AAA Auction and Realty Company

Auction News

Flea Market Anyone?
April 10, 2013

Thank you to the many people who responded to our flea market inquiry. We too think a regular flea market would be a great event. We are working on the details regarding a location. We have learned that there are some zoning issues that require attention first.

Tony and Denise Elfelt
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We Buy Estates
September 20, 2012

Whether you have one good item or a whole estate, AAA Auction will look over your items and make you a fair offer. You can bring your items to the AAA Auction and Estate Center or have us come to your location and haul everything away for you. Need cash now? We can help.

Tony and Denise Elfelt
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Online Estate Auctions vs. Traditional Estate Sales
September 19, 2012

Auctions at AAA Action and www.auctionmn.com are better than estate sales because:

Online estate auctions avoid having a person price something so high it doesn't sell or so low it sells right away for less money than it is worth.
Competitive bidding means that you get top dollar on each item you sell.
There is seldom anything left over after an auction.
You don't have hordes of people wandering through your house.
More people are exposed to your items in our online estate auctions. We have around 50,000 page hits per week on our web site alone. That makes us the highest volume online seller in Anoka County.
We pay our clients very quickly (in about 7-10 days), not in six weeks like most estate sale companies.
We describe each item and often include several photographs of each item as well. Most estate sale companies take only one photograph of an item and do not describe it.
When required, we have certified appraisers on our staff who can provide you with well-researched opinions on the value of an item.
For higher value items you can place a minimum selling price.
At AAA Auction and www.auctionmn.com we appreciate your business and will treat you the way we would like to be treated if we were a seller or a buyer.

Call us today!
Tony and Denise Elfelt
(763) 421-3044

Auctionmn.com has around 50,000 page hits per week so that's a lot of people looking at our web site. This volume of traffic will ensure that your items are sold for the right price. At an estate sale, if the item is priced too high, it won't sell at all and if it's priced too low, you lose money. Our auctions usually get the right bids for the true value of the items.

Tony Elfelt
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Free Local Pickup
September 17, 2012

Can't come to us? AAA Auction provides free local pickup service for quality consignments. Just call us at (763) 421-2099 when you are ready.

Tony Elfelt
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First Place Spitter
August 8, 2012

Auctioneer, attorney, watermelon seed spitting champion… Coincidence? I think not. Tony here shows off his first place medal for a 27.5-foot watermelon-seed-spit at the 2012 Nowthen Lions Night to Unite event. Thanks to the Nowthen Lions for hosting the event.

Tony Elfelt
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Do you have something to sell?
July 11, 2012

Our web site got over 61,500 hits last week alone!

Tony Elfelt
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Sell cars and guns for FREE
July 10, 2012

Cars and Trucks
AAA Auction will sell your cars and trucks at ZERO commission. Just bring us the vehicle and a clean title and we will photograph it and put it in our next auction. You can also set a reserve or minimum selling price.

Guns
AAA Auction also charges ZERO commission for selling guns. AAA Auction is a licensed firearms dealer and we always have a tremendous amount of interest when we sell guns.

Tony Elfelt
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Tools Tools Tools
June 19, 2012

AAA Auction was chosen to liquidate a huge inventory of new tools from a former tool salesman. These tools include everything from large welders to small hand tools. We haven't unpacked everything yet, so we don't know what all we have to sell. We do have, however, many very large tools that require a forklift or at least a dolly to move. Our first tool auction will be online only. It will start soon and end on July 9th. After that, we plan to have a live auction at the AAA Auction and Estate Center on July 15th,with online pre-bids for that auction during the week before. This is a must-see auction for the handyman and contractor.

Tony Elfelt
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We Buy Whole Estates
May 30, 2012

At AAA Auction we recommend the method of selling your property that puts the most money in your pocket. This could mean that we sell your items at the AAA Auction and Estate Center on commission or it might mean we come to your house and do an online estate sale or an old-fashioned auction. But if you don't have the time for either of these options, AAA Auction will also purchase your single items or your whole estate outright and move it away for you. If you call us today, your items could be gone tomorrow.

Tony Elfelt
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Tony Brings in $191,000 for Habitat for Humanity
April 23, 2012

Last Saturday night I had the privilege of working for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and the Fladaboe Benefit Auction Company. I was tremendously moved when in response to the program, a video, and my pleas, the audience pledged over $191,000 and received nothing in return except a tax deduction and the rewarding feeling of helping folks less fortunate. How lucky we are to live in a community where people care about one another.

