Piano consignment is an arrangement where a piano owner and a piano store engage in an agreement in which a piano store sells a piano on behalf of the owner. The piano store pays nothing upfront for the piano, but instead pays a portion of the sale to the owner after the piano sells. This sort of deal has the potential to be beneficial to both the piano owner and the piano store, but there are a few things to consider when deciding if this is the best route for you to take with your sale. In this article we will go over some of the benefits of piano consignment, if a piano is suitable for sale in a piano store, common percentage arrangements, and a few things for piano owners to be aware of when choosing a piano store to consign with.
Is consigning with a piano store worth it? When is piano consignment a good fit?
Piano consignment is likely most beneficial to the piano owner who wants to sell their piano, but does not want to deal with the hassle of advertising their piano for sale, or having people in their home to view the instrument. With piano consignment, the piano store will most often facilitate the removal of the piano from the consignors home, and bring it to their showroom for potential customers to view and play it. Piano consignment can also be a good choice for the seller that is not in a hurry. Some piano stores will offer to purchase the piano outright, but they will usually pay slightly more for the piano if the customer opts consign the piano. This is because with consignment, the piano stores investment in the piano is significantly as they do not need to pay the owner until the piano sells. So, essentially you can net more if you can afford to wait out the consignment route.
What is a grand or upright piano worth? Is the piano sellable?
Much like cars or really any other consumer product, various manufacturers will produce products of varying degrees of quality. Basically… just because you have a grand piano, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has a high or in some cases much of any value. It’s also important to note that two of the exact same piano models can differ dramatically in price. Things like cabinet finish, general condition, the amount of play time the piano has had, and the local market all factor in to the valuation of a piano. This can make attempting to determine the piano based on similar models on ebay and other sites somewhat challenging. The most surefire way to determine the value of your piano is to call around to a few local piano stores and ask them what ballpark price they would value the piano at. This ballpark figure will likely only be narrowed down upon their formal in home evaluation of the instrument. You might think that hiring a piano tuner or technician to evaluate the piano would be better than a store as they would have more of an unbiased opinion. There will be different schools of thought about this, but personally I have found in many cases that piano tuners can (sometimes dramatically) overvalue pianos in their evaluations. A piano tuner may have your best interest at heart, and very much appreciate your patronage and the quality of your instrument, but in many cases they don’t have the same insight of the going rate of piano values the way that a retail piano store wood. I have had the unfortunate position of having to contest over valuations of pianos in many cases. My figure is usually confirmed by the customer when they call around to other piano stores inquiring how much their piano might sell for, and how much the store would be willing to buy it for. If you do decide to use a private party piano technician to determine your pianos retail value, it’s probably a good idea to check with a few different piano shops as well.
Selling or consigning an antique piano.
Contrary to popular belief, pianos do not get better with age. They don’t appreciate in value the way a classic car might. With pianos, their moving wooden parts can wear, warp and crack, the strings can lose their acoustic quality, the felts components can become hard and brittle, the cabinet finish can lose its shine and color, and most commonly the soundboard can crack and tuning pins can become loose making the instrument difficult if not impossible to tune. Every once in a while there are cases that I come across a “survivor piano” that has miraculously survived the test of time and somehow managed to retain its mechanical and cosmetic integrity. Usually these are one owner pianos that live in gentle climates that have moved very little if at all in their lifetime. In general however, most antique pianos will need a full restoration to bring top dollar and be attractive enough for a piano store to consider bringing into their showroom. But before you go calling a piano rebuilder for a quote to restore your piano, you’ll need to take this into careful consideration. In the 20th century there were HUNDREDS of American piano manufacturers. Some of these manufacturers produced pianos of the utmost quality while others produced instruments with the goal of facilitating a more approachable consumer price point which brought along with it lesser quality. Out of all of the historic American piano manufacturers, really very few will bring significant value, even after being fully restored. There are very few exceptions to this rule, but in general with antique American pianos (we’ll say 1900 and newer) the name of the game is Steinway, Mason and Hamlin, and in some cases Baldwin. Some European manufactured pianos can also carry some value, but they are much more rare in the United States than the brands mentioned above. A few notable European piano manufacturers are Bosendorfer, Bluthner, (Hamburg built) Steinway, and Schimmel.
Selling or consigning modern a modern piano.
Modern pianos are a little more straight forward when it comes to consignment. There are far more modern pianos a piano store will consider for consignment than the antique American brands mentioned above. With modern pianos (we’ll say 1980s and newer), in most cases they do not need to be totally restored but hopefully only cosmetically gone over, regulated and tuned. The most sought after modern pianos are made in Japan, Europe, and America. Again, there are a few exceptions to this as there have been some decent pianos coming out of China and Korea in the last couple of decades. Piano stores may differ in opinion on what piano manufacturers are of acceptable quality and which ones are not, so I’m going to leave brand names out of this section, and leave that determination to your local shops/techs. If you are hoping for some guidance or insight on the value of your piano, shoot me an email, and i’ll do my best to lend in some guidance.
