Safer online sax shopping in 2026
Since I originally wrote this article dealing with safer sax shopping online more than a decade ago, A LOT has changed in the Internet threat landscape. More companies and people from around the globe are more determined than ever to separate you from your hard-earned cash.
It was time to update this very important article that looks at the following warning signs in online saxophone sales:
- Things that might flag a potential problem with the instrument.
- Things about the seller themselves.
Besides saxophones and their sellers, the second page of this article also includes:
- The newest online safety tips;
- As well as links to resources from trusted sources around the world, to help keep you safer.
Page 2 contains LOTS of info on relacs, and photos of Mark VIs with original vs relacquered finishes, as well as info on overhauls, dents, and almost everything else you should consider when buying a horn online.
Although this article focuses mainly on vintage horns, most of the points apply equally for modern—and even new saxophones—a buyer is considering.
My personal experiences with online horn sales
Since 1998, I have added—and subsequently sold a number of them again—36 horns to my sax stable. Of those, I have bought 8 of them online. Overall I was fortunate in my purchases, in that only 3 of these 8 were not entirely as they were described.
To a large degree, the reason for my overall success in the saxophone buying realm has been because I either: a) Buy from reputable dealers; or b) Buy the horn in person, so I know what I’m getting before I pay.
With regards to the 3 horns I bought online that weren’t quite as described, this is how they broke down:
Selmer Mark VI low Bb bari
- I bought this relacquered Mark VI bari from what was then a reputable brick & mortar store in Chicago. (They are now closed BTW).
- It was mostly as described, however, they didn’t regulate it after its overhaul.
- The horn was playable, just not as easily as it should have been.
Late model Conn 10M
- I bought this late-model 10M through a private sale on SOTW from someone who had a good reputation, and who seemed to know what they were talking about.
- It was NOT AT ALL as described.
- I will give the seller the benefit of the doubt, and assume that he really didn’t have a clue what he was doing, and wasn’t trying to knowingly misrepresent the horn. To his credit, he did refund me some of the purchase price when I had to have the horn properly restored at World Wide Sax.
Hammerschmidt Klingsor tenor
- I bought this nickel-plated Klingsor from a member on SOTW who knows his vintage horns, and ostensibly his Hammerschmidts.
- This horn was completely UNPLAYABLE with anyone or any group. It was even out of tune with itself, and of course with others.
- My tech was not able to fix its key heights, so we reached out to Uwe Ladwig from Germany. It was through Uwe that we learned that some Hammerschmidt Klingsor saxophones just have bad necks.
Questions I ask when I consider a horn that I can’t see in person
NB: This is a companion piece to the article, TIPS ON HOW TO BUY A USED SAXOPHONE. Make sure you read it first/as well for detailed photos and more info on the list below.
- Has the horn been re-padded?
- What kind of pads were put in?
- How were they put in? Shellac? Hot glue?
- What kind of resonators does it have?
- Is the body tube straight?
- Are the hinge tubes straight?
- Has there been dent work done?
- Are there any dents? If so, where are there?
- Are the pads sealing properly?
- When was the horn serviced by a tech last?
- Is the neck original?
- Does it fit snuggly into the receiver?
- Has the neck suffered any kind of damage like pull down?
- Any dents, dings, dimples, etc. in the neck?
- Is there any play in the keys?
- Has there been any re-soldering work done?
- Has the bell ever been pushed in?
- Has the horn been re-lacquered?
- Is the case original?
- What condition is the case in?
- Please send me detailed photos of:
- any past repair work like re-soldering;
- current damage;
- the bell;
- engraving;
- neck;
- body;
- bow;
- case; & the horn in the case.
Even getting a full set of photos and answers to all these questions doesn’t mean that you’re going to get what you think you’re getting, but it greatly improves your odds.
Where to buy a horn online
When I originally wrote this article more than a decade ago, other than individual saxophone dealers, eBay was really the only site a potential buyer could check out literally a worldwide selection of saxophones. Now in 2026, the world is your oyster.
Depending on where you live, your choices can vary greatly. The following list is greatly North American-centric, so really is only a small sampling of sources out there. It is intended to show you how resources around the world can be divided up, and regardless of where you live, how you can assess whether or not you want to trust them.
I have broken down potential saxophone sources into 3 categories: Trustworthy, Could Be, and Shady.
Trustworthy
This really breaks down into two categories: New and Used/Vintage.
New
- If you are looking for a new brand X, make sure you are buying for an authorized brand X dealer. Period. Full stop.
- Why? If you don’t, you will not be eligible for the manufacturer’s warranty should there be problems with the finish, etc.
How do you find out if a dealer if an authorized seller of brand X?
- Go to the manufacturer’s website and check their dealer list, but recognize that is not always entirely complete. EG: Buffet—and by extension Keilwerth—does not list all of its smaller volume dealers.
- Ask for proof if a website doesn’t mention something like: We are authorized dealers for brands X, Y, & Z.
My strong recommendation is to avoid grey market dealers.
Used/Vintage
Depending on where you live, there are often reputable vintage sax dealers in your area, or willing to ship to you. Reputable dealers are IMHO the only true trustworthy sellers a buyer can buy from online.
