Estate Sale Tips

Questions You Should Ask when Hiring an Estate Liquidation Company

Although we want your business, we cannot say that we are the only reputable company in Greenville, South Carolina. If you want to compare offers from other reputable companies, we will be happy to recommend estate services we feel operate in an honest and competent manner. The following list is questions you should ask any company you are considering hiring them. 

Do they accept credit cards?
With more people carrying credit or debit cards than checks, accepting credit cards is a very large part of any sale.  Even the smallest sale can run at least 30% in credit cards and it is not uncommon for sales in Greenville to run over half the sale in credit card sales. Any legitimate company should accept cash, and credit cards. 

Do they have a website?
On any given week, your sale will be competing with up to 5 to 10 estate sales, lots of garage sales, and several auctions in the Greenville, South Carolina area, and those who get the first traffic, often make the most money. Although there are obvious areas that attract shoppers more than others, a website with pictures and a detailed description is the best way to entice customers to come to your sale first. Remember, you want customers to buy your sofa before they buy one somewhere else, or run out of money; you do not want to be last on their shopping list. The lack of a website indicates a company that is a hobbyist or amateur.

How much will they spend on advertising your sale?
A good, effective ad for an estate sale will cost about $300.00 for the weekend. If a company is only spending the minimum amount on advertising, their ad will get lost in the dozens of larger ads for estate sales. Customers often judge estate sales by the size of the ad placed. After all, if the ad is small, they will not think the sale is worth attending.  Do not be fooled by companies that use only Facebook, Craigslist, or street signs as a means for advertising, as you will not get enough traffic for your sale to be successful. 

Do they use their name in their advertising?
We are proud of the job we do and we always place our name in every ad so our customers know the sale will meet a certain standard of cleanliness, size and conduct. Many customers tell us they look for our sales in particular because they know it will be worth attending if we hold it. However, many companies have ruined their reputations to the point they must hold 'anonymous' sales, or keep changing their names, because if they advertise using their known names, very few people will show up. Many customers will only attend a sale that lists the agency conducting the sale.

Did the company give an estimate as to how much the sale might run?
Estate sales are very hard to predict. A great sale may do very well on one week but very poorly the next, depending on weather, competition, or other local events. Even with many sales in our past, we do not like to predict how much your sale will make. However, there are some companies who will overstate the amount the sale will run to impress you, just to get the job. After the sale is over, they will offer excuses as to why the sale failed to reach the estimate; by then, it is too late. Alternatively, a company that turns down your sale, but tells you to expect an unusually high figure, may be trying to make the company you hire look bad by setting up unrealistic goals. 

How many people will work during the sale?
You want a sale to be adequately staffed, but you do not want it over-staffed. A well-staffed sale should have at least 3 and up to 4 workers for a normal sized sale. Some companies dramatically over-staff, which leads to employees that are just hanging out with each other, instead of helping a customer. These companies have to charge more to cover this expense, which is an approximately $150.00 per person cost for the weekend, and this could cost you easily thousands in unnecessary fees.   

What days do they do host their sales?

We have held many estate sales, and we can assure you that the best days are on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Your ideal customer is 30-55, has a professional job, and works regular hours Monday through Friday. You will notice larger, professional companies, like ours, will do two or three day sales, verses one day sales by other companies. One day isn’t enough time to sell your entire estate.  

How many sales per month do they hold?
We perform 2-4 estate sales every month. This shear number of sales allows us to be very current on pricing trends and the demand of antiques and collectibles. This consistent work also allows us to maintain a full time regular work force that is trained in sales, antiques, set up for estate sales. We also collect dozens of additional names every week for our email list and this has given us a very large email list in the estate sale business. 

Do they use security?
We rarely use security because we see it as a waste of your money. Over past years and many estate sales in Greenville, South Carolina, none have been robbed, Hiring security will cost about $300.00, a cost that will be passed onto you and your estate one way or another. Hiring security does not stop theft or deter shoplifting. Hiring security will, unfortunately, intimidate some customers from shopping your sale and you could see a 25% drop in sales.  

Are you welcome to visit the sale and check on how the sale is progressing?

We never tell a client they cannot check the progress of our setup or to not stop by to see how the sale is the sale is doing.

What happens to the sale leftovers?
Everything left over at the end of a sale still belongs to you - refer to your estate sale agreement. You may keep it, donate it, give it away, or, if you need, we can get rid of it for you with a cleanout service.  We encourage you to see the leftovers before anything happens to them to make sure you know what is remaining.