Tony Elfelt
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There are No Friends at an Auction
April 19, 2012

All auctions in Minnesota are with "reserve" unless advertised as "absolute." With "reserve" means that seller has the right to buy back his own items or to bid on them if he thinks the price is too low. However, as stated in the terms of our consignment contracts, if a seller buys back his own items, he is charged not only the seller's commission, but the buyer's premium as well. Therefore we seldom see a seller buying back his own items.

On the other hand, it is illegal for two or more bidders work together to keep the price down on items they want to buy. For example, if two bidders are both interested in the same two items, it would be illegal for them to agree to have each of them bid on just one item and not the other. It may be a surprise for some to know that such an agreement is actually a felony. The Sherman Act calls this "restraint of trade" and declares such activity to be a felony. That's why you may have heard it said that: "There are no friends at an auction."

Tony Elfelt
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$250 for a Referral
March 5, 2012

Tony Elfelt at a benefit auction

Hello Auction Friends,

Most of you follow AAA Auction and auctionmn.com for all the great auctions we have online and we are grateful that you do that. I would like to take a moment though to let you know that I also provide fund-raising auction services. As a matter of fact, I was the first auctioneer in Minnesota to earn the designation "BAS" from the National Auctioneer's Association as a Certified Benefit Auction Specialist.

In the last several years I have helped raise millions of dollars for many diverse non-profits. I accomplish that with a high energy, fun, and sometimes emotionally powerful auction style. Please watch my Benefit Auction video if you would like to see a short sample of what I can do.

So, if your church, school, or other non-profit needs an auctioneer, please ask them to call me at (763) 421-2099 and mention your name. If your organization hires me and lets me know that you referred me, I will be happy to pay you $150 and also make a personal contribution to your organization of $100. Thank you.

Tony Elfelt, BAS
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Finding AAA Auction on Proxibid
February 27, 2012

Hello Bidders,

An easy way to find our auction on Proxibid is to log onto our own website where you are now and click the link to the Proxibid auction.

Thank you.

Tony and Denise
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Free Gun Auction
February 22, 2012

Hello Bidders and Sellers:

AAA Auction is happy to annouce that we will be holding a GUN ONLY auction in April. The date is yet to be determined.
We already have about 35 guns to sell, but we are looking for more. Also, NO COMMISSION will be charged to the sellers.

So whether you have a gun to sell, or are looking to add one to your collection, this will be a great time for you to join us.

See you soon!

Tony and Denise
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Live Storage Auction on March 25th with Online Prebidding
February 21, 2012

Hello Bidders,

We now have a firm date for the 24-vault auction at AAA Movers in Crystal. It will be on Sunday, March 25th starting at noon. We will post photos online and allow prebidding on www.auctionmn.com about 10 days prior. Prebidding will end at 9 a.m. on March 25th, the day of the live auction. Live bidding will start where the prebids leave off. We will place bids for any prebidder who also places a maximum bid online. Please note that we are not selling the wooden vaults themselves or any packing materials or shipping blankets that may be in the vaults.

There will be no pre-auction preview. There will be an opportunity to look into the vaults immediatley before the bidding begins on each vault. The vaults are 5' x 7' x 7'. We will remove one door from one end of each vault, but everyone will be required to stand back several feet from the vaults. Nothing can be unloaded or touched.

Payment for the vaults must be in cash or by credit card. Winners will be allowed to have access to their purchases after the live auction is over, (which we expect to be around 1:30 p.m.) but not before. Winners must remove their purchases immediately after the live auction ends. Pickup for the online winners will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. after the live auction ends on Sunday, March 25th.

Are you as excited as we are? See you there!

Tony and Denise
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New Design with Videos
February 14, 2012

Hello Bidders,
I hope you like our new design with bullet points. Our new software also allows us to use videos that are hosted on YouTube. If a lot has a video, it will be on the page that appears when you click on that lot's thumbnail image.

Thank you,

Tony and Denise
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Legal Tidbits
February 10, 2012

Hello Bidders,

Many of you know that I am also a lawyer. My law office is on Main Street across from the Anoka Government Center where I work with Bill Erhart in our law firm called Erhart and Elfelt, LLC. For over 30 years, my law practice has involved protecting the rights of injured people. This has mainly focused on making sure my clients' bills get paid and that they are fairly compensated for injuries caused by other people. I have handled thousands of cases ranging from neck and back pain to broken bones, paralysis and death. There is no charge to talk with me, so if you or someone you know could use some good legal advice, please call me at (763) 444-4444.

