Current Canon USA rebates on RF lenses

I know of a guy who sold all of his Hasselblad cameras and lenses and bought a set of fine art oil paints, an easel and a stack of canvases.

What is your point? Are you suggesting that trading a Canon DSLR for a used Nikon DLSR because, neither of which are compatible with RF lenses, represents a trend?
I was agreeing with your observation that people are making a big deal about something that’s meaningless. The reason he gave for leaving Canon was third party lenses. Which had zero impact with his camera or lenses.
 
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I was agreeing with your observation that people are making a big deal about something that’s meaningless. The reason he gave for leaving Canon was third party lenses. Which had zero impact with his camera or lenses.
Ahhh, now I understand. Silly me, I failed to understand a nonsensical decision.
 
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SwissFrank

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Let's start buying our Canon gear in the USA ....
Depends on the exact good and timing but JP has been maybe the best prices for about the last 12 months. Also I got the 100-500 before the 10% price rise on Apr 7. I got most of the rest mint-used for a good discount of new JP price.
 
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I swear they went through and raised all the prices on these lenses last year just they could offer “rebates” later. Not all, but some are on sale for what they used to cost.
Precisely...still too high for me, going to continue to hold off.

I will say though that there were some solid deals last year during BF weekend...that 50 was too good to pass up...(plus, I had already let go of the EF version)
 
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Deepboy

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What about us poor Europeans?
Our eyes are dry from crying, our wallets are empty from paying...:cry:

Lot of people returns lenses (and cameras, and strobes, and any other stuff) to Amazon, that will resell it as "Amazon Warehouse"; sometimes the discount is minimal, sometimes it is substantial, and the item is perfect, just with a broken cardboard box, or the lens has the hood chipped, or the camera has the neck strap missing...whatever it is, if you're lucky you sometimes buy mint stuff for nearly half of the price, so that's a way to go (for my R6, I bought it brand new on Amazon, but with a very lucky rebate and I also you could pay it in 5 months with no interest, so I couldn't refuse. The last brand new camera I bought was a 5DII in 2010...long time not purchasing a brand new camera ahah and I had purchased at least 6 to 8 cameras in between them).

Same things happens on eBay, all three of my RF lenses were bought used (but were absolutely brand new conditions) on eBay with very big discounts; people just buy stuff, use it two times, leave it there for 6 months, and then resell it for half of the price with still 18 months warranty.
There's really no reason today to buy any camera or lens brand new, in 3 to 6 months you'll find it still new with at least a 30% discount on Amazon or eBay.
 
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Del Paso

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Lot of people returns lenses (and cameras, and strobes, and any other stuff) to Amazon, that will resell it as "Amazon Warehouse"; sometimes the discount is minimal, sometimes it is substantial, and the item is perfect, just with a broken cardboard box, or the lens has the hood chipped, or the camera has the neck strap missing...whatever it is, if you're lucky you sometimes buy mint stuff for nearly half of the price, so that's a way to go (for my R6, I bought it brand new on Amazon, but with a very lucky rebate and I also you could pay it in 5 months with no interest, so I couldn't refuse. The last brand new camera I bought was a 5DII in 2010...long time not purchasing a brand new camera ahah and I had purchased at least 6 to 8 cameras in between them).

Same things happens on eBay, all three of my RF lenses were bought used (but were absolutely brand new conditions) on eBay with very big discounts; people just buy stuff, use it two times, leave it there for 6 months, and then resell it for half of the price with still 18 months warranty.
There's really no reason today to buy any camera or lens brand new, in 3 to 6 months you'll find it still new with at least a 30% discount on Amazon or eBay.
I have checked Amazon's warehouse deals several times, mostly for powertools.
Only cheap equipment, certainly not what I'm looking for. Prices are usually ridiculously high, better offers for brand new gear can be found elsewhere.
As to cameras, I don't trust Ebay at all. A friend of mine recently bought a "mint" Breitling watch. It was in a much lower condition. The seller was very reluctant when asked to take the watch back. After almost 6 months, lots of emails later, matters were at last settled...
I would never even think of buying an unseen R5 or R3 via Ebay, risk is just too high. And who will tell me that the Amazon return hasn't been dropped? Issues can occur much much later.
I've bought many used items, even Leicas, lenses etc...but only after having seen them and from reputed dealers or friends.
I don't say you're wrong, as you've been very successful at that.
Just mean to say it's not my way, maybe I'm a bit too diffident ?
 
