What Can You Do With Old Baby Grand Piano

Selling a used piano tin can exist a challenge: Since the Recession, used pianos at all cost levels have plummeted in value. Used pianos for sale far outnumber shoppers to buy them, making it a heir-apparent's market. Several weather condition — some inherent to used-pianoforte sales and some specific to electric current times — have tended to increase supply and/or drive down the prices of used pianos:

• Globalization and the computerization of manufacturing take made inexpensive, new, high-quality consumer-grade pianos from Mainland china and Indonesia abundantly available, leaving lower-quality used instruments from previous eras with little value.
• Digital pianos have become and so avant-garde in tone and bear upon, and and so competitive in price, that for many on a express budget, a new digital piano may be a amend buy than a used acoustic.
• Infant boomers, retiring and downsizing, are flooding the market place with the pianos their kids took lessons on. In many cases, these instruments were inherited from the boomers' own parents and are at present 50 or more years old.
• The Internet, especially websites such equally Craigslist and eBay, makes information technology easier than ever for sellers to annunciate at piddling or no cost.
• Because people tend to sell when moving, fourth dimension force per unit area is involved — equally the moving engagement approaches, often the asking price must be cut drastically.

For buyers on a limited budget, the costs involved in moving a pianoforte to its new location and getting it in good playing condition after the motion are relatively high, leaving them with less to pay y'all for the piano itself. Typical buyer costs include:

• $200–$500 to move an upright pianoforte, or $300–$600 to motility a one thousand, within a 25-mile radius and to a home with no more than three or four steps. Costs can double for shipping over greater distances and/or to more than challenging destinations, such as a building with many steps, or to an upper floor.
• $200–$300 to pitch-enhance and tune the piano. For most pianos offered for sale, a pitch raise is necessary to compensate for years of tuning neglect.
• $200–$400 for necessary repairs, regulating the activeness, and voicing of a panel or upright, and twice that for a decent-quality grand piano. About all pianos over 10 years old will demand this work to play well and sound good.

Thus, even when the seller is willing to give abroad the piano, it yet tin toll a recipient $1,000–$2,000 to have information technology. This expense alone can approach or exceed the upkeep of a shopper looking for a depression-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.

Is My Piano Saleable?

To determine if your pianoforte is suitable for resale, there are three bones things to consider: appearance, make, and age/condition.

Advent: People who purchase decent-quality pianos unremarkably have well-decorated environments for them to go into. This means that, in a buyer's marketplace, many pianos that play well may nevertheless not be saleable at whatever cost if they don't look as good every bit they play. This is true of almost vertical pianos with desperately scarred or damaged cases, besides as older, off-make pianos in plain cabinets. If the piano looks worn, it's less probable to sell.

Make: Well-known brands with good reputations volition more often than not generate more interest and be valued more than brands that lack proper name and/or quality recognition. The brands today that are near saleable are Baldwin, Kawai, Steinway & Sons, and Yamaha. Performance-quality, handmade brands — such as Bechstein, Blüthner, Bösendorfer, Fazioli, Grotrian, Bricklayer & Hamlin, and Schimmel — though without broad name recognition amongst the general public, accept great reputations among those who know them, and so are likewise eminently saleable. On the other hand, some well-known piano brands from the past, such as Wurlitzer and Kimball, may be difficult to sell because their reputations are not peculiarly good.

Age/Condition: Many piano owners mistakenly believe that pianos fabricated over 100 years ago are valued as "antiques." They aren't, with the occasional exceptions of instruments with unusually decorated cases in fine condition — and even these can have difficulty finding a abode. Most pianos are made with a life expectancy of xl to 60 years, and, contrary to pop belief, do not get ameliorate with age.

Pianos that do not sell well due to age (among other factors) include:

• Vertical pianos over forty years old of little-known make
• Near pianos, grand or vertical, over 60 years old. Exceptions include: a few top-notch performance-quality brands such every bit Bechstein, Blüthner, Stonemason & Hamlin, and Steinway & Sons; pianos that have been completely rebuilt; and occasional instruments that, due to low employ and favorable ecology weather condition, are all the same in infrequent condition.
• Pianos with player-pianoforte systems fabricated before near 2000, as their player-pianoforte technology is now obsolete.

Keep in mind that while a pianoforte might audio and feel fine to you, it may have significant problems of which you are unaware. Information technology takes an experienced piano technician to know with certainty that a piano is in good condition. Often sellers who know little most pianos will merits that the pianoforte is in excellent condition based just on the fact that all the keys make a sound when played, and that the chiffonier isn't in rough shape. In many cases, neither a serious piano histrion nor his or her piano technician would agree.