Also, many people who come to the AAA Auction and Estate Center are there because the responsibility of handling a deceased person's estate has fallen to them. When that happens, there are often other legal concerns that go beyond selling the personal property. When that happens, I refer those people to my partner, Bill Erhart. Bill has over 33 years of experience assisting people with drawing up their wills and handling probate matters. He is thorough, smart and tough when it’s required and you can also reach him at (763) 444-4444. If you mention that you saw this note, you will receive a free 1/2 hour estate planning consultation.

Bill and I will post updates regarding interesting developments in personal injury and estate planning law to our "Legal Tidbits" page, which you can display by clicking on the Legal Tidbits button in the menu on the left side of our home page:

Thank you,

Tony Elfelt
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Plenty More to sell!
February 6, 2012

Hello Bidders,

Welcome to all bidders new and old who joined us last Saturday for our Live/Online Proxibid auction. For those of you who logged in and listened to the auction, I hope you had a good experience. We had bidders from 25 states and we'll be busy shipping items for a while. We also recognize that some folks had trouble using the Proxibid web site, so many of you will be happy to hear that the next auction we will be putting up from this large collectible estate will be right here on this very web site. We have plenty more to sell and there's still more for us to bring to the AAA Auction and Estate Center.

See you there in the air!

Tony and Denise
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Auctionmn.com E-mail Settings
February 3, 2012

Hello Bidders,

Some of our users have told us that e-mailed invoices for their purchases were sent to their e-mail program's spam folder. Please add auctioneer@auctionmn.com to your contacts, or address book, and to your list of trusted senders, approved senders, safe senders, or whatever your software calls an acceptable e-mail sender.

Thank you.

Tony and Denise
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Special Reduced Buyer's Premium for February 4th Auction
January 30, 2012

Hello Bidders,

For buyers in our February 4th auction who pick up their items in person and pay with cash or a good check, we will reduce the buyer's premium from 18% to 15%.

Thank you.

Tony
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2012 St. John the Baptist Church and School Wines to Wishes Gala
January 30, 2012

Hello Bidders,

I would like to thank all the generous people at St. John the Baptist Church and School in New Brighton who welcomed me as the live benefit auctioneer for the 2012 Wines to Wishes Gala. We had a great time and raised a great deal of money for a new P.A. system for the school. It warms the heart being among such generous people.

Tony
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Proxibid Auction
January 26, 2012

Hello Bidders,

As you know, our next auction will be on Proxibid.com. Please go to their web site to learn how Proxibid.com works and to create an account. Its easy. You listen to a live auction call and bid from home on the Internet. You can also put in pre-bids right away. We will be posting this auction very soon. Thank you.

Tony and Denise
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Semi Load of Hardware
January 23, 2012

Attention Bidders:
Our auction closing on January 30th consists of an entire semi load of hardware store returns, close-outs and shelf pulls. Most of the items are new in the box. This is your auction if you are looking for new toilets, sinks, vanities, blinds or flooring. Many other items including some collectibles are also included in this auction.

Thank you.

Tony and Denise
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Second Auction of 40-plus-year Collection
January 23, 2012

Hello Bidders,

As you know, we have been honored with the opportunity to sell a very large collectible estate. The auction that closed on January 23rd is the first full auction of these unique collectibles. Our next auction for this estate, which will be posted very soon, will be on www.proxibid.com.

You will still be able to review the photos and descriptions for this auction on our own web site as usual, but there will be no bidding boxes there. In order to bid, you will need to register at and log on to www.proxibid.com. If you are unfamiliar with Proxibid, you can go to their web site and watch some of the auctions that are always taking place. When the auction is ready, we will post a link on our home page, and send out an e-mail to those of you who have an auctionmn.com bidder number.

Many of you will recall the Proxibid auction that we held last August at our former location in Anoka. This new auction will be just like that one except we will, unfortunately, not have any in-person bidding at the AAA Auction and Estate Center. The auction will run for several days, and you can put in a maximum bid so the system will bid on your behalf whether or not you are logged in. The auction close will be a little different. We will be doing a “live close” instead of a “timed close.” You will have the opportunity to listen to a live auction chant on you computer and to bid online in real time for each of the items as they come up for auction.

Winning bidders may pick up their items at the AAA Auction and Estate Center, or they may choose to have them shipped. Details will be in the auction listing.

