Lately, I have purchase quite a few outfits that have a flash included. At this time about 85% of them do not work and most have severe battery corrosion damage to them. It makes me mad to pay for a flash that doesn't work and to also pay for the shipping.

So, here's a guide to sellers so that they can tell when a flash does not work:

1. Open up the battery compartment. If you cannot physically open it, throw it away! This means that the batteries have corroded so badly, they have welded the compartment shut.

2. If you do get the battery compartment open and it looks like this, throw it away! If the batteries have corroded this much, it's almost certain that the contacts in the flash are damaged and the wiring to the contacts are corroded.

3. If you are able to get the battery compartment open, check the contacts very carefully, they should be shiny and clean. Look at the ones in the flash body and also on the battery cover. A small flashlight helps you see inside the battery compartment. They should look like this. See the difference?

4. If the battery compartment is clean, install a new set of batteries and power it up. It should make a high pitched, whining sound as it charges. Most flashes have a "ready light" to show when it is fully charged. When this light comes on, push the flash discharge or flash check button to see if it fires. If it does, fire it multiple times to make sure it holds the charge properly and discharges as it should. It it doesn't charge up, throw it away!

5. Perform a quick, mechanical check of the entire flash. The zoom and tilt functions should move smoothly and all the buttons and dials should work. Also, give a check to the flash foot, where it mounts to the camera hotshoe. The plastic should be solid with no cracks or missing pieces.

6. This entire check should take about 2 minutes to do, it's easy and ensures that you are not pissing buyers off by selling them non-working junk.