Interesting Buys @ ShopGoodWill

BillBingham2

BillBingham2

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7:14 PM
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Jun 23, 2005
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No relationship to any sales. Had a low interaction class tonight, teaching Social Media, quiz/test time so went window shopping.

Found this:

Minolta 90/4 M-mount
IIIc w/ Black Komara 28/3.5 & 2 Brightline Finders (along with other stuff)
IIIg w/ Leicavit & Elmar 5cm/2.8
M6 w/ 35/1.4 Lux
IIIf w/ Summitar 5cm/2

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/search/...sc=&month=&day=&year=&days=0&itemSellerStore=

Hope it helps someone find what they are lusting for.

B2 (;->
 
since I just won shopgoodwill Retina II with 47mm Ektar auction that ended about an hour ago... yes, we can talk about the leica gear :)

they had a few p&s leicas last week or so. odd to see all the leica gear on there. I think there's also a few LF cameras up for bid.

does this happen every year around tax time?
 
I have been using Shopgoodwill.com for a very long time. Didn't post it here for a couple reasons. One is that when I discovered it, I had taken a hiatus from posting from RFF so I didn't think of it. The other is that frankly, one gets tired of the upturned nose sniff-sniff response one occasionally gets (present company excepted, of course). I understand that many here have lots of money, yay them, but I happen to like cheap gear, it makes me happy.

I have bought a lot of audio gear on Shopgoodwill.com, and I've found especially good deals on large vacuum tube-based gear that has to be picked up locally; not everyone has a truck and feels like driving for several hours to pick up an old Magnavox console or a Sony reel-to-reel even if it does sell for $6 and has incredibly expensive tubes and transformers in it.

I've purchased a few camera items there. The Nikon L35AF that I posted about on RFF recently was purchased very inexpensively there; they typically go for quite a bit more on eBay, having achieved 'cult' status.

I bought a Minolta 5D dSLR recently just for kicks. It was so inexpensive and it works great, and I had a bunch of old Minolta AF glass for it anyway. Now I am looking for a Sony dSLR body that will also work with that glass. A cheap way into a new system, since I'm primarily a Pentax dSLR guy.

However, Shopgoodwill has become popular enough that the screaming cheap deals are more or less over. That's OK with me because I support Goodwill's mission and I'm glad it's working out for them.

I still see 'deals', but you have to spend the time investigating the item listings. These are individual stores that post things as they can, and not everyone who posts is adept at properly identifying what they are listing. So you get 'a group of cameras' and when you peer closely, you see a Pentax SMC 50mm 1.4 hiding in there, or a Canon 55mm FL mount 1.2 (yep, it went for $60, a couple other eagle-eyes must have seen it too). That's where the deals are now, and not everyone has time to dig through all the rubble looking for those hidden gems.

Also, they are not dealers, so don't expect that if it arrives damaged or not up to your expectations that they are going to take it back and fix it or that there is an arbitration process set up to facilitate pathetic attempts at extortion ("I'll keep if you give me 50% back, or I'll leave you negative feedback" means nothing to these guys).

I have had a couple issues over the years. A turntable arrived in quite a few tiny pieces due to lousy packing (I told them to keep the money, it was cheap and again, I support their mission). A couple things never got shipped. One camera I bought recently (Yashica FX-D Quartz), they just credited my money back because when it came time to ship it, they could not find it! Nothing major, and I don't feel ripped off.

So there you go. It's a bit of a smaller field of buyers, so maybe some lower prices. Items are donated and are not being sold by experts, so you get what you get; try to have the right attitude about it and don't expect perfection. Bid based on what you think you MIGHT get, such as a camera needing a CLA instead of a NIB example and you probably won't end up feeling ripped off.

And finally, there are a few people who cannot be pleased no matter what they buy. I advise them against this place. If you think eBay is full of fraudsters and you've never been completely happy with an eBay purchase, shopgoodwill.com will be even worse for you, so save yourself some grief and just stay away.
 
Never actually pulled anything from the site, but have been a bidder.

Shipping charges are usually unrealistic.

Recently went back to search out old telescopes, but the freight really breaks the bank on cheap heavy stuff.

Better luck with garage sale season coming into full effect (if the weather would get with the program) here in Michigan.
 