Do they do presales?
We do not host presales because we want to give everyone a fair chance to shop. Many companies do a presale to 'select clients', which is a turn off to general shoppers, who know they were not given a fair opportunity to buy. This will result in lost sales to you. 

Do they have other jobs?
We do not have other jobs, as doing estates is our full-time job. We devote 100% of our time making your sale a success and we are not distracted by outside factors. Many companies only do estates for fun or as a hobby, and do not care about the true success of your sale, because they make their real money with their job. We take our job seriously, and work diligently and professionally to make sure you have the most benefit from your estate. 

What is an Estate Sale?

An Estate Sale generally refers to an on-site sale where a person’s belongings are offered for purchase to the general public. It usually occurs after a passing of a loved one, a divorce or in the event of downsizing.

Why Hire Us?

When you hire Carolina Auctioneers & Estate Sale Services, you're hiring the best in the industry.

We are a family owned and operated business, so be rest assured that our hearts are immersed in this business and because of that, we are dedicated to you and value our relationship with you.

Why Have an estate sale?

Estate sales are a great option when our clients wish to make the most out of their assets. It has proven to be a very efficient way to generate cash and maximize profit. We are committed to offering the finest and most reliable Estate Sale services. We have strong standards and believe in ethics and professionalism.

Buy-out Option

We purchase entire estates, special collections, and single high value items. Our specialties include Antiques, Collectibles, Jewelry, Silver, and much more. A Buyout is a great option when the estate needs to generate an immediate income, the decedent’s residence is an apartment or an HOA or when the family decide not to have a public estate sale.

BUY-OUT/CLEAN-OUT SERVICE

We offer buy-out/clean-out service when our clients need a quick turn over on select items or need a home cleared out in a short amount of time. The main reason for a buy-out is when there are select items of value that need to be liquidated in a short time frame, at that point Carolina Auctioneers & Estate Sale Services will evaluate the personal property and make an offer.

If an entire home needs to be emptied, we come in and assess the value of the property and figure out what we can offer. We then determine what disposing of the non sellable items would cost and either make an offer or give a quote for what we would charge to clean the property out. Some of the benefits of having a buy-out/clean-out are:

Quick sale of items

Same day payment on buy-out items (if applicable)

Empty a home in a short time frame

Hassle free removal of items left after a move

No headaches of auction fees and time

Donation Receipt and inventory (if applicable)

Final phase cleaning for a market ready home

Network of contractors for other needed services (realtors, painters, etc.)

We believe an estate sale is the best possible way to maximize the value of personal property. If there is not enough for an estate sale there are other ways to make as much money as possible, such as selling the items personally online or going through an auction house. The clients that usually take advantage of our buy-out/clean-out service usually need quick turnover on antiques or collectibles.

ANTIQUE EVALUATION SERVICE

Carolina Auctioneers & Estate Sale Services offers clients price evaluations of antiques and collectibles. Some of the families we work with need values to appropriately distribute heirlooms amongst each other. We have also helped many families that do not have enough value for a company to run an estate sale and they need values to run a private sale themselves. We help you understand what makes something valuable, antique, and rare to leave you with a good understanding of the market values.

Benefits of antique evaluation:

Knowing current market value

Identifying antiques and reproductions

Properly distributing property among heirs

Avoiding pricing mistakes when selling

What not to do when planning an estate sale!

How do Estate Sales Work?

The way estate sales operate is very simple.  Clients hire us to sell their personal items and automobiles for them.  We are paid a percentage of what we sale, and we work as the middle-man to get the client the most amount of money we can-at the same time, offering it at a reasonable price so our customers will buy and and take it home.  We have to please both client and customer and to accomplish this we have to be fair to both parties.

It is our job, as the estate liquidator, to come into the home, dig through every nook and cranny, and get everything as cleaned and displayed as the sale will permit.   Then we research the items to establish a fair selling price based on our past sales history and current market trends.  Once this is done, we photograph it and place ads on many websites and in local papers (if applicable).  We hold our sales on weekdays and weekends to give everyone a chance to attend, all while trying to have fun with it along the way. 

Customer-Oriented 

Estate sales are a great way to save money and have fun doing it. Over time we have built lasting relationships with many families, some of them have baked us cookies and brought us treats, and many of our customers get advanced notice from different members of our staff about collectibles of interest to them.  We listen to their stories and truly know their hopes and dreams.  Our company is not just a business,  we are a family of workers and customers, we know most of our customers by name, what they shop for, what their children's furniture taste are.

