Anyone ever been to an estate sale?

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RAMSTORIA

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So I'm bored at work and browsing random sections of craigslist (shopping only!) and I notice is an estate sale tomorrow. Looks like they got a couple of cool things. Then I notice there are tons of them. Lots and lots of cool stuff listed, everything from poker tables, to bars, to surround sounds and even individual movies on dvd.

ive never been to an estate sale, so if anyone has been, what can i expect? are the prices reasonable for used stuff? i dont want to go and try and buy tv and surround sound system (one of the things that caught my eye) if i can go out and get a new one at best buy for a bit more. like i said, i dont know what to expect. some ads say they take credit cards, others dont. can you usually negotiate price? any help/advice/insight is appreciated.
 
Only estate sales I have known about were run like an auction. Someone was presenting each item and then people in the room would bid on it. In that aspect you might snag some deals, but I assume a lot of dealers and resellers go.

I've seen others that look to be run more like a garage sale. So haggling would be a possibility there.

Unless you are just going to spend a few bucks on whatever suits your fancy, you'd probably be best off researching and being informed on whatever class of items you are searching for.
 
The one that I was just at was an auction style, and the people there are generally pretty giddy to just bid on random stuff for on reason, so it will just depend how many people are there. But I've seen some things such as TVs go for well below retail price, and I would have bid on it if I didn't already have a TV in every room. But some of the people there have issues, I will tell you that now. Worst than black friday shoppers @_@
 
Depending on the type of Estate sale some times you walk into a house that smells like old ass, and unwashed dogs.. look at their junk that a appraiser went in and marked up the price crazy high on.... Then you step in a dog shit thats in the house... And leave..

Other times its just like a garage sale in the house with some good deals some junk.... Or the Auction kind.
 
I went to an "estate sale" advertised around here since it was nearby, and it was a subpar garage sale with quite literally, junk. So sometimes, they're just claiming to be an estate sale to get people to go.

REAL estate sales can have some nice deals though. I've been to one, but I didn't know jack about most things other than video games, so I didn't stay around.
 
The above Posters are correct. They're just "glorified" garage sales. Some actually are garage/yard sales, but put the tag "Estate Sale" to get more people there. A true Estate sale is mostly used when someone has died, leaving the country and/or splitting property evenly via a property negotiator (divorce).

If it's a true estate sale, be wary of the people around you (could be the homeowner's /negotiator's friends outbidding you on purpose to raise the prices). Don't get caught up in a "bidding war".
 
thanks guys, thats pretty much what i pictured, so thanks for confirming that. i guess all i can do is show up and cross my fingers.
 
All of the estate sales around me are glorified garage sales. Never anything good and they are usually full of overpriced antiques. Good luck though. Hopefully you can find something.
 
[quote name='Space Cowboy YGI']The above Posters are correct. They're just "glorified" garage sales. Some actually are garage/yard sales, but put the tag "Estate Sale" to get more people there. A true Estate sale is mostly used when someone has died, leaving the country and/or splitting property evenly via a property negotiator (divorce).

If it's a true estate sale, be wary of the people around you (could be the homeowner's /negotiator's friends outbidding you on purpose to raise the prices). Don't get caught up in a "bidding war".[/QUOTE]

That's exactly what the one was where I went to. The assets were being split off, so they decided to auction things off, but I never thought about that most of the people there may by friends and family of the person doing the sale, which would makes sense since some of the people at the estate sale I was at were bidding ridiculously high for some items.
 
All the estate sales I've ever been to have been of the 'glorified garage sale' variety. I've also found they're lousy places for gaming stuff, I've never got anything at one.

Like any other used crap sale, it's a combination of luck and knowing what kind of things tend to go hand-in-hand with what you seek. For example, the sale I got my $5 toploader NES at, we stopped at becuase there were boxed action figures hanging all over the cyclone fencing. MIB GI Joe and X-men=geeks=possible videogames. :lol:
 
They are run by companies that make a certain amount of profit on the entire estate sale, so they mark everything up. There are always gems to be found, but you're not going to make a killing.
 
Depends on what kind of sale you hit, around here estate sales are usually cleaned out by 7 or 8am so you have to be up real early and be willing to fight the dealers for the stuff you want (now garage sales that is another story, but estate sales around here are basically glorified yard sales). These sales are usually run by a company, but can sometimes be run by the family that owns the house. Look for ones that are not run by a company if you want bargins, however those are few and far between here. If its run by a company you can be sure everything will be overpriced and in line with ebay prices, so if you want something you might as well just head to ebay and purchase it there and at least get bing cashback on your purchase.

90% of estate sales I have been in here have been an old person who died, so you see medical supplies, walkers and other crazy stuff all over the place. Also you find the kind of stuff a 90 year old person left behind, and no I don't mean old video games that their grandkids left behind. I almost NEVER see games at an estate sale, and when I do its $10 a cartridge or disk.

If you get there late they might mark everything 50% off, however by that point there will be nothing worth getting left and you will see piles of old yarn and clothing that is like a hundred years old.
 
Heck yea, usually nothing that interests me though, lots of old people bidding on furniture and old pianos.

Beware of people on craigslist advertising "estate sale" when in reality it's just some old fart having a bidding war for junk in his garage.
 
I think they're definitely worth checking out. You never know what you'll find. I once got a box with a NES and Colecovision and about ten games each for $4.
 
Most of them here are just glorified garage sales run by some company that never have any video games. I don't bother stopping when I go out garage saling.
 
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