Another wasted morning at an "estate sale"

[clovis97]

There was a classified ad in the local newspaper on Thursday that read "Estate Sale. Household, antiques, tools, and more."

I am pretty familiar with this rural area and the houses on the road. For the life of me, I couldn't imagine which family was having an estate sale.

I changed my plans for the day so I could attend this "estate sale."

When we arrived, it was at a beautiful Italianate that has been empty since the 1970's. I thought it was strange that there was an estate sale there. The previous residents have been dead for 40 years.

Turns out that this "estate sale" was a local antiques dealer who had moved all of her unsellable junk to this house, and pretended to act as if it were all out of this estate.

I know that fake advertising is part of this business, and it happens every day of the year, across the nation, but it still TICKS me off. These misleading ads are nothing more than bald faced lies, and a sheer waste of people's time and energy.

 

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[captain flintlock]

I hate that!! People should call it what it is!!

 

[Rawhide]

the practice here is the reverse. they over charge and keep the stuff the re sell it later for huge profits.

 

[diggummup]

Some people will try anything. I went to one listed as an "ebay sellers dream sale" today. What a joke that was.
Just one example- For $400 I could have bought a 14k fire opal ring that sells for between $100 and $200 on ebay.
I told the lady when I left (emptyhanded and smiling) that she was out of touch with reality and her sale was more like an ebayer sellers nightmare. I couldn't resist.

 

[artslinger]

That is correct, on some of them, the people are just moving to a diff part of town, and don't want to haul their things, and want to sell higher than garage sale prices! One of my neighbors was working for an estate company, but just a few weeks ago started his own company! My very good friend (another neighbor) told me that he and a group of other neighbors went to his house for some drinks, and that you could barely walk! he has boxes, statues, sculptures, art, you name it, he has it. My friend told me that there is just a little narrow path to walk by! Of course, over price, it doesn't sell, and then they get it dirt ship from the original owner or his/her family!

RJA

 

[Paleo_joe]

So much depends on the estate sale company. There are some I would never go to, even if the ad had everything I ever dreamed of. Others I go to religiously, even if the ad and pictures don't show anything. They price to sell to dealers and they clear that house in a weekend.

 

[diggummup]

So much depends on the estate sale company. There are some I would never go to, even if the ad had everything I ever dreamed of. Others I go to religiously, even if the ad and pictures don't show anything. They price to sell to dealers and they clear that house in a weekend.

Like my favorite seller I'm going to tomorrow, she prices to sell and doesn't spend an exuberant amount of time searching the internet researching, trying to price things. Sometimes her sales don't have much but most of the time I find something worthwhile and every now and then I hit a great score from her. I even tipped her a $100 bill once the next time I saw her, after I made over a grand on less than $100 spent at one of her sales. Most estate sale companies don't get the time of day from me. There are 3 or 4 that I still frequent though.

There is an auctioneer here locally that hosts estate sales every now and then. At all of his sales he also brings stuff from his auction house and tries to sell it. All way overpriced. The bad part is you can never tell which sales are his by the ad, so every now and then I end up at one of his sales. I have yet to purchase a single item from him. Actually, the last 2 times when I found out it was him, I just left and went to the next sale.

 

[Dozer D]

Since it was a FAKE COME ON, you should have bought a lot of stuff with counterfeit money. Haha

 

[dejapooh]

Out here, estate sales fall into several catagories.
1) Professional estate sale company (add 50% to Ebay price, and that is the initial start price. Books can be cheap, except Coffee table books. They will run $10 to $25 each (even if they are available on Amazon for $.01 plus $3.99 shipping).
2) Family Run estate sale (Look for these bargains galore)
3) Our Crap is too good for a Garage Sale, so it is an Estate Sale (read as Garage sale by people who remember what they paid when it was new, and want to sell it for 2x now, because it was in THEIR house, so it must be a collectible).

 

[DFW_THer]

I told the lady when I left (emptyhanded and smiling) that she was out of touch with reality and her sale was more like an ebayer sellers nightmare. I couldn't resist.

Damn that's rough! Haha

 

[DFW_THer]

I don't have a problem when estate liquidators 'create' an estate or 'add' to an estate. That's actually part of their business model. Sometimes they agree to take on someone's estate, but with the condition that they can add their own items to the sale to make it more appealing. Is it a true estate sale in that all the belongings were from a single person/family? No. Does it detract from the sale? Not really. Dealers/liquidators miss things frequently and I have picked up nice pieces for nickels on the dollar at an 'enriched' estate sale.

I understand you're talking about a dealer moving and selling all their own inventory to a home and calling it an estate sale. Is it picked through stuff? Maybe, probably, sure... Can a keen eye still find something for a song? Absolutely. What else should they call it? "Antique Liquidation Sale In A Home!" Nah. It's an estate sale. They may have gotten the inventory from many different estates--who really cares?

House fishing is house fishing.

Good thread!

 

[WhiteTornado]

There was a classified ad in the local newspaper on Thursday that read "Estate Sale. Household, antiques, tools, and more."

I am pretty familiar with this rural area and the houses on the road. For the life of me, I couldn't imagine which family was having an estate sale.

I changed my plans for the day so I could attend this "estate sale."

When we arrived, it was at a beautiful Italianate that has been empty since the 1970's. I thought it was strange that there was an estate sale there. The previous residents have been dead for 40 years.

Turns out that this "estate sale" was a local antiques dealer who had moved all of her unsellable junk to this house, and pretended to act as if it were all out of this estate.