What is a normal piano store consignment percentage split?
There really isn’t an industry standard for this. I’ve seen numbers ranging from a 20%/80% split with 80% going to the owner to a 50%/50% split with 50% going to the owner. Most commonly I’ve seen the split hover right around 30%/70% split with 70% percent going to the owner/consigner. Now.. you may be thinking to yourself “30%?!? Why should they get 30% when I’m putting the piano on their floor for free?”. Well, there are a few things to consider. What escapes most perspective piano consigners is the actual cost a piano store will incur when selling a consignment piano. I can’t speak for all stores, but in many cases a piano store will pickup the piano at no cost, and provide most routine services to get the piano into showroom worthy condition either at a wholesale rate or no cost at all. Generally these fees (if any) are taken out of the final sale of the piano. The piano store also needs to cover operational costs. With your piano sitting on their showroom floor, that’s room they could otherwise be using for other inventory i.e if your piano is going to live there, it’s going to need to pay some rent. Keeping the piano in tune while it is in the store, and advertising the piano for sale on their website also comes with a cost. Lastly, after a piano is sold, that’s likely not the end of expenses a piano store will incur with the consignment piano. Often the piano store will pay for the piano to be delivered to the new buyers home, they will likely also provide a free in home tuning, and some sort of warranty, usually 5 years. So we’re now looking at moving expenses, tuning/service expenses, possible cosmetic expenses, and possible warranty calls down the road. With all that in mind, hopefully the 30%-40% consignment cost seems more reasonable.
Another method of consignment is, in lue of a percentage split, the piano store will offer a flat pre determined price to the cosigner payable once the piano sells. I am a much bigger fan of this method of consignment. Things are much more straightforward for both the consignor and the store. If you have a specific number in mind that you are hoping to net on the piano once it sells and it’s not totally clear you’ll hit it with a percentage split… just ask. If the price is reasonable, the piano store will likely consider a fixed price arrangement.
Now that we’ve gone over some of the ins and outs of piano consignment, we also need to review some of the potential pitfalls that piano consignment can bring with it.
Make sure to vet the piano store you choose to work with!
I really hate that I have to write this section, but in my years in the piano business, I have heard countless horror stories about unscrupulous piano dealers that have unjustly taken advantage of piano consigners. I am not trying to paint any piano store in particular in a bad light, most piano stores take great pride in their trade, and set out to do the best by their customers. However, just as you would with any large transaction, you should properly vet the business you are choosing to do business with. Check online reviews, ask friends that may have purchased or sold a piano recently, or maybe even reach out to your local piano technician guild to ask about the reputation of the piano store you are hoping to work with. Luckily, more often than not, piano stores are on the level, and not out to rob anybody. Unfortunately, not all piano stores are cut from the same cloth. I have heard several stories about piano dealers down on their luck selling consignment pianos, and not paying the owner after the sale. The store may think that they’ll be able to use the funds as a short term loan, and pay back the owner a little later, but there have been several piano stores over the years that have gone out of business after selling consignments leaving the piano owner high and dry. There have been many cases where I have heard of people consigning their piano with a local dealer only to wait several months or even YEARS without being paid or hearing a word from the store. This is often due to improper exposure. If you have a piano that is difficult to sell because of an obscure brand, very high price tag, extensive restoration work to be performed, or a small local buying pool that’s one thing. There’s not a whole lot a dealer can do about that other than to put their best foot forward and advertise the piano for sale on their website, put it in attractive showroom condition, and give it proper placement in their showroom. What you want to make sure of is that your piano is actually being shown for sale. What I have seen happen on more than a few occasions is that a dealer may bring in a piano that is in need of a service or repair in order to bring the piano to acceptable showroom condition and end up leaving the piano on the backburner for an extended period of time. I’ve been called on many times to “rescue” pianos from other dealers. So, be patient and reasonable with the timeline in the beginning, but if your piano was taken in without needing extensive repairs, and you don’t see the piano on the showroom floor for more than a month.. You may need to be a squeaky wheel and or make other arrangements to have your piano sold with another dealer.
Consider selling me your piano!
As you probably gathered by the name of this website, I buy pianos. I prefer not to consign them but instead buy them outright for cash (or cashiers check anyway), and I purchase them all over the country. If you would rather sell your piano without the ambiguity of piano consignment, I’d happily make you an offer to purchase your piano. Just hit the button below, and fill out our my seller form, and I’ll get back to you, hopefully with an offer.
I hope you've found this information helpful.
I love talking about pianos, and would be happy to answer any questions you might have about your piano sale. Feel free to drop me an email or connect with me on Linkedin if you have any questions.
