musical instruments · British Columbia

Where to sell musical instruments in Vancouver

3 businesses in and around Vancouver that buy used musical instruments from the public — what each takes, and whether you are offered a purchase, a consignment or a loan.

Verified 2026-09-24 from each organization's own website. We are not affiliated with anyone listed here, nobody pays to be included, and we receive nothing if you sell to them.

How to tell what you have got

Before you call anyone, two minutes with the object settles most of it. None of this needs an expert — it needs a flashlight and a look at the back.

  • Electric and acoustic guitars from the known makersFind the serial number — on the headstock, on the neck plate, or on a label inside the soundhole — and identify the exact model and year before you let anyone make you an offer. Then look at completed sold prices, not asking prices.
  • Tube amplifiersLook through the grille or the back panel for a row of glass tubes. Fender, Marshall, Vox, Traynor and Garnet are names worth stopping for.
  • Effects pedals and analog synthesizersDo not bundle the pedals in with the gig bag as accessories. Price them separately, one at a time.
  • Professional microphones and recording gearShure SM57 and SM58, and anything stamped Neumann, AKG or Sennheiser, are worth identifying rather than boxing up as cables and bits.
  • Step-up and professional band instrumentsA Selmer Paris stamp on a saxophone, or a professional-model designation on a Yamaha or Bach trumpet, changes the answer entirely. Read the engraving near the valves or on the bell before you treat the thing as scrap.
  • Good grand pianos, and only good onesLook for Steinway, Yamaha, Kawai, Bösendorfer or Mason & Hamlin on the fallboard. If the name means nothing to a piano dealer on the phone, it is a disposal job.
  • Orchestral strings above student gradeTake it to a violin shop or luthier for an opinion before a pawnbroker or a general antiques dealer sees it. Keep the bow and the case with it, and do not have it cleaned, repaired or re-varnished first.

Rarely worth anything

Not a rule, and not a reason to bin something without asking. These are the things people most often expect to be worth money and find are not.

  • Upright pianos, player pianos and reed organs
  • Any piano that has not been tuned in decades
  • Student band instruments from the rental era
  • Digital pianos, home keyboards and electronic organs more than about a decade old
  • Record players and hi-fi separates that come out of the house with the instruments
A CITES permit can be required before you ship an instrument out of Canada, and permits are never issued retroactively Canada — applies to export and import across the border, not to a sale within Canada

Environment and Climate Change Canada administers CITES in Canada. Its permits page states that you must have the necessary CITES permits before you import or export items, that the permits must be validated by a border services officer at the place of exit and the place of entry, and that "Permits will not be issued retroactively" — if you do not have the proper permit, border officers can hold and seize the item and you will not be able to get a permit afterward to release it. The page notes that CITES parts and derivatives turn up in items including musical instruments. The materials that matter here are elephant ivory, common in pre-1970s piano key tops, and tortoiseshell. We have deliberately removed the rosewood warning that appeared in an earlier version of this page: CITES changed how it treats rosewood in finished instruments, and we could not retrieve the current annotation text from CITES, whose site refuses automated retrieval, so this page makes no claim about rosewood in either direction — ask CITES Canada before you ship a rosewood instrument abroad. If you sell to a buyer outside Canada and ship the instrument, you are the exporter. Selling the same instrument to someone in Canada does not engage any of this.

Read the rule →
Worked elephant ivory needs a permit for every import and export, personal items included, since 8 January 2024 Canada — border movements only

Environment and Climate Change Canada states that "Permits are required for the import and export of all items of worked elephant tusk (ivory)" and that "The requirements will be in force on January 8, 2024." Raw ivory is prohibited for import and export without a permit outside narrow museum, zoo, scientific research and law-enforcement purposes. Worked ivory held as a personal effect or household item is no longer automatically exempt. This bites on pianos in particular, because ivory key tops were ordinary before the 1970s, and on older bows, woodwind rings and inlays. Confirm with CITES Canada what documentation your specific instrument needs before you list it internationally.

Read the rule →

3 places in Vancouver that take musical instruments

A-1 Trade & Loan Ltd.

Buys or lends Not stated — ask
Buysgold and natural diamond jewellery, watches, electronics, musical instruments, cameras, video games, Native art
Won't taketools, bicycles
The dealA Commercial Drive fixture. They make pawn loans — their site invites you to "borrow against jewellery you own" — and they also buy outright and resell, and take trade-ins on used electronics. Their site states plainly "No Tools & Bikes", so do not haul a toolbox down there. No interest rate, loan term or redemption period is published anywhere on the site; they direct you to call or come in.
Where2641 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC V5N 4C3
Because no rate or term is published, ask for both in writing before you pawn. A pawn loan is credit secured on your item: miss the redemption date and the item is forfeited. Their posted hours are short (10am-4pm), and the Vancouver by-law bars any dealer from taking your item in after 6 p.m. in any case.
Visit their site →604-875-8005

AAA Pawnbrokers

Buys or lends Not stated — ask
Buysgold, jewellery and diamonds, watches, musical instruments, electronics, other high-value items
The dealBoth a short-term collateral loan and an outright purchase. Their site: "Whether you need a short-term loan or want to sell outright, we make the process quick, safe, and discreet," and elsewhere that they "buy, sell and lend from quick and easy small collateral loans to large scale transactions." Over 35 years in Mount Pleasant. They accept e-transfer. The loan term, redemption date and what happens on default are not published — ask before you sign.
Where3021 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3G6
Their site advertises "the lowest interest rate in Canada at just 5% for large loans" but does not state 5% per what period. Per month and per year are very different costs. Get the rate, the period, the term and the forfeiture date written on the pawn ticket before handing anything over, and note that they also buy outright if you want the transaction to end that day. I could not confirm the claim, made elsewhere, that they belong to the BC Pawnbrokers Association, so it is not stated here.
Visit their site →604-873-6797

Roath's Pawn Shop Ltd.

