I am desperately in need of clearing an estate to both move on and survive to be honest. This was an unexpected loss and I had to leave my job to move from MA to Florida. Work is tough to come by and expenses are killing me. I have a collection of probably at least 50 thimbles as well as a ton of arts and craft accessories. At this point I need to consider selling everything. Where do I begin?
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For the least amount of hassle, start a Nextdoor.com account (free) and post all the things you'd like to sell. Tag it with the words "estate sale" which will gather a lot of people near you. You won't have to deal with shipping or sharing the profit with the site.
i agree with Attosa about maybe using Nextdoor and labeling it as an estate sale but there are many pitfalls as this is basically a fancy "yard sale" and may not really net very much money.
If you have other things for sale and let's say you can open the house to let people look at different stuff to buy, you can advertise in different papers "Estate Sale" as well as Nextdoor.org and maybe make more money.
If you cannot open the house then you may have to set up an outdoor (or carport/garage) sale and have everything priced before allowing anyone to take a look. yard sales can net quite a bit of money if enough "sellable" items are available.
Collectible thimbles may or may not sell very well at a yard sale (but they can be easily stolen) as most thimbles are only valued at $3-$10 and at a yard sale may only sell for $3, if at all.
Craft supplies can be bundled and may sell for a few dollars but you have to remember that people go to yard sales (and estate sales) mostly looking for bargains.
This is usually true unless you advertise something special (maybe even thimbles) and then you may have a few collectors stop by but then, they too, are wanting something for a low price. You may have a few thimbles that are more valuable but to find out which ones you would have to research every thimble (maybe eBay and Etsy) and that is a tedious and time consuming job. (Thimbles do not always have a name to research so that makes it even more difficult.)
One thing for sure, any sales you may try should not be a "one person" job as there are thieves who frequent yard sales and estate sales and they are very gifted in their techniques.
According to where you are located, you may have someone come out and give you a "price" on taking everything but generally this will be a very low price (generally shockingly low!).
If you find you have to do this alone (AND I do NOT recommend this!) then I would suggest you set up either a garage or just one (front) room (that you can closed off from the rest of the house) (AND have NO bathroom privileges) so you can see everything that is going on.
Be sure anything valuable that can go in a pocket is stored safely and has to be asked to see or hold.
Have change available and only keep small bills where they can be seen when giving change. Have a safe place for larger bills set up before you begin any sale. Most people still try to use a "fanny belt" when having a yard sale.
I know some will think I am overly stating this but truthfully; I am probably not stating it enough as I do not believe it is ever safe for anyone to allow a stranger in their house or garage if they are alone.
You may be able to list an ad on Craigslist and sell your thimbles maybe in groups or all for one price. You could list on other sites if you are familiar with how to use these sites: IOffer, FL4Sale, LetGo, OfferUp and more but these can get confusing if you are doing everything yourself.
A final note: Do not let anyone in your house that you do not know. Maybe a neighbor can help you. Make arrangements to meet in an open area - McDonald's, Burger King, etc.
Wow thanks everyone! this is extremely helpful, I will look into these sites and I didn't even think of a flea market Unfortunately this is a solo job I definitely do not want a bunch of strangers here at the house not to mention the house was left a disaster, its got wild cats I need to catch and 61 years of hoarded junk.
Thank you for responding. I hope some of the suggestions offered by everyone will help you through this disaster you are going through.
There is one thing I would like to point out about having someone come to the house to give you a price on buying "everything". Many people have an illusion about what some call "fairness" but, since I speak from having helped others going through similar situations, what "buyers" will offer is actually so low that only the desperate will accept their offer. I have seen offers of $75-$100 for a complete household of furniture and paraphernalia.
What many have not seen is the way most of these people remove the contents and the total disaster they leave behind. These people are not a "clean up" crew and will take only the items they can sell for a profit and many times destroy everything else as they move through the house. As a general rule, this type of "buy-out" will have a small crew remove what they want and be completely finished in less than an hour.
The "owner" is then left with the very time consuming cleanup and removal of the destruction they left behind. I usually compare this to seeing the aftermath of clean up that is left after having a company cut down some trees. Total shock is usually the reaction.
I do not mean that there are no honest or fair dealers around but finding one may be difficult.
Since you are struggling to do this by yourself, it seems the flea market may be your best avenue. Your biggest problem with handling all of this is time - as you will probably be dealing with this clean up for many months. Being alone makes this even more frustrating so you will have to reconcile within yourself that cleanup will happen but not overnight.
As for the problem with the wild cats, you may have to try and get some assistance from the local humane society (they do have cages to loan and they will pick up any cats you "trap") and sometimes even law enforcement. The problem with all of this is it is usually stated that anything like this is the responsibility of the "owner" and you may have to pay someone to catch and remove the cats.
If you would like to state where in Florida you are located, I would be glad to offer assistance in finding someone to help you if you are anywhere within my area. Of course, acceptance of any assistance offered would be totally your decision.
Some of the suggestions offered (by everyone) may not fit your needs but they may help someone else who may be in a similar situation and happen to see this article (even several years from now).
I feel sure everyone wishes you great success in dealing with these circumstances that have befallen you and that sometime in the future you will be able to look back on this period and smile..
There are companies that specialize in estate sales. You do have to give them a commission, but they will price the items at what they are worth.
You have my sympathy on your loss. Your situation sounds very stressful.
Since it is just you, you may want a combination solution:
For the thimbles you may want to try one of the in person ebay sellers like this one:
www.ebay.com/
For the arts and crafts items, pack up boxes by like item and sell them on Facebook marketplace at 10 a box (or less) with porch pick up only... this is a good how to:
If you have furniture that is not antique or unusual, I strongly suggest finding a second hand store that does buy outs and sell it to them as a lot. You will only get 1/4 of second hand market retail, which is about 1/16 of what it was valued at new.
If you have antiques, I would find a shop that buys and sell as a lot. Same process as above.
The last method is to see if there are auction houses that haul and sell it all.... meaning you pay them to haul it to their facility...around me it's 75 an hour to pack and haul, then they break up items into auction lots, sell at a live auction and you get a percentage of the sale. Here it averages 60-65% you, the rest the auction house.
Good luck!!
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