AVS Forum banner

Plasma Sellers - Let's talk..

16K views 214 replies 37 participants last post by  Test Ickles 
#1 ·
*Full disclosure - I have just sold my PN60F8500 and I'm in the market for the 64" version*

The purpose of this post is to get the plasma economy going. Before you argue the case for plasma, just know that I am with you - I loved the picture on my F8500 and think it still has the best balance of picture attributes, which is why I am making the lateral move to the 64". What I find hard to swallow is the prices being asked for used sets. We need to get real: while plasma is excellent in many ways, you will be lucky to find buyers in the four figures for your premium plasma.

When consumers can pop into a big box store and buy a brand new 2017, 65 inch, 4k HDR LED TV that comes with a return policy and manufacture's warranty for $800 they are not going to give your plasma a first glance, let alone a second. The more discerning buyers like us, are planning to do what you are doing: reserving the big bucks spending budget for the next great thing which is OLED. You will be hard pressed to find someone to fork out serious money for a five+ year old 1080p set that is no longer the market reference standard. Plasma's king of the market Kuro black glory days are gone.

The people who are looking to buy your plasma are people like me who want to stick with plasma for a bit longer, those whose set broke and want to replace it, and the people who followed the plasma reviews five years ago and would not mind getting their hands on one. Either I do not see any of these groups wanting to outlay any serious money for one. When I put my 60" plasma on the market I was confident that my precious would easily command at least $1k. After studying the market I realized that it was just wishful thinking. General consumers in the classifieds such as Craiglist regard them much like rear projection technology and would pick an LED over a plasma. Despite my love for plasma I would still balk at passing up on 4k, bigger screen size and latest technology for one. The only thing that will make it worthwhile for me is price.

To sum up, if you want to make some money off your plasma you need to price it to sell, especially with the big sales of the holiday season round the corner. There are going to be sellers who have great pride in their plasma's holding out for buyers who will not come. They will end up having to give their beloved plasmas to grandma.
 
See less See more
#2 · (Edited)
Excellent post and good topic. Your right the market is much better for the buyer than the seller. Often you will see the great Plasma's(VT60, ZT60, Kuros, Samsung 8500) being offered for well over a grand and just sit there. The KRP-600M I bought was listed for $1200 and I offered him $500 and we settled at $550. I would rather have this set than any LCD in the world. Typical consumers don't understand and never will. There's a 65ZT60 with 1200 hrs on it right now on my Craigslist. He started at $2000 and now down to $1500. It will sit until he gets down to at least $1000.
 
#3 ·
I wish every owner a great sale. After all I was in the same boat only a few days ago. Having gone through the plasma journey I know how passionate and attached to these displays we are, and how difficult it is to take a hit on something we thought was golden only a moment ago.

I have a friend with great work experience who was back on the job market. He put out his resume which looked fine to him, but he was not getting responses. I have had to review resumes for jobs in my department. I helped him adjust his resume according to what I knew an employer like me was looking for. He got a ton of responses and hooked up a job in no time.

The moral of the story is put yourself in the eyes of a buyer and ask yourself, what would make your set worth buying over the other options out there.
 
#5 ·
Where are the best places to look, for used plasmas in good condition? The ones I find on Ebay are usually "local pickup only", and I don't have very good luck with Craigslist. Most online retailers seem to be long out of supply--even refurb units.

It's kind of hard to even put a fair price on used plasmas; I'd be interested in something like a 50" Panasonic S60 or ST60 series from 2013. Even when new, you could get the S60 for something like $700. I'd be willing to pay $350 or so, for a unit in good condition. Maybe more if it came from a source with a solid return policy or guarantee.
 
#8 ·
Post production, I overpaid for a display 55" VT60 and approximately one month later bought a second hand 65" VT60 with zero hours for less than I paid for the 55". The 55" has pretty much been sitting since I got the 65". I can't imagine selling the 55" for what I could get for it, so I'm keeping it until it's an antique.
 
#9 ·
Hear, hear! Well said, and I agree. Look, asking $1k for a display that could fail any time, with no warranty and limited repair options, just isn't going to happen. There's a limited market for these sets, and that market is basically fans of plasma display picture quality. I've sold two plasmas on Craigslist, one here on AVS. All of these were priced to move and went to HT fans who enjoy this tech. But I see other people asking for absurd prices and their sets just sit for month after month. OP, I'm in the same area as you and I see the same sets on Craigslist for month after month. In the classifieds here as well. Asking brand new OLED money for a 3-5 year old plasma (8 years old for Kuros!) is just not realistic and you will find limited takers.