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Deepboy

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I have checked Amazon's warehouse deals several times, mostly for powertools.
Only cheap equipment, certainly not what I'm looking for. Prices are usually ridiculously high, better offers for brand new gear can be found elsewhere.
As to cameras, I don't trust Ebay at all. A friend of mine recently bought a "mint" Breitling watch. It was in a much lower condition. The seller was very reluctant when asked to take the watch back. After almost 6 months, lots of emails later, matters were at last settled...
I would never even think of buying an unseen R5 or R3 via Ebay, risk is just too high. And who will tell me that the Amazon return hasn't been dropped? Issues can occur much much later.
I've bought many used items, even Leicas, lenses etc...but only after having seen them and from reputed dealers or friends.
I don't say you're wrong, as you've been very successful at that.
Just mean to say it's not my way, maybe I'm a bit too diffident ?

I strictly stick to eBay or Amazon for a simple reason, they both protect me as purchaser if something goes wrong; with eBay you have 30 days protection (I sent back, in 20 years i buy there, 4 or 5 items, and I always got my money back), with Amazon even better because with "Warehouse" you're buying not from a private person, but from Amazon itself, so if the return is not good (of course it happened to me, more than once), you just sent it back and you got your money back in like 24/48hrs.
I prefer a deal on those platforms to a deal in person, even from a friend, because if the item fails, I guarantee you it's much harder to get money back from a private, especially if it's a "friend" (a REAL friend of course poses no problems).

Examples on eBay?
The EF 24-70 f2.8 L Mark II, just fully serviced from Canon (aperture iris was changed, which is the only real issue with that kind of lens), paid this summer 610€ shipped (663$) just because the outer barrel had a couple of REALLY light chips, and plastic hood lock was broken (I bought a third party hood for 10€). I think that actually was my luckiest deal in 20 years on eBay, I admit.

Screenshot 2023-01-29 alle 21.50.46.png

Or just before Christmas, a basically brand new (was a shop demo unit) R10 kit with 15-45 and the RF to EF converter, bought for 735€ shipped (800$); when I re-sold the kit lens (150€) and the EF-RF adapter (100€) I had a final price for the body only R10 of 485€ (530$), like a Eos Rebel, but for a much newer camera, and believe me I can resell it tomorrow body only for the same price I paid it with all the kit stuff.

Screenshot 2023-01-29 alle 21.51.04.png

Amazon not really big deals on cameras and lenses because even used they have stellar prices (for those eBay is way less expensive as you just saw), but i got a lot of studio stuff (light stands, COB leds, reflective panels and flags, boom arms, softboxes and modifiers in general, clamps, etc) from Warehouse for half price or less, and lot of the stuff is prime brands (Manfrotto for instance), not just Chinese stuff.

(I have to say, I have a special fiscal treatment were I pay really low taxes, but in exchange I cannot expose my professional purchases as costs, so I have no reason to buy new with the invoice, because I can't deduct the gear from taxes; so that's why always prefer to go used. Anyway, I often buy stuff, if the deal is good, just to try it, and lot of the times I end up reselling it for higher prices, so my "eBay & Amazon game" is also a sort of side business, that gets me extra money on top of the rest).
 

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I strictly stick to eBay or Amazon for a simple reason, they both protect me as purchaser if something goes wrong; with eBay you have 30 days protection (I sent back, in 20 years i buy there, 4 or 5 items, and I always got my money back), with Amazon even better because with "Warehouse" you're buying not from a private person, but from Amazon itself, so if the return is not good (of course it happened to me, more than once), you just sent it back and you got your money back in like 24/48hrs.
I prefer a deal on those platforms to a deal in person, even from a friend, because if the item fails, I guarantee you it's much harder to get money back from a private, especially if it's a "friend" (a REAL friend of course poses no problems).

