How to Sell Camera Gear

Used camera gear sells for roughly £12 to £700 on WishThrift, and listing it costs nothing — no fee, no commission, no buyer-side charge. Camera buyers are unusually well informed, and they all want the same two things: an actuation count and evidence that the sensor and glass are clean. Supply both unprompted and your listing immediately outranks the majority, which supply neither.

The short version

Guides in this section: 14
Range covered: £12 – £700
Every guide covers: prep, the photographs that sell it, the title, buyer questions and the fee maths
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price

How to sell camera gear, item by item

What you keep on a typical sale

On a £145 sale — around the middle for this category — a 20% commission would take £29 and a 10% one £14. On WishThrift you keep the whole £145, and the buyer pays no surcharge either. The full fee comparison sets out what each marketplace actually charges.

When camera gear actually sells

Camera gear sells steadily year round with a lift before Christmas and in early summer as people buy before holidays. Mirrorless bodies hold value far better than DSLRs, and lenses better than either, so if you are selling a whole kit the body is the part worth moving soonest.

Before you list anything

Two things decide most of the price in every category, and both are settled before you write the listing. The first is the condition grade: WishThrift uses five — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each one means is worth reading, because grading optimistically does not raise the price, it just produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else. The second is the price itself: the cameras & photography value guides price each item across all five grades.

Ready to list? It takes about two minutes and costs nothing — create a free account or see how selling works.

Frequently asked questions

What is a shutter count and why does it matter?

It is the number of times the shutter has fired, and it works like mileage on a car. Free tools read it from a recent image’s metadata. Supplying it unprompted marks you out as a seller who knows the equipment.

Are lenses worth more than camera bodies?

Frequently, yes. Bodies depreciate as sensors improve, while good glass stays useful for decades, so the lens is often worth more than the camera it is attached to.

How do I check a lens for fungus?

Shine a torch through the front element in a dark room and look through from the rear. Fungus appears as fine branching threads. Photograph anything you find and describe it plainly.

See also: all selling guides · what camera gear sells for · browse live cameras & photography listings.