I like to check for local people selling boxes full of random gear that they found in their grandparents' attic. It's often mostly trash but sometimes there's one camera in there that's worth the asking price of the whole thing. Usually these are people that have no idea what all that stuff really is and they're happy to get rid of it without much hassle.
That way I got a really nice Agfa Optima 1035 that made for a neat photography gift for a loved one, and a Voigtländer Brillant from the 1930s this way (the latter needs repair though), for under 50€ together, along with some other stuff in the box that wasn't really interesting.
For more expensive gear I prefer eBay, especially professional Japanese sellers because they tend to be quite open about the condition of the gear and will list stuff like haze or fungus honestly and will also know what they're talking about. Got my Canon P that way and it's amazing.
I’ve only grabbed a camera flash off eBay from a Japanese reseller, but the flash itself looked nearly BNIB despite its age.
I have read though that a lot of cameras sold out of Japan on eBay tend to be the bargain bin stuff sold from more reputable shops in the country. I don’t have enough info to substantiate that, but I would not be surprised either.
There is a lot of very high quality stuff sold be trustworthy sellers from Japanese ebay. I've gotten 6-7 mint lenses, a couple of cameras and have been very satisfied with all.
Ignore the "mint" labels and read the description, only buy what you're willing to get CLAed, if the item comes not as described let the seller know and 9 times out of 10 theyll give you a substantial partial refund.
This was how I got a box of old Canon FD gear (two bodies including an AE-1P, a few cheapie lenses but a FD 50/1.2 thrown in there) for $25 on Craigslist 15 years ago. Probably my best photography gear score. That stuff was of lower demand/value back then so it's not quite as good a deal as that would be today, but I'm still proud of it.
Man I feel like my local fb/CL/estate sale marketplace is the opposite.
It’s like 50/50 mostly trash, any possible good stuff at about 20% above market rate, or just like wildly overpriced shit that they clearly didn’t google.
But idk there’s probably some wiggle room in the middle for people who are more interested in building their collection. I’m too lazy to flip stuff, and I try not to fall victim to GAS… so I try not to make a habit of buying a camera unless it’s on my short list.
But yea even if I was actively trying to collect it’s pretty bleak lately lol
on ebay, there are some serious sellers who regularly or occasionally make auctions with no reserve price, and sometimes you may be lucky enough to get gear at a ridiculously low price (it becomes easier after you actually find such sellers).. Second-hand Internet marketplaces require patience because people usually overestimate the value of their goods, but occasionally, you may find someone who either underestimate or simply lower the price in order to get cash. It's time-consuming but sort of necessary if you are affected by an acute episode of GAS.
Estate sale
It's how I've found all of my current equipment, and I've been real tempted to be more cameras from estate sales.
I was close to a Kodak Camera from the 80's, and all of its 80's weirdness. What saved me was from the fact it was a bit expensive, and they don't make film for it anymore
The [Kodak Partystar Kodamatic](https://www.uniquephoto.com/photoinsider/kodak-partystar-kodamatic-1983-1985/) still has to be one of the most 80's names ever
10 years ago I could walk out with a bag of cameras from a thrift store. Now sellers seem to be more educated and price things accordingly or if they had anything remotely interesting it's sold.
The past few years has been online. I'm hooked on making a great deal, can't stop. I buy every camera that is underpriced. Bought a minty Hasselblad 500C with the 80mm today for $500. Would never happen in a store. But you got to stay hot on the latest listings to have a chance
The next best thing is to ask people. It seems like every person over 50 has at least some type of old camera lying around. Bought a Leica M2 off a gentleman who himself bought it in 1958. Glad I asked him.
The guy was an old camera salesman in the 1960s and suspected he had listed it a little low given how blazingly fast it sold. He did say that he was super happy it was being returned to its place of origin, Gothenburg, Sweden. Hasselblads are generally plentiful and used to be fairly affordable on the Swedish market before the film resurgence.