Examples on eBay?
The EF 24-70 f2.8 L Mark II, just fully serviced from Canon (aperture iris was changed, which is the only real issue with that kind of lens), paid this summer 610€ shipped (663$) just because the outer barrel had a couple of REALLY light chips, and plastic hood lock was broken (I bought a third party hood for 10€). I think that actually was my luckiest deal in 20 years on eBay, I admit.

View attachment 207401

Or just before Christmas, a basically brand new (was a shop demo unit) R10 kit with 15-45 and the RF to EF converter, bought for 735€ shipped (800$); when I re-sold the kit lens (150€) and the EF-RF adapter (100€) I had a final price for the body only R10 of 485€ (530$), like a Eos Rebel, but for a much newer camera, and believe me I can resell it tomorrow body only for the same price I paid it with all the kit stuff.

View attachment 207398

Amazon not really big deals on cameras and lenses because even used they have stellar prices (for those eBay is way less expensive as you just saw), but i got a lot of studio stuff (light stands, COB leds, reflective panels and flags, boom arms, softboxes and modifiers in general, clamps, etc) from Warehouse for half price or less, and lot of the stuff is prime brands (Manfrotto for instance), not just Chinese stuff.

(I have to say, I have a special fiscal treatment were I pay really low taxes, but in exchange I cannot expose my professional purchases as costs, so I have no reason to buy new with the invoice, because I can't deduct the gear from taxes; so that's why always prefer to go used. Anyway, I often buy stuff, if the deal is good, just to try it, and lot of the times I end up reselling it for higher prices, so my "eBay & Amazon game" is also a sort of side business, that gets me extra money on top of the rest).
I‘m curios. When buying on eBay, do you ask for original package and original invoice?
 
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Deepboy

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I‘m curios. When buying on eBay, do you ask for original package and original invoice?

No, It's not that you "ask" :) the stuff it's either there or not.

Usually on eBay newer lenses/cameras have original package (examples: all three of my RF lenses were bought used, and all had the original package) because they're recent, and people know that having them can slightly pull up the value of the item, showing that if you took care of the box, you probably took care of the gear, too. But generally on eBay less then 50% of my camera/lens purchases has the original package.

Invoice, still speaking of the three RF lenses, was there only for 16mm, the other two lenses come without invoice; while all Amazon stuff is of course all invoiced, on eBay I'll say 95% of my purchases doesn't have an invoice.
But again, I buy (and often resell) lot of old EF stuff (few hours ago i bought a first series 2X Canon Extender for 70€), so it's pretty rare to have an invoice for something that is 20/25/30 years old (that extender hit the market in 1987), but even 5yo or 10yo (another recent purchase is a Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS that I'm actually keeping, to use with the R10) usualy lacks invoices.

With Canon banning third parties on RF mount, I see me buying EF lenses for many years to come, switching just my L zooms (24-70 2.8 II and 70-200 f2.8 non-IS) with the RF equivalents would cost 5 times their value if new and 3 to 4 times if used, and I don't want even think about the cost of switching my Sigma 50 f1.4 Art for the RF 50 f1.2 L just to get a mere third of a stop of advantage. I'll be able to afford the switch maybe in 10 or 12 years from now, until then I'll continue to refine my EF collection, because they get cheaper every day 'cause people are reselling them for peanuts just to buy all those beautiful and super expensive RF L stuff...and I'm happy.

But now, I'm asking the question...why do you ask about invoice or original package? You think I could end buying stolen stuff?
If so, I can say that for third party lenses probably we'll never know, while for genuine Canon stuff I'm CPS and my serial numbers are registered in my Canon CPS profile, so if someone marks an item as stolen to Canon, and I end up buying it, Canon would know and probably call/write me, and this actually has never happened for now.
 
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No, It's not that you "ask" :) the stuff it's either there or not.

