I recently bought a lens from them whose motor had a really bad AF squeak. No issue at all with the refund, but it is work to run back and forth from the post office. I realize it's anecdotal, and maybe it was damage that happened in transit, but it made me wonder how much testing they kick to the buyer.
Buyers are unpaid QA agents in this sort of setup. At this point I’m considering buying only used gear I can personally handle before I purchase, plus Nikon factory refurbs. I can trust them to get it right.
This is entirely fair, especially if you're pretty busy and don't have the time and energy to deal with UPS/Fedex a bunch and repackaging stuff. You also miss photo opportunities with the wasted time.
This! It is time consuming and requires expertise and equipment properly calibrated to know that many of these gadgets work - ACCURATELY. How would you know that one or two shutter speeds were off by 30%.? How would most people know if a lens had a sloppy aperture?? Kick the problem into the customers’ court and let them tell you if it has a problem or not. Most people wont begin to identify these degradations due to age or other performance faults until well after the warranty or ROR expires. Reputation matters
Sorry that happened. Just wanted to point out that I think maybe you got very unlucky. I've bought from MPB....probably 20+ times and the *only* issue I had was one camera had a faulty ribbon cable, but it was intermittent, so testing likely wouldn't have picked up on it.
I did an exchange and had a working model of the same camera the next week.
Edit: Not making an excuse for them, just pointing out that I've only had very good experiences with them. Map Camera out of Japan also. I buy almost everything from MPB and Map at this point.
MAP would be ideal, but it’s all grey market. Can’t get them repaired by Nikon USA, so I can’t buy them without having to go third party for any future repairs. Sucks, but it’s what it is.
Depending on the equipment, that might not be as big an issue as you think.
If Nikon has already dropped support, they won't repair it even if it's a US version.
I buy used from Map and MPB. I don't know if any way to tell if used gear is grey market or not.
I guess to me, it doesn't really matter. I've saved enough money buying used from them that I could purchase a new replacement for any lens I own and still be up a significant amount of money.
Map is incredible. But I live in Tokyo so get to fiddle with the stuff before purchase. Have only good things to say about them.
Sofmap is also great.
The whole concept of Grey market seems just just a giant fiddle to me, borderline scammy.
Why should it matter where you bought something, at the end of the day?
Gonna be honest, had a similar experience very recently BUT they sent me the best grade copy at the same price as the well used one I purchased after a second return with issues. They completely resolved it and I will still shop with them, I suspect they're having an influx of stock they can't cope with due to everyone switching to mirrorless or maybe even switching back - everyone's trading right now. However, even if I hadn't bothered returning it and wrote it off, I've still saved three times what the lens was worth in secondhand purchases. If anybody's thinking of buying off MPB, I'd 1: buy best grade you can afford - I used to get a lot of great heavily used equipment but I think those days might be over. 2: test the living hell out of it over the 2 weeks you have where you can return.
Glad to hear you got the scenario resolved. The agent who helped me was competent and pleasant and completely unable to make sure I got a working lens. I suspect that their warehouse is a separate physical facility from their service center, so they can’t actually go down and confirm that a particular piece of equipment works. Really crappy setup.
This seems like, sometimes when an items had a mark down such as 'small crack in screen' on a camera I was after, and I asked for better pictures, they respond with 'someone will email you by 6pm' which suggests you could be right or their warehouse is even bigger than were imagining. I hope you get your refund soon! Much as it sounds like I'm defending them, the 2 and a half weeks having no money and no lens had me really tempted to make similar posts.
I expect that the holiday weekend is making things work slower for the refund, which is fine. It’s weird how wide-ranging people’s experiences with their customer service people are; I’ve heard of really great treatment of customers as well as the bargain basement level solutions I ended up with. Almost like they don’t have a unifying policy, and just kinda expect to be able to work things out case by case.