It's a buyer's market for plasma TVs. While they aren't making any more, their value has depreciated with the rise of reasonably-priced OLEDs from LG that have even better black levels. Not saying that plasma doesn't still give a great picture; I bought two plasmas this year and I'm still looking for an F8500 myself, but around $500 is my cap.
 
#10 ·
Great post. I agree completely. I've been keeping an eye on the market for some time now (really, a solid 2+ years), checking in and looking at prices periodically. Sellers are completely delusional and are suffering from the fallacy (the name escapes me atm) of thinking that just because they bought/value something at 'X' that that is what the market will/should pay. The reality of the situation says otherwise- I get flabbergasted at these people trying to sell the VT/ZT/8500 for $1.5-2k (sometimes even more if NIB). So you want me to pay the same price that I could practically get a brand new OLED for when I could largely be screwed if something fails on the TV? If plasma was still going or getting support from manufacturers, then ok, I could still kind of buy that, but no way today. Better hope you can find a board on eBay or something. And if it's the panel? Good night. I got my 2 51F8500s NIB at the very end of their run for right at $1200 or so, but you want me to pay around that for a used item out of warranty and several years older now? Very out of touch with reality, lol.

Another perspective I could see, however, is some just throwing it up on the market and seeing if anybody will bite. As in, they don't really need/want to sell it, but if they can get a sucker for that price, then yeah, they'll part with it. If not, nbd, they still enjoy the TV and have no problem keeping it. However, if people are really trying to sell it, the gap between buyers and sellers has quite the chasm to bridge.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Here2Learn
#11 · (Edited)
Good Afternoon Gentlemen,

Hopefully, this does not seem like a hijack for personal use, I feel that this is relevant to this discussion, and would love yours all feedback.

Recently had the military move me out to California for grad school, upon arrival my flawless condition (outside of an occasional brightness pop) PN64D7000 had black bars across the screen from being damaged in the move, diagnosed as unrepairable (for an economical price). As part of the claims process, I am going to get about 3K reimbursement for the tv being damaged.

Here is the deal with the TV, I hardly ever use it. I mean ever. I love the size and don’t ever want to go below 64/65 for main room television. The only thing I ever watch is sports, and outside of college and pro football or ESPN I never even turn it on. My girlfriend doesn’t watch it much either, and when she does its just TV shows. We hardly watch movies at all and I don’t have a cinema, no over the top sound system, it’s a fairly bright room, I don’t have proper lighting etc.

I researched the hell out of TV’s back in 2012 when I bought this, and I was convinced then and still am now that Plasma is the best picture except for OLED but I do not want to drop that kind of money yet because I do like the size.

I would love to replace this TV with something of equal size and quality and maybe even put some money back in the bank. Since I love plasma, I was thinking to try to find a used but good condition quality 8500 or VT/ZT and was thinking Id have to pay 1-1.5K. I would kind like to keep the budget around that 1-1.2k. I would never have changed TV’s if this Samsung had not been broken. This way I replace the size, the plasma picture, get a “top of the line” tv, albeit 2012, but still, my Samsung was beautiful, and save some cash.
However, the more and more I read / think, I wasn’t considering the wear on the TV (hours on the panel), and the fact that there is no warranty and difficult to fix. Also Im reading a lot of guys in the ZT thread talk about IR burn being especially bad.

Also exactly in line with what you are saying im seeing 65ZT’s for 1500, there’s an 8500 that’s practically new but the guy wants 2K.

If you guys were me what would you do? Im not against going LED, I just always thought the plasma picture was better. If the price is comparable id still rather have a plasma. The Samsung I just lost had under 500 hours.

Thanks for your time and appreciate the feedback.
 
#12 ·
Also exactly in line with what you are saying im seeing 65ZT’s for 1500, there’s an 8500 that’s practically new but the guy wants 2K.

If you guys were me what would you do? Im not against going LED, I just always thought the plasma picture was better. If the price is comparable id still rather have a plasma. The Samsung I just lost had under 500 hours.

Thanks for your time and appreciate the feedback.
For $3k you can get a 65" OLED with a warranty. That's the route I would go. With a used plasma, it might die on you. For me, my cap for a used display is $500-600. $1500-2000 for a used plasma is just nuts. The OLED should last for years and you'll have perfect blacks, plus it's got HDR and 4K. And you say you watch sports in a bright room. The OLED is MUCH brighter than any plasma ever made.
 
#13 ·
I gave my daughter my panasonic GT50 so she would have an ok hdtv for her apartment.

I think that 4K surpasses what plasma does. Even my non-HDR 4k 65" Sony XBR 950B leaves me wanting nothing - it was a serious upgrade. I ran the Panasonic in the bedroom for a bit but finally decided it's a dinosaur, and let's not even talk about how grainy the TV reception looked. There's a 49" Samsung KS8000 (4k HDR) sitting in there now - again, it lacks nothing.

