The short list, if you read nothing else
Three things, and you can go to any estate sale: cash in small bills, because some sales take nothing else and every sale moves faster with it; a small bag or pockets, because large bags are often left at the door; and a tape measure, because the single most common regret in this hobby is a piece of furniture that does not fit through the door at home. Everything below is refinement. Regulars build the kit over years, and most of it lives in the trunk, so that a sale spotted from the road on a Saturday morning is a sale they can shop properly.
If this is your first sale, read the beginner's guide alongside this one; it explains how entry, tagging and checkout work, which is what tells you why the kit is what it is.
Money: cash first, cards second
Bring more cash than you expect to spend, in small bills. Some sales are cash only, and the listing does not always say. Sales that take cards often add a small fee, and the card reader depends on a phone signal that houses at the end of a cul-de-sac do not always have. Cash also closes an offer on the spot, which the negotiation guide explains, and it keeps the checkout line moving, which the twenty people behind you will appreciate.
Small bills matter because a cashier with a box of twenties cannot break a hundred at eight in the morning, and a shopper who needs change for a four-dollar purchase from a large note holds up the line. Tens, fives and ones, with a few twenties for larger pieces. Keep it split between two pockets, so that reaching for a five does not show the whole roll to the room. Bring a card as well, for the large piece you did not plan on, and know that sales tax may be added at the register in some states.
Bring identification if you might pay by check, on the rare occasion a company accepts one, and if you plan to leave a written bid, since staff will want a name and phone number they can read.
Bags, boxes and packing
Into the house: a small crossbody bag, a fanny pack or a jacket with pockets. Many companies ask shoppers to leave backpacks, totes and large purses at the door or in the car, and it is not personal; small valuables leave sales in big bags. The company usually provides bags, baskets or boxes for what you pick up, and will hand you one at the door. Shopping with your hands full is how things get dropped, so take the basket.
In the car: the packing you will need once you have paid. Regulars keep a few flattened boxes, old newspaper or bubble wrap, a roll of packing tape, a couple of moving blankets and a set of ratchet straps or rope. Fragile items are handed to you wrapped in nothing, or in a sheet of newspaper if the sale is generous, and a set of wine glasses does not survive a ride home loose in a bag. Bring the packing in after you have paid, not before; a shopper carrying a box through a crowded sale is in the way and looks like someone loading up.
The regular's kit, by where it lives
- On you: cash in small bills split between pockets, one card, phone, a small bag, tape measure, a small flashlight, a magnet, reading glasses if you use them, the measurements list from home
- In the car: flattened boxes, newspaper or bubble wrap, packing tape, moving blankets, straps or rope, a furniture dolly if you have one, a screwdriver and pliers, water, a snack, a spare layer
- Arranged beforehand: a friend with a back and a schedule, a vehicle that fits the piece, and a clear space at home to put it
Tools for measuring and checking
A sale is as-is, with no returns, and the light in a closed-up house is poor. A few small tools turn a guess into a decision.
- A tape measure. Measure the piece, and know the measurements you are measuring against: the doorway, the stairwell turn, the wall it will stand on, the inside of your car. Regulars keep those numbers in their phone. The furniture buying guide explains what else to check on a piece before it comes home.
- A small flashlight. For the inside of a cabinet, the underside of a table, the back of a drawer, the maker's mark on the bottom of a vase, and every basement and garage, where the bulb is often out. Your phone's light works, but a real flashlight leaves the phone free to look things up.
- A small magnet. A magnet clings to steel and slides off sterling, brass, bronze and solid aluminum. It will not tell you what a piece is, but it tells you in a second what it is not, and that catches a great deal of plated ware and painted steel sold as something better. The sterling versus plate guide covers the marks to look for once the magnet has done its part.
- A loupe or reading glasses. Hallmarks, signatures, pattern names and karat stamps are small, and a ten-power loupe costs little. Reading glasses do most of the job for most people.
- Your phone, charged. For looking up marks and what a piece has actually sold for, photographing something to show a partner at home, and, at a sale with a digital line, holding your number. Bring a charging cable for the car; a morning of looking things up empties a battery.
- A screwdriver and pliers, in the car. Not for the house. For taking the legs off a table or the doors off a cabinet in the driveway so that the piece fits.
Plug it in before you pay
Bring nothing for this; just do it. Lamps, mixers, radios, sewing machines, power tools: find an outlet and switch it on. The company cannot tell you whether it works and will not take it back when it does not. If the power is off in the house, price the piece as though it is broken.