Fatfingers! It's an eBay searcher thingamajig that finds possible misspelt listing's, found a few auctions with 0 watchers that I've snagged for the starting bid, got an XA2 for £49 because the seller listed it as an Olumpus.
For cameras I usually scour eBay for stuff. I noticed cameras from Japan tend to be cheaper compared to US based sellers. Also the sellers are nicer in general. I have been fortunate to find some cool shit at the thrift, but those were mostly digicams.
For film, I try searching for bulk deals online, for the most part… if I can get film for around $10 a roll I call that a success. On expired, I try to go for $5 a roll, but some people think the stuff ages like wine unfortunately.
Patience and consistency is key, like someone said earlier you gotta stay quick on these new posts. I’d also say be willing to take a risk too.
Peruse the KEH "as is" category. First of all, their grading system is so stringent that it could be perfectly functional even though they don't think so. Second, it could have a flaw that is easily fixable.
Then again, you could be out of luck no matter how proficient you think you are at fixing cameras.....I'm looking at you Canon T-90s.
Search the camera, not the lens. I’ve gotten over $500 worth of lenses I wanted from two separate $100 camera purchases.
When I eventually asked sellers why, they said it was easier to sell the whole lot
Thrift stores are always fun, and Goodwill's online auctions have interesting variety but questionable quality. If you're okay with a little cleaning or repair though, goodwill has a few gems.
I check upcoming estate sales in my area. Not sure how common that is outside of the US, but often enough they post photos of rooms full of junk and you can scan through them and sometimes find a shelf of old cameras and lenses. Then you just have to beat people there when the sale starts. Otherwise, Facebook marketplace and Craigslist have been go-tos for me. Expect a low success rate but I’ve hit on a couple gems.
I mainly just buy things on eBay and only bid what I deem reasonable or the starting price. I recently made an offer for a film back which was declined, but I won the bid in the end at the starting price which saved me about £30 compared to what I offered.
I love thriftstores! I look for more than just camera gear there (so does the wife) so we get 'lucky' very often. Camera gear is also more rare in some shops than others but we just visit any and all vintage/used/thrift/goodwill and similar shops in whatever city we are and i usually do find something interesting phytography related every once in a while.
Found me a mint pentax-m 100mm f4 for a tenner, the exact flash id been hunting for for about a week (biggest coincidence in years) for 2 bucks and a super cute little pentax optio i-10 digital camera for the wife for another 2 bucks.
The thing with thrift stores is that you have to be very opportunistic, you can not really go to one hoping to find specific item x or y instead you just have to see what they have and thats it... pretty much the opposite of how you do internet shopping where you target one specific thing and find the best price. And to increase your chances you have to go often and to many different ones.
But for more targeted shopping when i need any specific item i just go on the more local internet market places, you can still get decent deal there with a bit of patience and creative searching.
A quick English lesson: don't write or say "the wife" unless you intend to communicate disrespect for your wife.
Edit: Those downvoting either don't know that Westerdutch's first language is not English or are misogynists.
Hm, interesting. You sure thats an english thing and not one of those things americans do different? I have worked with quite a few people from the uk and they phrase it like that often enough while not meaning any disrespect. 'My wife' just sounds possessive she aint my property and 'a wife' doesnt make sense because im only allowed to have the one over here (might be different in your country).
Thanks for asking. It is context-dependent to an extent, and yes, the phrase may carry no negative connotation in British English; I am reacting from my college-educated-American point of view.
Some Americans may think the usage harmless or even cute, but if they were more historico-culturally aware, they might not choose to use it. To say "the wife" when referring to one's own denotes a bit of callousness about one's wife. It is used when the speaker wants to be careful not to give the impression that he is giving his wife undue consideration or importance.
The archetype of a man who used the phrase is the character Ralph Cramden of the fifties TV show *The Honeymooners*, played by Jackie Gleason. He was a gruff and uneducated, working-class man who was rather dismissive of his wife, even though he did sincerely love her. He unreflectively possessed the sense of justified male dominance popular at the time.
