First Step

 

I got an email through Craigslist asking me to sell my camera.  Is this a scam? Do you want my social security number? Are you going to open up a credit card in my pet's name? 

No, no and probably not unless your pet has a really good credit score.  We frequently make offers on cameras that are priced close to what we currently pay for a particular model.  If you are in doubt about whether or not it's actually us contacting you simply email us directly (sales@monkeedeals.com) or give us a call (855-942-3456) and we can confirm that it's actually us that made the offer.

How quickly am I paid? 

If you select Paypal as your payment method we generally get you paid within 15 - 30 minutes of you processing your sale on our site.  When we say we offer an immediate sale we mean it!

How exactly does the process work?

It's actually really easy.  Four steps and you're done:

1. Get an offer for your gear or if we've already given you a quote number enter it in the box at the top of the page.
2. Follow the prompts to complete your sale. We only collect basic information and it's transmitted via a secure connection.
3. Within 15 - 30 minutes (during business hours) you'll receive a Paypal payment and a pre-paid Fedex shipping label.
4. Pack your gear, slap the Fedex label on the box and drop it off at any Fedex Office location.  That's it. You're done!

I'm not shipping my camera to Nigeria am I? 

Not even close! We're located in Los Angeles, more specifically: Studio City, Ca.  Even more specifically: Ventura Blvd and Laurel Canyon Blvd and even more specifically: really close to a pretty swell Trader Joes that has a parking lot entirely too small for the amount of people it draws and a McDonalds with no drive-thru. No drive-thru! That's insanity!

I live in Los Angeles. Can I just bring my equipment to you?

Absolutely.  We meet with customers every day. We don't have a store-front but will gladly arrange to meet you in the greater Los Angeles area.

There's a big bold statement at the top of Craiglist that warns me against shipping and accepting Paypal.

Shipping in itself isn't inherently unsafe. Neither is Paypal.  The problem that most people run into with Craigslist when shipping is that they get scammed on the payment.  They get a fake email and never bother to check their Paypal account to ensure that they received the funds. A Paypal transaction is no different than selling on eBay.  You're just not paying fees to eBay.  You're covered by all the same assurances of Paypal.  Instead of Craigslist issuing a manifesto about how to avoid specific shipping scams it's easier for them to tell you just to avoid it altogether.

Rest assured you're covered by Paypal's seller protection program.  Still on the fence? Consider the alternative.  Other resellers make you send your gear in before you see a dime and then when they get your gear they often change their offer.

Isn't there a fee for accepting Paypal? Who pays that? 

Depending on your account type, Paypal does charge a fee to the receiver of a payment.  This fee generally does not exceed 3% of the payment you're receiving.  This means that if we're paying you $1000 you might only receive $970.  Please keep this in mind.  

Don't you want to see my stuff first?  How can you make an offer on an item you haven't seen?

All of our offers assume that an item is in full working order unless otherwise stated in the ad.  We also assume that your item comes with basic accessories such as a battery and a charger for a camera.  Don't worry if you don't have all original accessories.  Assuming there is no physical damage (missing or broken parts) or extreme wear, our offer generally will stay the same.

What if you get my item and it's not in the condition I stated?

If an item comes in and it's broken, has missing parts or is an entirely different model than what was advertised then we will offer you two options. The first option is we re-assess the value of the item and you send us a refund for the difference. The other option is we simply send the item back to you and you refund the entire payment.  Don't worry though.  This very rarely happens and on the rare occasion it does it's something really obvious like a camera that's damaged or a camera that's a completely different model number than what we made the offer on.  As long as you note known issues and make sure you're reporting the correct model to us then 99.9999999% of the time there won't be a problem. Just make sure you're reporting the exact model.  For instance, there is a Canon XHA1 and a Canon XHA1s.  That "s" at the end makes a substantial difference in price.  If in doubt, read us the model exactly as it's shown on the item.

How long is my offer good for? 

Our offers are good for 14 days.  If you haven't used your offer within 14 days don't panic.  It would only change if our pricing on your particular gear has changed.  So if we offered you $700 for your HMC150 and 3 weeks later you decide to sell to us, you'd still get $700 for that camera as long as that's still our current pricing on that model.  If it's not then we would offer you our current pricing.

Does selling to Monkee Deals instead of the other guys mean I'm getting less for my gear? 

No! In fact, not only do we pay you first but we generally pay more than the other guys.  How much more?  Let's break it down with a quick comparison.  As of this writing our purchase price for the Panasonic HMC150 is $700 assuming you have at least the original lens hood, battery, charger and power cord and that your camera is in good condition.  One of the large photo companies in New York offers $805* if you have almost every original accessory AND your camera has under 500 hours. If it has over 500 hours their offer is $0.00.  What if you only have the charger, battery and camera? They pay you $440*.  We still pay you $700 and you're getting that $700 now, not waiting for a check to arrive.

