For Sale Minty ASAHI Pentax Spotmatic II with SMC 50mm f/1.4 & Genuine Pentax filter

In the U.S. Honeywell Spotmatics are abundant, but the Asahi Pentax models are harder to come by (generally means they were purchased overseas). Spotmatics in ordinary (or worse) condition are also easy to come by (I've got a bunch of 'em if you are interested) but I don't waste APUG reader's time on them. THIS one is different. This one is an Asahi Pentax SPII and **OMG NICE**. So is the Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f1.4 on it. Comes with a Genuine Pentax Skylight filter (49mm attached).

This camera has not been CLA'd but the most it might need is new seals on the back. I can include some seal material for that purpose, if you like. Shutter speeds, no hesitation. Lens also looks like new.

Body serial no. 5221572
Lens serial no. 5338648




















Asking $149 plus actual shipping. I pay PP fees.

Photos now added.

This item has been sold (via Pentax Forums).

APUG seems a rather worthless place to offer items. Not only do buyers not respond, but idiots with personality disorders who apparently don't understand values (or that Condition trumps Rarity) PM you just to tell you "Good Luck... you're gonna need it."

Yikes, I've sold lots of things (and bought) on here without such an issue. Sorry to hear that.

Easy there, Cheeky...

Although the Classifieds section is pretty good, there are other reasons to visit APUG, too.

I do agree to a point. If you do not like the price of a listing, just pass on it. Do not wreck a listing with your opinions or harass the seller with your unwanted PM's.
Aron makes a great point too. This great site has so much to offer, It is my first stop when I wake my computer up in the morning.

it is unfortunate that as the number of members has increased so too has the number of unpleasant (rude, disrespectful, un-kind, etc...) members increased.
please don't let one person's negativity spoil the experience for you....this really is a good place.

cheekygeek said:

This item has been sold (via Pentax Forums).

APUG seems a rather worthless place to offer items. Not only do buyers not respond, but idiots with personality disorders who apparently don't understand values (or that Condition trumps Rarity) PM you just to tell you "Good Luck... you're gonna need it."

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I have found APUG to be a very good place to buy things. Many people have found APUG to be a VERY good place to sell things. There are literally thousands of membes who have a very good understanding of the value of the items offered here. Have you considered the possibility that the person(s) who sent you a message were actually trying to tell you that your price was on the high side and you probably would do better offering the camera at a lower price? Of course, not having seen the PMs you received, I could be totally wrong. If I received a rude PM, I'd just delete the message after adding the sender to my ignore list. No need to blow a gasket over it. I would not have commented on this thread or PMed you if you had not posted the above.

A high percentage of the 40+ year old cameras that are as nice looking as yours have been stored away in drawers, closets, etc. for many years, without being used and may have serious internal problems that are not obvious. As YOU said in your first post, "This camera has not been CLA'd...". Now, to be fair, I snipped out the rest of the sentence, but what I quoted is what jumps out at me. As a potential buyer, I consider the possibility that a service will be needed and figure that cost into the real price of buying the camera. In that context, your price is on the high side, for me. I approach an equipment purchase from viewpoint of a user, not a collector and do not generally give a rat's ass about rarity, unless it is something I need and can not find. While I find the Spotmatics to be excellent cameras, and own several, they generally do not command a high resale value in today's market. Spotmatics are very common cameras. The SPII may be less common, but the only differences between it and the SP are a built in flash sensor and a differently shaped prism cover. The flash sensor is pretty much useless these days, unless you happen to have a working dedicated Honeywell Strobonar flash unit. Other than that, it offers no real advantage over the more common Spotmatic.

You are trying to sell camera in what is very much a buyers market. You offer the camera at the price YOU think it should sell for. The buyer decides whether the price is acceptable or not and makes his/her decision accordingly. This is known as "Supply and Demand" and there are plenty of cosmetically nice Spotmatics out there that can be picked up very cheaply and then serviced by a competent repair tech. I am glad you sold your camera even if you sold it on another forum. I hope the new owner enjoys the camera and puts it to good use.

