Don't buy your typewriter from eBay or Etsy.. Reasons why!

Why You Probably Shouldn’t Buy a Typewriter From Etsy or eBay

Everyone loves the idea of owning a typewriter. The romance of clacking keys, paper rolling through a platen, and the sense that you’re channelling Hemingway or Kerouac instead of just staring into yet another glowing rectangle. But before you open your wallet on Etsy or eBay, let’s have a serious talk about why this is usually a terrible idea.

1. “Cleaned” and “Serviced” Are Marketing Words

Sellers on these platforms often toss around phrases like “fully cleaned” or “professionally serviced.” Translation: they blew some dust off it, maybe rubbed the exterior with a damp cloth, and decided that 70-year-old dried grease is a “vintage patina.” Real servicing requires disassembly, degreasing, lubrication, and precise adjustments with special tools—not something a hobbyist with a spray can of WD-40 did in their garage.

2. Hidden Problems You Won’t Spot in Photos

That charming photo of the typewriter with a single sheet of paper in it? Useless. Sellers rarely show you close-ups of worn platen rubber, bent typebars, or escapement issues. Even if they wanted to, you can’t tell from pictures if the machine skips, misaligns, or jams after a page or two.

3. Shipping: The Death Blow

Typewriters are heavy, fragile, and full of intricate levers that bend if you so much as look at them wrong. Imagine a 30-pound metal contraption bouncing through three sorting facilities, tossed on conveyor belts, and dropped at least twice before arriving at your door. Unless it’s packed by someone who knows exactly how to immobilize the carriage and secure the parts, you’ll get a “new” typewriter that sounds like a box of loose cutlery.

How they deliver to us from eBay.

Vs.

How our boxes are delivered worldwide. Noting this box included two typewriters professionally packed and safely delivered to the US. 

4. Parts Are Ancient

Even if you luck into one that actually works, you’re dealing with decades-old rubber, springs, and bushings. These aren’t eternal objects—they degrade. A key might stick today and snap tomorrow. And no, Amazon doesn’t sell a replacement escapement spring for a 1954 Royal Quiet De Luxe.

5. Nostalgia Tax

People know you want a typewriter because it feels retro, aesthetic, or “writerly.” Which means the prices on Etsy and eBay are inflated way above the actual value of the machine. You’re paying extra for the fantasy of being a tortured artist, while the reality is more “mad typing noises followed by Google search for repair shops that don’t exist in your town.”

Better Options

If you truly want a working typewriter, find a local typewriter repair shop who actually knows his craft, not just a hobbyist (they still exist, hiding in corners of old cities), or buy from reputable sellers who specialize in restoring them, preferably us for sure. These people actually take the machines apart and bring them back to life, instead of just declaring victory after a few shots of compressed air.

In short: Buying a typewriter off Etsy or eBay is like buying sushi from a gas station. Maybe you’ll be fine. But if you aren’t, you’re going to regret it.