Buying a Piano on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji: The Questions to Ask

Marketplace and Kijiji are where the GTA's pianos change hands now — and the listings run the full range from genuine bargains to disappointments with delivery fees. The good news: you can filter out most of the disappointments before leaving your couch, because the right five questions, asked by message, do half the inspection for you. Here's the field guide — what to ask, what the answers mean, and the red flags that should end the conversation politely.

The five questions to message every seller

1. "When was it last tuned, and does it hold its tune?" The single most revealing question in used-piano buying. "A couple of years ago, and it holds fine" — great. "Not sure, it was here when we bought the house" — proceed with eyes open; you're budgeting a pitch raise minimum. "It won't hold a tune" or "the tuner said it can't be tuned" — thank them and close the tab; that phrase usually means pinblock failure, the repair that isn't worth making on an ordinary piano.

2. "Where in the house does it live, and where has it lived before?" You're listening for climate history. Living room since purchase: excellent. Basement, garage, cottage, storage unit, enclosed porch: each is a risk multiplier for the damp-and-dry damage that kills pianos quietly. "It was in my parents' cottage for a decade" explains the friendly price.

3. "What's the brand and serial number?" (ask for a photo of it — inside the lid or on the plate) Brand sets the value tier (our valuation guide has the hierarchy); the serial number dates it precisely. A seller who won't photograph the serial is a seller worth wondering about. Bonus: the photo shows you the piano's insides incidentally — rust and dust tell their own story.

4. "Do all 88 keys play, and do the pedals work?" Not because a no ends it — a couple of sticky keys is trivial — but because the specificity of the answer measures the seller's honesty. "Yes, everything works" from someone who clearly hasn't opened it in years is worth less than "two keys stick in summer and the middle pedal does nothing," which is a seller you can do business with.

5. "Why are you selling?" Downsizing, kids grown, moving: the normal answers. "Need it gone this week" pairs ominously with any softness in questions 1–2 — urgency is how problem pianos get rehomed.

Reading the listing itself

Photos: interior shots (lid up) are a green flag — sellers hiding nothing show the strings. Exactly one photo, of a closed piano, taken from across the room, is the classifieds equivalent of a shrug. Price: against sold comparables, not asking prices; a quality name priced strangely low has a reason, and your job is learning it before the movers do. The word "antique": in piano listings this usually translates to "old," and old ordinary uprights are the market's least valuable tier regardless of the cabinet's charm. Free listings: their own genre with their own rules — covered honestly here.

At the viewing: the ten-minute test

If the messages check out, go play it — every key, listening for dead notes and buzzes, pedals down, lid up, flashlight on strings and hammers, nose engaged (musty = damp history). The full routine is in our used piano checklist. Bring the checklist; sellers respect a prepared buyer, and prepared buyers negotiate better.

And for real money — $1,500 and up — make the sale conditional on a pre-purchase inspection. A technician's assessment at the seller's home costs a service call and settles what no message thread can: the pinblock, the board, the action's true state. Serious sellers accept this readily; resistance to inspection is itself an answer. It's the same logic as a home inspection, at piano scale — and we've saved buyers from far more expensive mistakes than the visit costs.

Common questions

Is it safe to buy a piano from Facebook Marketplace?
Yes, with process: the five screening questions, interior photos, an in-person play-through, and — for higher prices — a professional inspection before money moves. The platform is fine; the filter is on you.

Who pays for moving a Marketplace piano?
The buyer, almost universally — budget $250–$500+ for professional piano movers in the GTA and never improvise this part. Factor it into your real price before negotiating.

What's the biggest red flag in a used piano listing?
Any version of "won't hold a tune." Second place: a vague seller who can't or won't answer where the piano has lived. Both usually mean the true problem costs more than the piano.