"Rick" wrote in message ...

Having "been there, done that" unless there is a pile of known good
stuff, or possibly good stuff, a family may have far more interest in
clearing the home quickly -

.... that is where we can be of high value ... we know what the good stuff
is (most do not) and we attract the buyers for it ... as of today, I
have
over 1700 names on our sale email list ... many of those are regulars
that
routinely come to our sales ... it is not unusual for us to have 400+
people
a day coming to a sale (space permitting) buying paper items (old post
cards,
photos, documents, maps, letters, advertising, etc.), old tableware,
dishes,
cast iron pans, knives, spice tins, vintage clothes, books, bedroom sets
musical instruments, dining room sets, chairs, couches, sewing machines,
tools, bottles, jars, cars, boats, trailers, motor homes, hell, we sold
an
airplane once ... then you get into new stuff sales too ... tv's,
microwaves,
computers, canned food, kitchen appliances, virtually anything you have
in your house today ... the vast majority is good, sellable stuff, if it
wasn't
we won't take the sale ...

while a mortgage may still be running on the
property and real estate taxes have to be paid and the stuff has to go
before the house can even be fixed up and shown to buyers -

.... many times the house is already on the market, the older houses are
paid for and since the process for one of our normal sales only takes
a week ... 5 days to setup and the sale on Saturday & Sunday, your
above statement is not an issue ...

than picking
nits over whether they should have got $5.00 versus $15.00 for any given
item.

.... pricing is totally up to us ... items over $50.00 are priced, bids are
accepted
until 2:00pm Sunday afternoon, we then call the high bidder if the item
didn't
sell at the full asking price ... items $50.00 and under are 1/2 price
all day Sunday

And dragging an Estate Auctioneer into the process doesn't
guarantee a higher return either - when a bunch of dealers show up for
the sale who *do not* want to pay top dollar for anything.

..... dealers or regulars, contrary to your opinion, are our best customers
and pay the higher prices because they know what they are buying
and what they can get for it ...

Or an
Auctioneer who drags their own "Antiques" into the sale and ends up
selling far more of their merchandise than your own.

.... I know a dozen or so, they have so much stuff brought to them
there is no need for them to pad the auction with
"their own "Antiques" , there is just no reason to ...

An Estate Auction is an option. But squeezing every penny out of
relatively worthless items isn't always the top priority when clearing a
house. Phil got darn lucky on that radio. But seriously, do you think a
bidding war would have broken out on a radio like that if their was an
Estate auction?

.... unless it is a huge estate, a tag sale works better than an auction,
that is what we do, everything in the house is priced, an auction
is good for large or similar lots of stuff ....

.... after looking at Phil's radio, I would have priced it at $60.00 and
would
have expected bids in the $30.00 to $40.00 range if it didn't sell at
full boat ... we usually sell every old radio we come across ...

BTW: I would have pulled the 1L6 and left it with the cashier, I do that
with some of the more valuable tubes and knobs too ...

... you know how those radio guys can get .... ;-)