The buy & sell built for the people who own the gear.
The screen industry moves a lot of expensive kit second-hand — quietly, through word of mouth and a scatter of group chats. Showtools is one proper place for it, built for the trade rather than bolted on to a general marketplace that doesn't know a matte box from a mafer clamp.
Real gear, from real people in the industry, with the history that tells you what you're actually buying. That's the whole idea.
Who it's for
Owner-operators, first and foremost — the DPs, camera operators, sound recordists, gaffers and drone pilots who own their own bodies, glass, support, lighting and kit, and upgrade or move it on as the work changes. And when a production wraps, the props, set dressing and office gear that comes with it.
On the other side: productions kitting up, rental houses topping up their inventory, and operators building out their own package a piece at a time. Post what you're selling, or post what you're after and let it come to you — Showtools works both ways.
Provenance first
What makes a used camera worth buying is knowing where it's been. Shot-count, service history, the jobs it's done, who looked after it. Showtools puts that front and centre instead of burying it, so a buyer can judge a piece on its record and a careful owner gets credit for keeping their kit right.
Whole packages, sold as one lot
Sometimes it isn't one item — it's the whole package. List a full kit as a single lot with an itemised breakdown, priced to move, so it goes in one go instead of a hundred separate sales and a month of messages.
Free to list, honest about the rest
No listing fees and no subscription while we build the community — list as much as you like. And we're straight about what Showtools is: we connect buyers and sellers, we don't sit in the middle of the deal. How to trade safely is worth a read before you meet anyone — see Trust & safety.