Anyone bought from MPB

F

flavio

Messages
823
Name
Tony
Edit My Images
No
Been looking at long primes on their website, they seem to seriously oversell their lenses.
Lenses described as excellent showing signs of serious abuse/wear!
A couple of lenses namely Nikon 400 2.8vr which have obviously been heavily used, I would describe them as fair, they seem to prefer advertising them as excellent even though they have obvious battle scars.
Any experience buying from this company would be helpful.

cheers
 
I wouldn't get too hung up on the use of words like "excellent" if I were you. The whole second-hand industry uses these terms rather creatively.

KEH Camera in the USA claim to be the world's largest second-hand photographic equipment retailer, and their grading system is widely respected. Here's what they mean by "excellent":
Shows moderate wear for the age of the item. May have small dents and/or dings and slight finish wear. Glass may have slight marks, dust, anomalies and/or blemishes that will not affect picture quality.
Click to expand...

Personally I'd probably call that "quite good" but in the industry - KEH, MPB and everyone else - it's "excellent". You just need to calibrate your expectations.
 
StewartR said:
I wouldn't get too hung up on the use of words like "excellent" if I were you. The whole second-hand industry uses these terms rather creatively.

KEH Camera in the USA claim to be the world's largest second-hand photographic equipment retailer, and their grading system is widely respected. Here's what they mean by "excellent":


Personally I'd probably call that "quite good" but in the industry - KEH, MPB and everyone else - it's "excellent". You just need to calibrate your expectations.
Click to expand...
Appreciate your response.
Personally I won't compromise on quality when paying top dollar for equipment.
They may advertise a lens as excellent but if it is actually pretty beaten up, think I'll steer clear, would rather pay top money and buy new.
From my experience Grays of Westminster seem to have realism built into their equipment descriptions, I like honesty and realism in equal measure, especially if I'm putting down £5,000+ on a lens.
I guess what I'm saying is, companies like MPB need to get a reality check, excellent should actually mean excellent, not beaten up and heavily used!
I work hard to earn my money, I'm not going to give it away to companies who's standards are less than mine!
Tony
 
Last edited:
i bought from London Camera exchange last week, was very impressed with the quality of what i received, my lens looks brand new. you wouldnt tell the difference, maybe give them a try>?
 
I bought a bg-e6 grip from mpb, classed as Excellent++ and it was as good as new without a single scratch/scuff. It could have been fairly described as Mint.

I do find it very strange that the worst grading for used gear tends to be something like Excellent-, but it's common through the industry and I only look at ones described as Mint or Excellent++ these days to weed out the poorer items.
 
I have to say that I have purchased on several occasions from MPB, and everything has been in really mint condition, and I will happily use them again!
 
wellyboot said:
I have to say that I have purchased on several occasions from MPB, and everything has been in really mint condition, and I will happily use them again!
Click to expand...
In this instance I'm judging by the photos they provide for the equipment they are selling.
What they describe as excellent is so far from excellent it's laughable, industry standard descriptions or not it's almost a joke.
Let's remember for large telephoto lenses we are talking big bucks!
Perhaps I'll just buy new, to save myself from the proliferation of ********. Though for a company claiming to be industry leaders in product quality
they could do far better in my opinion.
Tony
 
Last edited:
Have to say looking at both lens,400mm F2.8 they have on their site I wouldn't say they were showing signs of serious abuse & wear, they both look ok to me.

:shrug:
 
simonblue said:
Have to say looking at both lens,400mm F2.8 they have on their site I wouldn't say they were showing signs of serious abuse & wear, they both look ok to me.

:shrug:
Click to expand...
with respect if you were in the market for such equipment you may feel differently.
I'm not happy paying 80-90% of the new list price for a lens which
has obvious signs of heavy use.
I've owned these lenses in the past and I know what I consider good condition.
Seems to me they are selling ex pro use/heavy use glass at not too far from new prices, think I'll look elsewhere!
I reckon they are dreaming re the value of the items they are offering for sale.
 
flavio said:
with respect if you were in the market for such equipment you may feel differently.
I'm not happy paying 80-90% of the new list price for a lens which
has obvious signs of heavy use.
I've owned these lenses in the past and I know what I consider good condition.
Seems to me they are selling ex pro use/heavy use glass at not too far from new prices, think I'll look elsewhere!
I reckon they are dreaming re the value of the items they are offering for sale.
Click to expand...

They seem to turn the big stuff over at a fair rate, and rarely drop their prices, so must be doing something right. The 400 2.8 is £1200 cheaper than new, I wouldn't say a near 20% saving on a relatively rare, niche lens is 'not too far from list'.

Whilst I'm never in the £3-5k category, for lenses around £1k I'm more than happy to forgo cosmetic looks to a degree, as long as the optics are spot on. The photos it can produce are still the same, at the end of the day.