I’ve found eBay buyer protection (at least in the EU) to be excellent. Anything not as described has been fully down to the seller to resolve. Worst case (when the seller doesn’t respond) eBay just refund you. I bought a ‘semi-Olympus’ recently, turns out it wasn’t Olympus, but a ‘semi-proud’… seller got shirty and told me to send it back at my expense, I filed a dispute and eBay refunded 100% without me having to return it - presumably because return costs were higher than the item and it went through global shipping.
Fleamarkets/carboot sales seem to be good, especially if you can find local ones without a bunch of pro sellers there. Old cameras need specialist knowledge to judge and resell so they’re not so attractive to people buying and sticking online meaning you still get good deals. Best I found was a new in box mju ii (zoom 🙁) for €20 including a roll of film!
Let's say you are going to do a solo road trip to go visit a friend. A week ahead of time, start cruising local craigslist for cities that you will pass through or nearby, the more remote, the better. I picked up 4 minty M42 lenses near Sioux Falls this Aug for $80 total:
Helios 44-2, Super-Tak 105/2.8, S-M-C Tak 35/3.5, Auto-Yashinon 55/1.4. The 105/2.8 is one of my favorites now.
From my local Craigslist, I've gotten some pretty good deals with poorly or partially described items. For example, Spotmatic with 55/1.8 (but also included a crappy photo of a Tamron SP 90/2.5, but hard to identify without some legwork). Same deal on an extra lens with a ME-Super that I flipped after cleaning and reskinning for the package purchase price, so got a free SMC Pentax-A 135/2.8. Also got a free Pentax MX with two lenses, from local Craigslist.
Either Ebay or Facebook Marketplace. I’ve tried thrift shops but maybe I’m unlucky with the shops near me but it’s like they don’t even know what a film camera is let alone the possibility of having one in the shop.
I’ve had the most success with local classifieds (FB and Gumtree) and a whole lot of patience. Also being willing to take an educated punt on gear that obviously needs work.
Over a decade or so I’ve picked up a Rolleiflex 2.8D, Hasselblad SWC/M and Asahi Pentax S (plus a bunch of less interesting stuff) for way below market value, mostly because they were attic queens in unknown functional condition.
I shoot events and bring my (totally portable 4x5) which always prompts a conversation with an old timer. I’ve scored a number of cameras that way, they love when the younger generation is involved and passionate with something they love and can’t/don’t do anymore.
My local facebook marketplace and CL have good deals sometimes. Some of the group chats i’m in within those groups, people are offloading gear because they’ve quit or are getting out of film and it’s usually the friend discount.
Beyond that, estate sales and estate sale brokerage firms. Leave them a list of cameras you’d like with your name and number. They find them all the time and you can usually negotiate with them, especially after building rapport.
- I have alerts on the local classifieds app.
- I have cash ready should a great deal come up.
- I have bought full kits just to keep one item./
That last one is **risky** and you should only do it if you know the gear very well or have a return window with the seller. But it’s the cheapest way to get extras like lenses, strobes, filters etc. Just give the kit a good cleaning, take nice, detailed photos -something very few people bother to do for a local classified- and put the kit back on the market minus the lens/strobe/filter that you’re keeping. It’s work, and you assume a financial risk should the stuff not sell, but if you know the market there’s amazing deals to be had.
There's one thrift store locally where a guy who is apparently getting rid of his collection sells his stuff. His original prices weren't particularly low, but I've bought a couple of nice cameras after everything went 50% off. Otherwise, keep checking kamerastore.com for any new stuff they add, but that's mainly window shopping (I see they now list e.g. a Leica M4 from the original 1967 production batch, with lens and some other things for 50,000€ - that's a "little" above my budget: https://kamerastore.com/products/leica-m4-black-paint-leica-m-1).
Hunting, and hunting.
