Estate (tag) Sale vs Auction

Everything must go. I'm starting over. Everything from trapping/hunting to machining/fabricating to early car/truck projects in the man's dept. to beauty shop/supplies for those with feminine pronouns. Obviously tons of furnishings and such in between.

Where is it listed? Have any good crosscuts, axes, tradbows?

Ain't listed yet. I haven't decided which way to go. Looking for advice.

I have to be out in June, or possibly a couple extensions into 2024. So looking to sell quickly, but with plenty of warning for preparation time.

Not exactly. Have a half dozen chainsaws, axes/hatchets/machetes and archery (crossbow) stuff.

if you have time, honestly getting top dollar for your stuff is the key. Time is also money though. I used to love eBay, but they sure chip away at ones profits now. Craigslist can be great for more common and wanted things like chainsaws. I feel the more people who see your merch, the more you'll get for it. An auction is great if there are lots of bidders. Good luck

Pros and cons to both methods

Tag sale
Pro - you get to set the prices.
Con - not everything will sell and it could drag out for days.

Auction
Pro - everything is gone and usually in one day
Con - you have no control over prices.

In my opinion - if you have quality goods, an auction is the way to go. With good advertising, your sale should draw a good crowd. Everything will be gone and a lot less work for you. A good auction company is worth the commission they charge.

Good luck.

To be honest top dollar is less important than getting rid of everything. I don't want to give it all away, but, I do want it all gone.

Where you headed?

How much time do you want to deal with tire-kickers? Craigslist is an option but then you get some real crazies you have to deal with. K-bid might be a good option to look into and if it doesn't sell then Craigslist or Facebook Market perhaps.

If that be the case I think I would go auction.

Auction. people get greedy and start bidding wars paying over value. A good auction company will get you top dollar as the more you make the more they make. Tell them you want the option to No-Sale if you don't like the bid price. Estate sales are like yard sales. They bring out the people wanting to beat you down so they can put on Ebay or at their auction.

You may already know that auctions charge 25-50 percent. Tag sale people charge also- you can do that yourself though. Lot of work either way but you never sell it all at a tag sale. What are the chainsaws, I collect.

During Covid when Estate Sales went online- I thought the prices were higher than at auction on boots on the ground estate sales- if you're looking to maximize profit that's another option.

I would do Facebook marketplace. It's a bit of a pain but stuff goes fast. Everything left over by spring just bring to an auction center. A good Facebook add and a reasonable price moves things.

Ide be interested in chainsaws and sawmilling stuff if you want to PM me what you have, I need a kiln.

I just had a garage sale yesterday on things I no longer wanted and had planned to have it for 3 days. I listed it on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, a Nisswa Neighbor's forum, and my Facebook page along with 10 photos and a partial description of some very reasonable prices. I was almost half sold out in the first hour and by the end of the first day, everything was gone. If you are more concerned about getting rid of stuff than making money, price things low enough and it will be gone. Garage sales are a lot of work, but you don't have to pay anyone else for commissions.

At this point, I ain't got clue one. It's an "offer I can't refuse". New developement coming all around me. I can either take the money and run, or I can stay in a world that i would hardly recognize.

Actually, if i chose the latter i would put up several acres of solar grids for the new yuppies to stare at out their million dollar window.

Machining and fabricating tools plus the project vehicle stuff find a local auction company doing online auctions. Check out hibid.com and proxibid.com to see who is using them in your area and how things are selling. I have watch lists on both sites, watching is free it's the bidding that gets me in trouble.

Also ; very much depends on the weather

I've heard some auction companies getting like 25% these days. I think I would cherry pick my most expensive items and try to sell them myself and then auction off what's left.

Just dont tell the auctioneer you sold the high end items first or it will be 50 percent if they even do it at all. They will turn it down if it is all low end stuff.

The only way an auction works is to sell it all with no cherry picking b4. The few crazy high stuff makes up for the low. Most auctions base % on how much they think the sale will gross. The more junk the higher the commission. They will bid the commission lower to stay competitive if it looks to be a good sale. JMO.

All the above is good advice.

The only thing I will add is get anything "out" that you want to keep before the person conducting it comes in. Around here once the auctioneer or person doing the tag sale come in they have absolute control. A friend had an estate sale of hers moms stuff. She found something she really wanted to keep after the seller came in and took pics and priced everything. He made her buy the item. He did give her a break, but still......

The problem with K-bid is that they usually take at least 25% of the selling price. I sold a bunch of 1 1/2 Victor CS. They went for about $3.50 each to the high bidder. Then K-bid took their 25%. I ended up with about $2.75 per trap. I always took good care of my traps and they were in great condition. Before I listed with this K-bid seller, I had checked with another one who told me they took 40% of the selling price. IMO, K-bid can be a good place to buy from. But, not a good place to sell from.

I love garage sales that list as "Estate Sale" because in most cases it's an "everything must go" sale and the seller will negotiate the price.

The 25% they want for doing an auction in our area sure stings.

Is 25-50% commission a bad thing?

yeah, maybe if I have only one thing for sale, that anyone can easily look up on a "blue book" or something.

But, when a sale comprises hundreds or even thousands of items at a proper, market rate sale price, It could be money well spent. Most of us, at least myself, have little knowledge, or feel for the value of used stuff.

• Priced too high, not only will an item not sell, but It may also discourage buyers from looking further.
• priced too low and seller may be losing more than just 25 or so %.

I think I will be willing, and even happy, to pay a professional for their staging and pricing expertise.

25% is fairly standard and fair in my opinion. Especially if you are hiring a professional with a good track record.

50% is too much, even for the best person/company.