Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards How much should I sell my Kawai CA67 for?

The reason I'm seeking your advice is because the CA67 is about to be replaced by the CA78 as I'm sure you all know. So the store price on the 67 will undoubtedly drop soon. Not the best time to sell mine. It's only 8 months old and is mint. Not a mark on it. I'm sadly having to quit as I've developed carpal tunnel syndrome and it's a choice between playing the piano or continuing working. So sadly, the thing I love the most has to go.
My question is, how much do you think I should ask for? I paid £2078.00 in February in England. I was thinking around £1400.00. I've looked online but haven't found a used 67 anywhere. Not even eBay. Any advice would be very welcome. Thank you.

My advice ...

I'd advertise it without giving a price. Point out that it's only nine months old. Talk about price only when a prospect comes to see the piano.

A person who asks for a price before seeing a piano is keenly interested in the price, obviously. I would want to defer that interest, and re-focus the buyer on the quality of the piano. You want the buyer to see the piano first!

If a prospect visits you to see it you have an opportunity to sell the person on the piano, rather than on the price. Be prepared to demo it.

Play any short piece that you can perform at a top level. (Will your carpal tunnel allow this??)
Then invite the buyer to try. Step well away and don't hover. Let the buyer be comfortable.

Then, if the buyer expresses real interest in the piano, only then would I talk about price. In that discussion you can reveal the price you paid earlier this year. (It would be comforting for the buyer to see your original receipt/invoice, if available.)

You're in the twilight zone right now. Informed buyers will want a significant haircut, some stores may start discounting the 67 until their stock depletes. But a lot of buyers won't even be aware that the ca-78 was announced or what the differences are.

So if you really want to sell now, just put it up for the price you want. If you don't get a buyer, you can always sell it later, and you won't have to drop the price significantly from what you are already suggesting as you're unlikely to find ca-78s used or discounted for some time.

You could start at £500 and create a reserve of perhaps £1200 or so. Otherwise it may not get off the ground.
A clav 440 PE went for well over a grand (second attempt) whilst new 545s are selling for around £1200. Those that are left, that is.

Slap a price of £1400 on it and be prepared to negotiate. You may have to wait some time for a buyer though. Best scenario is that you find someone locally or within your networks, and have the chance to demonstrate it and convince them of the piano's merits, and that they're getting a good deal. Most people won't have a clue what a CA67 is, but will have a rough idea of what they want to spend.

Wouldn't recommend eBay unless you're desperate to shift it quickly at whatever price, mainly because you pay 10% in fees, plus another 3% or so to PayPal, and the price you'll get will be lower given buyers won't have had the chance to test it and will factor in non-local transport costs to their bid. The last CA67 sold on eBay went for £1099. If you want £1400 for it you could put it on eBay Buy It Now for £1600, and in the highly unlikely chance that someone buys it great; otherwise, you may generate some enquires where you can negotiate off-eBay and allow them to test it first. (You cannot "offer or reference contact information" without them technically being able to sting you for their rip-off de facto monopoly-exploiting fees. However if you just mention that the ad may be taken down because you are advertising elsewhere then anyone with 2 brain cells or more will google it and find your ad on Gumtree, where you pay 0 fees. Apparently, eBay has owned Gumtree since 2005. LOL.)

Someone is selling his here in Germany for 1.800€ on eBay.

Selling used electronic stuff is a pain. You really have to have someone who wants exactly that same instrument and is willing to drop by and pick it up. Not easy. Try 60-70% of the new price. If nobody is interested you can still drop the price more.

I think you're all placing too much emphasis on the price.

When selling I think it's best to generate interest first. If you feel you must advertise the price, then list a high price (but still below original retail), and suffix that with "negotiable".

Remember ... it's the buyer's job is to lower the price, not the seller's. As a seller I don't like to do the buyer's job. Let the buyer make the low offer. I prefer to ask a higher price.

Listing the item as "negotiable" is a temptation to the buyer. It opens the door for him to "squeeze" you. And since you're expecting to accept less than your original advertised price, you really are willing to accede to the buyer's lower offer.

But, to come full circle ... I really like to generate buyer's interest before tackling price. I want to get the buyer on premises to see the item.
You say this is a nearly new piano? Advertise that fact. Draw the customer in.

The (lower) price is the only benefit of an 8 month old "like new" digital piano.