I find your post to be rude and insulting to the membership. Have you considered that YOUR post might make others see YOU as somebody with a personality disorder? After seeing your post, it makes me hesitant to buy anything you might have for sale.

I just looked at the photos again and noticed that this camera did NOT have the "Strobo-Eye" sensor that the Honeywell version had. I also neglected to mention that the SPII had a Hot-Shoe and the meter went to a higher film speed. But I still feel that the SPII had no other real advantages over the previous SP. The real improvement, IMHO, was the Spotmatic-F with it's open aperture metering with the SMC Takumar lenses.

Condition vs. rarity is immaterial.

Your responsibility (as seller) is the describe it accurately without errors of commission or omission. A buyer can decide whether price is fair or not and make a polite offer if they choose. My opinion is that those of us in "the peanut gallery" can politely (and privately) comment if there is a error in your description - under the assumption that the error is inadvertent.

While private comments regarding your pricing is better then a reply in the thread, even a polite private comment is unnecessary. I think it's actually getting better; I seem to see fewer public comments on pricing. Or maybe the moderators are deleting them.

This is still one of the more reliable forums to buy and sell.

APUG is one of the few marketplaces I've seen where third parties actually post positive comments about pricing ("Wish I could afford this right now - this is a great deal", et al).

Should those type of comments be prohibited?

That was a fair price. A mint lens like that goes for about $100 on eBay all the time. $50 extra for the mint body is fair. Whoever criticized the price is not up to speed on fair market values.

MattKing said:

APUG is one of the few marketplaces I've seen where third parties actually post positive comments about pricing ("Wish I could afford this right now - this is a great deal", et al).

Should those type of comments be prohibited?

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No. Those type of statements usually encourage other potential buyers to consider the seller's item. But a statement like"
"Wow. This is a bit rich for my blood!"
tends to do the opposite and can actually be counter productive. I think those types of statements are unnecessary and can actually drive potential buyers away.

If someone has posted something I would like to buy, but it is above my price point, I send a PM to the seller with an offer. That can be accepted, countered or refused and no harm is done. If I am not interested, or the seller has specifically stated that a lower offer will not be considered, then I just move on.

However, making rude or unnecessary statements, via open post or through PM is a waste of everyone's time and really does not accomplish anything. If anything that behavior will eventually choke off most of the action on what is presently a very friendly and productive sales venue.

Finally, I think that part of the reason that these recent items have sold better on PentaxForum than on APUG has nothing at all to do with prices. The items for sale have been Pentax gear and the PentaxForum has a large community of Pentax enthusiasts who are going to seriously consider an offer like this Spottie.

I have also noticed that some sellers are shotgunning a large number of the forum marketplaces with their offers, as well as E-Bay quite frequently, in an attempt to sell things. With that type of approach you are probably going to be more successful on some forums than on others, but again, it is probably counterproductive to post a message that a certain forum is not a great place to do business. About the only thing that accomplishes is to turn off a lot of the people who frequent that forum, and they may be less likely to consider your offers in the future.

All right, end of rant. I feel much better now.

It's all relative, I have a mint Spotmatic F with an f2 SMC Takumar, I'd value it at minimum of £70/$105 with a case but I paid £20/$30 for it a few years ago, after I bought it the seller (a Gallery) told me who'd donated it to them & it turned out she was a friend - a fellow MA (Masters) student a year earlier.

I don't think the price you sold it for was unreasonable, they can be bought cheaper (in similar condirion) but it's about trust in the seller and the description. It looked to be in superb condition and the f1.4 lens alone is quite desirable these days. But then you sold it on a specialist Pentax Forum and that makes a big difference as well. in that condition it would sell easily there.

On this and the LFPF.info though people expect to sell instantly, it maybe the potential buyers are away never see the items, there's a tendency to then cut prices quickly to get a sale which is self defeating.

My own experience of mainly buying here is it's a great very fair experience. I've sold a few items way below what I might get on Ebay and given others for free for various reasons, they cost me nothing, they were free with other purchases etc.

We all have our way of pricing but what people will actually pay is up to them.

Ian

Hatchetman said:

That was a fair price. A mint lens like that goes for about $100 on eBay all the time. $50 extra for the mint body is fair. Whoever criticized the price is not up to speed on fair market values.

