There are thousands of pianos, new and used, for sale through hundreds of websites on the Internet. Still,  every piano expert advises against purchasing pianos online. Until now, no one has explained candidly why it is such a painfully bad idea.

Castaways

Today, the Internet has become a dumping ground for tired, old pianos. Dealers often use “mart” type sites as a way to get problem pianos as far away from their dealership as possible. Sell a bad piano at a low price in your own town and you’re likely to bump into that customer again. Sell it to someone in another state and you’ll never have to deal with them again.

Because of the nationwide shortage of good used pianos, there has become a growing and incredibly profitable underground wholesale market. Piano stores can sell these pianos for a couple hundred dollars to a wholesaler, who typically sells them in bulk to internet dealers who sell them to consumers, typically with only cosmetic repairs.  They know that by the time the out-of-state customer gets the instrument, they’ll have no recourse against the dealer.

Private Label Pianos

Most new pianos offered online are private label (also referred to as stencil or house brand) pianos. Because reputable manufacturers do not want to be associated with online dealers, some will offer low quality versions of their own models to stores that want to have a “private” name stenciled on them. These instruments are sold to stores very cheap, with no manufacturer warranty.

Those who sell stencil pianos make impressive claims. The truth is that the quality of materials and assembly is always substandard compared to comparably priced pianos in your local dealer’s showroom. Since these are only about 20 piano manufacturers in the world, it’s pretty easy to figure out if a brand is real.

Before spending money on any private label piano, it is important to consider:

* Distributors buy pianos in bulk (containers) with no manufacturer warranty. When the distributor goes out of business, the manufacturer bears no responsibility for repairs.

* Manufacturers are constantly focused on their own brand’s reputation and prefer to be represented by established, dedicated piano dealers. Thus, private label pianos are typically handled by internet sellers, piano tuners, traveling event promoters and big “superstores.”

(Superstores love “house brands” and often order them in containers of 40-50 pianos, with an obscure stencil making comparison shopping virtually impossible.)

* By adding a “middle-man” (the distributor) to the equation, the price of these inferior pianos inherently increases without necessarily increasing the quality of the product.

Simply put, you will almost always be able to find a better piano for less money than the private label piano.

Pianos are Heavy

Very heavy. A light one weighs a quarter ton and once it’s at your front door, there’s still a lot of work to be done. There is simply no economical way to ship pianos long distances, unless you are sending large quantities to one location.

Let’s Talk about Tax

It can be pretty easy to avoid paying sales tax when making small purchases online, but it is illegal. While resellers are not obligated to collect sales tax on items shipped out of the state where they are based, it is the buyer’s responsibility to pay that sales tax to their home state. Pianos are serial numbered, shipped with their own bill of lading, and cost several thousand dollars. If you do not pay the tax through your states department of revenue, you are taking a risk.

Private Party – Online Classifieds

If there is a safe way to find a piano online, it is likely through online classified sites that offer pianos in your community. We constantly review these listings and buy every quality piano we come across. All told, we find maybe two or three pianos a year this way.

“How can that be? There are hundreds of listings!” True. However, nearly every seller who lists a piano in our area calls us first to ask if we’d like to buy it. By the time it makes it online, chances are we’ve already passed on it.

NEW ADDITION – “But it’s Technician Inspected..”

Online sellers are a crafty bunch. Their latest tactic is to offer a technician report, statement or appraisal. We are finding that often what is provided is the same report for multiple pianos. The best advice is, if you are going to trust a technicians report, make sure it’s your technician who inspected the piano.

Play Your Piano… Instead of the Odds

While you can get an idea for how much you will enjoy a book from a web page the same is not true of pianos. The piano is a complex machine with a complex sound. Even if someone offers to send you a CD or online recording of a piano, there is no way of knowing if it’s the same piano they are trying to sell you.

Which makes purchasing a piano online a very risky proposition. To insure you’ll get the right instrument, the safest and most economical option is still to visit your trusted, local piano store.