Selling a camera safely in Thailand: 7 checks

Ask on Pantip whether a particular shop really sends the goods and you will get a long thread. The worry is reasonable: a camera is worth a lot, the buyer is usually a stranger, and the deal often starts in a chat window.

These seven checks are the ones that actually prevent trouble. They apply whether you are selling to a person or to a shop - including us.

1. Find out who you are dealing with

A shop should have a physical address you can put into Maps, a phone number that a person answers, and a history of reviews that were not all written in the same week. A private buyer should have an account that existed before this month.

If all you have is a chat account and a promise, you have nothing.

2. Check that the name on the bank account matches

Before any transfer in either direction, look at the account name. A shop transferring to you should be transferring under a name connected to that shop. A buyer whose transfer slip shows a third person's name is a reason to stop and ask why - not a reason to panic, but a reason to ask.

3. Money and camera change hands at the same time

This one rule prevents most of the bad stories. Meet, let the buyer test the camera, get paid, hand it over. In that order, in one place.

If you cannot meet, the money arrives and clears before the parcel is posted. Not a screenshot of a transfer - the money in your account.

4. Be suspicious of a price that is too good

An offer noticeably above what everyone else is offering is not luck. It is usually the opening of a deal that will need something unusual from you later - a deposit, a shipping fee, a "verification" payment, a courier you have never heard of.

A real buyer's price and a fair buyer's price land in the same neighbourhood.

5. Watch out for the courier request

"Send it and I will transfer when it arrives" is where most losses happen. So is "I have paid, here is the slip, please post it today" when nothing has reached your account. Once the parcel is gone you have no leverage at all.

If a deal must go by courier, insist on cleared payment first, insure the parcel, and film yourself packing it.

6. Take a photo of everything before it leaves you

Serial number, both sides of the body, the screen switched on, the lens, and the packed box. Two minutes now, and no argument later about which camera was in the box or what condition it was in.

7. Keep something in writing

A sale receipt or, at minimum, a chat record showing what was sold, for how much, and on what date. If you sold to a shop and no paperwork appeared at all, that tells you something about the shop.

The same checks, from the other side

If you are the one buying used gear, run the mirror image: ask for a short video of the shutter firing, a photo through the lens against a light, a clear shot of the serial number, and a test frame for sensor marks. A seller with nothing to hide sends all four without complaining. Our guide to what decides a used camera's price explains what those photos are actually showing you.

How our own deal works

We meet you anywhere in Bangkok, or you come to the office in Sathon. We check the camera in front of you, you get paid the same day by bank transfer or in cash within the legal limit, and you get a sale receipt. We record who we buy from, so bring your Thai ID or passport.

Nothing is posted before payment, and there is no deposit, ever. If anyone asks you to pay us anything to sell your camera, it is not us - stop and message us on LINE.

Deciding between selling privately and selling to a shop? That trade-off is laid out in where to sell a used camera in Bangkok.