There are many factors to a successful estate sale in San Antonio. A typical weekend will have 20-40 sales. Here are some of the factors that affect the results of the sale.
The total number of sales and how many sales near you affect the results. If you are further out from the airport area in San Antonio, it is best if there are other sales near you.
The size of the house and the condition definitely are a factor. If the house stinks especially from smoking, it hurts the sales. If the house is small and crowded, shoppers will spend less time.
Some clients want to place a minimum price on some items. This is a bad idea because of the dozens of reserves placed by clients, we have not sold a single item meeting the minimum price. We tend to stay away from sales where clients want to put a reserve.
The weather can hurt a sale also. If it is extremely hot and AC not working well, rainy or cold sales will suffer.
The pricing has a factor, especially with discounts. Typical estate sale company will be full price first day, 25% off on second and 50% off on third. We are 33-50% off the second day with the bigger discount on the cheaper items.
We also do a basket sale at $20 a basket on the last day on the cheaper items that brings a lot of shoppers and moves out a lot of items. Some of these shoppers will buy some of the higher price items. We have found the basket sales bring in more revenue and increase register speed than going 75% off. We make deals the last few hours on the higher ticket items since something is better than nothing.
Marketing of the sale is important. We use text messaging instead of email because of a quicker response and more likelihood to see the info about the sale. In addition, post to popular estate sale site, signs with our contact info and posting to various facebook groups about the sale.
As you can see many factors affect the success of the sale. Having desirable items in good condition and especially different are a big draw. Vinyl albums, coins, silver or gold jewelry, guitars, military items, and collectibles such as coca cola are draws to a sale.