Used plasma pricing is ridiculous considering the competition now in used HDR 4k Sets. I agree that at the time plasma ruled supreme they blew the competition away.

Now? They are dinosaurs living past the extinction event. There is nothing that will bring them back; their time is done. Save your money.
 
#15 ·
Well, the argument I'd make is this- no current or past LCD, not Sony's $5k Z9D, and certainly not Samsung's $4k edge-lit Q9F, can match these used plasma sets for black level. Pioneer had better black level in 2008 units, and Panasonic had better black level in their 2011+ lines... Samsung around 2012 I believe? 4K is ok, HDR is IMO more of a selling point, but for those of us who mostly do dark room/movie and game media consumption, the LCDs are a hard sell for their gray/inconsistent blacks. I'd rather have a Samsung 64F8500 or 65VT/ZT60 than any LCD.

At $1500, though, you can get a Vizio P-series, with HDR and 4K, and fairly good black level. With a return policy and warranty. So that's pretty crazy to me lol, paying that for a used display with guarantees.
 
#14 ·
This thread popped up just in time, my Samsung PN64D7000 of 5 years just went up in smoke! (Literally) I'm having a hard time imagining staring at anything other than a hard glass panel.
So I did what most of us on this thread naturally would do, started to look into the use market and noticed what is being discuss here as well. Pricey screens!


I first thought I would get it fixed, but getting opinions about going this route seemed silly to a few as I should just go with a new TV.
Like I mentioned above not sure if I want to go with a new tech screen, glad to hear I'm not the only one in this dilemma. Hopefully I can find something near me at a good low price to hold me up for a few more years.


A bit off topic.
I purchased my TV through Amazon (World Wide Stereo) vendor, I don't recall any warranty talk as other times purchasing Pioneer before the Samsung does anyone know if Amazon would include warranty or if I had to buy it separately! I gotta go hunt for my receipts and see what's the deal!


Thanks


Djoel
 
#17 ·
Strangely, I am not impressed. The blurry frames, and the slight lack of contrast still seem to be part of all LCD/OLED televisions. Especially at higher resolutions. I think I would want a 4K LCD projector first just get even a frame rate. If I am not mistaken, red burns in faster than blue. What color is the biggest phosphor on a CRT? Does anyone know?
 
#22 · (Edited)
#24 ·
I've never owned an LCD television, but the biggest issue I've noticed on the sets I've watched is motion blur. For me, it can ruin the viewing experience, particularly when it comes to sports, which probably comprises the bulk of my LCD viewing. Perhaps some LCD sets handle motion better than others.
 
#27 ·
Yeah, I check eBay and the local Craigslist every so often and people are insane with what they're asking for plasmas -- they're still selling them as if it was 2012-2014. Affordable OLED (along with 4K and HDR) has effectively killed plasma. People still trying to get 1.5-2k for a ~9 year old Pioneer are out of touch with what year we're in.

I was a huge proponent of (and still really love) plasma, owned quite a few of them. Got my A1E in June, sold my 60" ZT60 to a friend for $400 (still warrantied until 10/18!) and really don't miss it at all. The A1E is pretty much better in every way, save for motion, but it's really not worlds apart...there have probably only been a handful of occasions where I've noticed that the motion isn't on par with my old plasma. So it's hard for me to relate to the plasma romanticism at this point.

I would still take a well-taken care of 101FD or 500M and throw it in the bedroom since I never had the pleasure of owning a Pioneer, but not at the crackpot prices people are asking.
 
#28 ·
imo, there is a large gap between buyers and sellers in this market

as an owner, the only way i would sell mine is if i got enough to replace it with a new oled. so if somebody wants to give me 4grand for my 64, i'd consider it

as a buyer, i don't believe that electronics should ever go up in price, and i usually start at about 50% of MSRP. so a 64" f8500 is worth at most about $1500


the problem is, the people who don't like plasma, sold them a long time ago. so the only people left with them, tend to be owners who appreciate them, and don't really want to replace them with a 'new uhd lcd' that's inferior in nearly every way, which is why the asking prices are not super reasonable

at the end of it, i realize that my f8500 is worth far more to me, than any potential buyer, which is why i intend to keep it indefinitely
 
#37 ·
Interesting article. OLED wins of couce but I've never seen an expert review or shootout from anybody that knows anything recommend an LCD as the best display available.
https://www.lifewire.com/oled-vs-plasma-3276234

"For many serious AV enthusiasts, LCD screen technology just doesn’t cut it. Its inability - using current technologies, anyway - to deliver truly localized lighting means it just can’t give film fans the contrast and black level depths their movie-loving habit craves. So much so that many AV fans are still using full HD plasma TVs, where each pixel can produce its own light, rather than upgrading to 4K UHD LCD TVs."
 
