When someone tells us our quote is lower than they expected, it is almost never because of the model. It is because of something they did not realise was priced in — a missing charger, a camera bought three years ago rather than last year, or the assumption that the lens was included in the number.
So here is the whole calculation, in the open. There are four inputs, and you control three of them.
This is the part you cannot change. A used camera is worth what the next buyer will pay, and that moves. New releases push older bodies down. A model that suddenly becomes popular with vloggers holds its value better than its specification sheet suggests.
This is also why a quote you saw a few weeks ago may not be the quote you see today. We price against the current market, not against what a camera cost new, and not against what it was worth last quarter.
If you want a sense of what is genuinely in demand rather than what is talked about, our own purchase book is a reasonable proxy. Between 16 February and 10 September 2026 we bought 909 camera bodies in India, and the ones that arrived most often were the Sony ZV-E10 (80), Nikon D5600 (46), Nikon Z50 (32), Sony A6400 (29), Sony A6100 and Canon EOS R50 (28 each), and the Canon EOS 200D Mark II (26).
Every camera we buy lands in one of four grades. These are the words we use internally and the words the agent will use to your face.
Looks and works as it should. No dents, no deep scratches, no marks on the screen, clean sensor, everything on the body responds. A camera that has been used carefully and stored properly.
Works completely, but shows that it has been used. Light scuffs on the body, minor marks that do not affect the screen or the glass, nothing broken.
Visible wear. Scratches you notice without looking for them, worn grip or rubber, screen marks, perhaps a stiff dial — but the camera still does its job.
Heavy wear or something not working quite right. Still a working camera, still something we buy, but the number reflects the condition honestly.
The gap between these grades is real money. Being honest about which one your camera is in when you fill the form is the single best thing you can do to make sure the quote you see is the price you get paid.
We ask how long ago you bought it, and the answer sits in one of five brackets: under four months, four to twelve months, twelve to eighteen, eighteen to twenty-four, and over two years.
Age is a separate input from condition because they measure different things. A two-year-old camera kept in a cupboard is old but flawless. A four-month-old camera taken on a trek is young and scratched. The market discounts both, for different reasons.
The practical takeaway is uncomfortable but true: cameras do not appreciate. If you already know you are not using it, the version of the camera that is worth the most is the one you sell this month, not next year.
This is the input people most often leave money on the table with. Each of these is priced separately when you still have it:
None of them individually transforms the number. Together they add up, and they are usually sitting in a cupboard at home. Before you accept a quote, go and look.
One caution on the invoice: it establishes what you bought and when, but if the original invoice is lost, the camera is treated as out of warranty. Finding it is worth a few minutes.
The price shown on a camera page on our site is for the body only. Lenses are quoted separately, from a separate catalogue of 168 lenses.
This surprises people, and we would rather surprise you here than at your door. It is not a way of paying less. It is how the market works: a body and a lens have completely different resale curves, and a kit zoom in particular loses value in a way the body does not. Quoting them as one number would mean quoting both of them badly.
It is also not a rare situation. Of the 909 lots we bought in India between February and September 2026, 743 — more than four in five — included at least one lens alongside the body.
A lens is graded on things a body is not: fungus and haze inside the elements, dust, the state of the aperture blades, whether the autofocus motor is healthy, and how the zoom and focus rings feel. Worth checking before you list it.
When our agent arrives, the inspection follows the same sequence every time. Front of the camera. Back, with the screen switched on and a menu open. Top plate with the dials and hot shoe. The base, with the serial number readable. The sensor and mount, with the lens off. The accessories, laid out. Then two short videos: powering on, firing the shutter a few times and switching between screen and viewfinder; and the information screen.
That record exists so both sides are looking at the same evidence. If the camera matches what you entered when you got your quote, the price stands and you are paid on the spot — UPI, Google Pay, bank transfer or cash, with bank transfer preferred above roughly ₹10,000.
If something material is different — a grade worse than described, a missing accessory, damage that was not mentioned — the agent re-quotes there and then and tells you exactly what changed. You are under no obligation to accept it. You can decline and keep the camera, and that costs you nothing.
Because it is based on the current market. Used camera prices move, and we quote against where the market is on the day, not where it was.
No. Camera prices on our site are for the body. Lenses are quoted separately.
They will show you what they are looking at and re-quote with the reason. You can accept or decline, and declining costs nothing.
Yes. Lenses are bought on their own, including when the body they came with no longer works.
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