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It is a great price if it is 100% functional, no argument there. But, as some who has purchased a cosmetically perfect camera, only to find that it was not working when I received it, I now factor the cost of a CLA into the purchase price unless I am absolutely certain that the camera is going to work out of the box or their is some sort of a money back guarantee offered. I have seen new old stock lenses that have oil on the blades after sitting for so many years, and the sellers want as new prices for the lens. In this case there is no warranty service available that I know of, and I don't want to spend all that money on something that does not work. I saw one such lens that I might have bought IF they would have reduced the price by the amount I would have needed to spend for my repair tech CLA the lens. This lens was still at the store years later.

Zathras said:

I saw one such lens that I might have bought IF they would have reduced the price by the amount I would have needed to spend for my repair tech CLA the lens. This lens was still at the store years later.

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I could be wrong, and I apologize if I am, but it sounds as if you are buying things from the forum marketplace to resell in a store or some other venue. That is an entirely different thing then buying for your own personal use. There is nothing wrong with what you are doing but it certainly puts your concern in a totally different light for me. You are trying to buy things on this, and probably other, forums at a wholesale price so that you can turn a profit on it down the road. More power to you but don't pitch a bitch if someone else is looking to get more than wholesale from their camera or lens. :confused: You would be pricing it up just the same as any other reseller.

I don't think he meant anything about reselling....I would rather buy items needing a CLA or repair; then I know what the condition is.....I think that is all he was saying.

Pioneer said:

I could be wrong, and I apologize if I am, but it sounds as if you are buying things from the forum marketplace to resell in a store or some other venue. That is an entirely different thing then buying for your own personal use. There is nothing wrong with what you are doing but it certainly puts your concern in a totally different light for me. You are trying to buy things on this, and probably other, forums at a wholesale price so that you can turn a profit on it down the road. More power to you but don't pitch a bitch if someone else is looking to get more than wholesale from their camera or lens. :confused: You would be pricing it up just the same as any other reseller.

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No, I'm not selling anything. I'm just trying to make sure that I'm not buying any more expensive paperweights that I can not return. I might have bought that Spottie at that price if I was absolutely certain that I was not going to shell out money for repairs any time soon. It is a beautiful camera.

I just got annoyed with his post inferring that the only people who PMed him were, in his exact words, "idiots with personality disorders who apparently don't understand values...." and that "APUG seems a rather worthless place to offer items." These two quotes were cut and pasted from his third post in this thread.

I have only sold one item anywhere on line. That was in this forum a few years ago in response to a WTB ad where I could have sold the item for a lot more than I did and the buyer would have still been happy getting it at a higher price. I let it go cheap because I had no use for it and decided to get it out of my way for the price of a few rolls of film.

mikebarger said:

I don't think he meant anything about reselling....I would rather buy items needing a CLA or repair; then I know what the condition is.....I think that is all he was saying.

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My sentiments exactly

Thanks, and I do apologize for my statement earlier. I wander around the forums from time to time and I have noted a large increase in for sale postings cropping up across the forums. To me it seems that this has started happening as E-Bay has increased their restrictions on sellers so I am a bit more leery of the increased selling activity on the individual forums.

Please accept my sincere apology.

Pioneer said:

Thanks, and I do apologize for my statement earlier. I wander around the forums from time to time and I have noted a large increase in for sale postings cropping up across the forums. To me it seems that this has started happening as E-Bay has increased their restrictions on sellers so I am a bit more leery of the increased selling activity on the individual forums.

Please accept my sincere apology.

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Hi Pioneer,

No offense taken, no apology needed, but I thought I'd clarify things in case others came to the same conclusion. I was irritated by the the OP's comments in post #3 of this thread.

I actually agree with everything you said in post #13. As previously said, I was just pissed off by the OP's attitude toward APUG. If you check his/her post count, you'll notice at this time, the OP has a grand total of 16 posts, 11 of which relate to items he/she has for sale.

So, I will now end this post by stealing some of your words from post #13,

"All right, end of rant. I feel much better now."