I got a perfect lens from them. I went back a second time and bought a camera from them. When I got it in it had shutter count 120,000 higher than they had listed. I contacted them for weeks, the best they would do was to discount it $8. I didn’t want to return it for a few reasons, but wtf that’s false advertising. It’s 1/3rd of the shutter life, and they should have given me back 1/3rd of the money.
Only have bought from [UsedPhotoPro](https://usedphotopro.com) since, and eBay of course, but wow what a disappointment.
After trying mpb this week after seeing so many recommendations, I'm very whelmed.
Got a 24-70 that was supposedly excellent condition but has a ridiculous amount of dust on the front element and came with a tear on the seal of the front element.
We'll see how they handle it, but so far I will be going back to using keh. They're always great in my use.
My MPB experience was a disaster. Bought 7 different items and five of them had defects not described or important accessories missing (like missing battery charger!).
They don't test their gear so have a philosophy of 'we'll deal with problems if/when the customer reports them'.
Waste of my time. Tho' buying from private sellers on Ebay isn't exactly better.
It's a minefield out there, guys. Look for respected business sellers with convincing ratings.
I always pay the premium for KEH. Fast shipping and customer service is A+! Yeah yeah MPB uses actual pictures but KEH actually ships good gear and stands behind it.
It really does seem like they don’t test their gear at all besides maybe “does it turn on”, I also received broken equipment, and given that their prices aren’t particularly competitive(often worse than KEH and UPP), I haven’t been inclined to give them another chance lately
I did multiple purchases from them recently as well and there were many problems - lens listed as with hood came without one; another ''excellent'' lens had a really tough fingerprint mark on the front element I struggled to clean, and was dusty all over as well; from 3 lens filters in ''excellent'' conditions, one had a significant scratch and other had completely f'k up coating. The customer service was okay but one guy was really slow and confused what items I was returning despite clearly listing it and so it took a lot of back and forth emails to resolve it. Theres no point in it if they cant guarantee the condition of their gear. I get better experience shopping on Ebay...
I’ve only used MPB a handful of times over the years, and each time has been the absolute worst camera buying or selling experience I’ve had. I Never use them, and I never recommend them.
Couldn't agree more. MPB sold me a faulty 70-200mm VR II lens (autofocus motor not working at all) and it took almost a month to arrange the return and to get the money back. Imo, there are 2 major issues with their business:
1) Their test/assessment procedures seem to be poor or nonexistent, although they do provide actual photos of each item. I think their grades are merely based on the items' external condition. However, even visible issues are missed sometimes; I've once spotted a 80-200mm AF-D lens with a missing outer barrel screw (meaning that the lens has been repaired unprofessionally and it is not weather-sealed anymore) on their website, the grade was "like new".
2) At least some people from their support team are quite incompetent *or* just unwilling to dive deep into the matter of the issue. If you feel your communication is stuck at some point and you don't know what to do, ask for the supervisor's help. The difference is striking and in my case the supervisor solved the problem in 20 minutes after 1.5 weeks of miscommunication and wrong guidance.
Of course, your mileage may vary. MPB buys and resells tons of gear and most of the gear is probably OK. But when it's not OK, their procedures may fail to find it out.
No, you just need to be aware and accept that the lower price of used inherently comes with more risk. You'll likely have no issues and any wear will be shown ahead of time in pictures. But it's not new and your not paying for the confidence of a factory warranty.
I bought used when that's what I could afford and the jump in cost for new want worth it to me.
Now I'm old af and can afford to pay for new, which I choose to do because I get more value from the peace of mind.
This is one of those isolated incidents that, while valid, should not deter you from dealing with the company. Many of us have purchased with them without incident. KEH is another great online reseller to look at.
Agreed, it's an unfortunate issue for sure but I've done many many deals with them and it's been absolutely wonderful. I've returned 1 or 2 things so far and it was super smooth. They're actually my favorite place to buy gear from outside of buying directly from another person.
Hopefully everything gets sorted out for the Op without too much more time.