You tin can decide your piano'south age by looking up its serial number in the Pierce Piano Atlas, available from pianoforte dealers, technicians, libraries, and piercepianoatlas.com — or accept us look it up for you when you use Pianoforte Buyer's Seller Informational Service. On vertical pianos, the serial number is usually found on the metallic plate, or harp, just inside the lid. On grands, it's normally on the plate, under the music desk. If y'all have a trouble finding the serial number, watch our YouTube video How to Find the Serial Number of Your Piano, or read our article "How to Locate the Serial Number of a Piano."

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Determining the Fair Market place Value of Your Piano

The fair market value (FMV) is the toll an informed buyer and seller are probable to agree on, where both parties are individual, noncommercial entities (not piano dealers), and neither is nether a compulsion to purchase or sell. (An example of a compulsion to sell is when a seller is moving and must go rid of the pianoforte by the end of the month, before the moving van leaves.)

Although, in today'southward information age, researching the reasonable price range in which a particular piano should sell is condign easier, information technology tin still be hard, and will rarely yield a single effigy that you tin employ with bully certainty — except, possibly, with virtually new examples of a few very well-known brands. Unlike existent estate or cars, piano sales are non regulated, and in that location is no major service that tracks the bodily sale prices of used pianos. Even if there were, pianos tin can vary so much in age and condition that finding ane or more instruments that are exact matches to yours would be unlikely. Therefore, you lot'll take to settle on a range of possible selling prices, and be prepared to lower your asking toll as yous gauge the response (or lack of response) to your initial asking price, and as whatsoever deadline you're working toward approaches.

The FMV is best determined by using several sources and methods, including the classified-ad services on which you'll probably end up listing your piano, manufactures in Piano Heir-apparent, and online appraisal services such as Piano Heir-apparent'southward Seller Advisory Service (SAS). The SAS provides a solid estimate of FMV by experts, as well as tips, customized to your situation, on how and where to sell, information on donations, selling to dealers, and appraisals for insurance purposes. The piano technician who has been servicing your pianoforte, or another technician, may also be able to provide a value. However, many technicians do not keep up with changes in the used-piano market place.

The department "How Much Is It Worth?," in the Piano Buyer commodity "Buying a Used or Restored Pianoforte," provides a depreciation schedule for pianos in current product, and a chart of estimated ranges of FMV for other categories of piano based on their quality, age, and condition. After reading the article and referencing the tables, you may exist able to place the value of your pianoforte within a reasonable range.

Follow this up past checking a number of classified-ad websites (see next department). Merely keep in mind that the prices there are asking prices, which may be far higher than the actual amounts buyers end up paying. All the same, if your piano is a common model, and the comparables you find all have similar prices, this gives an indication that the asking prices are probably shut to the actual selling prices. On the other manus, if you're selling a petty-known brand, you may have problem determining what a comparable brand and model might exist, and may crave professional person assistance to determine a marketplace value.

Everyone wants to feel that he or she has gotten a good deal, so be prepared to adjust your request cost in a negotiation. We propose setting your initial asking price about x–15% higher than the FMV, and take any offer within xv–xx% of the FMV.

Notation that checking prices of used pianos at local dealerships is likely to exist of express value in determining FMV considering the dealership usually adds significant value to an musical instrument, resulting in a much higher cost. Unremarkably the pianoforte dealer has:

• tuned, regulated, and voiced the piano to perform well;
• cleaned it thoroughly;
• touched up the cabinet and polished the hardware;
• offered a warranty, bankroll upwards the purchase with the security of a concern (a buyer thus risks less when buying from a business than from a private party, who, more than probable, is moving away); and
• will provide a gratis tuning after delivery.

Where to Advertise Your Piano

Before trying to sell to strangers, consider mentioning to family unit, friends, neighbors, and coworkers that you'd like to sell your piano. Give-and-take of mouth amidst people you know results in stronger and safer contacts than those obtained from commercial listings. Also, print out and postal service notices where people congregate: houses of worship, schools, your workplace, etc. Send out a text or eastward-post to your contact listing, and post on social-media sites, such as Facebook. Be certain to include photos of your piano.

Ask your piano technician if he or she knows of anyone who might be interested in your pianoforte. Also ask nigh advertising with the local chapter of the Pianoforte Technicians Society (PTG). Chapters often take an e-mail listing of members to whom they transport a chapter newsletter. Sometimes, members or their clients may advertise pianos for sale, either for free or for a small charge. You can detect a list of PTG members in your expanse at www.ptg.org, where you can search by zip code or PTG affiliate.

