Before you meet: what the paperwork tells you
A surprising amount can be learned before anyone comes to the house. None of the following is proof of anything on its own, but each one is worth a question, and two or three together are worth a different company.
The business name does not match anything
The name on the website, the name on the quote and the name in your state's business register should line up, or the company should be able to explain why they do not (a trading name over a registered one is common and fine). A company you cannot find in the register at all, or one whose register entry is dissolved or not in good standing, is a company with nothing to lose from a dispute. Instead: ask for the legal name and look it up. Our state licensing pages link to each state's register.
No fixed address, no landline, no history
A company that has been running sales for years leaves a trail: past sale listings with photographs, reviews across more than one site, a business address that is not a mailbox. A company with a mobile number, a social media page created this year and no past sales may be new and honest, but it is asking you to be its first reference. Instead: ask how long they have been operating under this name, and for two recent references you can telephone.
Reviews that all say the same thing
A run of short, identical five-star reviews posted in the same week reads differently from a spread of detailed reviews over years, including a critical one that the company answered civilly. Instead: read the least favourable reviews first and see how the company responded. That tells you what happens when something goes wrong, which is the only time it matters.
At the walk-through
The first visit is when a company sees the house and you see the company. Pay attention to how they look at the contents and how they answer questions about money.
They quote a rate before they have seen the house
Commission depends on the estate: its size, its condition, what is in it. A company that names a percentage on the telephone before it has walked through the door is either quoting its highest rate and planning to hold it, or does not price its own work carefully. Instead: expect a walk-through first and a written quote afterwards, and read our guide to what estate sale companies charge before you compare.
They ask for money up front
An estate sale company is paid from the proceeds of the sale. There are legitimate exceptions — an agreed set-up fee for a house that needs weeks of sorting, or specific advertising costs — and both should be itemised in the contract with a figure. A deposit “to hold the dates”, a fee to produce the quote, or a request for cash before any work starts is not how the trade works. Instead: ask what the payment is for, and get it in writing; if the answer is vague, decline.
They offer to buy everything outright, on the spot
A single figure for the whole contents, decided in an afternoon by the person who is going to profit from it, is the arrangement least likely to reflect what the contents are worth. It can be the right choice for a small estate that has to be cleared quickly, but it should never be the only offer you hear. Instead: get at least one other company's view of the contents, and ask whether an estate sale would net more even after commission.
Pressure to sign today
“This rate is only good until Friday.” “We have one weekend left this month.” A company with a full calendar does not need to pressure anyone, and a family that has just lost someone should never be hurried into a contract. Instead: take the quote home. A company that will not let you is telling you the quote does not survive comparison.
They cannot say who insures them or who licenses them
Ask to see the certificate of insurance and any licence the company claims. An established company has both to hand and will not mind being asked; the answer names an insurer you can telephone and an office you can check with. A company that changes the subject, promises to send it later and never does, or says insurance is not needed for this kind of work, has told you what you needed to know. Instead: make the certificate a condition of signing, and call the insurer named on it. Our state licensing pages say what each state does and does not license.
In the contract
The contract is where verbal reassurance either becomes a commitment or quietly disappears. Our contract checklist covers every clause that should be there; these are the absences and the wordings that should stop you.
No written contract, or one they will not let you take away
A handshake gives you nothing to point to when memories differ, and memories always differ. A contract you may only read in the company's presence, or sign on a tablet without a copy, is the same thing with extra steps. Instead: insist on a copy you can read at home before signing, and one you keep afterwards.
“Plus expenses” with no figures
A commission rate followed by an open-ended right to deduct costs is a rate you cannot calculate. Instead: ask for every separately charged cost to be named with a figure or the basis for calculating it, and for the settlement statement to itemise each one.
Unsold items go to the company, without saying what they are
A clause that gives the company everything left in the house when the sale closes is common, and sometimes it is the fairest way to handle a clean-out. It becomes a problem when the company also controls pricing and the discount schedule, because a piece priced high enough not to sell on Sunday becomes the company's on Monday. Instead: either keep ownership of unsold items, with the company arranging donation and giving you the receipt, or agree a written list of anything of value that must be sold or returned to you rather than retained.
