Having An Estate Sale? Use These Suggestions

Being in charge of handling a deceased relative's things can be a challenge. Deciding to have an estate sale can allow you to sell off the contents of their house and make some money that you can send to other relatives or use as you like. However, without experience with these kinds of sales, you may need help; the suggestions here can make your sale successful:

Research Items

A big mistake you can make when pricing things are failing to do research. If your relative owned silver cutlery, for instance, you may price the pieces too high and people could avoid them. That's why you've got to set aside some of your time to devote to looking up the value of what you plan to offer in the estate sale.

How do you find out what things should be priced at? You can look at completed auctions on auction-style sites or have an appraiser arrive at a particular price.

Recruit Help

Don't give yourself the responsibility of handling all the sales from the entire property. Not only will you become overwhelmed making change and handling long lines, but if all the customers have to ask you for questions, they can become frustrated while they wait for you to complete other tasks. Instead, get relatives or friends to help staff the estate sale.

Make Sure Pricing is Understandable

One thing that could confuse people is your pricing system. If they're not able to tell exactly what something will cost them, they may walk by and go on to something else. Ensure everything has a price on it that anyone can see clearly.

Know How You'll Handle Large Bills

Resellers and antique dealers are likely to arrive at the estate sale with a lot of money. Know how you'll handle $50 and $100 bills; will you put larger bills in a special place? Do you have a marker to test whether bills are fraudulent? Do you have enough change? Expect larger bills and plan accordingly.

Sell Snacks and Drinks

If your relative has a large estate, you want to ensure that anyone who arrives on the property looks around at all the offerings and has an opportunity to buy as much as they like. To that end, you may consider offering snack-size potato chip bags and cold water bottles; you can make a few extra dollars and people don't have to leave the premises to fill their belly a bit.

Your estate sale should make a lot of money if you use all the advice here. Consult local estate sale services for professional assistance so you're sure things will go smoothly.