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You may remember a special music box at a grandparent's home, or maybe you received one yourself as a gift growing up. These ornate boxes usually have sentimental value for the owner. Hearing a music box song may bring back memories and have a unique meaning each time you hear it. The music box may have held jewelry, had a pop-up figure spin as the music played, or simply existed to play beautiful songs. Regardless of the type, music boxes have been around for hundreds of years, creating nostalgia for us all.
We don't see music boxes around as much as we used to, but they are more widely available than you might think. Many online retailers sell music boxes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles. You can find music boxes shaped like different objects, Disney-themed, made to hold jewelry, or programmed with songs of your choice. The selection of unique music boxes for sale online is seemingly endless, so whatever the occasion you're buying for, undoubtedly you'll find a music box that's perfect for it.
Friday, March 24th
The Music Box Attic is headquartered in North Hollywood, California. They've been selling music boxes online since 1999. With all their features, options, and pricing, Music Box Attic has surpassed their competitors and has earned our highest rating.
Unbeatable Service
Music Box Attic has gained a loyal customer base over the years because of their unbeatable service, commitment to quality, and reliability. At The Music Box Attic you'll find mechanical music boxes as well as digital ones. They are unique because all their products can have custom engravings, many of them play custom songs, and everything carries a lifetime warranty.
Hundreds Of Music Boxes
The types of music boxes found here include traditional, jewelry, ballerina, novelty/specialty, and just movement music boxes. Within each category are hundreds of unique, beautiful products. You could spend a good chunk of your day just admiring all of the different music boxes here.
Listening Station
One of the coolest features of The Music Box Attic is their listening station. When you select a music box, you can then choose one of hundreds of songs that can be played. There is an extensive list from A-Z and you get to listen to a little clip so you know what it will sound like.
Competitive Prices + Free Shipping
At the time of this review, Music Box Attic was running a 15% off sitewide sale with free shipping if you use their provided discount code. This is a great deal on top of already competitive prices, since many items are already discounted to some extent. Most music boxes seem to fall between $50 and $150. On the high end, you'll find some rare music boxes for nearly $160,000, but those are few and far between here. Most items are affordable and comparable with other music box retailers.
Good Return Policy
Many of the music boxes from The Music Box can be customized with the songs you choose or engraved with your personal messages. Customized music boxes are non-returnable since they can't be resold. Non-custom items can be returned, but you might be charged a 15% restocking fee. If there happens to be an issue with your music box, you can contact customer service and they'll send out a replacement within 24 hours.
Highest Rating
Customers really like Music Box Attic. Across the board they have great reviews from people who have shopped here. Regardless of where you look, you'll find shoppers singing their praises for their high-quality products, on-time delivery, and fantastic customer service. To top it off, Music Box Attic has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. It almost goes without saying that Music Box Attic is by far the best place to buy music boxes, and they've earned our highest rating.
The Music House was originally named "The Port Washington Music House" because it first opened in Port Washington, Long Island, New York. Since then, they've relocated to Florida and operate entirely from there. The company has been around since 1965 and has been online for over 23 years. The website seems like it hasn't had much work done on it since then, but their collection of music boxes and other products is impressive.
66 Categories Of Musical Gifts
As their name suggests, you could literally almost fill your entire house with only music-themed items purchased from The Music House. They sell apparel, home and garden accessories, bookmarks, clocks, corporate gifts, door knockers, instruments, kitchen and tableware, nutcrackers, puzzles, and much more. There are 66 categories of musical gifts that you can shop for, including music boxes.
Impressive Variety Of Music Boxes
There are 73 categories of music boxes to choose from at The Music House. Some unique categories include Chalets of Switzerland, Circus & Clowns, Frozen, Military, Russian, Windmills from Holland, and more. In addition to shopping by category, you can also sort all of the music boxes by price. The majority of boxes fall in the $150 - $500 range, although there are quite a few between $50 and $100 as well if you're looking to buy something less expensive.
