Small Format Film Forum

Where is your favorite place for buying films?

Is it just me, or is finding film on eBay tending to get more and more expensive?
I have not added a film for my viewing in some time now. Even if the price is ok then the shipping is the same or twice as much as the film...

Ebay goes in waves for me, it has definitely taken a turn because of the new shipping rules and limitations, since there are affordable films from time to time, but they almost always wind uo having ridiculous shipping fees...For Instance I could win a film for $30-50 and in a normal situation it would only be a couple more bucks for shipping, but lately it seems I'll notice that the shipping is $20 which makes it all of a sudden a little expensive.... especially since you never really know what condition the cheaper films are gonna be...The $200 ones are usually accurately listed but I can rarely pay for them....

Ebay only very rarely these days - simply because there's never anything worth buying on Ebay UK. All the good titles are in the US it would appear - at least the titles I would be interested in.

I occasionally buy stuff from Paul Foster; I've never been disappointed with his descriptions; but business is tough these days and I've had to let a few wished for items go.

As for Derann: it's been a while since I attempted the lottery that is buying from their lists.

On EBay I concur about the lack of interesting items on the UK. I have bought a few items from the US but spending $45 shipping on a $100 purchase can only be justified occasionally.

Derann - waste of time even trying IMO. The prints always seem to be sold.

yeah who is it that always seems to buy them up so quick? no matter what the title....

I think the various film get together's are the best place to buy, either from dealers or from the collectors who put their stuff on the bring and buy stalls. There are four coming up in and around london during Feb/March.
I think eBays rules regarding postal prices and their fees put off the real film collectors and they have become a joke in the UK at least as most listings seem to come from people who have "found" the films in a loft or house clearance but have not watched the item in question and cannot answer questions regarding condition completeness etc. These same sellers often have a minimum or buy it now price which is wildly optimistic. I have seen single 50' std 8 home movies listed at £24.99, 100' 16mm glamour films at £150.00 each not surprisingly they remain unsold but are endlessly re-listed clogging up the system. I believe at one time it was necessary to reduce the asking price when an item was continuously re-listed and extra fees would be required which inhibited this.
I believe that eBay plans to raise their final value fees dramatically so I suspect that there will be less listings from collectors and only the "antique" dealer listings which don't supply the information that a collector needs but has a price which would be unrealistic for a mint item.
As for Derann-"don't get me started!!!!"

Overall, I would guess the majority of my prints have come from private sales from the US. I've had some beautiful prints from collectors over there.
There are some good sellers over there and there are some crap - you get to know who's who if you hang around the 16mm forum.
I hope Kevin won't mind me putting this link here. It really is a must for any collector of 16mm:

www.16mmfilmtalk.com

-Mike

I recently received a 16mm film from the USA and before it could be released to me I had to pay VAT and a Royal Mail handling fee of £8.00.

Maurice

Not at all Michael. Now how about a link on the 16mm forum pointing to this one