The vehicle, and the help
If there is any chance of furniture, bring a vehicle that can take it, or arrange one before you go. A piece you have paid for has to leave the house by the end of the sale, and most companies will let you collect later that day or the next morning if you arrange it at checkout; after that it is resold and the money is not returned. Nobody at the sale will deliver, and staff usually cannot lift, for insurance reasons. So the help is yours to bring: a friend who can take one end of a dresser, a dolly if you have one, and the blankets and straps from the section above.
Bring the friend when you buy, not just when you collect. Two people can turn a sideboard on its side in a hallway; one person and a cashier cannot. If you are shopping for something large on the last day, when the deepest discounts apply and the big pieces are what is left, plan the truck and the friend first and the sale second. The best-day guide explains why that day belongs to furniture.
Clothes, shoes and the wait
You will stand on a sidewalk, walk through a garage and probably climb a basement stair. Wear closed shoes with a grip, not sandals; there is broken glass at more sales than you would think, and a basement floor is often damp. Wear layers, because a line at seven on a March morning is cold and a full house by ten is not. Leave the good coat at home: sales are dusty, attics are worse, and you will be carrying things.
For the wait, if you are arriving early for a number: something warm, a coffee you will finish before you go in, and a phone with something to read on it. Some companies let you wait in your car; a digital line, where a sale offers one, lets you sit in it until your number is close. The numbers and lines guide explains each system and what it means for where you can wait. Go to the bathroom before you leave home. There is usually not one at the sale.
Bring water and a snack for the car, not the house. Food and drink inside a sale leave rings on things that are for sale, and a coffee in one hand halves what you can pick up with the other.
What to leave at home
The kit is defined as much by what it leaves out. Do not bring:
- A large bag or backpack. It will be left at the door, or you will be asked to open it at checkout, and either way it makes the staff watch you.
- Children who are too young to keep their hands to themselves, on the first morning. Most sales welcome children, but a crowded house of glass and a two-hour line is not a treat for them.
- A dog. Not in the house, and not in a warm car for two hours.
- Your own price stickers, a marker or a roll of "sold" tags. Regulars have seen shoppers try to re-tag a piece or mark it sold and come back on discount day. Staff have seen it too.
- Boxes and packing, until you have paid. Leave them in the car.
- Opinions about the house, the family or the prices. The etiquette guide is short and will save you an awkward morning.
And do not bring an expectation that everything old in the house is valuable. Most of it is not, and the shoppers who do well are the ones who look things up before they buy. The overlooked treasures guide is a better use of the wait in the line than a second coffee.
Packing the car this weekend
Put the tape measure, the flashlight and the magnet in the glove box now, and a couple of flattened boxes and a blanket in the trunk; they will be there for every sale after this one. Then find one from the listings near you, or subscribe to email alerts for your area so a good sale does not go by unnoticed. And if you are packing a car for the other reason, because a parent's house has to be emptied, an estate sale company will bring the tables, the tags, the staff and the checkout so you do not have to. Describe the estate once and local companies reach out to you, free.
Frequently asked questions
Should I bring cash to an estate sale?
Yes, in small bills and more than you expect to spend. Some sales are cash only, many add a fee for cards, card readers fail without a signal, and cash closes an offer on the spot. Bring a card as well for a large purchase you did not plan on.
Can I bring my own bags to an estate sale?
Small ones, yes. Many companies ask shoppers to leave backpacks and large totes at the door or in the car, and provide bags, baskets or boxes for what you buy. Keep your own boxes and packing in the car and bring them in once you have paid.
Why bring a magnet to an estate sale?
A magnet sticks to steel and does not stick to sterling silver, brass, bronze or solid aluminum, so it tells you in a second whether a "silver" tray or a "brass" lamp is plated steel. It cannot prove what something is, only what it is not, but that rules out a great deal of misdescribed metalware before you pay.
Do estate sales deliver furniture?
Almost never. Once you pay, moving the piece is your responsibility, and staff usually cannot help lift for insurance reasons. Most companies will let you collect later the same day or the next morning if you arrange it at checkout, but anything not collected by the end of the sale is resold without a refund.
What should I wear to an estate sale?
Closed shoes with a grip, layers and nothing you mind getting dusty. You may stand outside in the cold, then walk through a garage, a basement and an attic, carrying things. Broken glass and damp floors are common, so sandals are a poor choice.