Choose Your Music
Each category of music boxes you choose will lead you to a long list of products to browse. Most of the music boxes are customizable in that you select from a long list of songs that you want the music box to play. Some are pre-programmed with one song, but others can play one of hundreds of songs listed. It would be nice if you were able to listen to all the tunes before selecting one, but hopefully you'll be able to find something familiar and then you'll know what to expect.
15 Day Return Policy
It is a bit hard to find company information on The Music House's website because the layout is odd and you have to do a lot of reading. We found their return policy buried on their shipping page: for refunds, credits, or exchanges, returned items must be sent back within 15 days and in their original condition. Engraved orders, sheet music, and whistles are non-returnable.
Disorganized Website But Worth A Look
What makes The Music House so interesting is the hundreds of thousands of products they sell. Their website is nothing pretty and even a little disorganized. If you select "music boxes" from their list of products, you might also get some bobbleheads and figurines in the mix. There is such a random assortment of music boxes here, it could be hit and miss depending on what you're looking for. However, since there are so many music boxes for sale here in a wide range of prices, it might be worth your time to take a look at the selection just in case you stumble on something you want.
Music Boxes Etc. sells just exactly what is implied in their company name. All you'll find here are music boxes, mostly the antique-looking variety. We assume this is a small company because it doesn't look like oodles of effort are being poured into the website. Their "About Us" page is broken, there are no new items on their "Newly Added Products" page, and all other information is basic or lacking.
Dated Website
Music Boxes Etc. gives us a "just-went-through-my-grandma's-closet-and-decided-to-have-an-online-garage-sale" vibe. Most of what you'll find here definitely fits in the "collectible" category, plus the website is very basic and looks like it was made in the early 2000's. However, neither of these are necessarily bad things. You'll still be able to browse their inventory easily by category.
Exhaustive List Of Music Boxes
The list of music boxes found at Music Boxes Etc. is quite exhaustive. You'll find categories like angels, butterflies, carousels, dolls, fairy, flowers, frogs, rhythm clocks, musical eggs, and water globes just to name a few. Pricing ranges from $19.95 to $699, with most products being less than $75.
Returns Are Case-by-base
There is no return policy listed anywhere on the Music Boxes Etc. site. If you're concerned about the state of the music box you receive or just decide you no longer want it, the best thing to do is contact customer service directly and work it out on a case-by-case basis.
Music Box Repair
In addition to selling products, Music Boxes Etc. also has a music box repair and snow globe repair service. If the music stops playing in your music box, the base gets cracked or broken, or your snowglobe has broken figurines or dirty water, Music Boxes Etc. can fix it. Items are usually fixed and returned in as little as 7 days. All you have to do is mail your item into the listed address with your name, phone number, and email address. They will contact you directly to go over pricing and repair details.
Worthy Choice
Sometimes small businesses like Music Boxes Etc. are real gems because they are run by honest people just trying to provide products they love to a like-minded community. There isn't much by way of customer feedback anywhere online, but this could be a good thing since they aren't getting blasted anywhere for having a poorly-run business or customer service team. It's hard to know exactly what your experience will be like shopping here, but if they have a music box you love and want to add to your collection, we say go for it!
The San Francisco Music Box Company has been selling decor, water globes, and music boxes for over 30 years. Their inventory categories include water and snow globes, figurines, Phantom of the Opera merchandise, music boxes, jewelry boxes, and ballerina items. Their website is easy to navigate and you can sort products by holidays, occasions, collections, and clearance.
Limited Inventory
Although there are quite a few categories of products at The San Francisco Music Box Company, their inventory doesn't quite compare to their competition. There are about 12 snow globes, figurines, or music boxes within each category, which means there are very few music boxes in total. Some customers might be disappointed trying to narrow down all the products just to find music boxes. If you want a big selection, this isn't the best place to shop.
