2nd hand lenses - buying strategy?

[willp2003]

i've been watching a few lenses on fleabay and i was just wondering what margins you have between buying second hand and thinking fook it i'll just spend the extra and get a brand new one and know the condition.

e.g. a new lens on camerapricebuster is £420 - how far would you go on fleabay before just getting a new one? just been watching a few and they've gone for £330-370 (exc postage) - all V good/excellent condition

what is a good saving?

i think on the example above i'd go close to £350 as long as it's in mint condition.

[[wingnut]]

Personally I would not go second hand on lens ever again. Got stung on a sigma last year and vowed not to do it again. The lens may look mint but you don't know for sure how many times it has been used. Will it breakdown int he next 10, 100 or 1000 actuations??
With new you have a warranty against stuff like this, but on second hand the minimum cost for a tech guy to even look at it is £50 plus VAT.
For the saving you are talking about, buy new. No brainer.

[B B Leo]

im with wingnut on this unless u know the owner ie like some one from he etc.

[willp2003]

yeah, you never know what our gonna get second hand - someone's idea of excellent condition, might be completely different to yours.
i think i'll do some overtime and splash out on a brand spanker

[Bald Bouncer]

Not specific to second hand camera gear but I always look at paying around 65-75% of the new price 75% being mint condition and that's delivered.

There are some things I would always buy new rather than second hand for the guarantee and other reason with things like pants and condoms.

[[wingnut]]

What you don't buy a bag of second user pants from a car boot then for a £5. Or is that only me.

Back on topic though, good advice on the percenatge there BB. The one place I may consider buying second user camera gear from is London Camera Exchange or a similar bricks and motar shop where you can test it on your body and check the results for yourself.

[BertRoot]

I wouldn't buy a cheap lens second hand if you know what I mean. I have bought three lenses second hand now and been pleased with them all but they are all quality lenses in the first place and obviously well looked after.

[mij]

Quite a lot of camera shops sell second-hand lenses with a guarantee that can work out much cheaper and a lot safer than ebay.

A while back I got a Nikkor 16-85mm VR complete in the box for £307.00 from Jessops with a Nikon service certificate & 12 month warranty.

[cosmicma]

my policy on second hand is if buying off ebay make sure you can pay cash on collection before bidding that way you can see and test what your buying
if it's all there saying it is then there's no problem and you save a bit of cash but if all is not well with the lens then you have the choice to walk away
i know your bidding to buy but if they are trying to sell me a duffer i have no quibbles about walking away
fortunatly the things i have got off ebay have been as described so not had to do that

[ka$h]

Personalyy, I wouldn't buy Lens off ebay whether new or s/h. Shipping on something like that worries me and although i might pack things well, the seller might not. As mentioned before a local shop whther it be a brand store like jessops/jacobs or a local independant will offer you a saving and a warranty. Even then, Matt makes a good point of how long will it last??

[BertRoot]

Agree with the ebay bit and I have bought all mine off forums. Another thing worth thinking about is whether it is a grey import or not. Don't think you will have much trouble with an L series lens as they are built to last.