Estate Sale vs. Yard Sale

Estate sales and yard sales are the bread and butter of successful pickers and collectors because they offer many valuable items, which they can pick for a profit. They often keep tabs on these sales and target valuable items to pick, collect and resell.

Let’s discuss what these sales are, how they work, where you can find them and who the champion is in the battle of…

Estate Sale Vs. Yard Sale

Let the battle begin.

What Is an Estate Sale?

An estate sale, or estate liquidation, is the process of selling or auctioning a considerable portion of materials owned by a recently deceased person or someone who simply wishes to dispose of their belongings for whatever reason.

The proceeds of the sale go to those who inherit the deceased estate, after all the estate’s debts are paid off. Pickers and collectors always keep an eye out for estate sales in wealthy neighborhoods to find valuable, high-end items they can resell for a profit.

How Estate Sales Work

Estate sales are usually conducted on weekends and sometimes multiple weekends if the estate in question has a lot of items to sell or auction. During the sale, the house or condo is opened to the public, who then proceed to bid or buy the items on sale.

Typically, estate sales operate on a first-come, first-serve basis, or a number system similar to the one you might experience at the DMV. They operate in such a way to give dealers and everyday buyers an equal opportunity to buy items from the sale.

Most buyers carry the items they want to purchase till they check-out or if an item is too big, like furniture, they may tag them with a ‘Sold’ marker till check-out. In both cases, it is advised not to ‘hog’ items and decline to purchase them at the end because it is not fair to other buyers or the estate sale.

If items are unsold, the estate sale may allow for bids to be placed instead. Unsold items are often opened up for bidding at the end of the sale to dispose them quickly. These proceedings are not a rule and it all depends on the people conducting the sale.

Often, estate sales may offer discounts on later days to quickly sell items. These discounts often have a typical progression of quarter off on the second day and half off on the third. Pickers and collectors looking for extended discounts may check them out on these days.

However, it is not always the case and often valuable finds for reselling may not be of the ‘discounted’ category, nor may they be often found so late in the estate sale.

Where to Find Estate Sales

Pickers and collectors will typically use online resources such as EstateSale.net to search for estate sales. Moreover, a website like EstateSale.net, also provides searching for state sale items before the sale even begins, giving buyers an opportunity to research the items.

They often do this to attract more interested buyers to the actual estate sale. For pickers and collectors, it is valuable insight into what items they might target at any given estate sale. These online resources are making estate sales more and more popular among people, which is great for driving business.

What Is a Yard Sale?

While estate sales are more of an official and formal sale event, a yard sale, or garage sale, is a very informal sale event. Private individuals may hold a yard sale to dispose miscellaneous second-hand items they no longer use or require.

Very rarely will you find an unused or new item at a yard sale. While these sales are more erratic, pickers and collectors value them because they may often find rare and unique items, which are being sold at half the price of what they may cost at an estate sale.

How Yard Sales Work

Yard sales are typically held on weekends on the yard of the seller, with items placed openly on tables and the public moving around browsing as they please. There are no formalities at a yard sale, no business licenses for selling or sales tax collection.

The items sold at a yard sale are completely unpredictable and this is part of their charm to potential buyers, pickers and collectors alike. Yard sales informally operate on a first come, first serve basis, but the seller may veto this if they please.

People simply select the items they like, and the seller decides the price, whether beforehand or after the selection. Buyers can negotiate this price if they are able to convince the seller. At the end, all sales are priced however the seller may choose to price them.

Where to Find Yard Sales

While traditionally yard sales were dependent on word of mouth and random sign boards in the neighborhood to attract passersby, today, online resources have changed this. Modern yard sales can easily attract potential buyers from across town.

Online resources, like Garage Sale Tracker and Yard Sale Search, have made yard sales more accessible to interested parties, especially pickers and collectors. Yard sales have grown so attractive that even websites like EstateSale.net publish them in their listings.

There are even companies that outsource yard sales for individuals that want professionals to handle their yard sales.

Bottom Line

While both estate sales and yard sales have their individual appeal, there is an obvious reason estate sales may seem better. They are all-items-must-go sales where pickers and collectors can find much more valuable items for reselling. They can even find and research the items beforehand.

That being said, yard sales hold the advantage for unexpectedly selling rare and unique valuable items, often at well below market value. Yard sale hosts are not always experts at understanding the value and pricing of such items, which is an advantage for pickers and collectors, especially if they know how to bargain.

The fact is that there is no real champion of the battle between estate sales and yard sales because both can be equally profitable for picking and collecting. If you have a higher budget, we recommend estate sales, whereas if you are a beginner, we recommend starting with yard sales and building your way up.

Since the pandemic, both these sales were shut off to the public and yard sales in general have declined since lockdowns were lifted. Estate sales however are beginning to pick up again and are making an exciting comeback.

What We Do

At ‘How to Become a Picker’, we are experts in picking and collecting all sorts of valuable items and antiques from estate sales, yard sales and auctions. We have successfully grown our picking company from scratch to now making 6 figure revenues a year.

This has been made possible all through picking, collecting and reselling valuable items from garage sales, estate sales and auctions. We promote and teach the picker lifestyle to interested individuals and enthusiasts who want to successfully pick for a profit. If you want to learn more about how to become a picker or picking and collecting valuable items from estate and yard sales to turn a profit, please visit our website today.