This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Hi Lanie! The following is an edited excerpt of something I sent to a friend of = mine privately. I do have my suspicions about pianos appearing on internet auction = sites. Go ahead and call me a pessimist if you must. My immediate thought was that this was something the seller has found no = room for in the resale market. By auctioning it, the seller is hoping = to get whatever might be possible for it, and it may not be much. Internet auctions give the sellers yet one more blind to hide behind. = They are free to talk about the quality components and perhaps show = beautiful pictures, but the potential buyers are at the mercy of the = information made available by the seller without the benefit of having = an up-close look for themselves. One of my customers here in Michigan = once located a "choice" piano in California through the internet, then = called me for an opinion. I urged him to find a Registered Piano = Technician there to take a good look. It turned out the seller insisted = they would arrange for that, and promised that the findings would be = "impartial." (I didn't know about this arrangement until the report = came in.) A few days later the customer sent me a long fax of the = tech's report. The more I studied the report, the more suspicious it = looked. Double whammy -- there was enough subtle little stuff in there = that when added together, the technician was just as interested in = selling it away as the seller was in making any money from it ... and my = customer had to pay for his services. My advice was to scrap the whole = deal and concentrate on finding something locally. (A friend of mine = came through with something he had rebuilt.) Perhaps I was a little quick with the Delete button, but didn't the = Brambach in a very recent thread end up as an internet auction item when = the owner realized that very little could be done for it on a = sub-minimal budget? How many other pianos on these auction sites = represent last-ditch efforts to get money for something that is = otherwise clinically dead or "budgetarily challenged" to make = serviceable again? Z! Reinhardt RPT Ann Arbor MI (origianlly from Eastern Massachusetts) diskladame@provide.net ----- Original Message -----=20 From: MoodyPiano@AOL.COM=20 To: pianotech@ptg.org=20 Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 5:15 PM Subject: Are online "ebay" type pianos a good idea? As time goes on I am getting more and more calls for piano moving for = pianos that people are bidding on via ebay and similar auction style = sites.=20 <<>> Does anyone have any feedback positive/negative on these types of = transactions? My initial feeling for the everyday consumer is that = there are too many risks involved with purchasing a piano like this and = the opportunity isn't there too get it evaluated by a technician. So my = overall recommendation to customers is "stay away from piano purchasing = on ebay, etc." Does anyone have any other thoughts or recommendations = that they give to their customers?=20 Thanks, Lanie=20 _________________________________________________=20 Moody Piano & Organ=20 Metro West Plaza (rear)=20 796 Boston Post Road East=20 Marlborough, MA 01752=20 Phone 508-877-2222 or 508-229-3601 =E2=80=A2 Fax 508-303-8996=20 MoodyPiano@aol.com =E2=80=A2 www.bushellcompanies.com=20 ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/2a/f7/1b/94/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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