Pricing Your Used Camera

Pricing Used Photo Equipment

Circa 1942, in the midst of World War II, the U.S. Government Office of Price Administration published the following guide to the pricing of used photographic equipment. It's not that the guide is a valuable tool, but the "Governmental-ese" is wonderful!

Sec. 6. How to find the price of the new item. If you are a dealer in used photographic equipment, you find the price of the new item of photographic equipment by using these rules in the order in which they appear. If you are a consumer selling your own equipment to a consumer, you may not use rules 1, 2 or 3 but may only use rules 4, 5 and 6.

(a) Rule 1. Find the retail selling price in March 1942 for the same article, new, for sale in your own stock.

(b) Rule 2. If you did not have the same item of photographic equipment, new in your stock, find the manufacturer's retail list price in effect in March 1942 for the same item new.

(c) Rule 3. If you did not have the same item of photographic equipment new in your stock, and if there is no manufacturer's retail list price for the item, find the retail ceiling price of a similar item, new in your own stock. A used item of photographic equipment is similar to a new item if the used item when new would give fairly equivalent service and would have sold at approximately the same price as the similar article now sells for.

(d) Rule 4. If you do not have a similar article new in your stock or if you are a consumer selling your own equipment, find the retail selling price in March 1942 for the same item new in the same shopping area. (Shopping area is the area in which persons in your community shop for new goods of the kind that you are pricing.)

(e) Rule 5. If the same article new was not for sale in the same shopping area, find the retail selling price in March 1942 or a similar item new for sale in the same shopping area. The used item of photographic equipment is similar to the new item if the used item when new would give fairly equivalent service and would have sold for approximately the same price as the similar new item now sells for.

(f) Rule 6. If you cannot find the retail selling price under any of these rules above, apply to your nearest District Office of the Office of Price Administration regarding the determination of your price.

Remember that if you can find the price of a New item in Rule 1, you cannot uses Rules 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. If you can use Rule 2, you cannot use Rules 3, 4, 5 and 6. If you can use 3, you cannot use 4, 5 or 6. If you can use Rule 4, you cannot use 5 or 6.

Any Regional Office of the Office of Price Administration of such other offices as may be authorized by the appropriate regional office, may establish retail ceiling prices for used photographic equipment pursuant to Rule 6 of this section.