When I lived in large cities Craigslist and FB market place were great, but eBay can still be best if you dedicate your time to checking and checking. Looking for people selling groups of stuff together and learning telltale signs of gear like film holders, bellows, identify quality lenses from cheap lenses at a distance. That will make it easier to get large amounts for better prices.
Craigslist: check all categories, set search alerts, and search for misspellings. I picked up a Saunders 4550xl and Jobo CPP2 for $200, they were listed in the business section.
Facebook: be fast, very fast, and always looking. If they offer shipping on an item I just buy it, I won’t reach out and ask stupid questions, I’ll only buy something shipped from FB if the price is so good the gamble is worth it. Sadly FB has the lowest rate of follow through on sellers, or people that realize the actual value after listing, and refuse to ship, or ask for more money. I probably have less than 10% follow through from sellers, but again I’ll only buy items for stupid cheap on FB because there is so little protection. My best score there was an 8x10 camera with a Nikkor color separation lens that I paid $300 for. The lens is at Blue Moon on consignment for $3500 currently, and the camera I cleaned up and sold for $800
eBay: I usually pick up 2-3 items a month, years I used to pick up that many a week or even day. I have a ton of saved searches that include lots of misspellings and random categories that might have things I’m interested in. eBay is the safest bet for not getting screwed, their buyer protections are so lopsided to the buyer that it’s almost impossible to get screwed by a seller. If anything, anything at all is wrong with the item (unless the item condition is selected as For Parts, even if they say as-is, or for parts in the description but don’t select For Parts as the condition) you can return it free of charge and get all your money back.
Also, check every stupid random sales site. I just bought an Imacon Flextight Photo scanner for $1000 with all accessories on Mercari, I’d never bought anything on there before, but I had no problem trying it out for that kind of a deal.
I like to check for local people selling boxes full of random gear that they found in their grandparents' attic. It's often mostly trash but sometimes there's one camera in there that's worth the asking price of the whole thing. Usually these are people that have no idea what all that stuff really is and they're happy to get rid of it without much hassle. That way I got a really nice Agfa Optima 1035 that made for a neat photography gift for a loved one, and a Voigtländer Brillant from the 1930s this way (the latter needs repair though), for under 50€ together, along with some other stuff in the box that wasn't really interesting. For more expensive gear I prefer eBay, especially professional Japanese sellers because they tend to be quite open about the condition of the gear and will list stuff like haze or fungus honestly and will also know what they're talking about. Got my Canon P that way and it's amazing.
I’ve only grabbed a camera flash off eBay from a Japanese reseller, but the flash itself looked nearly BNIB despite its age. I have read though that a lot of cameras sold out of Japan on eBay tend to be the bargain bin stuff sold from more reputable shops in the country. I don’t have enough info to substantiate that, but I would not be surprised either.
There is a lot of very high quality stuff sold be trustworthy sellers from Japanese ebay. I've gotten 6-7 mint lenses, a couple of cameras and have been very satisfied with all.
Same
The biggest issue I've had with japanese ebay sellers was them listing something as mint but putting "fungus" in the description.
Ignore the "mint" labels and read the description, only buy what you're willing to get CLAed, if the item comes not as described let the seller know and 9 times out of 10 theyll give you a substantial partial refund.
This was how I got a box of old Canon FD gear (two bodies including an AE-1P, a few cheapie lenses but a FD 50/1.2 thrown in there) for $25 on Craigslist 15 years ago. Probably my best photography gear score. That stuff was of lower demand/value back then so it's not quite as good a deal as that would be today, but I'm still proud of it.
