Where to Buy Used Camera Gear?

[Danny_Schmidt]

If you’re like me, and you’re constantly browsing the internet for camera gear, it’s nice to know of a few good used market places for this stuff.  I’ve bought and sold used cameras and lenses and accessories in the past and it always feels good to breathe new life into some used piece of gear, or part with something I no longer use.  Aside from the obvious Ebay and Craigslist (both of which can be less than desirable...), I wanted to share a few places that I regularly check for used stuff.  Feel free to share your experience here as well.

BorrowLenses.com 

LensRentals.com 

These two well-know online rental houses sell their used gear and have big sales several times a year where things are just plain cheap.  I bought an FS7 from BL and used it for 4 years.  Definitely made my money back!

Another place I look is RedUser.net.  This is a forum site based around RED cameras, but if you scroll down you’ll find a handy little thread called “Marketplace: 3rd Party Gear”.  This is a treasure trove of high end stuff for sale that gets updated daily.  You have to make an account to buy/sell here.  

Sharegrid.com is another place that I’d feel confident shopping.  For those unfamiliar, ShareGrid is a local peer-to-peer rental site.  If for instance you live in Miami and need to rent an FX6, you can go to ShareGrid, plug in your location and the camera, and it’ll show you a host of people ready to rent to you directly.  Well, you can also list stuff for sale here!  I’ve never bought from here directly but I see lots of good deals.

Some other well-known spots:

Adorama.com

BHphotovideo.com

Both of these mega retailers also sell used gear.

A couple of others that seem promising but I’ve never used:

MPB.com is an online buy/sell/trade marketplace that claims to “recirculate more than 300,000 items of used kit every year.”  Another thing I like about it is that they photograph every item individually, so the pix you see are of the camera that you’ll actually receive.

KEH.com - 180 day warranty sounds pretty sweet …