Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Can it be worth it to buy used?

Well, in Dear Ole Blighty one is talking about Ebay mainly. And frankly I'm appalled by some of the prices asked for, and the misinformation supplied. Old Technics that you wouldn't believe could still exist, and Yamahas for that matter, too. Some old Yammies continue to fetch an indecent price; somebody must know something I don't.
A HP508; asking price of £2k when they were selling new for half that for a brief (very) spell when the 600s came out.
Guarantees remaining . . .when change of ownership invalidates it anyway;

I know many are strapped for cash or even credit these days but . . .
Is it worth it, AND -

What is your experience having so bought?

I had a nice experience: brought from a music tech student looking to change up after a year of owning his MP7. Got it for £750 as he was keen to sell (it had been on Gum tree for several months).

Most of the gear overpriced on eBay goes down after no sale. As people can easily see old eBay sales, it's hard to get an inflated price.

Like buying cars second hand, buying instruments is a risk, but then, buying new means you're going to get relatively quick depreciation, and faults often arise early in an instruments life.

I bought my first digital, a not very good one, for not very much money off of a local for-sale board. It was the best way to get started again. Eventually I got a better one and someone, somewhere is still playing that old one.

But if you think the prices for used digitals are bad, start talking to people who think the old console they've kept untuned and unplayed in the living room for the past 30-40 years must be worth a fortune.

I feel for you. I looked in the used market for weeks with no luck. I finally just went with a new one and regained peace of mind.

Many years ago... okay, many many years ago... in the late 1980's, I bought a used digital piano (from a store) when I was a music student... It was a Yamaha PF-85.

I saved a few hundred dollars that I painfully regretted soon thereafter.
The key-bed and sensors wore out quickly with some keys (Middle C!) playing fortissimo at every strike as the piano wasn't cared for by its previous owner.

I never bought used again ... and never bought another Yamaha (even though I *know* my dislike of the brand is irrational, it remains).

Of course the world has changed in 30 years... but, the answer for me was a resounding "NO"

I don't mean my anecdote to be universally applicable...

I'm with you on that. A used piano just a few years old might be a good purchase. But I wouldn't touch one that's ten years old.

Many years ago, I was wandering through an auction showroom, and saw a Korg X5D (an old subtractive-synthesis, low-end "pro" synth). Nobody else at the auction knew what it was worth -- I got it for $60. I figured that anything with "Korg" on it would be worth more than that.

That synth started me back playing keyboards, after 20 years of not touching one. Was it worth buying? Absolutely!

Must admit to enjoy buying used; houses, motorbikes, cars as well as pianos because in addition to the price reduction they have a bit of history, and that. I bought acoustics including a Broadwood 7-footer early '80s which sounded lovely but wouldn't stay in tune. The uprights were very good and if I were to buy another, it would be used. And cheap.
But generally not digitals, not even from a piano shop although I did once and had no issues (DGX630).

Several anecdotes from the buyer's side so far (good and bad experiences), so let me add one from the sellers side:

I sold my Yamaha P115 about 15 months after buying it. During those 15 months, I had played it only during the first 3 months (after which I got may Kawai) and during the following year, it was sitting on a shelf, under a dust cover. I only took it out on two occasions during those 12 months. It looked 100% new (no scratches, no scuff marks, no nothing) and also played 100% new.

I didn't sell it especially cheap, but certainly cheaper than it would have cost new. And in contrast to the buyer (who had to trust me when I said it is in good condition), as the seller who knows all details about the previous life of that piano, I know for a fact that the guy who bought it got an almost-as-good-as-new DP for a not-too-low-but-still-cheaper-than-new price.

So yes, for this guy, it was definitely worth it to buy used.

The buyer's problem is his inability to know the condition. Appearances can deceive. A clean looking piano may have numerous problems inside. The buyer might have no way to know about them. And likewise the seller.

As always, use caution!

I've bought most of my DPs either used, sight unseen or both. And this was generally done with the understanding that I might need to do some work on them myself, or otherwise taking some risk on condition. That said, I haven't had a situation that I would say is negative b anything I've had to do has been a fairly trivial exercise in opening the case and basic troubleshooting. I don't expect everyone will share this view but I have no qualms going to the used market...