These dealers either employ techs specializing in saxophone overhauls/restorations, or work with brand name techs who specialize in that kind of work.
What you buy from these dealers is already restored/overhauled, or provide a very clear description of what kind of condition it is in. Eg: Older set of XXXX pads that seal great, are still supple; no play in the rods, etc, etc.
Depending if you’re looking for a vintage, used, or new saxophone, my favourites include the following:
Could Be
By far the hardest category to assess, since it really depends on the individual sellers who are peddling their wares on the site.
- I have devoted an entire section to eBay sales on the next page.
- It really depends on: Who the seller is, and what condition the horn is in.
- If the seller has a brink and mortar store, check if they list the sax there. Buying through their store is often cheaper than through the auction site.
- Reverb has overtaken eBay as the place to buy and sell musical gear.
- That said, buying a sax on Reverb also really depends on who the seller is. I have seen some wildly inaccurate descriptions on the site, so you really do need to know what you are looking for.
- In general, although better than eBay, I would use the same criteria when shopping for a sax on Reverb as I do on eBay.
- Again, it really depends on: Who the seller is, and what condition the horn is in.
- Also, just like with eBay, if the seller has a brink and mortar store, check if they list the sax there. Buying through their store is often cheaper than through the auction site since they can save themselves some fees.
- These days, most large companies have an Amazon store.
- Need some reeds tomorrow? How about a reed guard or MP? D’Addario has an Amazon store.
- How about Légère Reeds? They too have their own store on Amazon.
- However, there are literally THOUSANDS of counterfeits and knockoffs of everything imaginable available on Amazon, which makes this online retail giant suspect in my eyes.
- Also, I want to make sure that my local mom and pop shops stick around when I need them for things like, you know, HORN REPAIRS. If everyone bought all their
on Amazon, the entire retail landscape would be irrevocably changed even more so than it already has been.
In person buying only
- If you buy ANYTHING from any of the following kinds of online sites, make sure you only buy from someone LOCAL, or someone you can meet up with in person.
- NEVER buy anything from someone outside of your geographical region, since that would involve sending $$, and you trusting them to send the goods. None of these type of sites offer any buyer protection.
- SAFETY is something you have to take seriously. People have been robbed, assaulted, and even murdered while meeting a person for an online buying deal.
- This is why many police departments have Safe Trading Zones for such meets that are monitored by security camera.
- Fun fact: I utilize my police department’s monitored security camera area when I sell gear online and meet with potential buyers.
- BE SMART.
- Take someone else with you if possible.
- Only take as much cash as necessary.
- Know how to recognize fake cash.
- Know how to recognize a counterfeit or fake item.
- Don’t share personal info—bank account info, etc.
- If you live in Canada, run the item’s serial # through CPIC to see if it has been reported stolen.
- Once a SM juggernaut, Facebook is really now only the place where those over 50 hang with their fellow grandparents.
- However, FB Marketplace has managed to take over the online classified world once the stronghold of craigslist and kijiji.
- Looking for that perfect Mark VI in your region? There’s a good chance you can find it here.
- I have both bought and sold vintage horns through this platform.
- Before Marketplace, Craigslist was the big kid on the block that contributed to the decimation of your local newspaper’s classified ads.
- Although not having a stranglehold on the market anymore, Craigslist is still available in most markets.
- If I’m selling something, I usually X-post it on Marketplace and Craigslist.
- Kijiji is a Canadian phenomena that like Craigslist, has lost some of its power thanks to FB Marketplace.
- In its heyday, Kijiji was this country’s largest classified ad site, with millions of ads from across the country.
- Like Craigslist, Kijiji has became less popular thanks to FB Marketplace, but it still maintains a strong userbase.
Shady
Although not a site for vintage gear—at least not authentic vintage gear—lots of counterfeits and knockoffs of almost imaginable item, and high-end brands, can be found on sites such as these. That’s why I classify sites like these as shady, because they regularly sell counterfeit and fake goods things like “new” Mark VI saxophones, or Theo Wanne mouthpieces for for <$200. There are a number of these sites. I predict more will pop up in the future.
- AliExpress sells A LOT of by which I do mean literal tons by the boatload, and I do mean crap.
- Low quality, cheap items, which are damaging in so many ways that go beyond this simple article, are found by the thousands all over AliExpress.
- If I’m looking for examples of counterfeit or knockoff horns for an article, this site doesn’t disappoint. Where else can a person still find new Mark VI saxophones? How about a Keilwerth Shadow, or high-end MPs like Theo Wanne, Dave Guardala, Selmer, etc, etc. for pennies on the dollar.
Why this site can even legally sell this shit I am at a loss to understand. 
- Alibaba also sells A LOT of crap. Anything you are looking for, they sell it for CHEAP.
- You know that old adage: You get what you pay for. That has never been truer.
- Low quality, cheap items that are damaging in so many ways that go beyond this simple article, are found by the thousands all over Alibaba.
- Don’t buy a horn or MP from them. Just don’t. It will be You’ve been warned.
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- Temu seems to be like Alibaba.
- Copy and paste the description above.