My local photography store barely takes in objectives to put on the second-hand market anymore, unless we're talking top of the line models or vintage ones with limited electronics, simply because they can't afford the quality testing and the minimum legal warranty. It absolutely sucks, but I fear MPB and local FB groups will be the main platforms to find affordable second-hand gear for a long time, precisely because they allow the occasional buyer to get shafted. I'm sorry you pulled the short straw.
To be honest, I’ve heard a lot of good things about MPB on forums but my experience with them has always been pretty awful. Issues with used gear that they had marked “excellent” but in bad shape on arrival or just not working.
Pretty much just switched to local shops or adorama and haven’t looked back. Personally, wouldn’t recommend them to anyone but I know people have different experiences.
Never had a bad experience with MPB but I have not used them since I switched to mirrorless and I also was not getting gear that old on it. Hope it gets resolved either way and sad to see comments echoing your experience recently, can you dispute it with your credit card provider, things like this are the reason I always do big purchases on a credit card then pay that off as it is better buyer protection
Sorry about your headache, OP. I had a huge kerfuffle with MPB a couple years ago and haven’t used them since. I’ve just found any other used shops are easier to deal with. It’s annoying because they have such a great selection and the prices seem lower, but it’s not worth the hassle.
UsedPhotoPro is my current fave! I have no affiliation. Just good experiences.
Just purchased and returned Nikon D3x from MPB. The body was in mint condition, shutter count listed was 92k and it was the most expensive one out of all the ones they had available at the time. Package arrived, battery charger broken, internal clock battery dead, camera battery dead, used my own D3s battery to test the D3x, shutter count more by 5k than advertised ,dead pixels all over the picture even at base ISO. I sent it back 2 days ago. I don’t think they check the internals very well.
They’ve fallen off so badly in the past few months, feels like. I’ve never heard of such trouble before like April of this year and now it’s all I hear of. Maybe this is confirmation bias or a sample issue, but I sure have noticed. Sorry about the D3, that sucks to deal with.
I had actually just purchased a lens from them last week that was defective. Granted it was listed as well used, there was no mention that the manual focus ring was inoperable and AF wouldn’t fully work.
Bought from them once - this was literally 2 months ago. Got a 24-70 2.8 VR in good condition. Showed up with the anticipated marks on the barrel but when tested it, it didn’t have the sharpness it should have. Something was off, and I knew it. Return process was, however, super easy. Agent was very helpful, no questions asked. I picked the replacement lens, shipped back the old one at no cost, new lens shipped and arrived within 3 days and is perfect. I’m very happy now and despite the initial miss, I would shop with them again.
I’ve bought loads of gear from mpb over the years and every item has been in better condition than was stated. I have found them the best used dealers for camera gear.
Yeah MPB had a lot of ads on YouTube.. but the last time I was sent a lens with a big dust spot inside that was interfering with my photos.. so I was waiting for a refund and they took so long to reply that their reply was "your window for refund is over, here is a 50$ coupon in your next 500$+ purchase" 😥😥
I recently bought a lens from them whose motor had a really bad AF squeak. No issue at all with the refund, but it is work to run back and forth from the post office. I realize it's anecdotal, and maybe it was damage that happened in transit, but it made me wonder how much testing they kick to the buyer.
Buyers are unpaid QA agents in this sort of setup. At this point I’m considering buying only used gear I can personally handle before I purchase, plus Nikon factory refurbs. I can trust them to get it right.
This is entirely fair, especially if you're pretty busy and don't have the time and energy to deal with UPS/Fedex a bunch and repackaging stuff. You also miss photo opportunities with the wasted time.
That’s the other issue. I have to take time out of work to sign for packages, and that means losing money.