Usually on eBay newer lenses/cameras have original package (examples: all three of my RF lenses were bought used, and all had the original package) because they're recent, and people know that having them can slightly pull up the value of the item, showing that if you took care of the box, you probably took care of the gear, too. But generally on eBay less then 50% of my camera/lens purchases has the original package.

Invoice, still speaking of the three RF lenses, was there only for 16mm, the other two lenses come without invoice; while all Amazon stuff is of course all invoiced, on eBay I'll say 95% of my purchases doesn't have an invoice.
But again, I buy (and often resell) lot of old EF stuff (few hours ago i bought a first series 2X Canon Extender for 70€), so it's pretty rare to have an invoice for something that is 20/25/30 years old (that extender hit the market in 1987), but even 5yo or 10yo (another recent purchase is a Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS that I'm actually keeping, to use with the R10) usualy lacks invoices.

With Canon banning third parties on RF mount, I see me buying EF lenses for many years to come, switching just my L zooms (24-70 2.8 II and 70-200 f2.8 non-IS) with the RF equivalents would cost 5 times their value if new and 3 to 4 times if used, and I don't want even think about the cost of switching my Sigma 50 f1.4 Art for the RF 50 f1.2 L just to get a mere third of a stop of advantage. I'll be able to afford the switch maybe in 10 or 12 years from now, until then I'll continue to refine my EF collection, because they get cheaper every day 'cause people are reselling them for peanuts just to buy all those beautiful and super expensive RF L stuff...and I'm happy.

But now, I'm asking the question...why do you ask about invoice or original package? You think I could end buying stolen stuff?
If so, I can say that for third party lenses probably we'll never know, while for genuine Canon stuff I'm CPS and my serial numbers are registered in my Canon CPS profile, so if someone marks an item as stolen to Canon, and I end up buying it, Canon would know and probably call/write me, and this actually has never happened for now.
Yes, the reason I ask is, that I see cheap new stuff (lenses, cameras) here on 2nd hand portals like eBay. When really cheap, mostly without package and prove of ownership (invoice). When you ask questions about the item you can smell that those are stolen. The „owner“ doesn‘t have a clue about it. I experienced this twice within the last 3 months.
Those who can prove ownership don‘t offer a really cheap price. That’s just my experience.
 
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Deepboy

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Yes, the reason I ask is, that I see cheap new stuff (lenses, cameras) here on 2nd hand portals like eBay. When really cheap, mostly without package and prove of ownership (invoice). When you ask questions about the item you can smell that those are stolen. The „owner“ doesn‘t have a clue about it. I experienced this twice within the last 3 months.
Those who can prove ownership don‘t offer a really cheap price. That’s just my experience.

The new stuff (the RF lenses you see in my signature), as said, all had the original packages, the 16mm had the receipt from a shop I personally know, and actually the 35mm and the 85mm were both coming from reputable eBay photography stores (both in Germany, while I'm Italian) that sells hundreds of new and used items per month, with real shops I can see on Google street view (yeah, if it's a store, and it's first time I want to purchase, I'll check on Google if the place really exist, and will look from outside - and sometimes even inside! - with street view), I'm not so naive or "suicidal" with my money :)
With private guys, I'm on eBay since 2004, and I sell too, so I'm pretty good at "sniffing" when something is not right, I always ask stupid questions to sellers just to see if they respond at all, and what they respond; and of course if the deal is too good to be true, I'll definitely stay far from there.

With Amazon of course there's nothing to check, I just don't buy used from external sellers because returns are CRAZY (I did once, and was enough), so used stuff would be ONLY from Amazon Warehouse itself, so nothing is stolen, and if the gear is not good, I'll return it with a couple of clicks without losing a dime.

All I can do is being prudent, and again all the Canon stuff gets registered in my CPS account, so officially stolen stuff should be highlighted to them, and never happened; but I don't prevent myself from buying stuff just because could be stolen.
 
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I always ask stupid questions to sellers just to see if they respond at all, and what they respond; and of course if the deal is too good to be true, I'll definitely stay far from there.
That’s it!
I just was curious if people are aware of being offered stolen gear on 2nd hand portals. Maybe mostly because I experienced this twice recently. The too good to be true deals.
 