I have purchased most of my instruments from eBay, but I have been very careful to fully examine the instrument and description. I also go by the seller’s rating score. If below 99%, then I look at what the neutral and negative comments. Reason for this is that some buyers are also dishonest or insincere.
If a well rated seller, One can usually discern condition from photos. For example, on clarinets, if the pads look clean, tenon corks look reasonably new, nickel plating is still shiny and engravings still have most of the gold or silver inlay intact, Case is reasonably clean and OEM, body parts have no tenon chipping or cracks, it is a low usage clarinet.
I’ve also bought project instruments for my refurbishing. Again I scrutinize these carefully.
By being careful, I have bought brand name clarinets , student and intermediate models quite inexpensively from botique and antique eBay sellers and in some cases music stores. One example is a Selmer CL-300 student model I bought for $56 total. It is in clean playable shape. The new model is the CL-301 currently retailing at on-line music stores for $1,400.
It will make a good stocking stuffer for a family with a child who can’t afford to buy new, may be renting. Giving a child their own instrument is a way to encourage them to practice, since they now outright own it.
Although not particularly well-named in hindsight, my article was really about buying professional level saxophones online. If I was looking for a student level instrument, the bar would be differently set for sure.
Translating my bar to professional clarinets, the bar raises again. I don’t have right technical skills to assess clarinets that well, which is why I trust my tech more than my own judgement. That’s how I ended up with a minty Selmer Centered Tone full Boehm model that was a pro’s backup horn. It was only used sparingly throughout his career, but enough that someone stole its original case while he was onstage in Europe, thinking the clarinet was in it.
I would never have trusted my own observational skills to pick one like this out online. Luckily it had been in the shop on consignment, but its weird-ass case kept getting overlooked. Lucky for me. 🙂
Regarding the bar whether rofessional, intermediate or student, basically I see them through the same eyes, cost excepting.
Being fully retired and over time I have learned that the play is in the musician, the instrument is a tool that paints the musical canvas. Having learned early on to play an instrument in tune, I’ve made do with whatever instrument I was playing, needing servicing excepted. In concert I made my bari sing like a cello / viola.
But then I am not in a position where playing earns me an income. Do I value producing a professional sound? Yes. My use of underdog brands such as Antigua Winds, Beaugnier Vitos, etc. for me produce that tone and essence with the right mouthpieces.
My Antigua Winds alto plays as well as my 1971 Yamaha YAS-61 pro alto that was stolen in 1999. It has the same quirk where if I pop the neck tenon about 1/16th of an inch from its receiver, then it plays well in tune throughout its range.
I plan to get my 1954 Boosey & Hawkes Edgware and 194o’s George Penzel / Mueller (made in Germany) grenadilla wood clarinets professional serviced. They should do me well, being intermediates.
I guess in a way they can be called the ramen eating musician’s doubling instrument.
Thanks, Helen for the excellent job you have done on your website.
We all tend to sound like ourselves regardless of what instrument we play. I can play my student’s student model tenor with my MP setup and will sound like it’s me playing. People who know my playing will recognize it immediately. That said, it’s what a pro anything brings to the game that makes it a pro horn, vs a student or intermediate model.
There are a great number of variables at play here. They include: 1. The brand/model. 2. The build characteristics & features, and how those interact with the tonal qualities of the instrument. 3. The player themselves.
EG: The older YBS-52 intermediate baris were almost identical to the much more expensive YBS-62 pro version. That’s why to this days they are still highly in demand.
Let me give you an example that I personally witnessed involving my Shadow tenor that I bought new just under 3 years ago almost to the day. In my review of the horn I describe what I have noticed about this SX90R tenor, and its immediacy of response. This immediate feedback to the player ultimately changes the way a player can interact with their instrument. I have NEVER had this type of experience with a saxophone in 4 decades of playing.
A friend of mine who also plays tenor sax, but is an low-level intermediate player at best, tried the Shadow. He wasn’t impressed. Why? He didn’t feel, hear, or experience any of the things I described in my review. Not the vibration; the tonal colours; or player feedback from the sax itself.
Others who are advanced players, or high-level intermediate players, noticed the same things I wrote about.
The take away is simply this: Having a pro anything doesn’t make a better player. It just makes a better player do more things easier. Be that: Hit those palm key notes on a bari 100% intune 100% of the time, or whisper subtone as part of solo in a vocal solo behind the singer on your tenor sax.
Very true. In high school 55 years ago, I found that my pro model Yamaha YAS-61 alto was much easier to finger, was easier to play in tune throughout its range, the layout of the keys were more natural lending a fluid nature to playing passages.
The old King Low Bb Bari I played back in the 1980’s with the 300th Army Band had such a beautiful tone to it, played very well in tune throughout its range. I could make it sing. One Summer we coupled with the 62d Army Band at Fort Huachuca, AZ. The active duty band members were surprised how such a rustic looking bari could produce such a nice tone, plus I was complimented on my playing ability.
I gather that your less experienced friend could not appreciate the nuances of the Shadow Tenor because he was still learning the fundamentals of playing. With more practice, he can learn to appreciate the nuances of such saxophones, but all in time.