Realistic Expectations for Your Estate Sale — What the Numbers Actually Look Like
One of the most important conversations we have with clients happens before the sale ever starts: what should you realistically expect to walk away with?
The 50% Rule
Here’s a rough but reliable benchmark. Take everything in the home, price it out, and add it up. A well-run estate sale will typically return about half of that total. So if your inventory totals $10,000, a realistic target is around $5,000. If there is a lot of furniture on sale, the return will probably be lower.
That gap exists for two reasons. First, estate sale items sell at a discount, and buyers expect it, and smart pricing accounts for it. Second, not everything sells. Some items just don’t find a buyer in a two to four-day window, no matter how well the sale is run.
The eBay Myth
A lot of clients come in having researched prices on eBay. That’s understandable, but there’s a critical distinction: the listing price and the sold price are two very different numbers. We always look at what items actually sold for and not what someone hoped to get. That gap can be significant. And eBay sellers have weeks or months to find the right buyer. We have a weekend.
“Your Prices Are Crazy”
We hear it. We’re not offended. Here’s what’s actually happening.
On day two of a three-day sale, most companies drop high-ticket items 25%. We don’t. We drop them 33% and we consistently bring in more money for our clients because of it. That’s not a typo. A 33% discount moves more product at a higher return than a 25% discount does.
It’s a counterintuitive result that took years of running business liquidations across the country to fully appreciate. Buyers respond to the psychology of the discount differently than you’d expect, and the numbers bear it out, sale after sale.
This is the kind of detail that separates companies with real experience from those still figuring it out.