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A Comprehensive Review of Selling Photography Equipment through MPB

Are you looking to upgrade your photography equipment and wondering what to do with your old gear? One option is to sell it through MPB, a popular marketplace for buying and selling used photography gear. I recently decided to sell my used Canon equipment through MPB, and I was impressed with the experience.

In this blog post, I’ll share my personal experience with MPB and provide some tips and insights for anyone considering selling their photography gear through the platform. Read on to discover whether MPB is the right choice for selling your used photography gear.

The Process For Selling Used Photography Gear at MPB

Overall, I sold 17 pieces of Canon gear and Third Party lenses for Canon EF & EF-S Mounts.  The gear included: Canon cameras (including one with an infrared conversion), lenses, extenders, and a flash.  I didn’t sell the gear all at one time, I did so over a period of 3 months – so I went through the selling process at MPB multiple times.

MPB has a really easy, streamlined process for selling your gear.  Literally, it just takes a few minutes to sell your gear on their website.  Here are the steps in the process.

1. Log in to the MPB Website and Click on Start/Selling Trading at the top of the page.

2. Type in the Make and Model of the gear you want to sell.  A list of suggestions will show up.  Click on the selection that matches the gear you want to trade.  I found that by selecting one of the items in the list, the system had a better chance of getting a match in their database. 

MPB Manual Quote
MPB Manual Quote

If the system can’t find the item, they will manually quote the gear and get back to you within 1 working day.  This only happened to me on one piece of gear, my infrared converted Canon 6d.

3. Select the Condition of your gear.  There is a “Help me choose condition” link that provides definitions of the different condition ratings. Click Add.

4. Add another item to sell or click Get Instant Quote at the bottom of the page.  In just a minute, the quote will be emailed to you and show up on the screen. 

MPB Schedule Shipping
MPB Schedule Shipping

5. Accept the Quote and Click on Schedule Shipping.  You will have the choice to either schedule Pick up (FedEx in the United States) or drop off the gear at a FedEx location.  I only used the FedEx pickup.

6. Once you schedule the pickup time, the system will generate shipping labels and MPB labels.  If you are selling multiple pieces of gear, MPB requests that you pack them in separate boxes.

MPB Gear Received
MPB Gear Received

7. Once MPB receives your gear they will send you an email, letting you know your gear has arrived and will give you an idea how long it will take until they review your gear.

8. When your gear is reviewed, MPB will send you another email.  Click on the link in the email and click on Accept and Continue.  If you don’t accept the quote, MPB will ship the gear back at their cost.  I did not decline any of their offers so I cannot expand on the return process.

9. On 15 of the 17 pieces of gear, the price after the review was the same as the instant quote.  In the other two cases, MPB increased the price higher than the instant quote.  On one piece of gear, the system incorrectly identified the model and on the second piece of gear, they upgraded the condition.

10. You will be taken to a page where you will enter your Bank Account and Routing information.  They usually process the payment within a day, and it should show up in your bank account the next day.

That’s it.  MPB has a pretty efficient process.

How the Process Works
How the Process Works

The Experience Selling Used Gear at MPB

Overall, MPB has a pretty streamlined and automated process.  There were a couple of system glitches where the shipping labels didn’t produce.  The customer service representative was able to generate the shipping labels within 5 minutes.  In my experience, the MPB representatives respond faster to chat than to emails.

I logged the dates from all of the gear shipments and below are number of days that it took for the different steps in the process.

The overall process took an average of around 13 days from when I pushed the accept button online until the money was in my bank account.  Some of the time was dependent on when I scheduled the gear pick up which was usually within 2 days.

On average, it took MPB 5 working days to review the gear once they received it.  They also seem to clear out a lot of the backlog on Fridays, before the weekend started.

It took about 2 days for the funds to show up in my account after I entered my bank account information in the MPB website.  You will need to enter your bank account information for each transaction.  MPB does not save your bank account information, which I like.

How Much Will Cash Will You Get?
How Much Will Cash Will You Get?

How Much Cash Will You Get By Selling Your Gear at MPB?

You probably could get a higher price selling your used photography gear on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, etc.  MPB makes selling your gear easy, they also pay for the shipping and FedEx picked up the packages at my door.

You also have to watch out for scams, damage claims, etc. when going thru these marketplaces.  I just recently read an article where someone was almost robbed in their own home selling used photography Equipment on Facebook Marketplace.

I checked the price that MPB was selling that piece of gear in the same condition before I requested a quote on that item.  Over all 17 pieces of gear that I sold, I got an average of 55% of what MPB was asking for the same gear in the same condition.  The percentage ranged from 44% up to 62%.  The variance seemed to be based on the condition, popularity of the item and how many they already had in stock.

I also saved a pile of boxes and packing material from shipments that we received at the house to lower expenses in shipping the gear.  This seemed to work out well.  Although, I did have a pile of boxes in the basement for a while.

Summary

Overall, I was happy with my experience selling my used photography gear at MPB.  The process was easy, and I thought I got a fair deal for my equipment.

I now have a lot more room in my photography closet and some extra cash to buy more Micro Four Thirds gear including the Olympus 150-400 f/4.5 Pro Lens which is still on preorder after 3 ½ months.

Written by Martin Belan

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10 Comments

  • Andrew Laing

    Thanks for this post Martin. I’m thinking of selling some gear although I live in Canada would presume they might service here.

    Andrew

    • Martin Belan

      Hi Andrew,

      I’m not sure if MPB does business in Canada. You may want to reach out to them. I find they are pretty responsive using chat.

      Martin

      • Andrew

        Thanks Martin. I will check via chat. I’m not a fan of Ebay and I think its good to support camera centres and businesses like these as well as local shops. I appreciate.

  • Marian Cole

    Excellent on many points including how to fund our hobby, enabling others to upgrade at a reasonable price, perhaps most importantly, making our significant others happy when we take up less storage space. 🙂

  • Linda Krugman

    Excellent review! I highly recommend MPB. I purchased almost all of my Olympus lenses through them, was very pleased, and saved a lot of money. Unlike Adorama, that tried to scam me when I wanted to sell a camera and 3 lenses, MPB was very professional and paid me $344 more than Adorama offered.

  • Michael

    Excellent article. I have sold one camera to MPB. I had used the camera only a couple times. There were no scratches, no dings, not even any dust accumulation. I included the camera battery, instructions and warranty card, and the original wrapping and box–all in pristine condition.
    I got an estimate for “like new” condition and found it acceptable.
    However, without contacting me first, MPB lowered the camera condition to “excellent” and paid me less than quoted. Though I called the company, I wasn’t able to discover any reason why.
    I’ve subsequently purchased lenses from them and been happy, but I’m not sure I’d sell to them again.

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