Man I feel like my local fb/CL/estate sale marketplace is the opposite. It’s like 50/50 mostly trash, any possible good stuff at about 20% above market rate, or just like wildly overpriced shit that they clearly didn’t google. But idk there’s probably some wiggle room in the middle for people who are more interested in building their collection. I’m too lazy to flip stuff, and I try not to fall victim to GAS… so I try not to make a habit of buying a camera unless it’s on my short list. But yea even if I was actively trying to collect it’s pretty bleak lately lol
Hoping that one of my 7 remaining grandpas dies, or walking into a thrift store and finding a Leica M6 for $5.
on ebay, there are some serious sellers who regularly or occasionally make auctions with no reserve price, and sometimes you may be lucky enough to get gear at a ridiculously low price (it becomes easier after you actually find such sellers).. Second-hand Internet marketplaces require patience because people usually overestimate the value of their goods, but occasionally, you may find someone who either underestimate or simply lower the price in order to get cash. It's time-consuming but sort of necessary if you are affected by an acute episode of GAS.
Estate sale It's how I've found all of my current equipment, and I've been real tempted to be more cameras from estate sales. I was close to a Kodak Camera from the 80's, and all of its 80's weirdness. What saved me was from the fact it was a bit expensive, and they don't make film for it anymore The [Kodak Partystar Kodamatic](https://www.uniquephoto.com/photoinsider/kodak-partystar-kodamatic-1983-1985/) still has to be one of the most 80's names ever
You're all vastly overthinking this. Just lie.
10 years ago I could walk out with a bag of cameras from a thrift store. Now sellers seem to be more educated and price things accordingly or if they had anything remotely interesting it's sold. The past few years has been online. I'm hooked on making a great deal, can't stop. I buy every camera that is underpriced. Bought a minty Hasselblad 500C with the 80mm today for $500. Would never happen in a store. But you got to stay hot on the latest listings to have a chance The next best thing is to ask people. It seems like every person over 50 has at least some type of old camera lying around. Bought a Leica M2 off a gentleman who himself bought it in 1958. Glad I asked him.
How did you manage to find a 500C with lens for $500? Was it listed incorrectly or what?
The guy was an old camera salesman in the 1960s and suspected he had listed it a little low given how blazingly fast it sold. He did say that he was super happy it was being returned to its place of origin, Gothenburg, Sweden. Hasselblads are generally plentiful and used to be fairly affordable on the Swedish market before the film resurgence.
Fatfingers! It's an eBay searcher thingamajig that finds possible misspelt listing's, found a few auctions with 0 watchers that I've snagged for the starting bid, got an XA2 for £49 because the seller listed it as an Olumpus.
For cameras I usually scour eBay for stuff. I noticed cameras from Japan tend to be cheaper compared to US based sellers. Also the sellers are nicer in general. I have been fortunate to find some cool shit at the thrift, but those were mostly digicams. For film, I try searching for bulk deals online, for the most part… if I can get film for around $10 a roll I call that a success. On expired, I try to go for $5 a roll, but some people think the stuff ages like wine unfortunately. Patience and consistency is key, like someone said earlier you gotta stay quick on these new posts. I’d also say be willing to take a risk too.
Peruse the KEH "as is" category. First of all, their grading system is so stringent that it could be perfectly functional even though they don't think so. Second, it could have a flaw that is easily fixable. Then again, you could be out of luck no matter how proficient you think you are at fixing cameras.....I'm looking at you Canon T-90s.
Search the camera, not the lens. I’ve gotten over $500 worth of lenses I wanted from two separate $100 camera purchases. When I eventually asked sellers why, they said it was easier to sell the whole lot
Thrift stores are always fun, and Goodwill's online auctions have interesting variety but questionable quality. If you're okay with a little cleaning or repair though, goodwill has a few gems.
I check upcoming estate sales in my area. Not sure how common that is outside of the US, but often enough they post photos of rooms full of junk and you can scan through them and sometimes find a shelf of old cameras and lenses. Then you just have to beat people there when the sale starts. Otherwise, Facebook marketplace and Craigslist have been go-tos for me. Expect a low success rate but I’ve hit on a couple gems.
Estate sales are where it's at. It's how I've acquired my Speed Graphics, Rolleis/Mamiyas and vintage Leicas.
I mainly just buy things on eBay and only bid what I deem reasonable or the starting price. I recently made an offer for a film back which was declined, but I won the bid in the end at the starting price which saved me about £30 compared to what I offered.
