What Estate Sale Companies Charge: Commission Explained

How commission works

An estate sale company is usually paid on commission: an agreed percentage of the gross sales, deducted before the balance is paid to you. If the sale takes in twenty thousand dollars and the commission is thirty-five percent, the company keeps seven thousand and you receive thirteen thousand, less any separately itemised costs. You pay nothing before the sale, and if the sale earns nothing, the company earns nothing either. That is the whole reason the model exists: the company's incentive is to sell as much as possible for as much as possible, which is also yours.

The commission covers the company's work from the first walk-through to the last day of the sale. In most contracts that means sorting and staging the house, researching and pricing every item, photographing and advertising the sale, staffing it, running the checkout, and handing you an accounting at the end. Anything beyond that — clearing what does not sell, hauling away rubbish, deep cleaning — is either included, charged as an extra, or not offered at all, and the contract should say which.

Two things follow from the model that are worth holding onto. First, the company is paid on gross, not net, so the percentage applies to every sale rung through the till, including items you might have thought of as belonging to a different category. Second, a lower percentage is not automatically a better deal. A company that prices well, advertises widely and draws a crowd can leave you with more money at a higher rate than a cheaper company that sells half as much. The number you should care about is what reaches you, and this guide is mostly about how to work that out.

The range you will see, and why it moves

Ask three companies in the same town and you will usually get three different rates. Quotes commonly fall somewhere between roughly a third and a half of gross sales, and that spread is not a sign that somebody is cheating you. It is what you would expect from a business whose costs are mostly labour and whose income depends entirely on what is in the house.

We do not publish a national average, because there is no reliable one. Rates are set locally, they shift with the local labour market, and the figure that matters to you is what companies in your area quote for an estate like yours. What we can tell you is what pushes a quote up or down:

• Region. Wages, rent and advertising costs differ between a large metropolitan area and a rural county, and the commission follows them. A rate that is high for one state can be ordinary in another.
• The size and quality of the estate. A house full of good furniture, tools, collectibles and jewellery lets a company recover its costs quickly, and it may quote a lower percentage to win the job. A small estate of everyday household goods takes nearly as much work to set up and sells for far less, so the percentage tends to be higher, or a minimum applies.
• Condition. A house that needs weeks of sorting before anything can be priced costs the company far more in labour than one that is ready to stage. Expect that to show up in the rate, in a set-up fee, or both.
• What you want done afterwards. Some companies fold a clean-out into their rate; others price it separately. Two quotes with the same percentage can differ by a thousand dollars once the house has to be emptied.
• The company itself. A long-established company with a large mailing list and a reputation that draws buyers can command a higher rate and still net you more. A newer company may quote low to build a track record.

Minimums, and what they tell you

Many companies set a minimum: either a minimum commission in dollars, or a minimum expected gross below which they will not take the sale at all. A minimum commission works like this: the company is paid the agreed percentage or the minimum, whichever is larger. If the minimum is two thousand dollars and the sale brings in four thousand at thirty-five percent, the percentage would give the company fourteen hundred, so the minimum applies and you receive two thousand.

A minimum is not a warning sign in itself. Setting up a sale takes the same days of labour whether the house is full of treasures or not, and a company that does not protect itself from a sale that earns nothing does not stay in business. What matters is that the minimum is stated plainly, in dollars, in the contract, and that you understand how it interacts with the rate. Ask the company to show you what you would receive if the sale brought in half of what they expect. If they cannot answer that quickly, keep asking until they can.

A minimum expected gross is a different thing: it means the company will only take estates it believes will sell above a certain figure. If a company turns your estate down for that reason, that is useful information. It usually means the estate would be better served by a smaller company, a consignment arrangement, or a clean-out with a few valuable pieces sold separately. The estate sale vs. auction guide covers those alternatives.

Add-on fees to ask about

The commission is not always the whole bill. None of the following is improper if it is disclosed before you sign, and several of them are ordinary in the trade. What you are looking for is a company that names them up front rather than one that produces them at settlement.

• Set-up or sorting fees for a house that needs unusual amounts of work before it can be staged. Sometimes charged hourly, sometimes as a fixed sum.
• Advertising costs. Most companies include their standard advertising in the rate. Some charge for extras such as paid listings, printed signage or a photographer.
• Credit card processing. Buyers increasingly pay by card, and some contracts pass the processing fee on to you. Ask whether the percentage is calculated before or after those fees.
• Clean-out and haul-away of whatever does not sell. Priced by the load, by the hour, or as a flat sum. This is the extra that most often surprises families, because the house is not actually empty when the sale ends.
• Dumpster or disposal fees where there is a great deal of genuine rubbish.
• Security for a sale with high-value items, sometimes billed as an off-duty officer or a guard for the sale days.
• Permits where the city requires one for a sale held at a home, or for signs on public property.
• Consignment or specialist fees when a company sends a piece to an auction house or a specialist dealer rather than selling it on site. Ask what the split is and whether the estate sale commission also applies.