#40 ·
What model? For reference, this spring I bought a 2007 Hitachi plasma, the last year that Hitachi made ALiS plasmas with their own panel, for about $100. It's 1080i and in pristine condition. If you have one of the 2008/2009 Hitachi 1080p displays, where if I remember correctly they used Panasonic glass, it might be worth $150-200. Maybe.

These things are more collector's items and a curiosity at this point.
 
#39 · (Edited)
I always observed the plasma selling market in my area (europe), and things have changed 2017..


Tons of plasma tvs are sold but those are the older models.. No F8500, no VT60, older ones.. and those older 42 to 50 inch models you can get from 100 to 200 euros. Those are 2008 to 2011 models. Everything newer is very hard to get. There also quite a few broken plasma tvs on sale.. for 50 to 100 Euros. You think this is a joke.. But the sellers think, the spare parts are something worth..


I got a Panasonic S20 42 inch for 40 bucks. I bought it just because it was so cheap but..


..this led me to selling my 50 inch ST60 for 400 Euros because I liked the S20 that much. Which is not much, but I am happy that I could sell it, because as you said the buyers target group is very small..


The ST60 was already 4 years old.. if something brakes I have a 100% loss.. If this little S20 is broke, I lost 40$ and will hunt down another one..


and there was only one guy interested in buying, and he was an owner of an old panasonic plasma..


Right now is a buying market.. Hunt down a model and secure it for future if you want..


I would not sell a plasma.. I would keep it if you love plasma..
 
#43 ·
All right :serious:

Anyway, back to the discussion at hand, there's a local Samsung PN64F8500 that the seller is asking $1750 for. This is a perfect example of what the OP is referring to. The thing has been up for sale for 6 months, and the seller hasn't budged on price. It's not going to sell.

I think the last of the Panasonic/Samsung/Pioneer plasmas have aged really well, but you could make the argument that a good UHD LCD will get you most of the way there and do so under warranty. And OLED prices continue to drop. We may see 65" OLEDs available on Black Friday around $2k. So $1500-1750 for a 1080p plasma out of warranty is not desirable, at all.
 
#44 ·
i'm going to disagree with you slightly. for some people it's certainly true, and those people will see anything over 500bux for a used plasma as completely ridiculous. for other people, lcd is still not a viable option, at least not at the prices we're discussing here. for me it really comes down to oled pricing. if plasma production continued, i'd be laughing at these prices with the rest of you, but honestly, i'm struggling to suggest a better performing display for under $1750(after taxes). is a used plasma worse than a used oled? cause i don't see getting anything brand new for that price in a 65" display, with 'plasma-like' performance.

it's just a crappy time to need a new tv, and not be an lcd fan... i would never want to buy a used television personally. but the state of the market would make me consider it carefully, and weight my options for sure. a used 64f8500 for $1000 may not be what i end up buying, but i would probably make it the mark to beat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sickkent
#50 ·
are you able to get 65" for that price?

i definitely wouldn't buy a 'smaller' plasma for that price, for that exact reason. but the 65's here, plus taxes, it's more like double that. in which case, it's not an obvious decision anymore
 
#46 ·
I have a LG OLED65E6P and a Panasonic TC-P65ZT60. I have the Plasma in the bonus room over the garage now and the OLED in our great room. I struggled with the decision to buy OLED because of the motion issues they have compared to the buttery smoothness of the plasma. I have to say that once I got the motion set to my satisfaction the good far out weighs the bad in OLED. I don't miss my Plasma. It's still enjoyable to watch but I don't think it really holds up well against the OLED sets of today. True 4K HDR media on the OLED, to me, is pretty incredible. Even Netflix Dolby Vision is pretty special to watch. I am starting on our lower level media room next week and I can't say I even considered moving the Panasonic down there. Im actually struggling with the desire for a 75" screen vs the unrivaled black level and contrast of a 65" OLED. $15,000 for a 77" OLED isn't in the budget.

Even with all of this I would not sell my Plasma and buy a cheap 4K LCD. I think that I would have to be upgrading to something like a Sony x900e or 930e to swap out my plasma. If I had to replace my Plasma I would buy a full warranty OLED before I paid $1k or more for 4 year old technology.
 
#55 ·
The question is not about the performance of Plasma against LED or OLED. It's about whether buyers are even looking at old plasmas. The answer across the board apart from a few of us is it doesn't enter their radar at all. The few of us holding out for plasma are not going to spend premium money on them

I guess if someone is not prepared to let go of their plasma for less than $1500, that is their prerogative. It won't sell but it's their choice. I'm looking forward to see how OLED prices will change with the holiday sales season.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top