What's the difference between an appraisal and an evaluation?  Ello Piano Service offers the following types of piano appraisals and evaluations depending on your specific need.

          Comprehensive Piano Appraisal - Our technician will perform an onsite inspection of your piano in your home or other location.  Then he completes an appraisal form which lists the important parts of the piano and their current condition. At this time he rates these parts as Good, Needs Service, Needs Replacement, or sadly, Not Worth Repair. Next, he determines and records a market value and replacement value on the form. Our technicians often complete these appraisals for our customers to obtain an insurance replacement value or an IRS Form 8283 charitable donation value. Furthermore, they are also useful for a buyer or seller of a piano to confirm a true current market value with dated back-up documents.  This appraisal takes about 3 days to complete, and our current fee is $500 plus sales tax.

          Pre-Sale or General Piano Evaluation - Our technician performs an onsite inspection of the piano to ascertain a general sense of the current market value of a piano for a buyer or seller without using a detailed appraisal form.  He also inspects the piano for major defects and major repairs that may be needed.  Our technician completes the evaluation in one 45 minute service call, and the current fee is $225 plus tax.

         NOTE:  It is not possible to obtain an accurate appraisal without a professional piano technician examining the piano in person at location. Internet generated appraisals are highly problematic and unreliable. In other words, don't fall for internet scams that promise the moon for next to nothing! It is not really possible to know the real condition of a piano without seeing it.