Only one tanning bed has been turned in to the government since 2013 as solarium owners continue to shun the ACT government's $1000 buyback scheme.
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Commercial solariums are illegal in the ACT, as of January 1, following concerns about skin cancer, despite only one per cent of adults using a solarium Australia-wide.
Under the buyback scheme, solarium owners would receive $1000 for each tanning bed they surrendered, but a beauty salon owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said she had bought a tanning bed for more than $15,000 shortly before the beds were outlawed.
Now she is selling it at a third of the price online in an attempt to make some money back.
"It wasn't the end of the world [for me] but for someone whose main business was a [solarium] I think it could be quite devastating," she said.
The owner said although it had been very disappointing to lose money she thought it was preferable to contributing towards skin cancer in young people.
"No one wants that on their back," she said.
"Before... you'd tell the young girls you're only supposed to use it twice a week and they'd salon hop from our salon to another to another so they could use it every day."
Another former Canberra solarium owner told the Sunday Canberra Times their business was undergoing a major change – and was severely annoyed with how the government had behaved.
Cancer Council Australia spokesman Craig Sinclair said the change would save lives and significantly reduce the number of skin cancers in the ACT.
He said sun beds were related to 43 deaths a year by directly contributing to melanoma in regular users.
"From a business point of view the sunbed owners have pretty much had two years to reorientate their businesses and the vast majority of businesses have been smart enough to introduce a broader range of services," he said.
Mr Sinclair said banning solariums was just the latest in a long history of essential Australian public health initiatives.
"In time, people will reflect back and [won't be able] to believe a situation where sunbeds were actually allowed to operate, as we wouldn't even dream of driving a car without a seat belt today," he said.
An ACT Health spokesman said no sun beds remained at solarium businesses in Canberra.
"Solarium owners were not obliged to utilise the scheme, and were permitted to remove, sell or transfer their units to individuals prior to the ban commencing on December 31 2014, for private use," she said.
"In December 2014 there were only two businesses in the ACT operating as a solarium. Only one of these businesses chose to utilise the disposal scheme."