Family

We invite you to become part of our extended family and to spend part of your weekday or weekend with us.  Our company is not just about selling used stuff, its about building everlasting friendships with our customers and helping them fulfill their dreams. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid when Preparing for an Estate Sale:

These little tips will help improve your sale. We been have developing our formula for success, and have found avoiding these simple mistakes really do increase the success of your sale. 

Throwing away things
The number one rule for an estate sale is to never throw away anything. This does not mean, however, everything has value or some things are not trash, but it does mean there are many times clients do not know the difference. We are often faced with clients who “kept the good stuff and threw away the trash”, only to find out the stuff they kept is not as saleable as the trash they donated or tossed. Remember, you are hiring a professional company for their knowledge and expertise, and you should take advantage of that and let them throw away the trash for you.

Having a garage sale before the estate sale
Never have a garage sale before the estate sale. Many customers will remember the address and this will reduce your attendance at the estate sale because they think they have already seen all you are selling the first time. Also many cities require up to a year between permits for sales held at the same address.

Telling the neighbors about the sale
It may seem odd, but telling neighbors about the sale isn't always a good thing. Many times, word will spread and you will have neighbors putting on a garage sale next door or down the street. This can confuse shoppers and they may stop at the garage sale thinking it is the estate sale, and then leave and never make it to your sale.

Waiting until the last moment to book a sale
We are often booked one to two months in advance. Waiting until your house sells or calling around last-minute can leave you without anyone to help you with the sale. You could end up having to donate your items instead of being able to make money from them. Or you could be left with an unqualified and unprofessional company hosting your sale. 

Moving everything to a storage unit
Many people a rush to get their house sold and move everything to a storage unit. Unfortunately, you cannot hold a sale out of a storage unit. You are then stuck with paying a storage fee every month, with nowhere to go for your items to be sold. The only other option is to rent a retail store front and pay to have the items moved to the store to have it sold, but this can lead to a very costly bill.

Packing up everything you are selling into boxes
It’s amazing how often we go into a home where the owners have boxed up everything they are selling and moved those boxes into the garage. This ads time and cost to your sale (a cost you will have to pay) and, in some cases, makes your sale not able to be done. Always leave items where they are, if you are selling them, as its easier for you and for us. 

Giving away things before the sale
It is easy, after someone dies or you move, to let family members, friends, and neighbors come get things for free, unfortunately, those same people will normally take the most sellable things out of your home, leaving you with a house full of hard-to-sell items. It is not unusual for 80% of the value of household things to be in only 20% of the items. 

Hiring the cheapest company
Not all estate sales companies are the same. Hiring a company that is cheaper and skimps on the advertising or does not do a good job setting up a sale, could lead to an estate sale running dramatically less than hiring a company who does a better job and gets more things sold at a higher price. Always check with a company to know exactly what you are getting for your money.

Not taking professional advice
You did the right move in hiring a professional company to conduct the sale for you, now its time to take their advice. We have the advantage of doing many estate sales, and all the experience that comes from this. The way we do things has evolved from successes and mistakes of those years to a very well-organized system that works for almost every sale, every time. Ideas that sound good to you have most likely been tried before, and there is a reason we follow our own successful system. 

Getting too involved
Once again, our company knows what we are doing, and we regularly do sales for heirs who live out of state. We are able to hold successful sales with no additional help from the family. If you try to help or supervise, you will eventually get in the way, slowing us down and actually hindering your sale, not helping it. The only way you can help us is to remove anything you are keeping from the home before we start setting up, if you have time you may clean anything you feel needs to be cleaned (this should also be done before we start setting up). After we start setting up your sale, we need you to step aside and let us do what you have hired us to do.

Leaving items in the house that are not being sold
We will need every inch of space in your house to stage the sale. Every item not for sale but left in the house takes space away from items we are selling. Customers always focus on things they cannot buy, and this distracts them from buying what is for sale. Also, taking it home eliminates the chance that an item my be lost or broke during the sale.

Selling things off after you have hired a company
This is a big mistake people often make. When we agree to do your sale, we know there is enough stuff to make a successful sale. If you sell things after we agree to do your sale, and there is not enough left for us to hold a sale, we will have no choice but to cancel your sale, leaving you stranded with a partial house full of things and no way to sell them.