Estate Sale Shopping Tips: Amazing Ways to Get Bargains

This is an article about estate sale shopping and mistakes to avoid.

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If you love vintage decor, or just a great bargain–or great vintage decor at a bargain price–then you know that thrift stores and garage sales can be a great way to decorate on a budget. But estate sales can be an even better option–especially for high-quality vintage furniture, antiques and even clothing. However there are some estate sale shopping mistakes that a lot of people make.

Estate sales aren’t rocket science: it’s just that they operate differently than thrift stores and even garage sales. And there aren’t as many estate sales out there, so people are generally less familiar with them.

Why estate sale shopping is different–but sometimes better!–than garage sales and thrift stores.

First, one of the biggest reasons people make estate sale mistakes is they take the same attitude as shopping for thrift elsewhere. Let’s look at the differences:

Estate sales versus garage sales: understanding the differences.

• Who runs the show? Estate sales are often run by professional companies, whereas garage sales are usually run by the owner.
  
• Why are they having a sale? Motivation matters: garage sales are usually a way of cleaning out, often as an annual spring clean. Where we live, community garage sales are common–due to HOA restrictions the entire neighborhood has one weekend to all have sales. (Yeah, they’re fun, but a LOT.)
  
  Moving sales are technically different, but again, it’s usually held by the owner of the belongings.) Estate sales are usually because the owner of the home has passed away, so a much larger proportion of the house contents are for sale.
  
• Size of the sale. Estate sales tend to be much larger–a true estate sale is often literally selling a large amount of the belongings. The owner has passed away, and while relatives may have chosen a few pieces that are sentimental or high value, the vast majority of the estate is just far more than any surviving family needs. We went to an estate sale with 17 sets of dishes! Yes, really.

• The value of the items. This one is really important. Estate sales are usually run by a company. That means the only way they can make money is to have a lot of items. And, many of those will be fairly valuable. Also, to be a little blunt, our experience is that the homes tend to be nicer. Nicer home usually translates to nicer belongings.

Pros and cons of estate sale shopping versus thrift stores.

So, estate sales are run by professionals. Plus, they tend to be larger than garage sales, with nicer items. Why not just go to a thrift store? You can! You should! (We do. Early and often.) If you are professional furniture flipper and vintage decor resellers like we are, you probably do a mix of thrift stores, garage sales and estate sales. We even do auctions. But there are pros and cons to each.

Estate Sales Pros:

You can negotiate at estate sales. The seller is highly motivated because they often get a commission, not an hourly rate. (Or a modest flat fee plus a commission.) Unlike a full time employee at a thrift store, they are personally invested in whether or not they sell a lot.

Sellers aren’t emotionally invested. Unlike a garage sale, the professional estate company rarely has a relationship with the now departed owner or their family. It’s not personally insulting or emotionally upsetting if you make a low ball offer for the fine china. (It doesn’t mean your offer will work–more on that below–but it also isn’t a personal insult.)

High value items. As we said before, estate sales tend to be at nicer homes. The brands tend to be higher premium and value of items usually is better. Unlike a thrift store, you won’t have to hunt among the junk for treasure. You just have to control how much treasure you take!

Better condition items. Items tend to be higher quality at estate sales. And people take care of expensive things, right? There’s also the practical aspect: an estate sale is someone’s home, so everything in it was handled a lot less. You simply don’t have every thrift store shopper in town putting their hands all over everything, or bumping their shopping cart into an end table. Fewer chips and cracks, and most things will be in working condition.

Estate sales are literally a curated household of vintage decor items: great if you want to pull together a consistent look.

Complete sets. We love a good thrift store haul, but it can be hard if you are looking for sets of things. We mean like a six place setting of dishes, or two nightstands, or matching silverware (not to get too ambitious or anything)–thrift stores can be very hit or miss. But estate sales often have whole collections of items intact which is great if you’re not the mix and match sort (no judgement).

Coordinated and complementary vintage home decor style. Despite the unnecessary alliteration, this is true! Estate sales are in a home, and therefore the items are often a similar style or aesthetic. Which makes sense–one or two people probably made most of the purchases and had a certain taste. So you can often find not only a great sofa, but also pick up the perfect height and style end tables to go with it. Or the dishes and the barware might all be midcentury modern.

Cons of estate sale shopping:

Prices may be higher. We wrote here about estate sale bargains about how to get the best possible price (it’s all about timing). But if you’re looking for your $1.99 plates, you may be disappointed. What you will find is good value for the item. In other words, that Thomasville chest of drawers probably won’t be cheap. But it will likely be a lot less than full price.

Small shopping window. This might be the single biggest drawback compared to a thrift store. We have literally shut down more than one estate sale–staying until 5:01 p.m. on a Sunday trying to grab things. Estate sales rarely run more than three days. We have been to a handful that are two weekends in a row, but that’s the most we’ve seen.

This not only makes browsing a non-starter, it means your shopping competition is fierce! There is no “I’ll hit Goodwill first thing on a Tuesday” (you know Tuesdays, are best, right?) before the amateurs get there. We have seen estate sales with lines around a neighborhood block at 8 am for a 9:00 open. Hey, you’ve been warned.

Anyway, that’s the pros and cons of estate sale shopping! Let’s get to the tips!

Avoid estate sale shopping mistakes and get great vintage decor deals.

