Trip 35 stock at Trip Man in 2025

I am often asked 'when will I have more cameras for sale?' so I thought I would give a bit of an insight into how I manage stock at Trip Man at the moment.

Over the years I have seen trends and peak seasons for camera sales, for example, it gets really busy a month before Christmas and there is a bit of a rise in demand in spring and early summer. So managing the number of cameras I have ready to service and available for sale can be a challenge at times. 

Part of the issue is being able to buy the right cameras at the right price, at the right time. At times of higher demand, the price naturally goes up and I find it harder to buy cameras that make it viable for me to refurbish and sell. The price of Trips has risen over the years - I remember buying them for £20 and selling them serviced for £70. 

I could buy cheaper cameras with dents or obvious defects, but I prefer to get them in excellent cosmetic condition (because that is how I like to sell them). Also, they are more likely to have been looked after in their 40+ years of life, if I can see that they are relatively dent-free and perhaps have been stored well, in their case etc. 

So the upshot of all this is that I do my best to keep some good cameras in stock at all times, but it isn't always that straightforward. It takes me several hours to turn each camera around and get it on the website. There's just me here, not a team of camera mechanics and staff; I am a small business and I like to do things properly. Anything worth having is worth waiting for IMHO.

At present I am able to get 4 -5 good cameras each week and I put them on the website 2 or 3 times each week, often one or two at a time. I am conscious that the cameras are in demand and they do tend to sell quite quickly, so it is a constant effort for me to have stock showing for sale at any one time. Sometimes I am lucky enough to buy cameras that are almost mint, almost unused, very low-mileage ones. Also I find rare cameras, such as very early ones or black paint models. These sell for more. 

I have cameras of varying condition, but all are excellent (because I buy well) and fully functional. If there is a price difference for cameras on my website, it is a reflection of their overall condition or their rarity. 

I am pleased that my cameras are still wanted by customers after all this time - I have been doing this for more than 20 years. I hope that photographers enjoy using my cameras and I feel confident that they are of a high quality, such that I am able to offer a no-quibble 12-month warranty.  I might get a few cameras back occasionally under warranty, but it is probably less than 5% and I am of course happy to get the customer's camera back to them in full working order as soon as I can; I want them to get out there again shooting their refurbished classic camera.

I want to thank all of my customers for their continued support. Trip Man can only be a success because people appreciate what I do and of course because these little cameras are so good. 

If you see that we are sold out, don't worry, there will be another Trip along within a few days.