If the piano looks worn, it’s less likely to sell.īrand: Well-known brands with good reputations will generally generate more interest and be valued more than brands that lack name and/or quality recognition.
This is true of most vertical pianos with badly scarred or damaged cases, as well as older, off-brand pianos in plain cabinets. This means that, in a buyer’s market, many pianos that play well may nevertheless not be saleable at any price if they don’t look as good as they play. To determine if your piano is suitable for resale, there are three basic things to consider: appearance, brand, and age/condition.Īppearance: People who buy decent-quality pianos usually have well-decorated environments for them to go into. This expense alone can approach or exceed the budget of a shopper looking for a low-cost option, and means that instruments of lower quality, low brand-name recognition, and less-than-stellar reputation tend to attract little or no sales interest. Thus, even when the seller is willing to give away the piano, it still can cost a recipient $1,000–$2,000 to accept it. Almost all pianos over 10 years old will need this work to play well and sound good.
In many cases, these instruments were inherited from the boomers’ own parents and are now 50 or more years old. Baby boomers, retiring and downsizing, are flooding the market with the pianos their kids took lessons on.Digital pianos have become so advanced in tone and touch, and so competitive in price, that for many on a limited budget, a new digital piano may be a better buy than a used acoustic.Globalization and the computerization of manufacturing have made inexpensive, new, high-quality consumer-grade pianos from China and Indonesia abundantly available, leaving lower-quality used instruments from previous eras with little value.