At Judy’s Jewelry Antique and Estate Jewelry, we are excited to help run your estate sale for you. There are a number of things you’ll need to do before you even call us in to help set it up. Here are some simple guidelines Sal, the owner at Judy’s has created to help you get organized before your estate sale.
- Please, don’t throw anything away! Sal has so many horror stories of showing up to start setting up an estate sale and seeing a huge dumpster in the driveway with all kinds of items in it that the owners of the estate thought was junk. Very often it’s not junk, they just didn’t know the value of it! Let Sal see it first, it may be more valuable than you think. Plus, it’s important to offer lots of different items to shoppers. What is so compelling to shoppers about estate sales—and what gets them up early in the morning to go to a sale—is how often there are items of modest value offered for sale alongside items of higher value. A successful estate sale will have all different price points represented, and as much variety as possible.
- Know What you Want to Sell—If you are interviewing several estate sales professionals, you will need to be able to explain in clear terms what specific items you and your family are willing to sell. This will make the interview process proceed smoothly and eliminate future confusion. Take a little time and mark those items you are not going to sell with a post-it note, a piece of blue tape or any other way you think best to visibly mark those items. During the interview process you can point to items which you have marked and let them know those items are not to be sold.
- Have Appraisals Ready—You may already have a number of items that have been appraised for insurance purposes. If so, be sure to let your estate liquidator know about it so they can generate the sales that match the values suggested in the appraisal documents.
- Have Your Questions Ready—Be sure to have a list of questions to ask the estate liquidators you are interviewing. The way each company you interview answers these questions will let you know whether there is a good fit or rapport between the two of you. Print out copies and file them in your binder along with the answers each company gives you during your interviews.
