r/estatesales

I'm looking for a little advice before hopefully shopping my first estate sale this weekend. Is it worth it to go to an estate sale close to the end of the last day? There are a few items in the pictures for this particular sale that I'd love to get, but I'm getting anxious just thinking about long lines, parking, navigating lots of other shoppers, etc. And I wouldn't be completely heartbroken if I missed out on these particular items.

What advice would you give to someone going to their first estate sale in regards to timing? Worth it to deal with the stress at the beginning, or better to just know everything might be picked over near the end?

(Also, the first two days are Thursday and Friday, so I can't make it until the final day on Saturday anyway)

I used to go to great lengths to accommodate buyers who, for one reason or another had problems picking up online auction purchases. I still have a chain saw I brought back to my house months ago to hold for a guy. It's gotten ridiculous lately so my answer is now, "Pick up by the deadline or forfeit your money and the item." I gave away a nice living room set last week to another buyer just to get it out of the house for my clients. It's in our terms and conditions that buyers agree to so we win any credit card disputes. We've even charged disposal fees on a few occasions. Is this something you are encountering?

I am writing to share my family's recent experience with an estate sale hosted by Everything Cool in Halls Tennessee. I wanted to provide our honest feedback so that others can make an informed decision when considering whether or not to work with this company. I also wanted to share our side of the experience because I believe some statements made in his response to our Google review and in a subsequent Facebook Live were inaccurate. In Part 2, I plan to compare those statements with what we experienced and with the evidence available to us.

Chapter 1 - Background info

My group consisted of me, my sister, my mom , aunt and my grandmother. We arrived at the Everything Cool estate sale at about 11 am on August 1st 2026 my mom let us out at the house (my grandmother has a hard time walking) while she found a place to park. Once we walked in the door I started looking around with my sister I noted the prices were too high and remarked to my sister several times that this was highly abnormal for estate sales for example they had some small 1 inch tall plastic toys in baggies for 5 dollars a piece. While walking around I also overheard a mother telling her daughter she couldn't get a toy since it was priced too high. When walking back into the living room I met back up with my grandma and my mom. My grandmother, who has attended more than 1,000 estate sales throughout her life, told my mom that she thought the prices were a little high. The owner overheard their conversation and responded, "If you don't like it, you can leave," so they decided to do just that. My sister and I made our way to the door and my mom went to get the car.

Chapter 2 - The Negative Encounter

My sister and I helped our grandma down the driveway (she is in her 70s and is having a knee replacement soon). Once we got to the road we started to talk amongst ourselves while we waited for the car we spoke about how the prices were too high and this really wasn't normal for estate sale pricing. We thought we were having a private conversation and I didn't even think anyone could hear us when all of a sudden I see the same man from inside walk quickly toward us. (The owner was about 10 feet away standing beside a employee when he rushed over). He approached my grandmother asking what we didn't like about the prices. During the argument, he raised his voice, pointed his finger at my grandmother, and stood approximately two feet away from her, based on my recollection (he later claims he stood several feet away) and said things like "Have you ever ran an estate sale" and that "he has been in business a long time and has never heard anyone complain about the prices" The escalation continued as my mom pulled up, he then placed his hand on my grandmother's arm without her consent and said something to the effect of, "Don't get ran over." (my mother drives large package trucks for a living and in my opinion was not even close to my grandmother with the car). An employee was outside and witnessed the owner approach our group and the interaction that followed.

Based on the timing and what I personally observed, I believe he may have gone outside intending to approach my grandmother. He had been inside during our visit, but as we were leaving and waiting for my mother to bring the car around, I saw him outside before he quickly walked over and approached her.

We all got into the car, but the argument continued between him and my family. Afterward I believe he took a video of our license plate and I have video showing the owner standing behind the vehicle with his cell phone pointed toward the license plate.

After this the owner walked away and we drove away.

Questions or comments

Please let me know if you have any questions about the encounter. I mainly wanted to make this post to share our side of the story since he decided to do a Facebook live. I've never had an encounter like this in my life and I was pretty shaken up afterward. I was uncomfortable being approached by a man whom I've never met in my life after we were already leaving. In Part 2, I plan to address statements made by the owner in his response to our Google review and in the Facebook Live he conducted afterward that I believe are inaccurate with our experience and the evidence available to us.

Please do not harass Everything Cool, The owner or his employees this is made to make awareness and to share our experience so other people wondering which estate sale company they should go with can make their own decisions.

