Whats it worth?

[steviejasp]

Hello everybody. Due to my recent redundancy and the need to go self employed in my trade as a floorlayer, i think i might need to sell my stuff.

Im just gauging interest in it at the moment, but ive got a 7 month old Meade LX200R 10". What do you think i would get for it in the present climate?

thanks for your input in advance, steve

[jakey]

That must be really bad news for you. I also had to sell all my stuff due to todays climate, not redundancy but due to my son at uni.

Selling these sort of things at the mo is not easy, not many people have much free cash left.

However I sold my stuff via astro buy and sell. Stay away from ebay it is full of time wasters who bid and then you never hear from them again. And it costs money to list and sell.

If it is seven months old then I would say a fair price would be two thirds of its original cost with perhaps a couple of "extras" thrown in with the price.

One thing to be aware of is if you use astro buy and sell people tend to hang off buying in the hope that you will reduce the price, it is a test of nerves not lowering the price for a while hoping that someone will give in before you do.

Best of luck in your new work.

[steviejasp]

Thanks Jakey, some good info.

atb, steve

[barkis]

I wish you luck Steve. It's a right pain having to sell your stuff, but it is a rough time, and needs must.

List it at the price you want, and let the vultures wait in vain.

If somebody wants it, they will pay what you ask.

I hope it works out for you.

Ron.

[Ben Ritchie]

Good luck mate - agree with all that's been said, slow at the moment but there is cash out there. Worth spending the fiver for a listing at the top of the page at UK AB&S, stops it drifting out of sight and getting forgotten.

edit: if you're of a trading/dealing mindset, also worth looking at taking a part-exchange from someone looking to upgrade, bit more hassle but take care and price things right and you'll not lose out in the end and it might well tempt people who don't have the whole lot in cash.

[steviejasp]

Thanks Ron and Ben. I appreciate your advice. Ive sold my camera and lenses to buy a van. My old mum has paid for an ad with Checkatrade and ive had a couple of days work subcontracting to a local shop so far.

Hopefully it wont come to having to sell it but if money gets tight, im afraid it'll have to go.

[steve51450]

i hope this helps If you have to sell and i hope you don't:(

please do not dismiss ebay, if you keep it simple and play the game properly it will sell just fine and will make good money

its about 10/15p to list the item + the cost of the pictures so that does not matter, its the final valuation fee that is the killer as its around 5%

list on a 10 day auction that will finish on a Sunday evening between 7pm/9pm

if the listing is not making the value you want you can cancel the listing anytime except for within the final 12 hours without any fees incured, and there lies the problem as most bids come in the final 12 hours! I always start my listing auction style at 1p start as it gets them going lol

fixed price listing do work also if you get the price right but the best way is via an auction but it can be a bit more of a gamble

You will need lots of nice pictures and you need to write about your scope,waxing lyrical if you need to and put some blurb from the net about ritchey cretin optics, coma free etc also throw a few crappy ep's and odments in as your average ebay buyer is new to astronomey and will like some extra bits to save them the hassle of going out to buy them. Also meade is a massive step up to most of the other stuff on ebay so has a much higher percieved value.

if you have any planetary or deep sky images taken with the scope add those to your pictures as well and mention them in your text

you must put your location, name and a contact telephone number and offer viewing local pick up etc

and i sold my 3 year old 8" lx200r sold for £2000 about 3 months ago

if you need any more pointers just let me know

steve

ps selling on ebay is what i do for a living!

Edited March 4, 2009 by steve51450

[rawhead]

ps selling on ebay is what i do for a living!

And doing very well too with the look of that kit list

[steve51450]

lol :)

well at least it means my advice is sound i spose

[steviejasp]

Thanks very much for your lovely long post Steve. Very much appreciated. I ll see how it goes over the next two or three weeks and go from there. Fingers crossed i can keep it, only used it half a dozen times:(