Classified-advertising sites on which y'all should consider advertising include:

• www.craigslist.com, localized for your geographic area, under "Musical Instruments past Owner," and then search on "pianos."
• www.PianoBuyer.com/classifieds has an international audition with search capabilities by location. PianoMart.com is a related site with all the same listings as PianoBuyer.com . When a piano is listed on one of these sites, information technology automatically appears on both. A basic list is complimentary; premium listings, including a custom-designed banner ad on PianoBuyer.com , are available for an extra fee. Yous pay a 3% commission on auction if you sell through the site.
• Other major online classified-ad sites include www.PianoWorld.com, www.eBay.com, and world wide web.Klaviano.com.

Tips for Selling Your Pianoforte

In that location are ii keys to ensuring that your pianoforte sells: creating a sales presentation to prospective buyers, and properly preparing your piano for sale.

First, if the visitor that made your pianoforte is still in business organisation, learn the features, advantages, and benefits of your piano brand and model when compared to other pianos the shopper may be considering. Piano Heir-apparent 's "Make and Visitor Profiles" has descriptions of currently manufactured pianos that usually include their features, advantages, and benefits, as well as the history of the manufacturer. "A Map of the Marketplace for New Pianos," besides in Piano Buyer , will help you lot determine the quality of your pianoforte relative to other brands in the marketplace. If your piano has outlasted its manufacturer, you tin research the brand's history online. Weave this information, along with the history of your particular instrument and your experience of information technology, into a narrative that presents the facts nigh your piano in a persuasive context. Yous tin can utilize the checklist below to help you class answers to the questions potential buyers will ask, and determine how all-time to articulate those answers in a way that will place your piano in its all-time light.

• Brand: The brand proper noun is found on the fallboard (keyboard comprehend) and/or on the cast-atomic number 26 plate.
• Model: The model designation or number is unremarkably found but within the lid or on the dorsum of an upright (vertical) piano, and usually under the music desk-bound of a k.
• Series number and age: See earlier word.
• Relative quality of brand and model: See earlier give-and-take.
• Cosmetic status: Look the piano over closely with a flashlight and note whatever visible vesture or damage.
• Performance status: If you play, how would you describe your pianoforte's performance to a shopper? If you lot don't play, ask your piano technician how he or she would draw it.
• Date of concluding tuning or other service.
• Why you're selling the piano.

Here's a checklist of what to practise to prepare your piano for sale:

• If you expect to sell your piano for over $one,500, nosotros strongly suggest that yous accept the piano tuned and its condition inspected before putting it up for sale. (An exception would be a piano that you know to be untunable and unplayable, and offered for sale simply to someone who intends to restore it.) We realize that you lot may non want to put any more money into an instrument you lot're selling, but spending a few hundred dollars and a couple of hours tin can produce a skillful return in both the selling price of the piano and in the ease of sale. Go along in heed that when a piano is significantly out of tune, has notes that don't work properly, or has other obvious defects — fifty-fifty small ones — the run a risk of being able to sell it is dramatically reduced. Most potential buyers, knowing lilliputian or nothing about piano mechanics, volition be concerned that the defects they see or hear are symptoms of more than serious problems. By presenting the piano in its best condition, y'all can remove doubts and unnecessary obstacles to the sale.
• Make clean the pianoforte'due south case thoroughly and, if possible, affect up any cosmetic blemishes. Your local hardware shop will likely have impact-up felt-tip markers that lucifer the finish of your pianoforte, and a brass cleaner for the pedals. For grand pianos, accept your piano technician make clean nether the strings and inside the piano. With vertical pianos, vacuum the pianoforte'south back, and within the lesser crenel where the pedals are attached.
• Clear everything off the hat of the piano so that potential buyers can await inside. Raise the hat of a grand piano so that potential buyers don't have to (information technology can exist dangerously heavy).
• Articulate access to the pianoforte so that potential buyers tin meet the entire chiffonier.
• If necessary, clean the room the piano is in, and be sure it is well lit.

Selling a High-Terminate Piano

"Yous've got to spend money to make money." You've probably heard that expression, and it especially applies to selling a operation-quality piano. The potential buyer of such an instrument will probably be an experienced player who, in a buyer'south market, will accept a lot of options. It bears repeating that in society for you to get anything shut to off-white market value, you lot should take your piano thoroughly tuned, regulated, voiced, and cleaned — and touch up the chiffonier and polish the brass hardware. Failure to invest in this work tin keep a shopper from ownership, as potential buyers will often avoid buying a good instrument with even minor bug out of a concern, sometimes subconscious, that more serious problems lurk beneath the piano's chapeau.

