Hiring a great estate sale company like Attics to Basement will help you get the sale process completed within a short time and get the highest possible proceeds from the sale. However, considering that are tens of estate sale companies in Dallas, you should take your time to ensure that you choose the best. Particularly, it’s crucial that you get answers to the following questions before you settle on one.
- What do you want to sell?
The sale is about the items you want to dispose. As such, the first thing to do before you even start thinking about hiring the company is to ensure that you’ve pointed out all the items you plan to sell. If the things belong to a deceased person, you can search through the entire house, including the attics and the basement. Preferably, list down all the items.
2. Which agents seem best for the work?
Explore several local estate sale/liquidation companies, considering the services they offer and their commission rate. You can get such information from their websites or by contacting them directly. Compare the prices against the services you need to identify the best deal.
3. Is your sale’s schedule corresponding to their working hours?
Most sales companies hold estate sales on weekends because that’s the period the working potential customers are more likely to have some free time. So, nearly any company in your locality might be available to conduct your sale. However, if you want the sale to take place on special days, such as holidays, it’s good to get clarification from the company you intend to engage to confirm their availability and readiness to hold the sale during the period.
4. How does the company price items?
The pricing expertise of the company that you choose will have much influence on the amount of the sale proceeds you’ll receive. As such, you need to ask the agent you intend to hire how they set prices on items similar to those you plan to sell. Do they use price guides? How do they determine/calculate the resale value of a used item?
5. Is the company insured? If yes, what’s covered in the insurance?
In as much as you’ll be dealing with professional sellers, some unforeseen eventualities such as accidental slips/falls, staffer’s injuries and stolen merchandise might occur in the course of the sale. Fortunately, when the company you are dealing with has an insurance policy that covers such incidences, you won’t incur the resulting loss or liability. So, before you sign those contract forms with them, get to know if the agent you are about to hire is insured and what the insurance covers.
6. Will the company give you a contract to sign before they start the work?
Verbal arrangements are good, but until they are put down in words in the form of a contract and both you and the company consent to it by signing, things might turn out different and you’ll have minimal chances to raise your grievances successfully. So, before you involve them in the sale, ask the agent if they’ll give you a contract form to sign. An estate liquidation/sale company that doesn’t issue contract forms is a red flag. If the contract is available, ensure that you go through it word by word to understand fully what you are getting yourself into.
7. Does the company have the necessary equipment?
For the sale to be a success, you might need, among other things, tools and furniture such as display tables and cases. Depending on the nature of your sale, establish all the tools and equipment that it will require and confirm if the agent will provide them or you’ll have to avail them by your own means.
8. How will the company account for your merchandise and the proceeds after the sale?
Will they make a written inventory? Will they be checking the merchandise off while selling? Or they will hire additional checkout workers and charge you extra fees for that? This is among the key information that a contract should feature. However, if unavailable there, you can seek clarification directly from the company you have in mind, and perhaps ask them to include it in your contract with them should you choose them.
Answers to these questions will help you make an informed decision as far as choosing an estate liquidator or estate sale company is concerned. If you are looking for an insured, bonded and flexible estate sale agent with favorable and easy-to-understand contractual terms, a wide array of display and storage equipment, in-depth estate sale expertise in Dallas, you can’t go wrong with Attics to Basement.