The short version
- Typical range: £60 – £400 — see the full camera lens value guide
- What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
- Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
- Category: Cameras & Photography
Before you photograph it
Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.
- Shine a torch through the lens from the front and look through from the back for fungus, haze or separation. Photograph what you see.
- Work the zoom and focus rings through their range, and check for wobble in the barrel or a sticking aperture.
- Confirm the exact mount, since a lens that does not fit the buyer’s camera is worthless to them.
The photographs that sell a camera lens
Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.
- The lens standing upright, whole, with caps off
- Looking through the front element against a bright background, showing the glass is clear
- The rear element and the mount contacts
- The focus and zoom rings, plus any scratch on the barrel or filter thread
Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.
Writing the title and description
Brand, focal length, aperture and mount, in that order: “Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens”. Photographers search exactly this string. The mount is critical — EF, RF, F, Z, E and MFT are not interchangeable — and omitting it wastes everybody’s time.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Focal length, maximum aperture and mount type
- Whether it has image stabilisation and autofocus, both working
- Optical condition: any fungus, haze, separation, dust or scratches
- Whether caps, hood, filter and case are included
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about a camera lens. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.
Torch it and photograph what you see. Fungus is the thing lens buyers fear most because it spreads and etches the coating, so a clear answer is worth a lot.
Confirm the mount and test autofocus on your own camera. Say which body you tested on, so the buyer can judge compatibility themselves.
Photograph it at an angle in strong light. Light cleaning marks barely affect images and buyers know it; deep scratches are a different matter and must be shown.
Pricing it so it actually sells
Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.
The camera lens value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.
What you keep, compared
On a £230 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a camera lens — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:
| Where you sell it | Fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| WishThrift | £0 | £230 |
| Poshmark | −£46 | £184 |
| eBay | −£31 | £199 |
| Mercari | −£23 | £207 |
| Etsy | −£15 | £215 |
Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.
Timing and getting it to the buyer
Lenses sell steadily all year and hold value unusually well. Fast primes and well-regarded zooms sell quickly; slow kit lenses are abundant and cheap.
Compact, valuable and reasonably robust if packed with both caps on and plenty of padding. Tracked postage is sensible given the value.
WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.
Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.
Frequently asked questions
Do camera lenses hold their value?
Better than almost any other photographic equipment. Bodies depreciate steadily as sensors improve, while good glass stays useful for decades, which is why a lens is often worth more than the camera it came 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 on the internal glass. Haze looks like a milky film. Photograph anything you find and describe it plainly.
What is a used camera lens worth?
Typically £60 to £400 depending on focal length, maximum aperture and brand. Fast primes and professional zooms sit well above kit lenses. See the camera lens value guide.
See also: what a used camera lens is worth · browse live cameras & photography listings · condition grades explained.