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Deepboy

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That’s it!
I just was curious if people are aware of being offered stolen gear on 2nd hand portals. Maybe mostly because I experienced this twice recently. The too good to be true deals.

Again, I speak for myself, I'm pretty prudent :) but sometimes you get good deals just because people are stupid.
The RF 16, which we're sure it's legit because i have the shop receipt, cost 360€ retail price on Canon website, and the guy paid it 350€ in a retail shop; after less then 12 months from purchase he listed it on eBay for 250€ buy-it-now (in Europe is the average price on eBay for a used RF 16mm), but also accepting proposals.
I made a proposal for 200€ just to taste the ground, and he accepted it right away, so i got a 200€ lens that was invoiced at 350€ less then 12 months before, with more then 1 year of warranty sill available (in Europe mandatory warranty is 2 years); too good to be true? On paper yes, but here everything is legit, so believe me, when you said "Those who can prove ownership don‘t offer a really cheap price" is often not true, there are so many dumb people who are in rush to sell, or they just are so rich and stupid that don't really care about the value of the stuff.
I sold so many lens and cameras owned by friends and colleagues who wanted to sell privately on Craigslist equivalents for much less then I got for them on eBay, with some weeks of patience; they got more then they thought even after giving me a percentage for my time. Believe me, there are people who don't really care about their money
 
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Del Paso

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I strictly stick to eBay or Amazon for a simple reason, they both protect me as purchaser if something goes wrong; with eBay you have 30 days protection (I sent back, in 20 years i buy there, 4 or 5 items, and I always got my money back), with Amazon even better because with "Warehouse" you're buying not from a private person, but from Amazon itself, so if the return is not good (of course it happened to me, more than once), you just sent it back and you got your money back in like 24/48hrs.
I prefer a deal on those platforms to a deal in person, even from a friend, because if the item fails, I guarantee you it's much harder to get money back from a private, especially if it's a "friend" (a REAL friend of course poses no problems).

Examples on eBay?
The EF 24-70 f2.8 L Mark II, just fully serviced from Canon (aperture iris was changed, which is the only real issue with that kind of lens), paid this summer 610€ shipped (663$) just because the outer barrel had a couple of REALLY light chips, and plastic hood lock was broken (I bought a third party hood for 10€). I think that actually was my luckiest deal in 20 years on eBay, I admit.

View attachment 207401

Or just before Christmas, a basically brand new (was a shop demo unit) R10 kit with 15-45 and the RF to EF converter, bought for 735€ shipped (800$); when I re-sold the kit lens (150€) and the EF-RF adapter (100€) I had a final price for the body only R10 of 485€ (530$), like a Eos Rebel, but for a much newer camera, and believe me I can resell it tomorrow body only for the same price I paid it with all the kit stuff.

View attachment 207398

Amazon not really big deals on cameras and lenses because even used they have stellar prices (for those eBay is way less expensive as you just saw), but i got a lot of studio stuff (light stands, COB leds, reflective panels and flags, boom arms, softboxes and modifiers in general, clamps, etc) from Warehouse for half price or less, and lot of the stuff is prime brands (Manfrotto for instance), not just Chinese stuff.

(I have to say, I have a special fiscal treatment were I pay really low taxes, but in exchange I cannot expose my professional purchases as costs, so I have no reason to buy new with the invoice, because I can't deduct the gear from taxes; so that's why always prefer to go used. Anyway, I often buy stuff, if the deal is good, just to try it, and lot of the times I end up reselling it for higher prices, so my "eBay & Amazon game" is also a sort of side business, that gets me extra money on top of the rest).
OK, I'll check Ebay again...
 