Overview: I need to sell a dining table set and coffee table ASAP and all the normal avenues aren’t working. What other ideas do y’all have that can help me sell this furniture?

Details:
I have an Heirloom Bassett Solid Oak Dining Table Set (approx 30 yrs old) that I got appraised at $1,600.
I have a Vintage Drum Top Solid Wood Coffee Table (approx 25 yrs old) that was appraised at $350.

Please Note- I am not trying to sell this item through reddit, I am simply looking for advice and guidance!

My priorities are to 1) sell them asap and 2) sell them at or close to the price that they’re worth. at the moment, #2 is a higher priority than #1.

For the past month, I have attempted to use Facebook Marketplace, local Facebook “sell” groups, and OfferUp to sell these items online with no luck. I recently posted them on Ebay - again no luck. I’ve spoken to my friends and immediate community of people (i.e. coworkers) to see if they know anyone that would be interested- nada.

I’m open to any advice and resources you have to offer!

Went to an estate sale out in a older neighborhood, one of those brick ranch houses that clearly hadn't been touched since maybe the 80s in terms of decor. The sale was being run by a company, pretty organized, everything priced and labeled by room. I always go straight for the garage or basement first because that's usually where the weird stuff ends up, and this one didn't disappoint.

There was a plastic tote near the workbench with masking tape on it that just said junk drawer stuff in someone's handwriting, probably the family going through things before the company took over pricing. Most totes like that are genuinely junk, old batteries, rubber bands, that kind of thing, so I almost skipped it. But I dug through anyway and near the bottom under some receipts and a broken flashlight were three small mesh bags of marbles, still sealed, still with a little paper price tag stapled on that said something like 39 cents.

Turned them over and the tag had a store name I'd never heard of , looked like a five and dime type place, the kind that doesn't exist anymore. No barcode, just printed text. The marbles themselves look old too, kind of a swirly cat's eye style, not the plain solid color ones you get now. Whole tote was priced at four dollars for everything in it since it was end of day and they wanted stuff gone.

Grabbed it without even really negotiating. Still haven't opened the bags because something about them being sealed for who knows how many decades feels like it's worth more than whatever is actually inside.

We emptied my parents home after they passed and after divvying the contents the family wanted, engaged an auction company that the attorney recommended and others had also heard good things.

We experienced damage and loss of items. (Not to mention very low prices…)

The auction company took the contents in their trailers to await the online auction which occurred over two months later.

Help me understand: there was significant damage to multiple items including a punctured oil painting, scratches on Victorian sofa wood and table, punctured upholstery, a side table with the top disconnected from the leg/stand, and broken glass pane (not cracked - half was fully missing) in a short glass door book cabinet. There were also items not included in the auction which were in their photos before they took them including several silver plate items, a crèche figurine (no value but still), and the key to the curio cabinet which was sold “locked, without key”. I have their photos of all of these items demonstrating the damage and loss. The damaged things all sold (except the oil) but for no doubt lower prices.

They are waiving the truck charge, $200, but that’s it.

What do you think? It seems so incredibly unprofessional and I am shocked and saddened this happened. I had one conversation but the rest has been through text. The conversation sounded begrudging to give any consideration, that is where the truck charge was offered, and the missing items and some damaged items were not even known then.

Thanks in advance.

I love my mom but she had way too much money and too much time on her hands these last few years. She must have a hundred of these crystal/painted bird things and those original wooden boxes they came in. They are all over her house and the boxes are in the basement. I cannot imagine sitting on Facebook Marketplace and trying to sell them one at a time. Is there a company or service that will consign or sell them for me when the day finally comes?

Hi everyone, I wanted to share this estate sale my friend is having because we are experimenting with a new online early offers feature on my website. I truly believe this is the best way to keep things fair for everyone. We have all complained about companies selling items early to other people without giving a fair opportunity to everyone else, I believe this solves it and allows estate sale companies to make more money for their clients and ultimately themselves. Check it out!!

I have a sale coming up where the condo is requiring 5 shoppers per hour.

Looking for tips on how people have gone about this.

Curious what people have stumbled onto while browsing, could be something valuable, something strange, or just something that told an interesting story about the person who owned it. Always feels like a little window into someone's life.

Honestly, not in the business, curious when you're running a sale, how do you handle cataloguing and pricing hundreds of items? Is there a tool people actually like, or is it mostly PROSALE/EstateSail/spreadsheets?