A Guide To Buying Pianos On Ebay | A Comprehensive Look At The Pros And Cons Of Buying A Piano Online.

Published 1/30/2019
Read time about 4 minutes

Buying A Piano On Ebay.

When shopping for a piano there are several avenues a prospective buyer might consider. There’s the traditional route of shopping at local piano stores or browsing online classifieds for a private sale, but what about ebay? Ebay is a great source to find good deals on just about anything, but what about pianos? Aside from the obvious logistical shipping challenges (you can’t exactly send off a baby grand at your local Fedex store), is it possible to get a good deal buying a piano on ebay? As a piano technician and someone who buys and sells pianos for a living, I can attest that it can be a little risky purchasing your piano on the site. However, having purchased pianos off of ebay myself on several occasions, there are some exceptions, but you should be well aware of the possible implications involved when buying a piano via online auction. I’ve put together somewhat of a guide to highlight some of the pros and cons to purchasing a piano on ebay. I hope that it can help you make an informed decision for your upcoming purchase.

Possible Benefits Of Buying A Piano On Ebay

Before I turn this read into too much of a bummer, lets go over some of the positive aspects that can go along with buying a piano online. Buying a used piano can be a rather involved experience if there is a specific used model that you are looking for or a specific price point you are trying to hit. Pianos are notoriously difficult to accurately price on the secondhand market. The price of a piano can be somewhat subjective to some, and opinions on what a specific piano is worth can range wildly. The talk of what determines a pianos value is a whole other blog post, but one thing is certain, you’re probably going into your search with the intention of buying at the lowest price you find. ebay can be a great source for that. The deals are out there, and every once in a while those deals pop up on “the bay” Some positive aspects ebay may have to offer,

• The opportunity to purchase a piano priced below market value.
• Exposure to rare piano that is difficult to find in your local market
• A secure transaction facilitated by ebay and PayPal
• The ability to finance the purchase through Paypal or credit card.

Any one of the points above could be reason enough to go through with the online purchase, but there are several things to consider and preventive measures to take in order to make sure that the great deal you just found is in fact a great deal, and not a tragic transaction.

Possible Drawbacks Of Buying A Piano On Ebay.

Think about buying a piano on ebay the same way you would buying a car on ebay. You might be able to find an amazing deal on the car of your dreams, and it very well may look PERFECT in the photos. Unfortunately, cars, much like pianos are complex machines with hundreds of moving parts that are impossible to inspect from photos alone. Your dream car might arrive to you with a bent frame from an undisclosed accident or a motor running on its last leg due to maintenance negligence. So there you are... out thousands of dollars with a beautiful pile of parts in your driveway totally undriveable in its current state. Purchasing a piano on ebay has the potential to provide a very similar scenario, just replace the driveway with a living room. Pianos are much more fragile and finicky than people realize. They are extremely sensitive to moisture and temperature fluxuations, direct sunlight, and contrary to popular belief, they do not get better with age. Unbeknownst to you, and likely the seller, a piano could be affected by a wide range of the following condition issues,

• Cracks or pressure ridges in the soundboard
• A worn out action
• Teflon action components (This one is prevalent though specific to Steinway and Sons)
• Loose Tuning pins
• Sun faded portions of the cabinet
• Cracks in the bridge
• A worn out keyboard with excessive key slop
• Dead bass strings
• Excessively grooved / worn hammers
• Rusty tuning pins and strings
• A strong odor of cigarette smoke
• Several scratches and other finish imperfections that were unnoticeable in photos
• Swollen keys or expanded key leads

All of these issues can be addressed and repaired, unfortunately none of them can be done (properly) quickly, and all of them will carry a hefty repair bill.

Precautions You Should Take If You Decide To Buy A Piano On Ebay

You might be wondering at this point, with all of the risk, why do I purchase so many pianos on ebay? The answer is, I have been purchasing and working on pianos long enough to mitigate my risk a bit. I know the brands, models, the eras of particular pianos that tend to sound, play and survive the best. For the most part, I can pick a piano apart based on photos alone and have a pretty good idea of what I’m getting into. Keep in mind that this skill has taken over a decade to become proficient in, and I’m not perfect at it. Nobody can be really. I can generally, but not always tell whether a piano has rusty strings, a cracked soundboard, or finish issues from photos, but I always rely heavily on local piano technicians in the area to inspect the piano on my behalf. There have been several instances where I have been reasonably confident that the piano I was interested in purchasing was in top notch condition only to receive close up photos of soundboard cracks, or reports of severely loose tuning pins. A good piano technician will be able to discern whether a piano has any serious condition issues from a short inspection appointment with the piano. This is something the technician will need to charge for of course, but the reasonable fee they ask for could end up saving you thousands on repairs to a piano you probably should have walked away from in the first place.

