Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Going from a Yamaha upright to a grand

I never came across trade-up arrangements, other than within fairly short time frames (1-2 yrs). I suspect that dealers mention "trade-up arrangements" in the hope that you will return there.

The reality is that you've had 10 yrs use out of your piano, and it can't be worth anything like you paid for it. Also, the dealer may just not want another Yamaha YUS/U3.

Trading any merchandise means that the dealer must account for the cost of holding and funding the merchandise till it sells - in the case of a piano, could be a LONG time. Plus, they need to make a reasonable profit from the deal.

Selling it privately is an option - assuming that you've had it regularly serviced. Also, selling privately would mean that you've got only one thing involved in the new purchase, and see competitive prices of various brands & models unclouded by their trade-in values.

You could put the same piano before other dealers as a trade - but also ask how much for their new "Stein-dorfer-awai" if you don't trade. Most will be happy to break that down.

The key is to not hurry - many of us spent months seeking out the right piano. There are lots out there.

And if you decide to go for a used piano (and there are some wonderful ones), it's well worth getting your technician to appraise it.

Indeed.

Juli,

Imagine the following experiment: go to five Yamaha dealers. Make your best deal on the C3X. Then mention that you have a used upright to trade in and ask how much they would offer for it.

If you averaged the "net deal" you got from the five mythical dealers, I suspect that the average deal would look very similar to the "trade-up" deal you have just been offered by this dealer. If anything, the trade-up deal might be worse, because dealers may sense a mark if someone believes the trade-up deal is something special.

There are very few situations in which a trade-up deal could be a good financial situation. One that comes to mind is for folks who buy a new Steinway and then decide in very short order (a year or two) to upgrade to a bigger Steinway. That works only because there is so little difference between list and street price for a Steinway. In that case you avoid any immediate drop in resale value from the first year's depreciation. So in that case, your trade-up policy is a bit of insurance against buyer's remorse on a smaller piano.

That situation doesn't apply here.

Yes it is a YUS3 and yes I can shop without a trade-in.


I would think I can do way better than 2k. When I look in my area for private ads for used Yamaha pianos, they seem to go pretty fast, I do not see them advertise for very long except for the grey market pianos which I can prove mine is not.


I guess I will figure it out by trying grands.

Ok they may not want another YUS3, but it is only 3 years old, not 10. Their trade-up program is for within 10 years. I also had a damp chaser installed 2 years ago through them.


It has been tuned 2 to 3 times per year by the dealer owner and as I said earlier a damp chaser has been installed too by the dealer. Being only 3 years old, I had nothing else to do. Last time I had it tuned I asked if I should have it regulated soon and he said no. Only I practice on it and I work full time so I estimate it to about 500 hours per year so it was only used for about 1500 hours so far.


Yes I know, I have been looking at pianos on and off for several years now. Grands an uprights from 2009 to 2012 (when I bought my upright) and grands only since 2013.

Yes, you should be able to do way better, possibly five figures if you're patient. Yamaha is king in Canada. That helps. But you have to understand that YUS3 is kind of a specialty item. Not everyone will understand why it's materially better than a standard U-1. Not everyone will pay up for the difference. That's why patience is the key.

Sometimes it makes sense to start with the dealer you worked with previously. There's a comfort level and a general satisfaction with the piano you bought. But most dealers unfortunately are not into cutting old customers a break, and your dealer is telling you point-blank that regardless of his appreciation of your previous purchase and the quality and condition of your piano, he's not excited about replacing one piano for sale with anther.

Most dealers have no attachment to any piano on the floor. They might spin a yarn about how sad they are to see a particular one leave their establishment (the one you want or the one that they want you to want). However, the reality is that they want to move them out, move all of them out, and as quickly as possible. Then they can put the proceeds to work on repeating the cycle.

If your dealer happened to have a potential customer who was looking for a slightly used top level Yamaha vertical and he could move yours as soon as you relinquished it, things might be different.

As you shop around, keep the idea of a trade-in under your hat. If you find a piano of any make that you want to buy and get a firm quote, you can then bring up the potential trade-in. That way (as Piano*Dad mentioned), you can figure out exactly what your trade-in would be worth to that dealer. It's blindsiding the dealer of course, but that's business. He can say no. You can say no.