Buys or lends Not stated — ask
Buysgold, silver and platinum jewellery, diamonds and precious stones, laptops, gaming consoles and LED TVs, power, hand and air tools, generators, power washers, boat motors, guitars and amplifiers, ATVs, motorcycles, jet skis, boats
The dealTwo separate transactions, and the difference matters. They buy outright — their site says they purchase gold, diamonds and watches for cash — and they make pawn loans. Their own words on the pawn side: "If the customer does not want a loan, they can also choose to sell their item to the pawnbroker." The pawn loan is secured credit. They publish loan principals between $10 and $100,000 based on collateral, no credit check, a term running 0 to 90 days with payment due at 3 months, a flat rate of 7.5% per month, a stated APR of 90%, and a one-week grace period on loan items. Their own loan calculator example shows a $100 loan over 3 months carrying a monthly interest charge of roughly $7.50. If a pawn loan is not repaid, the item is forfeited and the shop keeps and resells it — a pawn is not a sale, and you do not receive the balance of the item's value.
Where13573 King George Blvd, Surrey, BC V3T 2V1
The 90% APR is the cost of borrowing, not a discount on the item. They also buy outright, so you can ask for both numbers — the loan offer and the purchase price — and compare them before deciding. In-house staff include a gemologist and a goldsmith.
Visit their site →604-584-4010
MUNICIPAL RULES ARE WHAT ACTUALLY AFFECT YOU. I could not verify the claim that British Columbia has no pawnbroker statute in force, so that claim has been removed rather than published. What is confirmed is Vancouver's Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers By-law No. 2807, consolidated for convenience to 16 September 2025 (amended to include By-law No. 14443), read directly from the City's own consolidated text at https://bylaws.vancouver.ca/2807c.pdf. BRING PHOTO ID OR YOU WILL BE TURNED AWAY. Both secondhand dealers (buying outright) and pawnbrokers (lending) must confirm your identity by "picture identification" and record a complete description of it and the name of the authority that issued it (ss. 2.2(b), 3.2(b)). The by-law defines picture identification (s. 1.2) as one of the following, bearing a photograph of the holder: a valid driver's licence issued by a Canadian province or territory; a BC Services Card or other photo identity card issued by the Province of British Columbia; a passport issued by a legitimate government; a certificate of Indian status; a certificate of Canadian citizenship; a conditional release card issued by Correctional Services Canada; or a valid Canadian permanent resident card. A credit card, a bus pass or an expired licence does not qualify. The dealer must also record your name, residence or street address and birth date; a complete description of the property including make, model and serial number; the price paid or the amount advanced; the precise date and hour; and any identifying marks (ss. 2.2, 3.2). Other confirmed by-law facts: - You must be at least 18. A dealer must not purchase from, and a pawnbroker must not take a pawn from, anyone under 18 (ss. 2.15, 3.15). - No evening deals. A dealer must not purchase property, and a pawnbroker must not take property in pawn, between 6 p.m. of one calendar day and 6 a.m. of the next (ss. 2.13, 3.13). A shop may be open, but it cannot take your item in. - Anything whose serial number or other identifying marking has been wholly or partially tampered with or removed will be refused outright (ss. 2.14, 3.14). - Police reporting is daily. Shops on electronic registers transmit entries to the Chief Constable electronically (ss. 2.11, 3.11); shops on handwritten registers must hand-deliver a photocopy to the Chief Constable at the Vancouver Police Department, 3585 Graveley Street, between 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on each business day (ss. 2.10, 3.10). Registers are kept within BC for seven years after the last entry (ss. 2.9(b), 3.9(b)). Selling second-hand goods in Vancouver is a recorded transaction, not an anonymous one. - Holding period. A shop cannot repair, alter, dispose of or remove an item for the longer of 35 business days (electronic register), 49 business days (handwritten register), or the number of business days the police direct, not exceeding 90 days (ss. 2.19, 3.20). If you pawned rather than sold, s. 3.19 preserves your right to reclaim the item inside that window by paying the debt and interest owing. - A shop licensed as both must physically separate purchased goods from pawned goods and individually tag each item to show the date and whether it was purchased or taken in pawn (s. 2.21) — a useful sign of a properly licensed operator. - In the Downtown Eastside, both secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers may only remain open from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. (ss. 2.23, 3.21). Burnaby, Surrey and Richmond license under their own bylaws, so holding periods and reporting hours differ there; I did not read those bylaws, so call ahead if your shop is outside the City of Vancouver. SCRAP YARDS ASK FOR ID TOO. Richmond Steel Recycling states all material suppliers must provide valid government-issued photo ID to sell scrap metal. ABC Recycling requires a valid driver's licence or other government-issued ID and that you drive in with a four-wheel vehicle — bicycles, motorcycles and taxis are not allowed.

Not sure what you have got?

Photograph it and we will tell you what it is and what it is worth — including when the honest answer is that it is worth nothing.

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