The death of bargain shopping

You know, I am just old enough to remember going to second-hand shops, pawn shops, or whatever and finding something I know is worth a lot of money, for dirt cheap. Now, being that I am in South Africa this stopped happening around the 2010s, right around when everyone got desperate. But there were still places here or there you would go to, where you could find a good deal.

Lately, though, I have noticed that these things have stopped, even the places where I would buy a good book (being 10 years old) for only 60 bucks have withered away. Now, it’s not that we need to go out in droves to support mom-and-pop shops because they are closing. Instead, it is that they are now found on almost every corner you can imagine.

That is causing the death of bargain shopping because they no longer seem to care about selling things for lower prices. Instead, you now find a second-hand store that sells their cameras for the same prices as online stores, usually with the added markup for having to drive there. Or you may find a bookstore, always overflowing with books, and find no gold in the rough.

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry has somehow found it on themselves to make a quick buck, to get some money in their pocket before their pockets fall off. What does this mean? It means that consoles that have scratched up screens, worn out buttons, and are several generations old are going for the same price as brand-new ones.

You ask the owner of the shop “Why?” and they inevitably come back with “Well, I saw online that the same console sold for almost DOUBLE this price!” Conveniently forgetting that the one they saw online was closed, a limited edition, had extra games, controllers, or even survived some historic event.

Yes, dearie, that console can sell for thousands online, but the one you have here is of questionable quality and you suspiciously won’t let me try to turn it on. This behaviour, this mindset is what is killing the bargain. Because big box stores, or chain pawn shops, like Cash Crusaders or even Solidarteit’s Helpende Hand don’t care.

These shops usually have long lists of items and prices worked out, and they’ll list the product to get rid of it as fast as possible. Cash Crusaders, or Cash Converters depending on your location, will buy a console out front for R1000 and chuck it out the back for R1200. That’s all the profit they want and need, they are just strangely absurdly expensive when it comes to musical instruments.

The whole idea of shopping at these locations is to find something that you need or want for a price that you never thought would be possible. Not to go into a store with pre-loved goods that end up costing as much or sometimes more than a brand-new product. This is the part where I start talking about online marketplaces and the confusingly overpriced cameras.

Like everything I love, the prices of cameras are something I have a long and complicated internal spreadsheet for. From point and click digital cameras that fit in your back pocket to the cinema quality video cameras that I have no interest in ever owning. These are the things I like to know about, because one day (hopefully soon) I will click the right buttons to have my own Mirrorless Camera kit added to a cart, followed by a checkout procedure.

So, what does this have to do with bargains being dead. It comes down to how the general pricing of cameras work and how older cameras quickly lose their value, especially heavily used one. A normal DSLR from 2020 that is being used by an enthusiast or professional has most likely been used to take nearly 100 000 pictures.

Whether this be of random things along the road, houses, model shoots, or landscape photography. This obviously has a wearing effect on the internal components, which means that something that was sold brand new at R50k will have lost much of its value over the last three years. If this was the same process as in 2010 or 2015 the camera would be a fifth of what it was worth brand new.

No lies, the D5100 camera my father bought for me at the end of 2011 was around R11k that December. When I checked on it in 2016 it had fallen to only R3k for the camera, a flash, and two extra lenses. Which is entirely normal, by then Nikon had already released two follow-up cameras to my specific camera.

In the modern world we would expect, nay, demand that the same process would happen to cameras that are all around us. But, something has gone wrong, it is almost like those who are selling products online and offline (outside) have forgotten that products lose value. A prime example of this is what is happening right now here in South Africa.

OutdoorPhoto, a local camera retailer here in South Africa has a special on their Nikon Z fc bundled with a 50mm lens. For only R16 985, which really is just a completely fantastic deal to get on this camera, they had one earlier this month for the Nikon Z6-II at around R20k. These are some of the best and greatest cameras that Nikon currently has, and they are well worth their price.