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Del Paso

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Again, I speak for myself, I'm pretty prudent :) but sometimes you get good deals just because people are stupid.
The RF 16, which we're sure it's legit because i have the shop receipt, cost 360€ retail price on Canon website, and the guy paid it 350€ in a retail shop; after less then 12 months from purchase he listed it on eBay for 250€ buy-it-now (in Europe is the average price on eBay for a used RF 16mm), but also accepting proposals.
I made a proposal for 200€ just to taste the ground, and he accepted it right away, so i got a 200€ lens that was invoiced at 350€ less then 12 months before, with more then 1 year of warranty sill available (in Europe mandatory warranty is 2 years); too good to be true? On paper yes, but here everything is legit, so believe me, when you said "Those who can prove ownership don‘t offer a really cheap price" is often not true, there are so many dumb people who are in rush to sell, or they just are so rich and stupid that don't really care about the value of the stuff.
I sold so many lens and cameras owned by friends and colleagues who wanted to sell privately on Craigslist equivalents for much less then I got for them on eBay, with some weeks of patience; they got more then they thought even after giving me a percentage for my time. Believe me, there are people who don't really care about their money
You're right, some extremely expensive Leica M lenses are bought out of a passing fad or caprice, and sold at high losses a few weeks later. That's how I bought, from a small camera store, a complete M equipment, body plus 21, 35, 50, 75, 135 and 200 visoflex for a mere Euro 4000. But this can't be found on Ebay, I'm afraid.
 
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or they just are so rich and stupid that don't really care about the value of the stuff.
Rich doesn’t necessarily equal stupid. And people don’t often get rich by underestimating the value of things or being stupid. But there does come a point where getting rid of a thing has more value to a person than squeezing another $100 out of it. The buyer can enjoy the benefit of that without the seller having been stupid. Just different priorities.
 
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Rich doesn’t necessarily equal stupid. And people don’t often get rich by underestimating the value of things or being stupid. But there does come a point where getting rid of a thing has more value to a person than squeezing another $100 out of it. The buyer can enjoy the benefit of that without the seller having been stupid. Just different priorities.
That, and sometimes it’s more about avoiding hassle. If I want to get rid of a lens, I know I could get the most for it by selling direct (eBay, etc.), but that requires more work than the value I place on my own time. I also know that I’d get the least value from B&H/Adorama, so I get quotes from MPB and KEH and sell to the highest offer. It’s quick, easy and zero hassle.

At least, until now. Turns out that for those of us in the US, they lowered the private payment reporting threshold from $20,000 and >200 transactions to $600 and a single transaction , and since KEH pays via PayPal, I got a 1099K from them that means more paperwork for tax filing (side note, only people who live in a handful of states get this change for the 2022 tax year, it hits the whole country for 2023). This applies to eBay sellers, also. No more tax liability for anyone, except in the unlikely event the gear is worth more when sold than when bought, but still a hassle. MPB pays via ACH deposit, so going forward I’ll stick with them and avoid the extra paperwork.
 
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Deepboy

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Rich doesn’t necessarily equal stupid. And people don’t often get rich by underestimating the value of things or being stupid. But there does come a point where getting rid of a thing has more value to a person than squeezing another $100 out of it. The buyer can enjoy the benefit of that without the seller having been stupid. Just different priorities.

Of course not all rich people are stupid, and (especially) not all stupid people are rich, but sometimes there's a convergence of things :)
 
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Deepboy

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that requires more work than the value I place on my own time

I understand and respect that :) that's why I always help friends and colleagues to sell their stuff (not only photo gear, also just general stuff) if there's real value to it; they don't have time, and/or knowledge, and/or will to do it, while I have some time (and being used to it means I'm faster and effective, so I lose little time to list stuff), I have knowledge and have will, because I get a share of it, so everyone is happy.

But again I stress that I mostly buy used stuff because my fiscal regime doesn't let me expose my gear purchases as cost to deduct from my income; if I could deduct, I would probably buy much more stuff brand new.
But I think if you are a pro AND you can deduct the cost, I don't think the buying decision of gear would (or should) be affected by a 99/199/299$ rebate on a 1500/2000$+ gear item; if you need it you just buy it when you need it, even full price, and the missed rebate should already be recovered with the first job you use the gear into.
 
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