I don't know about Janome but on some of the Vikings you can go into the settings and see how much it was used. I bought mine used from a LQS and it only had 7 hrs of use. Check with a Janome rep and see if there is a way to tell on this machine. Take someone with you. If you still aren't sure, take the serial # and asked who it's registered to (who she's selling it for) and see if it's registered already with Viking and in who's name. Then decide if it is a good deal. You can do this all in one day so she should hold it for you until that night if it's legal.