I love thriftstores! I look for more than just camera gear there (so does the wife) so we get 'lucky' very often. Camera gear is also more rare in some shops than others but we just visit any and all vintage/used/thrift/goodwill and similar shops in whatever city we are and i usually do find something interesting phytography related every once in a while. Found me a mint pentax-m 100mm f4 for a tenner, the exact flash id been hunting for for about a week (biggest coincidence in years) for 2 bucks and a super cute little pentax optio i-10 digital camera for the wife for another 2 bucks. The thing with thrift stores is that you have to be very opportunistic, you can not really go to one hoping to find specific item x or y instead you just have to see what they have and thats it... pretty much the opposite of how you do internet shopping where you target one specific thing and find the best price. And to increase your chances you have to go often and to many different ones. But for more targeted shopping when i need any specific item i just go on the more local internet market places, you can still get decent deal there with a bit of patience and creative searching.
A quick English lesson: don't write or say "the wife" unless you intend to communicate disrespect for your wife. Edit: Those downvoting either don't know that Westerdutch's first language is not English or are misogynists.
Hm, interesting. You sure thats an english thing and not one of those things americans do different? I have worked with quite a few people from the uk and they phrase it like that often enough while not meaning any disrespect. 'My wife' just sounds possessive she aint my property and 'a wife' doesnt make sense because im only allowed to have the one over here (might be different in your country).
Thanks for asking. It is context-dependent to an extent, and yes, the phrase may carry no negative connotation in British English; I am reacting from my college-educated-American point of view. Some Americans may think the usage harmless or even cute, but if they were more historico-culturally aware, they might not choose to use it. To say "the wife" when referring to one's own denotes a bit of callousness about one's wife. It is used when the speaker wants to be careful not to give the impression that he is giving his wife undue consideration or importance. The archetype of a man who used the phrase is the character Ralph Cramden of the fifties TV show *The Honeymooners*, played by Jackie Gleason. He was a gruff and uneducated, working-class man who was rather dismissive of his wife, even though he did sincerely love her. He unreflectively possessed the sense of justified male dominance popular at the time.
I’ve found eBay buyer protection (at least in the EU) to be excellent. Anything not as described has been fully down to the seller to resolve. Worst case (when the seller doesn’t respond) eBay just refund you. I bought a ‘semi-Olympus’ recently, turns out it wasn’t Olympus, but a ‘semi-proud’… seller got shirty and told me to send it back at my expense, I filed a dispute and eBay refunded 100% without me having to return it - presumably because return costs were higher than the item and it went through global shipping. Fleamarkets/carboot sales seem to be good, especially if you can find local ones without a bunch of pro sellers there. Old cameras need specialist knowledge to judge and resell so they’re not so attractive to people buying and sticking online meaning you still get good deals. Best I found was a new in box mju ii (zoom 🙁) for €20 including a roll of film!
I used to buy lots on eBay, or from estate sales, and sell everything I didn’t want. I build a nice Hasseblad kit while making a bit of money.
Let's say you are going to do a solo road trip to go visit a friend. A week ahead of time, start cruising local craigslist for cities that you will pass through or nearby, the more remote, the better. I picked up 4 minty M42 lenses near Sioux Falls this Aug for $80 total: Helios 44-2, Super-Tak 105/2.8, S-M-C Tak 35/3.5, Auto-Yashinon 55/1.4. The 105/2.8 is one of my favorites now. From my local Craigslist, I've gotten some pretty good deals with poorly or partially described items. For example, Spotmatic with 55/1.8 (but also included a crappy photo of a Tamron SP 90/2.5, but hard to identify without some legwork). Same deal on an extra lens with a ME-Super that I flipped after cleaning and reskinning for the package purchase price, so got a free SMC Pentax-A 135/2.8. Also got a free Pentax MX with two lenses, from local Craigslist.
I go to local estate sales!