Very well stated bmattock.
I've been lucky with all of my auction wins from them. Got a spectacular hardly used Micro Nikkor 55 2.8 some time ago and recently just got another (it's a sickness with me, or so my wife says) Canon SD1000 for which I paid more for shipping than the actual camera. It had a 2gb card in it so I wasn't too upset about the shipping in the end. My first SD1000 didn't work, but I was able to get it working and it's been a constant in my pocket since.
Again, you have to be willing to 'loose' the money if it turns out the item is junk, but like I said, so far I've been lucky.
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
Very well stated bmattock.
I've been lucky with all of my auction wins from them. Got a spectacular hardly used Micro Nikkor 55 2.8 some time ago and recently just got another (it's a sickness with me, or so my wife says) Canon SD1000 for which I paid more for shipping than the actual camera. It had a 2gb card in it so I was too upset about the shipping in the end. My first SD1000 didn't work, but I was able to get it working and it's been a constant in my pocket since.
Again, you have to be willing to 'loose' the money if it turns out the item is junk, but like I said, so far I've been lucky.
Click to expand...

As to that, I just bought a Pentax *ist DS with a couple thousand shutter actuations on eBay for under $10 because the battery had corroded in the battery compartment. I took the bottom plate off and cleaned it with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol, good to go. Got a Canon Rebel XT for cheap, had bent memory card pins. Fixed that with a screwdriver and some patience.

Yeah the cameras are obsolete, but at the price, they are great fun and I can use them for gifts or to take into hostile areas in case of theft or danger, etc. Might turn the *ist DS into a manual-focus only M42 lens camera or an IR conversion.

I'm having fun - cameras are cheap and even cheaper if you're handy.
 
I was late to the shopgoodwill.com game, and any secret about it is definitely out, but holy moly. Not only do really nice and sometimes rare cameras and lenses pop up there from time to time, many items seem to close above what the equivalent item on ebay sells for -- despite the fact that many listings do not even specify whether the item actually works. However, it seems that the days of getting a bargain (unless you are willing to take a gamble on whether something works or not), are long over.
 
Yes, and now that gas prices are sky high, shipping is going the same route.
I've started to try and limit myself to just bidding on things that are local to me and I can go pickup myself.
My last good score on their site was a slightly dingy SR-T 101, which I got mainly for the lens, for $5 or so.
Cleaned up so well I decided to add the camera to the collection, such as it is.
 
I am unlucky to be in Canada ... there is only one location here that is on the Store, so many items are extremely overbid (really good for Goodwill)... though I have been lucky twice.
 
Yeah, I picked up a camera from shopgoodwill around the time I joined rff. Even then prices were around eBay prices most if the time. I just got lucky and had the top two bidders fail to pay.

I don’t understand people paying full ‘used market prices’ with their terms. Some higher end items approach the prices at reputable used camera dealers who guarantee cameras work.
 
I quit using ShopGoodwill when the bidding got out of hand. I was also getting tired of receiving truly junk items that should have been thrown in the recycle barrel. I used to buy a lot of stuff in their stores as we have seven of them in the immediate area, making my rounds at least once a month. But then they started to put everything related to photography on the auction site, and folks started going nuts. I came to understand that "Unable to test" meant they could tell a camera had corroded batteries in it. Granted, I did get some bargains by taking a chance on their lousy descriptions and poor photos, but now even the truly junk stuff is getting bid up to ridiculous heights.

PF
 
I don't bother with GW online. Out of line prices and over charge for shipping -- and they don't pack well at all. I'm unhappy that they decided to put anything that comes in to a store that even looks like it would sell for high price online, um, online. What remains in the physical store is fluff and trash. Furthermore, my local GW seems to think it's located in Beverly Hills -- substantially higher prices than other GW stores in neighboring towns. Typically, a given item that's clearly used and sometimes broken should not be priced higher than new retail (with warranty). But, that is the norm.
GW is absolutely nothing like it used to be. I like it's mission, but that's not an excuse for running a "thrift store!" of entirely donated merchandise in this way. If I'm not mistaken, a part of the thrift store strategy is to provide local community some economic relief at the same time as bringing in revenue for the cause. I would emphasize "local". The GW near me fails miserably. I have a few alternative thrift stores near me that receive both my business and my high end donations.....they have put to good use or sell locally. One of those shops supports arts for developmentally challenged people and it's a joy to see the results.....here locally.

Rant over.
 
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