Thank you.

Tony and Denise
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Additional Pickup Day
January 17, 2012

Hello Bidders,

Please note that we have added a pickup day for our auctions. In addition to our regular pickup on Wednesdays from 2-7 p.m., we are now open for pickups on Thursdays from 9 a.m to noon.

Thank you.

Tony and Denise
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New Late Pickup Terms
January 10, 2012

Hello Bidders,

Denise and I would like to thank all of the many people bidding on auctionmn.com. As you know, our auction family is growing rapidly. While we are very appreciative of our growth, the volume of items that we have been selling has presented some challenges. One of those is late pickups which create added cost in staff time, and a delay in processing our next auction. They also unfairly delay the consignor from receiving payment for his items. Also, since our space is limited, storing the late pickups also creates a space issue. So, we would like to thank all of our bidders who pick up their items at the scheduled time and we ask everyone else to try to do the same.

The late pickup situation has required us to implement these new procedures as of the January 18th pickup:

Starting with our auction ending on January 16th, we will add to our regular Wednesday pickup a Thursday pickup opportunity from 9 am until noon.
We will start charging $10.00 for any late pickup.
For late pickups and for those bidders who registered with a credit card, there will be a $10 late fee charged to the bidder's credit card.
For those bidders who did not register with a credit card, their bidding privileges will be suspended until they pay for their items along with the late fee, and add their credit card information to their bidder profile.

Thank you.

Tony and Denise
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40-plus-year Collection
January 4, 2012

Hello Auction Friends,

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year's celebration. I know we did. The fish were really biting until the wind blew us off the lake. That's was OK though because Denise and I were anxious to go home and get busy putting up the first items from the 40-plus-year collection we promised you. Some pieces will go up this weekend for our auction closing on January 16th. Our Auction and Estate Center is full now, and we are going back for more soon. If you like kitchen collectibles, Griswold items, toys from the 30's and 40's, clocks, vintage needlepoint, glassware, antiques and the like, you will want to stay tuned.

Tony and Denise
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Merry Christmas With Our Thanks
December 13, 2011

Hello Auction Friends,

This is just a short note to thank all of our sellers and buyers for allowing AAA Auction and auctionmn.com to help bring you together. For example, the auction that closed last night had over 50,000 page hits, 2544 total bids and 159 different bidders. That's great! We are very pleased and grateful for the chance to work with all of you in this business. Please have a happy and safe Christmas and holiday season.

Tony and Denise
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Auction Featuring Hamm's and Other Beer Collectibles
November 28, 2011

Hello Auction Friends,

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I know I did.

We are now busy at AAA Auction preparing our next online auction, which will include many Hamm’s Beer collectibles and other brewery collectibles. We expect a lot of interest in this auction, so if you have been waiting for a good time to sell any of your beer collectibles, this is it. To get anything in this auction, it should be brought to us as soon as possible, but no later than Thursday this week ( December 1st).

Thank you.

Tony and Denise
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October 25, 2011
How-to-Bid Reminders

Here are some brief reminders about how to place bids.

Two "Submit Bids" Buttons
After you click the "Submit Bids" button, the computer will summarize your bids for you and show a new "Submit Bids" button, which you must also click for your bids to be processed. After your bid has been successfully submitted, you will see a screen that shows whether you are now the high bidder or whether someone else has previously placed a higher maximum bid.

"Outbid" E-mails and "Outbid" Red Triangles
If you are the high bidder and you get outbid at a later time, you will receive an e-mail notifying you of that. However, if the auction is already in the process of closing, you will not receive an e-mail. If you are logged in, a red triangle will appear next to those lots on which you have been outbid. You can log in by placing another bid, or by entering your bidder number and password at the bottom of a page with bidding boxes, then clicking the "Review Bids" button. That button limits the list of lots to display only those lots that you have bid on.

Refresh Often
After the auction starts to close, it is important to frequently refresh your browser to show up-to-date bids. When the auction is closing, there will be a "Refresh" link next to each lot's listing. Each of those links will refresh the entire page. You can also use your browser's refresh or reload option. If you do not refresh, your screen will show outdated information, and you may be surprised to find out later that someone else was the high bidder on your lot.

Closing Time Extensions
Any bid placed within three minutes of the closing time for a lot will extend the bidding time (delay the closing time) for that lot. Due to the way our system records bids, the actual extended time will be between two and three minutes. Each new bid during the extended bidding time will further extend the bidding time, until no bids are received during the last time extension.