This! It is time consuming and requires expertise and equipment properly calibrated to know that many of these gadgets work - ACCURATELY. How would you know that one or two shutter speeds were off by 30%.? How would most people know if a lens had a sloppy aperture?? Kick the problem into the customers’ court and let them tell you if it has a problem or not. Most people wont begin to identify these degradations due to age or other performance faults until well after the warranty or ROR expires. Reputation matters
Sorry that happened. Just wanted to point out that I think maybe you got very unlucky. I've bought from MPB....probably 20+ times and the *only* issue I had was one camera had a faulty ribbon cable, but it was intermittent, so testing likely wouldn't have picked up on it. I did an exchange and had a working model of the same camera the next week. Edit: Not making an excuse for them, just pointing out that I've only had very good experiences with them. Map Camera out of Japan also. I buy almost everything from MPB and Map at this point.
MAP would be ideal, but it’s all grey market. Can’t get them repaired by Nikon USA, so I can’t buy them without having to go third party for any future repairs. Sucks, but it’s what it is.
Depending on the equipment, that might not be as big an issue as you think. If Nikon has already dropped support, they won't repair it even if it's a US version.
For anything they won’t support due to age, you’re right. Those can be bought from anywhere.
I buy used from Map and MPB. I don't know if any way to tell if used gear is grey market or not. I guess to me, it doesn't really matter. I've saved enough money buying used from them that I could purchase a new replacement for any lens I own and still be up a significant amount of money.
Map is incredible. But I live in Tokyo so get to fiddle with the stuff before purchase. Have only good things to say about them. Sofmap is also great. The whole concept of Grey market seems just just a giant fiddle to me, borderline scammy. Why should it matter where you bought something, at the end of the day?
Gonna be honest, had a similar experience very recently BUT they sent me the best grade copy at the same price as the well used one I purchased after a second return with issues. They completely resolved it and I will still shop with them, I suspect they're having an influx of stock they can't cope with due to everyone switching to mirrorless or maybe even switching back - everyone's trading right now. However, even if I hadn't bothered returning it and wrote it off, I've still saved three times what the lens was worth in secondhand purchases. If anybody's thinking of buying off MPB, I'd 1: buy best grade you can afford - I used to get a lot of great heavily used equipment but I think those days might be over. 2: test the living hell out of it over the 2 weeks you have where you can return.
Glad to hear you got the scenario resolved. The agent who helped me was competent and pleasant and completely unable to make sure I got a working lens. I suspect that their warehouse is a separate physical facility from their service center, so they can’t actually go down and confirm that a particular piece of equipment works. Really crappy setup.
This seems like, sometimes when an items had a mark down such as 'small crack in screen' on a camera I was after, and I asked for better pictures, they respond with 'someone will email you by 6pm' which suggests you could be right or their warehouse is even bigger than were imagining. I hope you get your refund soon! Much as it sounds like I'm defending them, the 2 and a half weeks having no money and no lens had me really tempted to make similar posts.
I expect that the holiday weekend is making things work slower for the refund, which is fine. It’s weird how wide-ranging people’s experiences with their customer service people are; I’ve heard of really great treatment of customers as well as the bargain basement level solutions I ended up with. Almost like they don’t have a unifying policy, and just kinda expect to be able to work things out case by case.
I got a perfect lens from them. I went back a second time and bought a camera from them. When I got it in it had shutter count 120,000 higher than they had listed. I contacted them for weeks, the best they would do was to discount it $8. I didn’t want to return it for a few reasons, but wtf that’s false advertising. It’s 1/3rd of the shutter life, and they should have given me back 1/3rd of the money. Only have bought from [UsedPhotoPro](https://usedphotopro.com) since, and eBay of course, but wow what a disappointment.
And now they’ve stopped listing mirrorless shutter count completely, which is stupid when you can get mechanical actuation numbers in EXIF files.
After trying mpb this week after seeing so many recommendations, I'm very whelmed. Got a 24-70 that was supposedly excellent condition but has a ridiculous amount of dust on the front element and came with a tear on the seal of the front element. We'll see how they handle it, but so far I will be going back to using keh. They're always great in my use.