Be on time–and don’t browse–on day one. We go into the details more in this post about getting estate sale deals but it’s key to show up early on day one.

Some people argue that you should take a tour of the house first and decide what you want. If you actually happen upon an empty estate sale (we’ve seen it a few times), by all means, do a drive by first. But otherwise, have a plan. What is most important to you, and make a beeline, and pick it up. While you’re looking at it. We have looked at an item…and watched someone pick it up in front of us. While I was Google lensing, they were grabbing.

But if you act quick you can get amazing details. These beautiful plates are just one example of estate sale finds (and yes, you can get these from our Etsy shop if you don’t find them at an estate sale! ;))

Don’t negotiate too hard on day one. Our experience is that on day one, you will have sophisticated buyers who show up early on the first day. This guarantees that you will see everything, not just what’s left over. Yes, prices will be reduced on day two and even more on day three (probably). However, it’s all about what is affordable for you. Because estate sales are higher value items, we sometimes will pay “full price” on day one and still get a great deal.

But that’s also true for other personal buyers–and professional estate sellers will usually be reluctant to drop the price. This leaves an opening for someone else to step in and offer full price. Basically, don’t be greedy trying to get a really low price on day one because, frankly, sellers aren’t that “desperate” yet!

Estate sale shopping bargains are hardest to get on day two.

Go back on day three. If you found all you want (or budget allows) on day one, great. But if that set of dishes/poodle statue/baby grand was out of your price range on day one, prices are often slashed by 50 percent the last day. And in our experience, by the end of the day, sellers will sometimes bundle aggessively. But not always–some companies have relationships with auction houses and others and sell the entire remaining lot at a price that…none of us can afford.

The estate sale shopping mistake people make is they wait too late on day three. Show up early! Yes, you will get the absolute best deals at the end of the day–even free items. For example, if you’re a reseller and looking for quality items and low on inventory. But be careful, better to go early on day three and get good deals on things that were out of budget.

Make friends with the estate sale company. If it’s a good sale, take their business card, and introduce yourself. We get great tips from estate sale sellers. Not only when and where the next sale is, but how to clean items. Also, learning about brands we don’t know that were well-known in their era, and even alternate uses of items.

For example, we learned that this Weigman silver cleaner in liquid form is often easier to work with than the cream. And we also now use these multicolored microfiber cloths (blue for brass, yellow for silver, and pink for soap and water, and all because we’re so Type A!).

An estate sale shopping mistake is to forget to check behind doors–and outdoors.

Check behind doors, and also outside. You may get fantastic items from unexpected places. The estate sale mistake that some people make is just following the masses around. But garages and basements sometimes have great outdoor Christmas decor or seasonal outdoor furniture. We found a great guitar behind the door of an otherwise picked over game room.

And don’t forget the back yard for garden decor. This is especially true if you’re a plant mom (or reseller). Think creatively if you’re a gardener or selling to them. Ceramic pots, gnomes, wall-mounted planters are all good vintage buys. Vintage planters are highly sought after and expensive. We’ve had customers drive over an hour each way to buy them from us.

Plan ahead for estate sale shopping. Get there on time, and have a way of taking it all home.

Bring a truck. And a friend. Who also has a truck. Seriously–we actually tend to specialize in smaller furniture like chairs, end tables and nightstands. (We see you and love you china closet but we can’t take you home with us.) And even when we are buying “just” decor, we have crammed the SUV like a college kid in May.

This is the difference with estate sales. The beauty and the burden is the the scale. Larger houses with nicer things, and lots of them. If the price and aesthetic work for you, you will have the lucky problem of wanting both of those lamps and the end tables they’re already sitting on. Those dishes coordinate with those glasses and that barware is just the perfect match to…ok, maybe we have a slight moderation problem. But nothing feels worse than leaving great estate sale deals behind simply because you had no room.

Setting a budget is key to finding estate sales bargains. If you buy a ton of deals, you’re still spending!

Set a budget. The last mistake to avoid when shopping at estate sales might sound like a joke: don’t spend too much. Seriously. A downside of the scale of estate sales is it’s easy to fall in love. Over and over. In every room, another this-is-too-perfect-I-just-have-to. It’s never happened to us, but we hear stories. Or, it’s totally happened to us and nothing feels worse than buyer’s remorse.

If you are professional resellers like us, then you will probably recognize a great deal for resale when you see one. But we’re also taking a risk because we’re trying to resell so we have to get a purchase price to make a profit. If you’re buying for yourself then it’s simply a matter of staying within your budget.

Not setting a budget before going to an estate sale is a major mistake. We think self-control disintegrates more often at estate sales because of some of the factors above. If you share the aesthetic of the estate sale you’re shopping, and the items are high quality, and there are a lot of them, you’re basically living inside your vision board. That’s a heady high–and it could cost you if you didn’t set limits before you saw that perfect midcentury modern telephone table.

Estate sale shopping can help you get great vintage decor on a budget, especially with a strategy.

Hopefully these tips on how to get great deals at estate sales was helpful. If you are starting a business flipping furniture or selling vintage decor (like us!), estate sales can be a great source of unique, high quality inventory. Or, it can be great vintage finds for yourself!

To read more about estate sale deals, check out this article.

Read this post if you are starting your own furniture flipping business from nothing.

This is an article about estate sale shopping and mistakes to avoid.