Ask the company to list every possible charge in writing, with either a fixed figure or the basis on which it will be calculated. A quote that says “plus expenses” and nothing more is not a quote you can compare against anything.

What is and is not included

The work that commission is meant to cover is broadly agreed on, but the edges vary, and the edges are where the money goes. Before you compare rates, confirm which of the following are included in each company's price:

A company that includes the clean-out at a higher rate may cost you less overall than one that quotes a lower rate and charges by the hour to empty the house afterwards. Make sure you are comparing the same job.

Sliding scales and tiered rates

Some companies quote a sliding scale rather than one rate: a higher percentage on the first portion of gross sales, stepping down as the total rises. The idea is that the fixed cost of setting up is recovered early and the company shares more of the upside on a large sale. Others charge a different rate on individual high-value items, for example a lower percentage on a single piece that sells for several thousand dollars, on the reasoning that pricing and selling one valuable item takes less labour per dollar than selling a thousand small ones.

Either structure is legitimate, and either can work in your favour on the right estate. The only requirement is that you can calculate the result yourself. Ask the company to show you, on paper, what you would receive at three different totals: a poor outcome, their expectation, and a good outcome. If the scale is honest, that takes them two minutes. If they hesitate, the structure is doing work you cannot see.

How to compare two quotes

Because the headline rate hides so much, the reliable way to compare two companies is to work out what each would leave you with under the same assumptions. It takes a sheet of paper and ten minutes.

1. Pick one gross figure to test with. Ask each company what they expect the sale to bring in. Use the lower of the two estimates, since that is closer to the outcome you are protecting yourself against.
2. Apply each company's rate, minimum and scale to that figure to get the commission.
3. Add every separately charged cost that company has named: set-up, clean-out, card processing, advertising extras, permits, disposal.
4. Subtract from the gross to get your net.
5. Now repeat at half the figure. This is where minimums bite, and it is the comparison that tells you which company protects you if the sale disappoints.

Then look at the two nets side by side, and at what each one buys. A company that leaves you a few hundred dollars less on paper but empties the house, provides a donation receipt and pays out within a week may be the better choice. A company that leaves you more on paper but whose contract lets it keep the unsold items without saying what they are may not be.

Two questions belong beside the numbers. Where will the buyers come from? A company with a large local mailing list and a habit of photographing every room will generally sell more, and the rate matters less when the gross is higher. What does the accounting look like? Ask to see an example of the settlement statement a previous client received, with the names removed. An itemised list of what sold, for how much, with the commission and each cost shown, is what you want. A single figure on a cheque stub is not.

When a flat fee makes sense

Not every company works on commission, and not every estate suits it. A flat fee — a fixed sum for running the sale regardless of what it brings in — can be the better arrangement in a few situations:

• A large estate with several high-value pieces. If a handful of items are likely to account for most of the gross, a percentage on those items rewards the company far beyond the work involved. A flat fee, or a commission with a lower rate on the top items, keeps more of that value with the estate.
• A sale you are largely running yourself. Some companies will price and stage for a fixed sum and leave the sale days to you. That is a flat fee for a defined piece of work.
• A small estate that no commission company will take. A flat-fee clean-out with a few pieces sold separately can be the only practical option, and it is better to know that early than to spend weeks waiting for a company that never returns your call.

The trade-off is the incentive. A company on a flat fee is paid the same whether the sale does well or badly, so you are relying on its professionalism rather than its self-interest. That is fine with a company whose references you have checked; it is a poor bet with one you have not. And a flat fee should still come with the same written accounting a commission sale would, because you still need to know what sold.

If a company offers to buy the entire contents outright for a single sum, that is not a flat fee and it is not an estate sale. It can be reasonable for a small estate that needs to be cleared quickly, but you have no way of knowing what the contents were worth once they are gone. Get at least one other opinion on the contents first, and read our guide to warning signs before you agree.

Questions to ask about money

Put these to every company you speak to, and keep the answers. The point is not to catch anyone out; it is that a company which has good answers ready is a company that has been asked before and has nothing to hide.

• What is your commission rate, and is it a single rate or a sliding scale?
• Is there a minimum? Is it a minimum commission or a minimum sale size, and how much is it?
• Is the percentage calculated before or after credit card fees and sales tax?
• What costs are charged separately, and how is each one calculated?
• Is clearing the house after the sale included, charged separately, or not offered?
• What happens to items that do not sell, and who decides?
• When will I be paid, and what will the accounting show?
• Can I see an example settlement statement from a previous sale?
• If I cancel before the sale, what do I owe?

Money is one part of choosing a company, and not the largest. The guide to choosing an estate sale company covers the rest, and the contract checklist shows you where each of these answers should appear in writing. When you are ready to hear from companies in your area, describe the estate once and local companies will reach out to you, free, or compare companies near you first.