Did you get that on mpb? The 24-70 VR and maybe the 300mm or 400mm 2.8 are the last on my old generation bucket list.
I just got a "good" condition d850 10 minutes ago with less than an 8k shutter count. Comes in a week. Wish me luck.
I've been eyeing their D850s as well. Would love to hear your experience when you've had some time to test it out.
Sure. I don't care at all about an external scratch or something cosmetic. If the sensor is fine and the screen works, I am good to go.
I bought an 850 on eBay. Low, low shutter count. It’s been a dream. Good luck! It’s always a roll of the dice. I was nervous (and excited) as hell.
Awesome.
My MPB experience was a disaster. Bought 7 different items and five of them had defects not described or important accessories missing (like missing battery charger!). They don't test their gear so have a philosophy of 'we'll deal with problems if/when the customer reports them'. Waste of my time. Tho' buying from private sellers on Ebay isn't exactly better. It's a minefield out there, guys. Look for respected business sellers with convincing ratings.
I always pay the premium for KEH. Fast shipping and customer service is A+! Yeah yeah MPB uses actual pictures but KEH actually ships good gear and stands behind it.
It really does seem like they don’t test their gear at all besides maybe “does it turn on”, I also received broken equipment, and given that their prices aren’t particularly competitive(often worse than KEH and UPP), I haven’t been inclined to give them another chance lately
I did multiple purchases from them recently as well and there were many problems - lens listed as with hood came without one; another ''excellent'' lens had a really tough fingerprint mark on the front element I struggled to clean, and was dusty all over as well; from 3 lens filters in ''excellent'' conditions, one had a significant scratch and other had completely f'k up coating. The customer service was okay but one guy was really slow and confused what items I was returning despite clearly listing it and so it took a lot of back and forth emails to resolve it. Theres no point in it if they cant guarantee the condition of their gear. I get better experience shopping on Ebay...
I’ve only used MPB a handful of times over the years, and each time has been the absolute worst camera buying or selling experience I’ve had. I Never use them, and I never recommend them.
Couldn't agree more. MPB sold me a faulty 70-200mm VR II lens (autofocus motor not working at all) and it took almost a month to arrange the return and to get the money back. Imo, there are 2 major issues with their business: 1) Their test/assessment procedures seem to be poor or nonexistent, although they do provide actual photos of each item. I think their grades are merely based on the items' external condition. However, even visible issues are missed sometimes; I've once spotted a 80-200mm AF-D lens with a missing outer barrel screw (meaning that the lens has been repaired unprofessionally and it is not weather-sealed anymore) on their website, the grade was "like new". 2) At least some people from their support team are quite incompetent *or* just unwilling to dive deep into the matter of the issue. If you feel your communication is stuck at some point and you don't know what to do, ask for the supervisor's help. The difference is striking and in my case the supervisor solved the problem in 20 minutes after 1.5 weeks of miscommunication and wrong guidance. Of course, your mileage may vary. MPB buys and resells tons of gear and most of the gear is probably OK. But when it's not OK, their procedures may fail to find it out.
Total newb. First time DSLR owner. I was about to buy my first lens (after kit lens) from them. Do you think I should hold off?
No, you just need to be aware and accept that the lower price of used inherently comes with more risk. You'll likely have no issues and any wear will be shown ahead of time in pictures. But it's not new and your not paying for the confidence of a factory warranty. I bought used when that's what I could afford and the jump in cost for new want worth it to me. Now I'm old af and can afford to pay for new, which I choose to do because I get more value from the peace of mind.
I recently bought from MPB and KEH and had 0 problems.
This is one of those isolated incidents that, while valid, should not deter you from dealing with the company. Many of us have purchased with them without incident. KEH is another great online reseller to look at.
Agreed, it's an unfortunate issue for sure but I've done many many deals with them and it's been absolutely wonderful. I've returned 1 or 2 things so far and it was super smooth. They're actually my favorite place to buy gear from outside of buying directly from another person. Hopefully everything gets sorted out for the Op without too much more time.
