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Buying violins on the gray market
Has anyone here purchased an instrument or bow from a gray market shop or dealer, aka eBay, etsy, Reverb, Facebook marketplace, etc. or purchased an instrument through private sale? Without naming names, was it a positive or negative experience? I'm continuing to look to buy a violin again because the potential sale fell through and I'm trying to expand my horizons / explore all options. Thanks in advance. Tweet
Replies (4)
It was a mostly positive experience; there was one issue with it which we didn't see in the pictures.
I bought it for 500, and it's worth approx. 2.2k so even with the repairs I have done on it it's a lot less.
Personally, I purchased a new Italian violin directly from the luthier on eBay, with certificate. It was a fantastic deal and I still have it; his violins now are selling for nearly 3x what I paid. I also won an auction for a nice JTL that I was quite happy with. I've also purchased an old fiddle on Reverb directly from a shop and was quite happy with it too.
I have purchased 3 bows over the years from eBay, usually as backups or just to try them; two were disappointing but one was good enough and a good enough deal to make up for the others, though not at all in the same class as best bows (Bazin and Prosper Colas).
No experience with etsy or Marketplace.