me it means
there are some smart consumers and their aren't Americans.
Finally, an interesting incident happened a few weeks ago. A store owner with
a soft spot for classic equipment, esp. Leica-related, had lined up a
collection of Valoy enlargers for sale. They hadn't sold in years and were
priced at around $400. The new, prominent position appeared to be a ploy to
make them more visible to customers, but in actuality was taking up some of
the most important shelf space in the store (space that the high profit items
should have been displayed in). A marketing savvy salesman shook his head
when pointing to the overstock and asked "What are those worth, anyway?" I
told him I had a soft spot for them, too, since a Valoy was my first enlarger.
But I doubted it was anywhere near $400. The next day I phoned the salesman
with a one sentence message. "A Valoy just sold on ebay for $16.00."
Gary Reese
Las Vegas, NV
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