Be Cautious When Purchasing A Piano From A Climate That Differs From The One You Live In.

Environmental consistency is a piano’s best friend. Over the years, a piano will season to the moisture level that it lives in. Extreme humidity levels, the lack of humidity, or dramatic shifts in humidity can wreak havoc on a piano’s structural integrity. Taking a piano from a relatively wet climate and moving it to a dry climate for instance can rob the piano of the moisture content it has seasoned to and cause the wood to shrink/contract. The opposite scenario of taking a piano from a dry climate and moving it to a wet climate can have dramatic effects as well. The condition issues mentioned in the “ Possible drawbacks of buying a piano on eBay “ section, ie cracked soundboards and loose tuning pins are generally caused by dramatic humidity shifts.

Is It Really Going To Be The Piano For You?

For the sake of argument, let’s say we get lucky. Let’s say the piano you bought arrives with none of these condition issues, and it appears to be in perfect condition. There’s a chance it might sound or feel… well, just bad. Or at least bad to you. Pianos of the exact same make and model can vary dramatically from one another in tone and keyboard response. The Steinway model B for example, is extremely sought after in the secondhand piano market. The difficult part about choosing one in particular out of the several that may be available is that no two are exactly alike in tone and feel. Some might sound and feel amazing, while others are a little lackluster. A serious secondhand Steinway B buyer might spend YEARS searching and playing a vast array of used Bs before finally finding the”one”. All of this to say that the piano model you’re searching for on ebay might sound or feel the same as the one that brought you to your search in the first place.

Shipping A Piano Purchased On Ebay.

If the piano you’re interested in has received a clean bill of health from a piano technician, you’re reasonably confident that the humidity levels from purchase location and delivery location are similar enough not to cause issue, and you decide to click that “Buy It Now” button.. Congratulations! You just bought yourself a piano. Now, how do we ship this thing? For larger items, ebay offers sellers the options to list shipping as “freight” or “local pickup”. I’m sure pianos purchased on ebay are crated and freight shipped every once in a while, but this is an unnecessarily expensive and excessive method of transport. There are actually piano moving companies that specialize in moving pianos cross country. These companies will arrange the local pickup of your piano, trucking to its destination, and delivery to your home. Going the route of hiring a specialty cross country piano moving company will ensure that the piano is properly protected using the correct piano moving equipment, and in many cases they will transport the piano in a climate controlled trailer. Walter Piano Transport and Keyboard Carriage are both great options, and I have worked with both of them on several occasions.

What To Do After The Piano Arrives.

Once your newly purchased piano arrives to your home it’s a good idea to call your local piano tuner to schedule a tuning and service appointment. I’d recommend booking the appointment 2 to 3 weeks after delivery. Piano tuners generally have a lead time of a couple of weeks anyhow. In the meantime, you can play your new piano to your heart’s content. Although, it might not sound too pleasant if it is horrendously out of tune. However great or not so great the piano sounds upon arrival, playing the piano out of tune or before the tuning appointment will not hurt the piano. The more important thing is to let some time pass and allow your piano to breathe and acclimate to its new environment. The piano’s soundboard (as well as other components) will swell and contract ever so slightly over this period. Piano tunings generally hold up a little better if you allow them the time to settle after transport. If you just can’t wait and want the piano tuned right away, no problem. Just expect to tune the piano again not too long after. On that note, don’t be surprised if the piano tuner suggests a “pitch raise” before the first tuning or follow up appointments after their initial visit. People generally sell pianos because they are not playing them. When they don’t play them, they usually don’t tune them. It’s not uncommon to find pianos that haven’t been tuned for decades. With the excess slack strings develop by being left dormant, it can take a few tunings to get the piano where it needs to be in pitch and stability. Your piano tuner may also recommend a dedicated humidifying system, or “Piano Life Saver” system. There are different schools of thought on this, read up and decide if this is best for you.

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I hope this article will help shed some light in the process of buying a piano on ebay and whether or not the option is right for you. I wish you the best of luck with your search!

I love talking about pianos, and would be happy to answer any questions you might have about your sale. Feel free to drop me an email or connect with me on Linkedin if you have any questions.

- Aaron Firpo

Owner,
Aaron Buys Pianos
Aaron@AaronBuysPianos.com
206-659-6072

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Published by Aaron Firpo 1/30/2020

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