buying ukulele online without trying it.

I'm trying to buy a ukulele brand online because the music store in our local are doesn't carry that brand. I'm just basing my decision on the reviews in youtube or internet. Do you think I can rely on the website reviews? Please let me know if this a right decision.

I would be completely comfortable if buying from reputable vendors like Mim or HMS.

They setup all the ukes and are excellent to deal with.

Big music stores like austinbazar do not do any kind of setup, they just ship it out from their warehouse.

I bought a pono acazia concert from Uke Republic about 1 year back and it sounds awesome. Then again I hardly consider myself an intermediate player and most brands that cost more than a couple hundred bucks sound fine to me. Depends on what type of a player you are.

You don't say what brand of uke, but if your planning to buy a low cost instrument, like others have said, buy from a reputable vendor or you could be flushing your money down the porcelain receptacle.

+1 on reputable vendor, which should include a return policy (a couple days to a week even) so you can play it and find out if it really fits you. If it doesn't, you might have to eat shipping charges, but at least you have an "out" if you need it.

Another suggestion is Butler Music on ebay!

Where I live there are not many music shops dealing in ukes, and those that do have a rather limited range so I've had to resort to online shops. I've had nothing but positive experiences buying online fromm Hawaii Music Supply; not only are their vids and reviews extremely wide-ranging and thorough, they also pay great attention to customer service. It's better if you email or call them if you have a specific brand, sound or model in mind. They're always a great help.

Best part is they have a solid return option (which I've never had to use).

Best of luck!

It's a crap shoot. I ordered a Kala on eBay - admittedly, a low end brand. The frets extended beyond the side of the fingerboard to the point where I could actually cut my hand if I ran it up and down the neck. Fortunately, the seller had a return policy and I was only out 10 bucks. Always check the return policy on the seller, in case you need to return it.

I have not been disappointed in any of my ukuleles, and they were all bought from reputable dealers online. Each one had a short trial period, so you will have an opportunity to hear it. Good luck!

i like my 'low end' Kala very much. it came from the maker beautifully finished and well set up.

I've bought 7 ukes, all on line. I've bought 3 from Amazon (2 Lanikais and a les paul epiphone). Amazon has a good return policy, but I haven't returned any. I did take them in for a setup locally. The others I bought from Mainland and Uke Republic. I had to take one in for additional setup to lower the strings a little. I bought one from Elderly, a Flea, and it was fine out of the box. None of the 3 stores here, stock any of the ukes that I wanted at the time I bought them. You can buy safely online from reputable dealers. If you buy on ebay be careful. I have bought and sold on the Marketplace on here without problems, but make sure you ask questions and get pics. YMMV

I bought all my ukes online so far after thorough research on the web - but I live in a country with a legal "14day full refund" return policy, so I didn't have too much risk. Nevertheless I never regretted a single purchase.

The web is full of good advice, and Youtube has plenty of uke reviews and direct comparisons. Even before buying offline I would recommend researching some additional info about the vendor and the ukes in question.

Sorry, I should have said inexpensive. I have played Kalas that sounding just fine and good value for money. There just seems to be some inconsistency with quality but I have since found that even more expensive brands can be prone to that too.

Radio Flyer said:

i like my 'low end' Kala very much. it came from the maker beautifully finished and well set up.

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It can be tough buying on line and using just demos may not give the full details. Questions to the music store should be welcomed to help you find the right instrument.

Uke Republic said:

Questions to the music store should be welcomed to help you find the right instrument.

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That's true. But it doesn't limit you to offline purchase fortunately. Depending on where you live you might even find more qualified staff behind an online vendor than in your local music store.
Forgot to mention that my online research did include some research about the vendors themselves. Frankly said: if they don't care too much about answering my questions I don't care too much about giving them my money. (And I don't distinguish between on- and offline with that statement)

Buying online has one big disadvantage though: it can become very time-consuming. Ordering, testing, swapping for another one, testing, returning, ordering yet another one, etc... Unless you have close to unlimited budget you will never have the same broad variety at home like in a good ukulele store

Louis0815 said:

That's true. But it doesn't limit you to offline purchase fortunately. Depending on where you live you might even find more qualified staff behind an online vendor than in your local music store.

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That's definitely true! And asking here about different brands can help a lot.

If you buy online from a reputable vendor who has good customer service and does set up, you are probably taking little more risk than ordering from a specialist luthier who makes their ukes to order, especially if you can find some sound samples either on the vendors website or on You Tube.

I bought a Bruko on the basis of a review on You Tube by a UU member and was very pleased with the result. The fact that it was a stunning looker in Rosewood had little to do with it (says he, lying through his teeth). Seriously, the review tipped the balance

sashmic said:

Where I live there are not many music shops dealing in ukes, and those that do have a rather limited range so I've had to resort to online shops. I've had nothing but positive experiences buying online fromm Hawaii Music Supply; not only are their vids and reviews extremely wide-ranging and thorough, they also pay great attention to customer service. It's better if you email or call them if you have a specific brand, sound or model in mind. They're always a great help.

Best part is they have a solid return option (which I've never had to use).

Best of luck!

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I agree, HMS is SUPERB and I highly recommend an online purchase with them! Excellent customer service, HUGE selection of ukes, AWESOME set-ups, and they have a generous trial period (I believe 7 days in which to notify them if you aren't satisfied). And, yes, their videos are so helpful, too! I have had two ukulele purchase experiences with HMS and they were both extremely positive.

Additionally, I have also purchased 5 ukes online from private sellers (in these situations, there weren't any trial periods offered, but I was willing to take the risk and I didn't ask for a trial). Two of the five purchases ended up putting me kind of in a tough spot, but it was my fault for not asking enough questions before I made the purchases. I look at those purchases as part of my uke learning curve.

Finally, from my local music store, I purchased 3 ukes; being able to try the ukes on the spot was super nice. However, the selection of ukes wasn't as nearly as large as compared to many online retailers. The staff at my local music store also didn't seem to know much about the uke or the uke products they were selling, so that was somewhat of a impediment.

Also, to answer your question re: online reviews (sorry it has taken me so long to get to this): I definitely used online reviews on YouTube and other web resources (many reviews here on UU, actually) as a huge factor in my purchase decisions.

Hope this info is helpful.

Happy Strummings!

First for those who don't live in the USA - In the European Union all online sales from Retailers come with a 14 day no quibble return ITS THE LAW even if the retailer is in another country in the EU you get 14 days to decide if you like it or not? If you don't return it in its original packaging for a full refund (Some times you have to pay return shipping and obviously if you broke it...) Private seller is Caveat emptor so make sure you ask a lot of questions and if in doubt don't buy.
Even from retailer ask a couple of questions, you find out what the customer services are like if nothing else.

I, (if you go to Ukulele Corner you will see), have brought a few Ukuleles on line but one thing I did very soon after taking up the Ukulele which hasn't been mentioned here, is learn how to do basic setup work myself. you should learn to do things like replace strings (after all your a fool if you drive a car and never learned to change the wheel) adjust the saddle hight and even replace tuners or dress frets. Then if you buy on line and its pretty much what you want you can sort the rest out yourself. How I learned was to buy a cheap really crappy ukulele and practice on that. Then it really doesn't matter if you mess up and when your confident and don't need it any more (it should now be better that when you brought it) you can give it away or really take it apart and use the bits to make your own cigar box uke or biscuit tin banjolele

Hope this helps too

There are several reputable uke dealers that are members here....mainland, uke republic, HMS, The ukulele site, MIM....etc.... most do a free setups too..