The Juggle Zone: Bargain Blog

About one month ago I bought an A75 for $149.99 + tax, and later sold it at cost to a friend who was in the market for a digital camera. At the time of the original purchase I had pursued a PM at Staples, but didn't have any success. The following day, Friday, I woke up early. In my spare time I took a look at the FW thread, and discovered two pieces of critical information. First, that the Circuit City website was showing the $149.99 price, and second, that the website was also showing that the camera was in-stock in several New York area stores. I then initiated an online chat with Staples CS, asked to do a PM, provided links to the relevant pages, and was informed that I would indeed be able to PM. I quickly placed an order online (so I could get FatCash), and went through with the PM.

The bottom line price was: $249.98 - $30 ($30 off $150 coupon) + tax = $238.95 - $119.48 (110% PM + tax) - $5 (FatCash @ 2% of $249.98) - $1.19 (CC Cash back @ 1% of $119.47) = $113.28.

However, I still had one problem - I had an extra camera. (My A70 still worked fine.) So I began to consider my options:

1) return it.
2) return it to CC, possibly make $49.64.
3) return it to a Staples B&M using the packing slip (which showed $238.95), possibly make $125.67.
4) sell the A75 on ebay, possibly make a small profit, but given the large number of inexpensive A75s that entered the market over that weekend, low prospects.
5) sell the A70 on ebay, possibly break even, upgrade for free.

#1 was a boring option, and was quickly discarded. #2 & #3 were appealing in the sense that they would put some money in my pocket, but I wasn't excited about the ethical lines that would be blurred. #4 didn't seem worth my time - by the time I was done listing the item on ebay, finding a reliable buyer, paying the ebay fees, packing and shipping the item, etc., any profit I might make wouldn't likely be worth the effort expended.

So I began to lean toward #5. The idea was appealing because I would end up with the A75, which would provide a slight upgrade (namely larger screen and more shooting modes), plus "renew" my warranty. So I began to pursue setting my good ol' ebay account to sell. Things didn't go well. Their system wouldn't accept my credit card number. At all. It rejected it. So I contacted customer support by email, live chat, and telephone, and got no useful help. At all. They rejected me. My hesitance to use ebay increased, and I began to pursue alternative routes of selling.

I first sent out an email to a local email list, offering the camera for $150 (my goal was simply to break even, maybe make a little profit). The email:

I got only one response, from a slightly interested individual. So I expanded my search. FW has a For Sale/For Trade forum, so I posted there. I used a lower starting price, under the assumption that FW folk would be after a better deal. That post generated more interest. The biggest problem I faced was that I had no HeatWare rating. I had finally settled on $115 with one individual, who then decided he wanted me to send the camera first, then he'd pay (because he had a HeatWare rating). As much as I wanted to trust the guy - his rating was 100% positive, I wasn't willing to risk losing that much money. So I expanded my search, yet again.

Thanks in large part to a tip posted in my FS/FT post at FW, I posted at Craig's List on Thursday evening.

I recently bought a new camera, and I'm selling my old one. It's a Canon PowerShot A70 Digital Camera, in great condition. Included are the following items:

• A70 Camera


• USB cable


• A/V cable


• 16 MB CF Card


• English Manual (and any other documentation I find)


• Wrist strap


• Original Software CDs


• UPS ground shipping

The A70 is an excellent camera, very highly rated, and has many great features, including:

• 3.2 Megapixel CCD for high image quality


• High-resolution 3x Optical Zoom Lens, 10x Combined Zoom


• Sharp and accurate 5-Point AiAF


• DIGIC and iSAPS Technology for higher quality images


• Enhanced Movie Mode with Sound


• Direct Print Mode with Canon CP Printers and Bubble Jet Direct Printers.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. I'm asking $150 OBO.

Craig's List is cool, in that it is like an online flea market - hooking up buyers and sellers online, then allowing them to meet to exchange goods. Within a few hours of posting I received numerous emails from interested parties.

-An offer of $120 (later indicated possible willingness to spend more, and asked for pictures)
-An expression of interest and request for direct contact (see below)
-An offer to barter (Sony Clie PDA...plus extras...model number PEG-NR70V...4 months old, then later a game boy black with 3 games or a bass amp...Hartke 140 watts)
-An offer of $125*
-A request for location/contact info "for pick up" (he didn't specify whether he was willing to pay the full asking price)*

I began to respond to the responses. The most interested person was from an individual who wanted me to call him. I did, and we talked about the camera, it's availability in time for the weekend, and price. I went down to $140 after he suggested $120ish, but I wouldn't budge past that. He said he'd think about it and contact me the following day via email. A few other individuals had requested pictures, which I took with the A75 and sent out.

Friday morning, before I left for work, there was another request for pictures, which I sent out. When I arrived at work, I found that I couldn't access my email. And without access to my email, I couldn't read/respond to any new expressions of interest, access my Craig's List post (they send you a special link to access your post), or find out if the really interested guy was still really interested. By the end of the day, the email was still unavailable, so when I got home, I called him immediately. He had been a bit worried as he had emailed me twice, and of course got no response. It turned out he accepted my $140, an wanted to come by. Because my email was inaccessible, I considered waiting to see if anyone was willing to pay the full $150. But I decided I'd rather be done with the situation, so we worked out a time, and he was on his way. He showed up just a little late, checked out the camera, handed me the cash, and was off. And I had just been paid $26.72 to upgrade. No ebay fees, no shipping, no problem.

Taking into account the fact that I only paid $98 for my A70, one could argue that the net cost of the A75 was a mere $71.28!

On Saturday night, I got two more emails (before I had a chance to update the Craig's List posting to indicate that the camera had already sold):

-Another Craig's List user's expression of interest and request for direct contact
-The "slightly interested individual" from the email list checking to see if the camera was still available.

Being the nice guy that I am, I let all the people who expressed interest know that the camera is available brand new for $200 by email/PM:

*These emails were all received while the YUCS server was down.