Just out of interest though I have been looking at cameras on the marketplace at Facebook, just out of sheer curiosity. Now, the closest I could find was a Nikon Z50, which is basically just the Nikon Z fc without the fancy frills. I would like you to take a guess at how much it is still being sold for, yes, okay it’s in the picture right below here.

R13k, that is 13 000, that is a camera that has been taken out of the box, used for who knows what, and the best deal you can get on it is only a grand total of R3k less than a brand new one. This is not a deal, and it is sad that I know there is someone out there seeing things and thinking they are going to get a steal.

But we need to look further afield, now that we know how much a brand new mirrorless camera is we need to look at what the equivalent of a five year old DSLR is. Because, honestly, that is the only real technology that was close to what modern cameras have. And I need to say something controversial, the base model mirrorless cameras that can change their lenses, are as good as entry level pro DSLR cameras.

For our case, that would be a Nikon D7500. Yes, I have used both cameras, yes, the mirrorless cameras of 2023 are as good as the D7500s, even at their entry level. Seriously, the sheer amount of technology packed into those small little bodies is insane.

So, we have our target, the D7500 was released in 2017, making it a perfect comparison for a camera for 2023, right? Uh, okay maybe not, we are aiming at something a bit old here, but the D7500, in fact the entire D7000 series from Nikon is a good pro-level DSLR cameras. There has to be a good deal on them, right? There is no way they ask too much for these things?

Oh.

Oh no.

The camera body alone is R13 900. That is basically as much as a brand new mirrorless. Hold on, I am almost sure that is the price of a brand new D7000 series. Let me check that.

Holy crap, the Nikon D7500 body on its own is only R17k! This, this is what I mean when I say the death of bargain shopping. If I am going out to buy equipment, of any type, not just cameras, the old used items should not be on par with the brand-new ones. The whole reason second-hand shops thrive is because they sell things for cheap.

Bargain shopping has died out because no one wants to lose money, somehow seeing them getting some type of profit as their given right. Now, I know on some products this can be true, for example, a camera lens can go for several times that which it was bought for. Ironically enough, after a certain point camera lenses can drastically increase in value.

But the same cannot be said for camera bodies, which are always abused, used, and can easily be damaged just through day-to-day use. Not to mention that with each passing year the technology in cameras becomes older, which means that yes, your R50k camera was state of the art when you bought it.

But sir, that was 10 years ago, you have let it fall at least 20 times, and this is also a Denny’s!

I at least think I know who is to blame, it all started with Antiques Roadshow but has gotten much worse in our modern world thanks to the internet and online selling. People who “earn a living by selling things online” have caused bargain hunting to become non-existent. Cameras are my forte, well them and computers, and games, and consoles. But we can ignore them right now, we need to speak generally.

In general, the fact that everyone wants to earn some money or has heard of someone making money online is what is causing so many issues. Because everyone wants to get their metaphorical pound of flesh, and with each person getting a slight bit more from those around them, the next person wants a bit more.

Until we reach where we are now, there are no more bargains. If you are buying things online you will get as good a deal on brand new products as you would get when buying products from shady Facebook marketplaces, Gregslists, or Ebays.

Everyone has become so confident that what they have is gold that they now refuse to see that with all the price increases they have lost all their clientele. This is because, on the same page where I am browsing through the so-called online deals, I have adverts from TakeALot and OutdoorPhoto, Steam and Nintendo, as well as whatever else I just searched for.

If your deal is only a few thousand rand less than the brand-new item, it is no longer a deal. I would gladly pay a mere R2000 more on a camera body to not have to put my eye onto the crusty viewfinder that you have already used.  

Bargain shopping has been killed by the very people who are so reliant on it, you better be willing to close down your own profits, or you may find yourself without any profits at all…

I’d say then you’d have a closing down bargain sale, but even then people seem to be unable to realize that giving 30% off on a product no one wants is not going to get it out the door.

Stares at Musica closing down sale from a few years ago with angered annoyance