Pick a model and see the lowest current prices on eBay, where school instruments and estate horns come up constantly. Prices are pulled live, so what you see is what sellers are actually asking this minute.
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Browse the full range of used saxophones on eBay → Prices move fast. See the biggest price drops across every category this week →Pads decide whether a cheap horn is cheap. They are leather and they harden, and once they stop sealing the instrument will not play quietly in the low register no matter who is blowing. A full repad is several hundred dollars of skilled work, so a $400 horn needing one is a $900 horn. Ask when it was last done and by whom. This single question separates a bargain from a project more reliably than anything in the photographs.
Check the neck is original. On a collectable instrument the neck is a large part of the value, and a replacement, even a good one, takes a serious bite out of it. Serial numbers on the body and the neck should be consistent on the horns where that was the practice. Sellers who know this will say so in the listing; sellers who do not will answer if you ask.
Dents on the bow matter more than scratches on the bell. The bow is the U at the bottom and it takes the knocks, and a dent there changes how the instrument plays rather than how it looks. Lacquer wear is cosmetic and affects collector value without affecting sound, which is why a relacquered horn sells for less than an honest bare-brass one.
Student, intermediate and professional are three different markets. A student alto is built to survive a school year and is worth what it is worth. The step-up horns hold value far better, and the professional instruments barely depreciate at all, which is why the discount against new narrows as you go up the list above.
A mouthpiece is rarely included and is not an afterthought. The one that came in the case is usually the stock piece, and a good replacement costs real money. Budget for it separately rather than assuming the horn arrives ready.
Value. Vintage American horns and the professional Selmers hold their money for decades and are bought as much as an asset as an instrument. Student instruments lose most of their value immediately, which is exactly why buying one secondhand is the sensible move, and it is what the prices above show.
Live eBay listings. Pick a model and it fetches the current lowest-priced listings in real time, with the listing shown next to each price.
Several hundred dollars of skilled work. It matters whenever the pads no longer seal, which shows up as a low register that will not play quietly. On a student horn it can exceed what the instrument is worth, so ask when it was last done before you bid.
On a collectable instrument, a great deal. The neck is a large part of the value and a replacement takes a serious bite out of it, even when it plays well. On a student horn it matters far less than the pads do.
Cosmetically yes, practically no. It affects collector value and not the sound, which is why a relacquered instrument usually sells for less than an honest one with worn bare brass.
The professional Selmers and the vintage American horns, for decades. Student instruments lose most of their value straight away, which is the argument for buying those used rather than new.
A daily snapshot of the lowest genuine eBay price for every model we track, and how good that price is right now versus its usual level, updated automatically. Prices last refreshed 12 October 2026. Tap a price to see that model's cheapest listings on eBay, or tap a model name for the full live list here.
These are second hand prices, listed by sellers as used or pre-owned, taken from live eBay US listings in US dollars. In collectible categories a sealed or unworn item is sometimes the cheapest genuine listing, and it is included. The same number works both ways: it is what a buyer pays today and the resale value a seller can realistically ask. Every model also carries a price history, the daily record kept since tracking began, which is the part to read before you buy or resell. On a day when a model has no listing that passes these filters, its row keeps the last price we recorded rather than inventing one, and drops off this table if that goes on for more than a few days.
Under each model is the actual listing that price came from, so you can see whether it is the thing you want or a bundle, a variant, or an accessory that happens to share the name.
Over the period we have tracked, this category is down 1.3%, while the used market as a whole is down 0.3%. See the Used Price Index, which is built from these prices and published as a free CSV.
| Model ↕ | Cheapest now ↕ | vs typical ↕ | vs recent |
|---|---|---|---|
Yamaha YAS-23 Vito 7131 Japan Alto Saxophone Yamaha YAS-23 Student Sax Serial 042305 | $343 | 14% under | ▼ 5% |
Selmer Super Action 80 selmer super action II 80 alto saxophone | $2,556 same 14 days | 12% under | steady |
Cannonball Big Bell Cannonball Big Bell Global Series Soprano Saxophone: Polished Black Nickel | $1,815 same 12 days | 9% under | steady |
Yamaha YTS-62 Yamaha Model YTS-62 Tenor Saxophone w/G1 Neck, Mouthpiece & Yamaha Hard Case… | $2,035 lowest yet | 8% under | ▼ 2% |
Buescher Aristocrat Buescher Aristocrat Alto Saxophone Vintage 1975 Repadded With Its Own Case | $600 lowest yet | 4% under | steady |
Conn 6M CONN 6M NAKED LADY ALTO SAXOPHONE | $1,080 | about typical | ▼ 1% |
Bundy II Bundy II Concert Flute Boehm System Closed Hole Straight Headjoint C w/ Case | $150 same 63 days | about typical | steady |
Jupiter JAS-710 Jupiter JAS710 Alto Saxophone W/ Hard Case and Strap | $400 same 13 days | about typical | steady |
Yamaha YAS-26 Yamaha YAS-26 Standard Eb Alto Saxophone | $640 | about typical | ▲ 3% |
Yamaha YSS-475 Yamaha YSS-475 Soprano Saxophone Used Tested | $1,840 same 24 days | about typical | steady |
Mauriat PMXA-67R P. Mauriat PMXA-67R Series Professional Alto Saxophone Cogn Lacqur slightly u… | $2,500 same 10 days | about typical | ▼ 6% |
Yamaha YAS-82Z YAMAHA YAS-82Z Custom Eb Key Alto Saxophone YAS82Z Professional Selection Jap… | $2,650 same 12 days | about typical | steady |
Selmer Series III SELMER Alto Saxophone AS SERIE III W/E GL Series 3 [631360] | $3,510 | about typical | ▲ 11% |
Selmer Mark VI Selmer Mark VI Soprano Saxophone 230K | $3,995 | about typical | ▲ 1% |
Yamaha YTS-23 Yamaha YTS-23 Tenor Saxophone | $715 | about typical | new |
King Super 20 Vintage 1970 King Super 20 Alto Saxophone W/Original Case 470XXX NICE FREE SH… | $2,499 | about typical | steady |
Keilwerth SX90R JULIUS KEILWERTH SX90R ALTO SAXOPHONE | #111035 | Black Nickel Gold Keys | Ca… | $3,599 same 19 days | about typical | steady |
Yamaha YAS-62 Yamaha YAS-62 Alto Saxophone Eb Gold Lacquer Brass Hand Engraved w/ Case | $1,875 | above typical | ▲ 4% |
Yanagisawa A-901 YANAGISAWA A-901 Alto Saxophone | $1,990 | above typical | ▼ 1% |