How do you value an older scope for sale?

[Shimrod]

Or in other words, how much might my 2003 LX90 EMC 8" be worth? It's been sitting idle for a while although it is in good working order and clean mirrors. A friend has expressed an interest in buying it, but most of the LX90 scopes for sale are the newer UHTC and LNT variants. I often seen the 2/3rd of new quoted on here when people talk second hand prices, which might be a good starting point for nearly new but not for something that is 17 years old (especially where electronics are involved). For reference this would include all the accessories you would expect when bought new, plus a revelation dual speed focuser and couple of other bits and pieces.

thanks.

[mikeDnight]

If you feel uncomfortable with the 2/3rds general rule, especially as you're concerned about the electronics and he's your friend; why not have a chat with him.  Half new price may be more reasonable, especially considering the age of the scope, but whatever you decide upon, it seems a shame to leave a scope lying around unused when there's someone there who could put it to good use. Perhaps any amount is better in your pocket than leaving the scope standing!

[dweller25]

I think perhaps mates rates apply here 😀 and it 17 years old so 50% would be about right.

[carastro]

I agree 50% sounds about right.

Carole 

[ollypenrice]

SCTs take a monumental hit on the used market because many people buy them (or bought them), expecting to use them for deep sky imaging. Rightly or wrongly (rightly in my view) they gave up on them for this purpose, so the market is saturated. The mounts are not well made, not very reliable over time and entirely useless for DS imaging. So I think that the "60% of new" baseline does not operate here. 25% would be very optimistic. It gives me no pleasure to say this. I've sold 8 inch and 10 inch Meade SCTs at great loss and have a 14 inch LX200 here at the moment. I like it very much indeed. It's a very enjoyable visual instrument but the visual market is very limited compared with the imaging market...

Olly

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

SCTs take a monumental hit on the used market because many people buy them (or bought them), expecting to use them for deep sky imaging. Rightly or wrongly (rightly in my view) they gave up on them for this purpose, so the market is saturated. The mounts are not well made, not very reliable over time and entirely useless for DS imaging. So I think that the "60% of new" baseline does not operate here. 25% would be very optimistic. It gives me no pleasure to say this. I've sold 8 inch and 10 inch Meade SCTs at great loss and have a 14 inch LX200 here at the moment. I like it very much indeed. It's a very enjoyable visual instrument but the visual market is very limited compared with the imaging market...

Olly

Thanks for all the replies - my thinking is closer to Olly's in terms of price than the higher values. I do have a wedge for it (bought for imaging) but I am going to sell that separately - it is much better suited for someone who wants to mount the scope on a pier than setting up/tearing down each night on a tripod.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Shimrod

[Cosmic Geoff]

I bought an 8" SCT GoTo for half what it would have cost new. It was like new, and it came with a boxfull of valuable accessories.   I had the impression that this was the going rate at the time.

If I was buying a 17 year old SCT with a powered mount, I think I'd offer on the basis that the OTA could be OK, but the mount was of little or no value.

[Peter_D]

I see somewhere like ENS Optical in Birmingham often have second hand Meade and Celestron SCTs for sale - this should give you a good pointer in coming up with what your scope is worth.

[John]

5 minutes ago, Peter_D said:

I see somewhere like ENS Optical in Birmingham often have second hand Meade and Celestron SCTs for sale - this should give you a good pointer in coming up with what your scope is worth.

You have to be a little careful there. Their pricing is, I would say, somewhat higher than a personal sale is likely to realise. 

 

[Peter_D]

4 minutes ago, John said:

You have to be a little careful there. Their pricing is, I would say, somewhat higher than a personal sale is likely to realise. 

 

Yes, you'd have to factor in their profit in the asking price so it would be higher - I should have made that point.

[Peter Drew]

11 minutes ago, John said:

You have to be a little careful there. Their pricing is, I would say, somewhat higher than a personal sale is likely to realise. 

 

Yes, dealers have to make a profit over and above what they paid for the item.  There may be a better chance of cover in the event of a problem though.     🙂

[wormix]

Funnily enough I have been looking at 8” scts recently and can confirm that prices vary hugely, from an £80 wreck up to several hundreds. 
 

There does seem to be a fair bit attached to the mount which, as mentioned before may not be wise considering how shaky some of the old ones are these days. 
 

Given the comments above re visual Versus imaging it might be worth having a conversation with him/her about their ambitions too. 

[pete_l]

It is much easier to lower a price if there is no interest in an item than it is to raise it if there is too much

I have a feeling that the price actually got for a sale is as much about the buyer feeling "safe" that they are getting what they pay for. So an advertisement should be as informative as possible.
It is also important to remember that from the buyer's point of view the cost is agreed price PLUS p&p. So sales that are easy to collect (and inspect) in person will get more attention than ones with high shipping costs from a remote location.