No payout date, no description of the accounting
“Settlement to follow” is not a date. A contract that does not say when you will be paid or what the statement will show gives you no way to tell late from never. Instead: a number of days after the sale, a payment method, and an itemised statement of what sold and for how much, with the commission and each cost deducted in plain sight.
A cancellation fee equal to the whole expected commission
A company that has begun set-up or paid for advertising is entitled to recover those costs if you cancel. A fee that equals the commission it hoped to earn is not a cost; it is a penalty designed to make leaving impossible. Instead: a cancellation clause that names the real costs at each stage, and what the company owes you if it is the one that cancels.
During and after the sale
By this point you have signed, and the question is not whether to hire but whether to intervene. Most of what follows can still be put right on the day if it is raised calmly with the person in charge.
Items sold before the doors open, off the books
Some companies sell to dealers before the public sale, and some allow their own staff to buy. Both can be honest if they are disclosed and appear on the accounting like any other sale. Items that leave the house before opening and never appear on the statement are a different matter. Instead: agree in advance whether pre-sales are allowed, and ask for each one to be listed on the settlement.
One person running a three-floor house
Staffing is a security measure. A house full of strangers and one cashier is a house where small valuables leave in pockets, and the loss is yours. Instead: the contract should say how many staff will be on site each day. If the day comes and they are not, say so before opening.
The accounting is a single number
A cheque with a total and nothing else tells you what you received, not what sold, what it sold for, or what was deducted. Instead: an itemised statement was part of the contract; ask for it, in writing, before you cash the cheque.
The house is not empty, and nobody mentioned it
If clean-out was not included, you should have known that from the contract and planned for it. If it was included and the house is still full, the company has not finished the job. Instead: point to the clause, name a date, and hold the final payment discussion until it is done.
Badges and claims you cannot check
Websites — company websites and directory websites, including this one — are full of words like “licensed”, “insured”, “bonded”, “certified” and “professional”, usually next to a tick or a shield. Ask yourself, of each one, who checked it. In most cases the answer is nobody: the company typed the word, and the site displayed it.
That does not make the claim false. Most companies that say they are insured are insured. It makes the claim unchecked, which means the badge is doing no work and the certificate does all of it. The same goes for membership of trade associations, which is a good sign of a company that takes its work seriously, but is a subscription rather than an inspection. And it goes for a licence number printed on a page: a number is only useful if you can check it with the office that issued it, and a family choosing a company rarely can.
What a badge cannot do
No badge, tick or shield on any website tells you that a company's insurance is current this month. The certificate of insurance does, and one call to the insurer named on it confirms it. Ask for the certificate. Every legitimate company has one to hand.
What to do instead, in one list
Every warning sign above has the same answer in a different form: ask for the thing itself rather than the word for it. In order:
- Look the business up in your state's register under its legal name. Confirm it exists and is in good standing.
- Ask to see the certificate of insurance and licence before you sign anything. Any legitimate company will have both to hand, and one call to the insurer named on the certificate confirms it.
- Telephone two recent references, and ask about the accounting and the payout rather than whether they were happy.
- Get a written quote after a walk-through, with the rate, the minimum and every separately charged cost, then compare it with at least one other using the method in our guide to what companies charge.
- Read the contract at home against the contract checklist, and have anything missing added in writing and initialled.
- Keep everything: the contract, the certificate, the advertising, the statement. It is the record that settles any dispute, and the record the estate's tax return needs.
None of this takes more than a few hours, and it removes nearly every way an estate sale goes wrong. The guide to choosing an estate sale company covers the positive side: what a good company looks like, and how to work with one once you have found it.
What this site does and does not check
Estate Sale Connect lists estate sale companies and passes families' requests to the local ones. When a company tells us it carries insurance, holds a business licence or has been operating for a number of years, we publish that on the company's own page, attributed to the company, as a statement it has made. We do not verify it, we do not call any company vetted or approved, and we do not display badges, because we have not done the checking that a badge would imply.
What we do instead is print, beside every company's claims, the same instruction this guide has repeated: ask to see the certificate of insurance and licence, and call the insurer. That is not a disclaimer; it is the most useful thing a directory can tell you, because the family standing in the kitchen with the certificate in hand is in a far better position to check it than any website ever will be.
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. Either way, take this guide with you.