Victory Camera — Local services in Boulder

I dislike giving bad reviews to small businesses, because I think they are an important and underappreciated part of a community. I'm going to make an exception though. I took several pieces of high-end digital equipment into Victory Camera recently, left it there and requested a price quote to buy it. I called them after a day of waiting, and was told that they wouldn't give me a price, and they would consider it if I could come up with a price to sell it to them. Now I understand the reason for this, I also believe that an operation that trades on evaluating and buying cameras should, well, evaluate and make an offer to buy cameras, not leave it to the customer to offer a price. The person I talked to offered no explanation of this approach, and treated me in a very offhand and rude manner, which I frankly have come to expect in Boulder, though not from a small business like this. Try Recycled Photo in Louisville, where you will be treated with respect, and they will do what the website says they will....

I was referred here by an employee at Mikes Camera in Boulder, who suggested Victory Cameras would be a better place to sell my used 35mm gear.

It’s a cute store, and the employees are nice, but I felt insulted with the offer they provided for the items I brought in to sell. Online buying services offer noticeably more, and their pricing didn’t really incentivize me to support small businesses. (KEH would offer me 30$ more at WORST for my Eos 3, over the $120 they offered me in store. At best I’d get ~$250/$300 at KEH)

Also, as part of my quote I had requested they hold on to any film still in my cameras (I brought about ten to be appraised) and not a single camera had the film still in it. With todays prices in film, it’s like I lost money alongside the time I spent bringing in my items. I was also told I’d get an itemized list for all of my items, that never happened. This was also with a 5 day lead time, when at drop off I was told it should be 24/48 hours.

Most likely will NOT be...

Do yourself a favor and just go here. I stopped in yesterday to drop off a roll of film to develop. I was received well and happy with my experience - quick, easy & affordable. They offer film development with quick turn around time, don’t destroy your negatives and offer high quality scans. They sell tons of cool equipment & offer accessible camera repair. Being in their store sparked my old love of photography. I came back today with my dad’s old camera I fished out of the closet. Joshua handled my complete incompetence and interest in getting started & getting my camera fitted with everything I need. Joshua is seriously the best: informative, patient, kind and easy to talk with. I could not have imagined a better experience or entertain the idea of going anywhere else. For everything I got, it was so incredibly affordable. I was lead in the correct direction of what to get and how to use the equipment. What a shinning place in the Boulder community....