If I wanted a CA67, I would go to my local authorised Kawai dealer, have them deliver the piano (for ~2400 € by the way) and expect to get great support in case of any trouble.

If buying a used one, I need to worry about the logistics and probably disassemble the piano for transit. Maybe scratch it in the process. And does the original box still exist? Argh... And I'll have only 4 years and 4 months of warranty left. And I'm stuck with the colour that happens to be available.

So, it will at least have to be significantly cheaper to compensate all the downsides.

It won't even have that new digital piano smell anymore.

You are right.
If the price is too high, nobody will even bother calling. Then they will go to a dealer and have the full service package for a little more.
And trust me, you will have your mailbox full of the only question that counts: what's your best price?

This will work best. I've often noticed that you won't get any buyers if you have a fixed price.

For the sake of argument, assume there is no CA-78 or the buyer doesn't know. I'd do this (in the Netherlands):

CA-67 new: €2400
Minimum selling price: €1700 (+/- 70% of the new value; if it was out of warranty, this would be 50%)
List price: €2000 or even €2100.

If you set your price to €1700 and don't negotiate, nobody will want it (at least, not in the Netherlands). If you set the price at €2000 or €2100, people will call and tell you it's too expensive. Have them make an offer, and negotiate. If you're lucky, you'll sell for more than €1700. If you're unlucky, the buyer wants to have the instrument for peanuts. In that case, tell him to take a walk in the park, and just wait, as I assume you don't have any need to sell quickly. For some reason, giving people negotiation room attracts more buyers (in the Netherlands). The guy who wouldn't have called when the price was a fixed €1700, might buy it for €1800 if he gets to negotiate you down from €2000....

After the CA-78 appears in stores and the price of the CA-67 drops for the left-over stock, you'll _have_ to adjust your price. It's better to try and sell now and hope your buyers aren't 100% informed.

I used to see a similar phenomenon on Ebay. For example ... I'd see two identical items. The item commonly sold for around $80. Both were plainly visible on the same search results page.

One had a starting bid of $50, a bit below the average selling price. It sat for a week with no bids. Auction ended. No sale.

Another had a starting bid of $1. People bid and bid and bid and bid, fighting to "win". People are motivated like to take part, and they often do so irrationally. It sold for $100.

In one sense this is the reverse of what you're talking about, Falsch. The buyer is trying to bring the price down, and he is not competing with other buyers.
But it is similar in that he is motivated to participate by bidding/offering the price DOWNWARD.

In summary ... a buyer may be eager to participate. Give him the opportunity!

To each their own, but if someone tried to sell me a digital piano but refused to talk about the price until I was at their house, I'd immediately dismiss them as unserious about selling their piano for a fair price. And probably hoping I'd pay more than needed because I was already at their house and didn't want to leave without a piano.

I don't have the free time to play games, so I'd just not come over and tell them good luck.

There are many different competing theories on how best to price an item on CL, Ebay classifies and other marketplaces, and really there is no single best way to do it. Some buyers are simply bargain hunters, others are looking for a specific item. Some claim negotiating up works best, others have better luck with setting the negotiation point first as seller, and discouraging lowballers. Different markets, different regions, different cultures even. And most importantly, different personal preferences on how they prefer to approach interactions.

Hi Andy,

Do you live near London? I might be interested in following up on this.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to give me your wonderful advice. Such good people on this forum. I think I will start by advertising it locally with the price set as 'negotiable'. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

chrisbeech, I will PM you.

I would choose the price you want (£1400?) and put it on eBay with that as the start price and no reserve. The idea of a reserve price is very quaint, but in modern day Britain, nobody understands it and you end up with a load of aggressive messages demanding to know what the reserve is. I speak from experience.

Don't undervalue the piano. The new models are a lot more expensive.

Cheers PhilzPiano. Appreciate your advice.

Is the warranty transferable? Worth considering...

I do not believe the warranty will be transferable, I'm afraid.

http://www.kawai.co.uk/service/kawai5yearswarranty.pdf

Kind regards,
James
x

This I will never understand. Is Kawai not confident in the quality of their instruments? Or what is the reason that the guarantee is not transferable? As long as you have the buying receipt and can prove that the instrument has not been tampered with, it does not make sense.
I had the same issue when I sold my last Kawai Instrument.