What Expenses does an Estate Sale Company Incur?

Many clients think estate sale companies charge too much. They do not realize all the expenses and just think about the labor during the sale. Here are some of the expenses involved:

1. Labor- Not only for the sale, but more labor is used setting up the sale. It takes time to stage, research, price and clean the items. It is not uncommon for an estate sale company to use a paid research guide to get the best price for their clients.

2. Advertising- Just posting a free ad on craigslist will not do the trick. Posting to various sites that have a list of estate sales companies is not cheap. They may use contests to have others to promote the sale or even use SMS (Text message marketing)

3. Supplies- This can be for pricing, cleaning or things used to protect the house. This is higher with the Covid-19 to maximize safety of everyone involved.

4. Credit Card Costs- If an estate sale company does not take credit cards, you will lose a lot of sales especially high- ticket items.

5. Fuel & Food Charges- Depending how far the employees have to go, they may get extra for travel. Also, many estate sale companies will buy lunch for their employees because they need them at the house at all times.

6. Bonding / Insurance- These are monthly or yearly costs that help protect the client in case something goes wrong.

7. Internet- Companies may have to pay for a hotspot to research prices or to use their credit card processor.

8. Extra Costs to Sell Products- If your items are sold online thru an e-commerce site or online auction, that is an additional cost for the estate sale liquidation company.

9. After the Sale- If there is excessive trash a dumpster may be needed and additional cleaning. Also, if you want a donation list or items to be donated, often the estate sale liquidators have to take them to the charity.

10. Banking Costs- Many banks charge the estate sale company a fee when they deposited over a certain amount of cash monthly, plus they pay for checks to their workers and the client.

San Antonio Estate Sales LLC does its best to keep costs down. However, we will not cut corners, as that would result in a loss of revenue. We use bar code scanning, which incurs additional costs for labels and software use. However, it results in faster, more accurate checkout and more detailed sales and inventory management reports.