Budget-minded Music Boxes
Most items sold here are under $100. Some rival retailers have high-end products or collector's items that go for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. That's not the case here. Everything is within a reasonable price range, especially if you discover something you want on their clearance page. If customers are unsatisfied with orders when they arrive, they have 30 days to request an exchange or refund and send their items back.
Thousands Of Happy Customers
The San Francisco Music Box Company has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Thousands of happy customers have left reviews on their Facebook page describing great customer service reps who respond quickly, high-quality products, and saying that after many purchases here, they are never disappointed.
Solid Choice, If They Have What You Want
We wish that The San Francisco Music Box Company had a bigger selection of music boxes. Although customers are happy with their purchases, it might not be the best place to go to if you're wanting to browse a wide variety of music boxes with lots of songs and styles. We recommend shopping at one of our higher-rated sites that focus more heavily on their music box inventory.
The Bradford Exchange was founded in 1973. They are headquartered in Niles, Illinois, a small suburb of Chicago. They are known for selling collectibles, sports memorabilia, jewelry, and more. Unfortunately, we found that customers were satisfied with products they received here, but not happy with what some would consider "unethical business practices" of recurring charges on accounts and difficulties reaching customer service.
Side Variety Of Products
The Bradford Exchange considers all of their products to be art, and they sell much more than just music boxes. The full list of categories you can shop from includes:
Limited, Targeted Selection
You can shop over 130 music boxes at The Bradford Exchange. Themes include animals, bereavement, celebrities, cracked earth, religious, weddings, and more, but you'll find only a couple of music boxes for each category. The majority of the music boxes here don't come with a specific theme, but rather can be personalized with small words and messages. Most of these are specifically for a grandmother, daughter, son, or other close relationship and come with an engraved or printed message on the outside of the box.
100% Guarantee
No music boxes for sale at The Bradford Exchange are over $129. Most are priced around $49, so you won't find crazy high prices here. There is a 100% guarantee at The Bradford Exchange that allows customers to get a full refund on their order (minus shipping) if they choose to return their items. For music boxes, a return label will need to be requested and the product returned within 30 days to qualify for the guarantee.
Customer Complaints
Although The Bradford Exchange has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, what speaks louder is the concerning amount of negative feedback from customers. Hundreds of them have reported scenarios where they purchase an item only to continue receiving more of that product every month in the mail and being charged for it. It seems that when you buy something here, they often put you into a subscription trap where you keep getting charged and receive more and more unwanted items. On top of this, people claim they then have a nearly impossible time getting it cleared up with customer service and instead get late payment statements constantly. To say this all sounds like a nightmare is an understatement. Many customers highly recommend not shopping here to avoid any hassles.
Play It Safe
Of course, not all feedback about The Bradford Exchange is bad. Some people find what they need, order it, and never have any issues. However, for those who do run into problems, the aggravations from having shopped here probably isn't worth it. We don't like seeing so many people with the same problem, so we would suggest playing it safe and shopping elsewhere for music boxes. There are some great music box retailers out there, so try your luck there first.
The Music Box Shop is based out of Phoenix, Arizona. They've been selling music boxes on the internet since 1995. In addition to music boxes, they carry an assortment of discs, dolls, figurines, jewelry boxes, and musical eggs. Their website is nothing fancy and gives an outdated feel as far as layout and photos.
Classic Music Boxes Only
There are over 100 music boxes for sale at The Music Box Shop. All of them are rectangle or square boxes made of wood with some type of carving or painting on them. You won't find novel music boxes here that are themed and in the shape of different people or objects. Everything at this store has a classic look that probably resembles exactly what you first think of when you hear the words "music box".
A Bit More Expensive
Prices on music boxes from The Music Box Shop range from $99 - $12,999. The majority of music boxes are in the $150 - $280 range. This is a bit more expensive than some competing retailers that have a big selection of music boxes (with a wider range of styles) for $100 or less.
