MPB Photographic

Didn't want to start a new thread but had to throw some praise out there for MPB.

On Monday night I decided the Canon 35mm 1.4 was calling my name, I pinged an email off to MPB to offer my 24-105 as a trade. Within an hour of business opening on Tuesday they had emailed me with an excellent quote (in fact the value of the 24-105 was higher than people are struggling to sell them for on here).

Deal done, they informed me that their courier couldn't pick up until January 2nd now (understandable) so I asked if I could send it to them Special Delivery. One email later I was off to the Post Office, job done. They contacted me Wednesday morning to say the lens had arrived, so I phoned, paid the balance and within 2hrs had a despatch email for the 35mm 1.4. Today it arrived exactly as described (hard to tell it from new).

So that was 48hrs for a trade from start to finish, superb service.
 
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Just wanted to give my experience...

I was going to sell them a Canon body and 3 lenses - for the body and kit lens they wanted to know where it came from, it was used from a photography shop and was a Canon Rebel (therefore imported, I believe) so they wouldnt touch it (they also offered a pretty poor price for it to) so be careful when selling to them, they wont buy anything imported which led me to trouble when I tried to sell them my 50mm prime which I bought new from an eBay store; of course it was new and genuine but I knew if I told them that they wouldnt buy it. Again, they offered a fairly poor price for this lens too but not too bad given the costs of selling it privately.

Finally, I did sell them the final lens which they offered a fairly good price for. It had been listed on eBay twice for the same but didnt sell so I didnt have much choice, it all went through very quickly and arranging pickup was simple and easy, I wouldnt hesitate to sell to them again depending on the price.
 
Thrash said:
Just wanted to give my experience...

I was going to sell them a Canon body and 3 lenses - for the body and kit lens they wanted to know where it came from, it was used from a photography shop and was a Canon Rebel (therefore imported, I believe) so they wouldnt touch it (they also offered a pretty poor price for it to) so be careful when selling to them, they wont buy anything imported which led me to trouble when I tried to sell them my 50mm prime which I bought new from an eBay store; of course it was new and genuine but I knew if I told them that they wouldnt buy it. Again, they offered a fairly poor price for this lens too but not too bad given the costs of selling it privately.

Finally, I did sell them the final lens which they offered a fairly good price for. It had been listed on eBay twice for the same but didnt sell so I didnt have much choice, it all went through very quickly and arranging pickup was simple and easy, I wouldnt hesitate to sell to them again depending on the price.
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At the end of the day they're a business in the market to make money, as you've demonstrated for stuff that they can sell on painlessly they're willing to offer a fair price :thumbs: let's face it a 50/1.8 is never going to generate amazing money used they sell from 50-65 pounds depending on the direction of the wind that day
 
MWHCVT said:
At the end of the day they're a business in the market to make money, as you've demonstrated for stuff that they can sell on painlessly they're willing to offer a fair price :thumbs: let's face it a 50/1.8 is never going to generate amazing money used they sell from 50-65 pounds depending on the direction of the wind that day
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No I do agree, when you take into account shipping and fess, you lose what youd make by selling it on eBay or somewhere similar.
I also dont like the way prices dont change if you part exchange, they should really make it so if you part exchange you get a better price.
 
Thrash said:
I also dont like the way prices dont change if you part exchange, they should really make it so if you part exchange you get a better price.
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Why? The advertised price is already discounted by the amount they offer for your used equipment trade-in. If they were to discount further they may as well increase the quote they gave for your traded goods in the first place. As said earlier, they're a business first and foremost, and if I were in their shoes I wouldn't be offering anyone great quotes (if at all) on grey imports or on ten-a-penny lenses like the nifty fifty. You'll never get as much from a trade in as on a private sale with anyone (remember companies like MPB have to add VAT and their own profit margin when reselling your old kit).

Besides that, I've always found MPB to be superb; lovely website, full and accurate disclosure as to the condition of the used kit they sell, speedy and communicative service. Tis a shame that bricks-and-mortar stores (and the personal touch they provide) are going under due to increasing web sales, but companies as good as MPB are the next best thing :-)
 
Nifkin said:
Why? The advertised price is already discounted by the amount they offer for your used equipment trade-in. If they were to discount further they may as well increase the quote they gave for your traded goods in the first place. As said earlier, they're a business first and foremost, and if I were in their shoes I wouldn't be offering anyone great quotes (if at all) on grey imports or on ten-a-penny lenses like the nifty fifty. You'll never get as much from a trade in as on a private sale with anyone (remember companies like MPB have to add VAT and their own profit margin when reselling your old kit).
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The reason why is because if they did id be more likely to buy used stuff from them which is better for them. Ill happily sell to them and then buy used from eBay or Amazon because its cheaper.
Discounting further and offering increased quotes are completely different, offering a different quote for part exchange makes people more likely to part exchange and spend more instead of just selling.
 
Thrash said:
The reason why is because if they did id be more likely to buy used stuff from them which is better for them. Ill happily sell to them and then buy used from eBay or Amazon because its cheaper.
Discounting further and offering increased quotes are completely different, offering a different quote for part exchange makes people more likely to part exchange and spend more instead of just selling.
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How about instead of giving you £50 for you're traded in item, they'll give you £30 and knock £20 off the price of the item you want to buy? Great bit of marketing psychology to lure the punters in, that; double discount! Will work on those people who think that they're truly getting a knock-down price in a DFS 'sale' :lol: Otherwise I'm not really sure why you think you should get an even better deal just because you're doing a trade-in with them, as they still have to take the risk of flogging your old gear on (and in your case a grey import too). I'd be more inclined to discount stock to customers who are paying for items outright in cash.

Anyway, good luck with your eBay purchases. Who needs a warrantly anyway, eh? :D
 
Nifkin said:
How about instead of giving you £50 for you're traded in item, they'll give you £30 and knock £20 off the price of the item you want to buy? Great bit of marketing psychology to lure the punters in, that; double discount! Will work on those people who think that they're truly getting a knock-down price in a DFS 'sale' :lol: Otherwise I'm not really sure why you think you should get an even better deal just because you're doing a trade-in with them, as they still have to take the risk of flogging your old gear on (and in your case a grey import too). I'd be more inclined to discount stock to customers who are paying for items outright in cash.

Anyway, good luck with your eBay purchases. Who needs a warrantly anyway, eh? :D
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Most businesses would rather offer a discounted price than not make a sale, slightly less profit is better than no profit at all, right? Its obviously something which works, which is why huge companies offer it like CeX who are undoubtedly the most famous second hand goods chain. The same reason Game and Gamestation do similar things when you trade in old games and the same reason you can get a better price in Argos vouchers from Mazuma mobile than you would in cash. Theres probably more companies out there who do the same thing too that I dont know about, i.e. Cash Converters, Cash Generator, etc. It just makes sense and anyone who knows anything about business will tell you the same.

Its nothing to do with "grey imports" or "nifty fiftys", the item itself is completely irrelevant, its about trying to maximise sales and profit as well as satisfying the customer. Yes ive bought from eBay before because I know a very good eBay shop which sells second hand gear with a warranty.

I dont know why youre trying to start an argument about it, I have no problem with MPB and will deal with them again, unless youre employed by them I dont see why youre taking it personally and making it personal to me.
 
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