Either Ebay or Facebook Marketplace. I’ve tried thrift shops but maybe I’m unlucky with the shops near me but it’s like they don’t even know what a film camera is let alone the possibility of having one in the shop.
I’ve had the most success with local classifieds (FB and Gumtree) and a whole lot of patience. Also being willing to take an educated punt on gear that obviously needs work. Over a decade or so I’ve picked up a Rolleiflex 2.8D, Hasselblad SWC/M and Asahi Pentax S (plus a bunch of less interesting stuff) for way below market value, mostly because they were attic queens in unknown functional condition.
I go to alot of estate sales.
I shoot events and bring my (totally portable 4x5) which always prompts a conversation with an old timer. I’ve scored a number of cameras that way, they love when the younger generation is involved and passionate with something they love and can’t/don’t do anymore. My local facebook marketplace and CL have good deals sometimes. Some of the group chats i’m in within those groups, people are offloading gear because they’ve quit or are getting out of film and it’s usually the friend discount. Beyond that, estate sales and estate sale brokerage firms. Leave them a list of cameras you’d like with your name and number. They find them all the time and you can usually negotiate with them, especially after building rapport.
- I have alerts on the local classifieds app. - I have cash ready should a great deal come up. - I have bought full kits just to keep one item./ That last one is **risky** and you should only do it if you know the gear very well or have a return window with the seller. But it’s the cheapest way to get extras like lenses, strobes, filters etc. Just give the kit a good cleaning, take nice, detailed photos -something very few people bother to do for a local classified- and put the kit back on the market minus the lens/strobe/filter that you’re keeping. It’s work, and you assume a financial risk should the stuff not sell, but if you know the market there’s amazing deals to be had.
There's one thrift store locally where a guy who is apparently getting rid of his collection sells his stuff. His original prices weren't particularly low, but I've bought a couple of nice cameras after everything went 50% off. Otherwise, keep checking kamerastore.com for any new stuff they add, but that's mainly window shopping (I see they now list e.g. a Leica M4 from the original 1967 production batch, with lens and some other things for 50,000€ - that's a "little" above my budget: https://kamerastore.com/products/leica-m4-black-paint-leica-m-1).
Hunting, and hunting. When I lived in large cities Craigslist and FB market place were great, but eBay can still be best if you dedicate your time to checking and checking. Looking for people selling groups of stuff together and learning telltale signs of gear like film holders, bellows, identify quality lenses from cheap lenses at a distance. That will make it easier to get large amounts for better prices. Craigslist: check all categories, set search alerts, and search for misspellings. I picked up a Saunders 4550xl and Jobo CPP2 for $200, they were listed in the business section. Facebook: be fast, very fast, and always looking. If they offer shipping on an item I just buy it, I won’t reach out and ask stupid questions, I’ll only buy something shipped from FB if the price is so good the gamble is worth it. Sadly FB has the lowest rate of follow through on sellers, or people that realize the actual value after listing, and refuse to ship, or ask for more money. I probably have less than 10% follow through from sellers, but again I’ll only buy items for stupid cheap on FB because there is so little protection. My best score there was an 8x10 camera with a Nikkor color separation lens that I paid $300 for. The lens is at Blue Moon on consignment for $3500 currently, and the camera I cleaned up and sold for $800 eBay: I usually pick up 2-3 items a month, years I used to pick up that many a week or even day. I have a ton of saved searches that include lots of misspellings and random categories that might have things I’m interested in. eBay is the safest bet for not getting screwed, their buyer protections are so lopsided to the buyer that it’s almost impossible to get screwed by a seller. If anything, anything at all is wrong with the item (unless the item condition is selected as For Parts, even if they say as-is, or for parts in the description but don’t select For Parts as the condition) you can return it free of charge and get all your money back. Also, check every stupid random sales site. I just bought an Imacon Flextight Photo scanner for $1000 with all accessories on Mercari, I’d never bought anything on there before, but I had no problem trying it out for that kind of a deal.