As has been mentioned their grading is industry standard (and after 20+ orders with them, usually very cautious in my opinion), creating their own would just confuse matters for those trying to compare across stores.
 
flavio said:
What they describe as excellent is so far from excellent it's laughable, industry standard descriptions or not it's almost a joke.
Click to expand...

Photographic industry has used the exc-, exc, exc+ etc system for at least 30 years. Don't get hung up on it, it's only a way of rating, similar to 1-5, just with a more positive spin.

If you like what you're seeing, buy it. If you don't, move on.
 
I've bought a number of items from mpb in the past and I've always found their descriptions are more critical than mine. I've always been surprised by how much better the kit was than the description. I'd say they were over critical.
 
Bought a Canon 1D Mk II last week from MPB.
Was torn between two bodies, one was 'Mint-' at £419, the other was 'Exc+' at £360.
Went for the cheaper one and didn't regret it, not a mark on it! well, slight paint loss on the hotshoe, and the battery case had a small crack in it, but a 3rd party battery was thrown in that wasn't advertised and a bit of insulation tape solved the crack and it charges and holds charge fine, so can't complain.
If you're not happy you can send it straight back within 7 days!
You also get 6 months warranty.
Bought/sold with them a few times and no problems so far!
 
I have purchased equipment from mpb and always found the kit in better than as described condition perhaps I have just been lucky.
 
I bought a 60D from them a couple of weeks ago and I could not find a single sign of use, it was liek brand new.
 
I bought a lens from them last week described as excellent. I can't see a mark on it at all and would describe it as mint. Also if you do an exchange they pay postage both ways.
 
The normally reliable DPD failed to deliver a lens from MPB to me today (I paid for Saturday delivery), it's still at their Birmingham hub, annoyingly.

Never really had the need to use MPB customer service, so will see how I get on early next week!
 
I'm not particularly impressed with the descriptions of the gear they sell. I was interested in an X100 they were selling as being in excellent condition. In one of the photographs I noticed the lettering was rubbing off one of the buttons. I enquired about this and they confirmed that the lettering was indeed rubbing off. However there was nothing in the description mentioning this. I could have easily missed this and would have been disappointed if I'd bought it. Though I know they would have exchanged it. My girlfriend bought a GF1 from them which again was described as being in Excellent condition. But the LCD was covered in dust behind the screen. No way of cleaning that up without dismantling the camera. But their communication was very good and they offered to exchange it or provide a refund. I'd use them again as their after sales seemed very good.

They really need to be more thorough with their descriptions.
 
Last edited:
The wife's Canon 18-135 IS has been picked up today to be exchanged for a Tamron 18-270 VC PZD. We both wanted to get a decent walkabout lens for days out when we don't want to keep changing lenses. I've got a Tamron 28-300 VC on the way, I had one before when I had a 550D and got some great shots from it, this time it'll be going on a 5D3. I've bought and sold to MPB and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.
 
dod said:
Photographic industry has used the exc-, exc, exc+ etc system for at least 30 years. Don't get hung up on it, it's only a way of rating, similar to 1-5, just with a more positive spin.
.
Click to expand...

That

excellent in photo rating speak means obvious signs of use , but still completely functional. This isn't just mpb every second hand dealer uses pretty much the same ratings. If you want there to be no/few cosmetic imperfections you need to look for gear rated as mint or exc+

reference MPB I've used them a lot and always found their service to be top notch and their quality as described (according to the rating system)- I once (out of I think 12 purchases in the last three years) had a lens that was a bit soft and they changed it without a quibble.
 
Last edited:
Purpleflanger said:
Always found MPB to be to be excellent, good prices for selling and buying.
Click to expand...

Personally I find some of their selling prices a bit baffling at times, sometimes excellent and other times over priced.

The couple of times I've looked at trading in with them their response has been very quick but the offers pretty low ball.
 
flavio said:
Appreciate your response.
Personally I won't compromise on quality when paying top dollar for equipment.
They may advertise a lens as excellent but if it is actually pretty beaten up, think I'll steer clear, would rather pay top money and buy new.
From my experience Grays of Westminster seem to have realism built into their equipment descriptions, I like honesty and realism in equal measure, especially if I'm putting down £5,000+ on a lens.
I guess what I'm saying is, companies like MPB need to get a reality check, excellent should actually mean excellent, not beaten up and heavily used!
I work hard to earn my money, I'm not going to give it away to companies who's standards are less than mine!
Tony
Click to expand...

Grays charge new prices for second hand items. The MPB items seem a fair price for lenses that look in good shape to me.
 
Ive sold to them twice and they gave me decent enough offers on both which saved me worrying about putting them on eBay, after fees and delivery it wouldve worked out similar anyway probably.
It is worth checking the amount they offer though, it would be better if they offered more if you were looking to part-exchange too!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top