Planning an Estate Sale? 12 Simple Tips for Netting More Cash

Have a house full of things you’re looking to offload in one fell swoop? Consider holding an estate sale! Estate sales differ from your run-of-the-mill garage sale or yard sale and are a great way to make money on a high volume of household items — from vintage furniture to everyday items like kitchenware. Curious about how to have an estate sale? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s everything you need to know about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of holding an estate sale.

What is an estate sale? 

An estate sale is essentially a large sale of someone’s personal possessions — similar to a garage sale but on a much larger scale. Estate sales include a much higher volume of sale items and can feature high-ticket items, whereas garage or yard sales are usually just reserved for offloading a handful of second-hand bargain items. 

Why do people have estate sales? 

People often hold estate sales after the death of a loved one as a way to liquidate their personal assets. However, folks also turn to estate sales as a way to declutter before a move, make extra money, or help elderly parents relocate — though these are technically called tag sales since the owner of the belongings is still alive. Although the term “estate sale” may sound slightly outdated, its popularity holds steadfast, especially as the cost of living rises. People continue to switch up their living situations, relocate to other cities, and, sadly, deal with the loss of loved ones. 

How To Make Your Estate Sale as Smooth and Successful as Possible

Although garage sales and estate sales are similar, estate sale planning is much more involved — from inventory and pricing to advertising and day-of-sale operations. Every sale is unique, depending on the reason, location, items offered, and the buyers they attract. Whatever your situation, here are our best tips on how to have an estate sale — and how to make sure everything goes as successfully and smoothly as possible. 

1. Take Inventory of the Items You Want To Sell

First things first, you’ve got to decide what you want to keep, sell, or simply get rid of. If you’re holding an estate sale after a death, you’re likely looking to liquidate as many of the assets as possible. However, if you’re having the estate sale because you’re downsizing or moving, you’ll probably want to take a more discerning approach. Be sure to check the house from top to bottom for items to sell. You may be surprised at how many things you forgot you even owned!

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2. Price Items Strategically

This is probably the trickiest part of holding an estate sale, especially if you’re selling items that belonged to someone else. While rare items and antiques have a somewhat consistent price, many items will vary in price depending on where the estate sale is being held. Something that fetches a high price in New England may be relative junk in Florida — and vice versa. 

Remember that buyers are objective, so try not to let emotional attachment dictate price. Determine the highest price you can reasonably ask and the lowest price that you’re willing to accept. For items you might otherwise toss or that don’t have obvious significant value, consider bargain pricing or grouping them on a table or in a bin where all items have a flat price of $1, $5, or $10.

3. Get Professional Appraisals for Items of Value

We strongly recommend getting a professional appraisal of everything you’re hoping to sell in your estate sale. Professional appraisers will make sure you don’t underprice — or overprice — your items. Plus, they’ll know what certain items are worth in your specific area and help determine if things like collector’s items and jewelry are the real deal. Remember, estate sales are an entire hobby and culture for some people, and some of the most serious frequenters know that professional pricing is a key part of how to have an estate sale that’s taken seriously. 

4. Decide if Anything Is Worth a Quick Clean or Fix

You’d be surprised what a smidge of TLC can do for an item’s appeal. A simple shine, lick of paint, quick wash, or easy mend can turn an item destined for the trash into something worth selling. That said, not everything is worth salvaging, so weigh the time and materials it will take to fix or prepare the item versus how much it would be worth afterward.

5. Consider Temporary Storage  

Estate sales seldom happen overnight. Choosing a temporary storage option can help relieve time pressure and free up space during the estate sale planning process. You can use a self-storage unit to safely store items while you’re planning your estate sale. Or even better? Have a PODS portable storage container delivered to you, so can store your items at home or on site where the estate sale is taking place. This gives you 24/7 access to items while you’re sorting, pricing, and prepping for your estate sale. If you need more time before holding the sale, you can also have the container taken to a secure PODS Storage Center and then delivered back to your home or another location when you’re ready to stage the estate sale.

6. Hold Your Estate Sale on a Weekend Day

For the heaviest amount of traffic and the most prospective buyers, host your estate sale on the weekend. Keep in mind that hosting your estate sale over a holiday weekend can be a toss up, though, since many people travel out of town. And never hold an estate sale on Christmas or Thanksgiving, even if it falls on a weekend.

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7. Advertise Your Estate Sale and Include Pictures of Your Best Items

Part of the work involved with learning how to have an estate sale is remembering to advertise. Advertising is key to piquing the interest of buyers and getting the word out that you’re having an estate sale. There’s always a chance that a handful of people will walk or drive by, but serious buyers scour for the best sales by looking online, on social media, and in newspapers. Be sure to take pictures of your most appealing items, showcase a range of what types of things people will find at your sale, highlight rare items and bargain bins, and triple-check that the date, hours, and address are correct.

_{(Source: @changing_spaces_srs via instagram)} 

8. Set Up Your Selling Area Precisely to Maximize Sales

Presentation and flow can be big factors in the success of your estate sale. Be sure to lay everything out in an obvious manner, clearly mark prices, spread your items out to keep the flow going, and avoid any layouts that can cause traffic jams. Make it easy for you to keep an eye on valuable items like jewelry, antiques, or collector’s items. If you’re hosting the sale in your current home, be sure to clearly mark any items that are not for sale. If you rent a portable container, you can hide away items you want to keep — or even use it for additional display space, since it sits right at ground level.  It provides shade and protection from the elements, and if you don’t sell everything on the first day, it will be easy to hold another sale without having to lug everything back inside and then out again.

9. Make It Clear Which Areas Are Off Limits

You see, the thing about estate sales is that they are typically held throughout the entire house — or at least that’s what prospective buyers think. In their eyes, the estate sale is basically giving them permission to snoop around every inch of the house. If there are any areas or groups of items that you don’t want strangers to rifle through, clearly mark them. Your best bet? If you don’t have access to temporary storage, keep off-limit areas out of sight, if possible, by shutting doors and hanging signs that clearly state the areas behind the doors are not included in the sale.

10. Enlist Lots of Help for the Big Day (or Days)

Estate sales are incredibly popular. At times, you may have dozens of people in the house at the same time. Cover your bases while estate sale planning by being prepared with several helpers that can mingle throughout the home. Even if their sole purpose is to direct all questions to you, that’s still a huge help! But if they want extra friend points, taking some of the stress off of you by acting as additional “cashiers” can really make a huge impact!

11. Decide If You’re Going to Donate, Discard, Auction, or Keep Any Items That Don’t Sell

In a perfect world, all your items would sell, but that’s rarely the case. But fear not, there are some next steps you can take for unsold items. If you’re really looking to make money, you can arrange to put the items up for auction, or possibly receive a tax credit by donating them to charity. Otherwise, decide if it’s something you might want to keep or would rather just donate or throw away. 

12. Familiarize Yourself With Estate Sale Tax Laws 

One of the major ways that estate sales differ from garage sales is that you’re likely to make a lot more money. This also means that it’s imperative to know and understand the tax laws surrounding estate sales, as you’ll likely owe taxes from the event. In states like Delaware, Alaska, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Montana, you may be exempt from tax of any kind from your estate sale, but this is not the case in other states. 

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Estate Sale FAQs

Alex Keight is a frequent contributor to the PODS Blog who has moved 20+ times because she loves to experience new places.

_{(Source for image featured at top: @estate.sales via Instagram)}