No Return Policy Listed
There is no return policy listed on The Music Box Shop website for any of their products. If you want details on how they handle defective items, returns, or exchanges, your best bet is to give them a call at the phone number listed on their site and speak directly with them about your particular case.
Unlcear And Confusing Ordering Process
It would be really helpful if The Music Box Shop gave more specific information about themselves and their products on their website. We found a long list of songs that can be played in the music boxes, but nowhere does it clarify if all the music boxes are customizable and can play any song you choose. If this is the case, the website also does not explain how you specify the song you want once a music box is added to your cart. We worry that if customers shop here they will not end up getting what they expected since the ordering process is unclear.
Lack Of Customer Feedback
The Music Box Shop is not rated by The Better Business Bureau and customers haven't posted much about their experiences with them anywhere. The feedback we did find mostly related to their in-person shopping experience if you live near their Phoenix, Arizona store. One customer mentioned having issues ordering online, so she called their phone number to get assistance, which is a good idea.
Misses The Mark
Overall, The Music Box Shop has less variety than the other music box retailers we evaluated. If you want a beautiful, classic music box and are willing to contact someone over the phone to get help making sure your order is correct, then buying from here might be a great option for you. There aren't any big red flags that would urge us to steer customers away from The Music Box Shop, but they just don't quite stand up against their competition.
The Music Box Company was founded in San Francisco, California in 1988 by a woman named Lisa Baker. Her father collected music boxes for her growing up, and this inspired a love of music that she wanted to share with others. In addition to music boxes, The Music Box Company sells figurines, jewelry boxes, handcrafted eggs, plush toys, ornaments, and more.
Frustrating To Shop
It can be a bit frustrating trying to find what you're looking for at The Music Box Company since they sell so many different products and have them all jumbled together in a long list of categories. We had a really hard time narrowing down just music boxes without having to scroll through tons of unrelated items as well. The best way to browse music boxes only is to use the search bar at the top of the page to find them. Nine pages or products will show up (still including some non-music boxes), so you can browse each one until you find what interests you.
Variety Of Music Boxes Available
Most music boxes are between $30 and $200. A sliding scale can be used for customers to narrow down a price range they want to shop in. You'll find music boxes that are Harry Potter themed, Phantom of the Opera themed, Disney themed, and even just ornate, classic music boxes. Again, the main frustration you'll likely encounter is trying to single out your options on this somewhat disorganized website.
Nice Choice Of Music To Select From
When you select a music box you're interested in, the song it plays will be listed on the product page. You can then go find it on the tune list page to know exactly what it will sound like upon arrival. There are about 3 pages of songs total, so there is quite a variety here.
No Customer Testimonials
No return policy is listed anywhere on The Music Box Company website. They also don't have any customer testimonials on their site, or anywhere else for that matter. There is no Better Business Bureau page for their company, so it is really hard to tell if customers are generally satisfied with what they buy online here or if this isn't somewhere that many people buy music boxes.
Painful Experience
It was a pain trying to browse music boxes on this site. We had to navigate to multiple pages and still weren't able to clearly narrow down the items we really wanted to see. It's possible that they have great quality and customer service at The Music Box Company, but it's hard to know that if you can't even find what you're looking for. Try one of our higher-rated online retailers for the best experience when shopping for music boxes.
Music box prices vary widely, so shopping online is the best way to compare costs between stores. Skip the hassle of driving around looking for brick-and-mortar retailers: stores like this are harder to find these days and usually carry a very slim collection of pricey music boxes, if any. Instead, from the comfort of your home, you can browse thousands of beautiful, unique music boxes. It doesn't get easier than that!
When purchasing a music box online, we suggest you keep the following criteria in mind:
To give you an idea of which choice might be the most effective for you, TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked a variety of retailers. We hope this information helps you find a music box that will bring joy to you or a loved one for years to come!
Select any 2 Music Box Stores to compare them head to head