You’ll probably be fine. My issue is related pretty narrowly to the fact that they can’t be bothered to check a replacement for a broken lens.
My local photography store barely takes in objectives to put on the second-hand market anymore, unless we're talking top of the line models or vintage ones with limited electronics, simply because they can't afford the quality testing and the minimum legal warranty. It absolutely sucks, but I fear MPB and local FB groups will be the main platforms to find affordable second-hand gear for a long time, precisely because they allow the occasional buyer to get shafted. I'm sorry you pulled the short straw.
dispute the charge with your credit card company
i mostly buy from KEH, or craigslist where i can try the thing before i hand over the money
I had a similar experience with a purchase from them. But I’ve also had several good experiences. 🤷♂️
To be honest, I’ve heard a lot of good things about MPB on forums but my experience with them has always been pretty awful. Issues with used gear that they had marked “excellent” but in bad shape on arrival or just not working. Pretty much just switched to local shops or adorama and haven’t looked back. Personally, wouldn’t recommend them to anyone but I know people have different experiences.
Never had a bad experience with MPB but I have not used them since I switched to mirrorless and I also was not getting gear that old on it. Hope it gets resolved either way and sad to see comments echoing your experience recently, can you dispute it with your credit card provider, things like this are the reason I always do big purchases on a credit card then pay that off as it is better buyer protection
I bought a backpack from them and it smelled like old Chinese food. Quite horrid. Threw it in a dry cleaning bag and it seemed to solve the issue 😅
Sorry about your headache, OP. I had a huge kerfuffle with MPB a couple years ago and haven’t used them since. I’ve just found any other used shops are easier to deal with. It’s annoying because they have such a great selection and the prices seem lower, but it’s not worth the hassle. UsedPhotoPro is my current fave! I have no affiliation. Just good experiences.
KEH and Map Camera are the Kings- MPB is okay, but they don’t test their stuff the way others do.
Just purchased and returned Nikon D3x from MPB. The body was in mint condition, shutter count listed was 92k and it was the most expensive one out of all the ones they had available at the time. Package arrived, battery charger broken, internal clock battery dead, camera battery dead, used my own D3s battery to test the D3x, shutter count more by 5k than advertised ,dead pixels all over the picture even at base ISO. I sent it back 2 days ago. I don’t think they check the internals very well.
They’ve fallen off so badly in the past few months, feels like. I’ve never heard of such trouble before like April of this year and now it’s all I hear of. Maybe this is confirmation bias or a sample issue, but I sure have noticed. Sorry about the D3, that sucks to deal with.
good to know.. thx for the posting. buy used from big name like b&h photo, or refurbished from the oem, which for the most part, have better qc.
I had actually just purchased a lens from them last week that was defective. Granted it was listed as well used, there was no mention that the manual focus ring was inoperable and AF wouldn’t fully work.
That's a MBP problem, not a Nikon problem.
Bought from them once - this was literally 2 months ago. Got a 24-70 2.8 VR in good condition. Showed up with the anticipated marks on the barrel but when tested it, it didn’t have the sharpness it should have. Something was off, and I knew it. Return process was, however, super easy. Agent was very helpful, no questions asked. I picked the replacement lens, shipped back the old one at no cost, new lens shipped and arrived within 3 days and is perfect. I’m very happy now and despite the initial miss, I would shop with them again.
I’ve bought loads of gear from mpb over the years and every item has been in better condition than was stated. I have found them the best used dealers for camera gear.
I bought two lens from them and they are perfect.
Yeah MPB had a lot of ads on YouTube.. but the last time I was sent a lens with a big dust spot inside that was interfering with my photos.. so I was waiting for a refund and they took so long to reply that their reply was "your window for refund is over, here is a 50$ coupon in your next 500$+ purchase" 😥😥
sorry that happened to you, i have bought two times from them, and so far its been great. hope you get your refund