Canon Refurbished resale value?

[Leopard Lupus]

Hello all!
I am looking at purchasing some L glass from the Canon Refurbished store. I place priority on glass, and not the body, so ordering a refurb. 5D mkll was a must. I love it, and not even a scratch when it came into my hands.
What I am curious about however, is the resale value of refurbished L glass. Does anyone have experience with this? I would assume without the original box the value would not be equal with selling a "new" one, but sadly when trying to budget an 85mm f/1.2, some cuts must be made.
Thanks!

 

[jwong]

I've wondered about it as well, but right now is not a good time to buy a refurb from Canon. With the lens rebates on a new 85 f/1.2L II, the price is 1859 with free shipping. The Canon store is 1759.2 and they charge shipping and tax. For less than $100, you have 9 months of additional warranty and potentially higher resale value.

The situation was different when they were running sales in the Canon refurb store, but then they were frequently sold out....

 

[Leopard Lupus]

I didn't even consider the warranty, jwong. Thank you for bringing that up!

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Canon holds a sale in the refurb store every two or three months. When they do, any popular lenses soon sell out. right now, is not the time to buy refurb, as you noted.

I have a lot of Canon glass, so I'm saving towards a new body, 1Dx or 5D MK III, I don't know which though.

 

[michi]

I can't speak for true value, but if someone was selling let's say a mint 70-200 f4 IS on Craigslist and was honest enough to say that they bought it refurbished, I wouldn't pay them any less than if it came with a new box. Honestly, I think that the inclusion of a original box is worth no more than $50 depending on the lens in the used market. When you think about it, once someone else used a lens, it depends on what they do with it, you could get a lens with a original box and it could have been abused, or dropped or who knows while a refurbished one could have been treated like a baby. So in other words, unless the refurbished lens was only $50-100 cheaper than a new one, your resale value will be pretty close to what a new one would be. Again, only my opinion, not what really goes on out there...

 

[neuroanatomist]

Honestly, I think that the inclusion of a original box is worth no more than $50 depending on the lens in the used market.

$50 for a box? I always get a laugh when I see people selling just the box on FM (I've even seen it on CL a couple of times).

I think what the box says is that the lens/camera is less likely to be stolen. For example, when I see a PowerShot for sale on CL, missing the charger, to me that screams, "I stole this..."

 

[TexPhoto]

I like having the box when i buy a used lens, but never consider how much more I'm willing to pay for the box. I do have one lens, a 17mm TS-E that I bought used without the box (on the market <3 months so i guess the guy just did not like it) I have been looking to buy a box for it on ebay (I know, insane), but have only seen one and that was priced at $40.

 

[Maui5150]

I've wondered about it as well, but right now is not a good time to buy a refurb from Canon. With the lens rebates on a new 85 f/1.2L II, the price is 1859 with free shipping. The Canon store is 1759.2 and they charge shipping and tax. For less than $100, you have 9 months of additional warranty and potentially higher resale value.

The situation was different when they were running sales in the Canon refurb store, but then they were frequently sold out....

Some I know PREFER refurb, because the lenses get inspected more closely.

Whether you buy that or not is up to you, but do have to say I have heard a lot more issues with new products over refurb products.

Your mileage and experience may vary

 

[jwong]

I've wondered about it as well, but right now is not a good time to buy a refurb from Canon. With the lens rebates on a new 85 f/1.2L II, the price is 1859 with free shipping. The Canon store is 1759.2 and they charge shipping and tax. For less than $100, you have 9 months of additional warranty and potentially higher resale value.

The situation was different when they were running sales in the Canon refurb store, but then they were frequently sold out....

Some I know PREFER refurb, because the lenses get inspected more closely.

Whether you buy that or not is up to you, but do have to say I have heard a lot more issues with new products over refurb products.

Your mileage and experience may vary

I prefer Canon refurb to a used version on Ebay too just because it was inspectected etc., but the question is what has more value: a used refurb or a used original. I'd probably pay more for a used original in that case. A refurb means that it had gone back at least once. With the prices being as high as they are on Ebay, I'd rather spend a little extra and get a product (new or Canon refurb) under warranty. I'm looking for a 35mm 1.4L, and they're going for 1100+ on Ebay whereas you can get one new for 1255. Seems too much to pay for the risk.