I know that fake advertising is part of this business, and it happens every day of the year, across the nation, but it still TICKS me off. These misleading ads are nothing more than bald faced lies, and a sheer waste of people's time and energy.

Just curious how this works. So the local antiques dealer gets in touch with the current property owners, says something like, "I'd like to host a yard sale in that yard because of the location, house looks cool, etc"? Then she pays a small rental fee for the weekend?

 

[OldSowBreath]

I rarely go to estates sales now as they are for the most part, grossly overpriced. I did go to one that was just a couple of block from my house and of course, very overpriced. I bought a few empty jewelry boxes hoping to match the product to the box later. Fast forward three weeks, and another estate sale at the same house. Same company running it. Again, I bought a couple of empty jewelry boxes that I didn't get the first time around. Same price. Just for grins, I complemented the woman running it for keeping her prices in line (the weren't). She proudly said this, "I really am fair in my pricing. I price items for what they go for on ebay and I'll even show the people that that's what they sell for." Think about that statement. She then continues, "At the last sale here I sold 90% of the inventory!".

At least 90%, if not more, of what was there was present three weeks earlier.

Whenever I see an add that says "Re-sellers welcome!", or Re-sellers' delight!", I know its going to be a screwing.

 

[Junk_Puppet]

1. Avoid any sale that has the word Ebay mentioned
2. Avoid any sale that has a phone number posted
3. Avoid any sale that talks about specific antiques ("Tiffany""Carnival glass" "Roseville")

 

[DFW_THer]

1. Avoid any sale that has the word Ebay mentioned
2. Avoid any sale that has a phone number posted
3. Avoid any sale that talks about specific antiques ("Tiffany""Carnival glass" "Roseville")

1. I would tend to agree, but it's not a deal breaker.
2. Why?
3. Why? Liquidators list what they think are the best items in the ad. They don't have the specialty knowledge that I have as a picker on a few categories, so if they have Tiffany or listed artists then it sounds like a high dollar estate. I'm first in line.

 

[Beachkid23]

1. Avoid any sale that has the word Ebay mentioned
2. Avoid any sale that has a phone number posted
3. Avoid any sale that talks about specific antiques ("Tiffany""Carnival glass" "Roseville")

I love the ones with the phone numbers. Call them all up. Do you have any jewelry, coins, or a sterling silver flatware set? When the answer is no I plan my route for different direction. If the answer is yes then what are you doing in the next 20 minutes? Only work three times but has been worth while.

I like going to the family run ones first thing in the am. However if it's run by a company then I go at about noon because they're all overwhelmed from the first half of the morning. a lot of their stuff is still sitting there that's overpriced. And after four or five hours of people asking them how much something is on the same item, normally by noon they're sick of it they want to get rid of it.

Oh, not to mention its 100 outside the houses are hot from people going in and out so the house is not cold. I want to be done by this time of day. I seem to do better after 12-1 on them.

On another note there's a lady here that sells everything indoors . And she has a whole house full of stuff. She's had it listed the same way forever but then last week she listed it as an estate sale. I was pretty upset when I pulled up in the driveway and realized but I guess she had other people as well so good for her hopefully she sold some stuff but I can't go back in the house...

 

[clovis97]

Just curious how this works. So the local antiques dealer gets in touch with the current property owners, says something like, "I'd like to host a yard sale in that yard because of the location, house looks cool, etc"? Then she pays a small rental fee for the weekend?

I have recently learned that this dealer's father bought the farm ground where this house is located. It is a beautiful Italianate, but in poor condition. She emptied what was in the house, and moved her stuff inside, and proclaimed it to be "an estate sale."

FWIW, the family that bought this farm and house are big time farmers, and highly respected in the area. If the father tells you something, you can take it to the bank. I'm guessing that his daughter, the antiques dealer, never learned that lesson. I suspect he would be ticked to know that his daughter was pulling such a scam.

 

[Beans]

I like to go after the big rush. I am not looking for jewelry or stuff like that, so I don't get in a big hurry to stand in line. Went to one last week, last day, afternoon, half price. Picked a couple of decent vintage shirts. 25 - 50 cents each.

 

[jerseyben]

1. Avoid any sale that has the word Ebay mentioned
2. Avoid any sale that has a phone number posted
3. Avoid any sale that talks about specific antiques ("Tiffany""Carnival glass" "Roseville")

I dont get it.

 

[diggummup]

1. Avoid any sale that has the word Ebay mentioned
2. Avoid any sale that has a phone number posted
3. Avoid any sale that talks about specific antiques ("Tiffany""Carnival glass" "Roseville")

I dont get it.

I'll take a stab at this one since I kind of agree to a certain point from my own personal experiences in this neck of the woods...

1- Any sale that has ebay mentioned is someone who has probably researched every item they are selling so their items will be priced as such.

2- Any sale that has a phone number mentioned has already been bombarded with dealers calling, also they are probably a dealer themselves. So...
a- if not a dealer then the good stuff has probably been snatched up already by those dealers who lie in wait for new garage sale listings to pop up and call within the first 5 minutes of seeing the listing or...
b- if it is a dealer then their prices are probably too high to make any money off of.

3- If specific names of certain collectibles or antiques are mentioned then it means the person selling the items knows what they are selling and it will usually priced as such, retail or slightly lower with not enough meat on the bone for most resellers.

This is good if you live in an area where there are many sales to choose from. Obviously it wouldn't work too well in an area where you only have a couple dozen sales to choose from in a 25 mile radius. There are usually 200-500 sales to choose from in the tri county area down here each week, depending.