Ask your piano technician (or rebuilder, if the pianoforte was recently rebuilt) to provide a written, detailed report of the condition of the piano, and an appraisal of its value. If possible, obtain several such reports and appraisals. A good report and appraisal based on an onsite inspection of the musical instrument might cost $150 or more than, merely is well worth the expense for the peace of listen information technology tin bring to the potential heir-apparent of a high-stop piano.

High-terminate pianos may sell to, among others, professional person musicians, such every bit the music faculty of colleges and private piano teachers in your area. The higher's website may take profiles of the kinesthesia that include their e-mail addresses. You may wish to contact the faculty, offering to transport them the piano's report and appraisal. Buyers willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a piano will ordinarily read everything they can about a high-quality used piano earlier ownership information technology.

Selling to a Dealer

If all else fails, check to see what local dealers will pay for your piano, which is generally no more than half the FMV. If the dealer has been in business a long time and is well known to schools and music teachers, ask if the dealer would exist willing to take your piano on consignment. This ways that the dealer takes concrete possession of your piano, just doesn't pay you until it's been sold. You can await to pay the dealer a commission of 33–l% of the selling cost when selling a piano on consignment, but the resulting loss may not be as swell as it seems — the dealer may be able to become a higher cost for it than you could on your ain.

Selling to a dealer is also an attractive option if you're in a hurry to sell, for instance if you're moving and have to be out of the house by a certain date; or if you don't similar the thought of having a stream of strangers entering your home to try out your pianoforte. You can speedily accomplish piano dealers at no cost by advert to the Piano Buyer Network. You merely fill out a curt class, and information about your piano is sent to a group of piano dealers, technicians, and restorers who have indicated a want to buy pianos from consumers for restoration and/or resale. The service is gratis to the seller; the dealer pays a minor committee if he or she buys the piano.

The Donation Pick

If you have a piano of decent quality just all of your efforts to sell information technology fail, yous may want to consider donating it to an organization in demand. Continue in mind, though, that if your piano is unsaleable because of poor quality or condition, information technology is not a candidate for donation! (Encounter the Piano Buyer articles "Last Rites" and "Piano Purgatory: The Donated Piano.")

Note that a well-performing instrument might provide a pregnant tax deduction. Bank check with your auditor or taxation advisor almost what the IRS will crave to consider the donation revenue enhancement-deductible. This is discussed in the Piano Buyer article "Taking a Tax Deduction When Donating a Piano."

Our favorite donations are to aspiring piano students who are non in a position to purchase a piano commensurate with their talent. Receiving such a donation can be life irresolute; however, it is by and large non tax-deductible to the donor. For help in finding such a student, contact your local music-teacher association, the local chapter of the Piano Technicians Lodge, or local piano dealers.

Here is a listing of some organizations that facilitate piano donations:

• Piano Finders: www.pianofinders.com
• Piano Adoption: world wide web.pianoadoption.com
• Pianos for Education: world wide web.pianosforeducation.org
• Guild of Unique Artists: www.suartists.org
• Keys iv/4 Kids: www.keys44kids.net

The Final Curtain

If all else fails, information technology may be time for — caryatid yourself — the terminal rites: disposing of the pianoforte at a local landfill. If information technology comes to that, you should have professional person piano movers exercise the job — pianos are only too heavy, bulky, and unsafe to move to subject family unit members or friends to the task of lugging it to the dump. Give upwards, besides, whatsoever thoughts of salvaging the piano'due south parts; they have piddling salve value, and disassembly is time-consuming and difficult. Burning the wood salvaged from the instance can give off toxic fumes, due to the chemicals used in the finish. Fifty-fifty the ivory keys have no value.

Retrieve of it this way: The piano likely brought the gift of music to many during its long life. Information technology'south time to let it become.

Steve Cohen owns Jasons Music Center, a tertiary-generation, family-owned piano dealer, and has been a consultant to the pianoforte manufacture for over 40 years. His clients take included Bechstein, Samick, Yamaha, and Immature Chang, among others. He is also Piano Buyer's Contributing Editor and Piano Industry Consultant, and lead appraiser for its Seller Advisory Service.

What Can You Do With Old Baby Grand Piano

Source: https://www.pianobuyer.com/article/how-to-sell-or-donate-your-piano/

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