Need another example?  How about a Sony NX5U Camcorder.  If you have most of the original accessories they pay a little under $1320* and that assumes your camera is in "Like New" condition. We pay $1450. Let's say you only have the camera, microphone, lens hood, battery and charger.  Now they're paying you $1066*.  We're still paying you $1450.  We're not alway the highest so we still recommend shopping around however selling to Monkee Deals doesn't mean you're going to take a bath on the value of your gear.  In most cases selling to us not only means you're getting paid right away but you're getting paid more right away.

Why should I sell to Monkee Deals?

Oh so many reasons! So many it requires a bullet list!

• We pay more - I know what you're thinking.  "Hey Monkee Deals, EVERY company says they pay the most" and you'd be right but we actually do.  As of this writing we currently pay $700 for a Panasonic HMC150.  Our competition pays $805* assuming you have most of the original accessories.  If all you have is the camera, battery and charger they're paying you just $440*.  Think of it... That's a fully functional camera missing obscure accessories that are generally replaced for little money and that most people don't use and in their eyes that nearly chops the value of your camera in half.

• We don't re-access your item's value - Many of our competitors will give you a price to get you in the door, have you send in your stuff and then once they have it they'll give you a laundry list of what's wrong with it so they can give you a lower offer.  They haven't paid you yet so your option is to have them send it back so you can try to sell it again or just get the money they offer you.  Most people will take the newer, lower offer because they don't want to deal with the added hassle and some companies rely on this.  We don't do that.  As long as you're sending us the correct model, it's fully functioning and you've fairly described it's condition what we pay you is what we pay you.  The amount of cameras we've sent back or had to re-access value on after we received them is probably less than 10 and we've purchased a lot of cameras.  In fact, as of today's update of this page (7/2/2015) the last camera we had to send back was in November... of 2013.

• We pay you in advance - That's right.  If you select Paypal as your payment method we pay you immediately.  Just confirm that you want to accept our quote, complete the purchase on our site and we'll get you paid promptly!

• We pay for shipping - We'll email you a pre-paid Fedex label.  Slap that label on the box and drop it off at any Fedex location.

• Unparalleled customer service - Because of our size we have the ability to customer support with a personal touch.  One of our employees will guide you through the whole process, answer any questions you have and they'll always be courteous and respectful.  We're real world nice; not "read off this script" nice.

• Say Goodbye to Auction  Sites - Want to sell on that famous auction site? You need to take returns. You might think you don't but if someone wants to return an item you sold they can. Not only that but you have to list the item for sale, make sure that you price it right, wait for a buyer and then once you're paid if you don't have an established history of selling with them they'll hold your money for 21 days before releasing it.

What's the catch? This seems to good to be true.

There is no catch. When we started Monkee Deals we looked at other resellers and felt that the model was broken.  What is convenient about selling to a reseller when you're not getting paid right away?  What benefit is that company offering you?  What if you had a computer for sale and someone said they wanted to pay you $200 less than your asking price, pay you for it a week later and oh yeah... They want you to ship it to them before they pay you.  You would tell that person to get lost and yet people do that with their expensive camera gear every day.

After all, isn't convenience the entire point of selling to a reseller instead of selling your gear on your own?  What's convenient about getting paid less, needing to send your gear in, wait for it to be inspected, wait for a check to arrive and finally wait for that check to clear?  Nothing.  In fact, we think it's really audacious for companies to ask people to do this. Those same people could just as easily list their items on popular online sale sites, get more money and likely have the money in their account sooner.

We set out to change this.  We offer a truly instant sale with many transactions going from initial offer to being paid within 30 minutes.  So don't send that camera to the east coast and sit on your hands for a week waiting for a check to be cut.  Get an offer from us and get paid now.

Hey Monkee Deals, I have more questions! What should I do?

Call us! 855-942-FILM.

Email us: Sales@monkeedeals.com

Twitter: @monkeedeals

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* All prices used in comparison were taken as of date of writing and may vary. Competitor pricing for $805 HMC150 offer assumes camera to be in very good condition and includes the following accessories: Ferrite Core, CD ROM, PIN/ BNC Conversion Plugs, Microphone, EyeCup, Battery, AC Cord, Shoulder Belt, DC Cord, AC Adapter, Wireless Remote Control and Component Video Cable.  Competitor pricing for $440 HMC150 offer assumes camera to be in very good condition and includes the following accessories: Eye Cup, Battery, AC Adapter and AC Cord.  Competitor pricing for $1455 NX5U offer assumes camera to be in very good condition and includes the following accessories: Connecting Cord, Large Eyecup, ECM-XM1 Microphone, Lens Hood, Remote Control, Accessory Shoe Kit, Component Cable, Software, A/V Connecting Cable, AC Adapter/ Charger, USB Cable, NP-F770 Battery.  Competitor pricing for $1066 NX5U offer assumes camera to be in very good condition and includes the following accessories: ECM-XM1 Microphone, Lens Hood, AC Adapter and NP-F770 Battery. All pricing current as of 10/18/2015.