"Your Maximum" Bidding Box
You can save time by entering the largest amount that you are willing to pay for a lot in the box in the column labeled "Your Maximum." Our system will then bid on your behalf in set increments, bidding the minimum amount required, up to your maximum bid (which you may later raise by placing another bid). Your maximum bid must be at least equal to the amount shown in the "Next Bid Required" column. Here are the bid increments:

Current Price is at least...	Bid Increment
$15	$1
$100	$2.50
$300	$5
$500	$10
$1,000	$25
$3,000	$50
$10,000	$100
$20,000	$250
$35,000	$500
Over $35,000	$1,000

You can also display the increments by clicking the "Increments" link to the right of the "Review Bids" button at the bottom of every page that has bid entry boxes.

Thank you.

Tony Elfelt
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October 10, 2011
Reduced Credit Card Convenience Fees and Increased Buyer's Premium

As everyone knows, the bank charges us a fee when folks pay with a credit card and we have been charging an extra 5% buyer's premium to cover those fees. From now on though, we will charge a credit card convenience fee of only 3%. On the other hand, we have found it necessary to raise the buyer's premium to 13%. While some companies still charge a 10% buyer's premium, when we did a survey, we found that buyer's premiums of more than 10% are not uncommon with some companies charging 15% and even 16.785%. We hope that you will continue to agree that the quality of our service is well worth the fees we charge. Thank you.

Tony Elfelt
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October 1, 2011
WE FOUND A NEW HOME IN RAMSEY!!!!!

We are very excited about our new spot. We are right on Highway 10, in the old Ramsey Wine and Spirits store just east of Ramsey Blvd. It's right next to where there used to be a Holiday gas station. Hooray!!!!

Our New Home
The new AAA Auction and Estate Center is at 7129 HIGHWAY 10 NW, RAMSEY MN 55303-6043 (Map). We're in the old Ramsey Wine & Spirits building at the intersection of Highway 10 and Ramsey Boulevard (Anoka County Road 56). We're across Highway 10 from a Holiday Stationstore, and across Ramsey Boulevard from a Burger King. Look for the bright red roof over our entryway.

Note: the Google Maps satellite view and the street view still show an old gas station to the west of our place. It is no longer there.

From the East on Highway 10
Coming from the southeast on Highway 10, turn right into our driveway before you get to Ramsey Boulevard.

From the West on Highway 10
or via Ramsey Boulevard
Coming from the west on Highway 10, turn north (left) onto Ramsey Boulevard. Exit Ramsey Boulevard directly across from Burger King's driveway, then pull around to the front of our building.

Tony Elfelt
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September 3, 2011
We are Moving

Yes, the rumors are true. We have lost our lease and will be leaving our space in Anoka at the end of September. We are not, however, leaving the business. We are looking for another location where we will be able to continue holding regular online and live auctions as the need arises. So we will not be accepting any more consignments this month. We will continue to hold online and live estate auctions at our sellers' homes, and we will hold one or two more online auction later this month at the AAA Auction and Estate Center. That will be it then until we find a new location.

All of us at auctionmn.com and AAA Auction would like to thank all of our consigners and buyers for providing us with the opportunity to do something we love. Many of you have become our friends through this business and we will miss seeing you until we land in a new location and see you again.

Tony Elfelt
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August 3, 2011
No More Set-up Fees / New Commission Rates

The realities of the marketplace have forced us to raise our commission rates slightly, moreso on the lower value items. The best news though is that we no longer will charge any set-up fees.

This table shows our new commission rates:

Selling Price	Commission (% of Selling Price)
$0 - $9.99	100%
$10 - $99.99	30%
$100 - $499.99	20%
500 - $999.99	10%
$1000 and up	FREE

Thank you.

Tony Elfelt
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June 24, 2011
Start of Auction Calendar in July

Hi Friends,

I hope everyone has a safe and dry Fourth of July. The AAA Auction and Estate Center will be closed from Wednesday, June 29th until Tuesday July 5th. Since we figure a lot of folks will be gone the week of July 4th, we will not have an auction ending on July 4th or a pickup or a preview that week. Instead, we are going to have a much larger auction ending on July 11th. That one should start the middle of next week. Among the many other great items, there will be a lot of guns in that auction. Since this auction will be much larger than normal, the pickup on Wednesday, July 13th will start earlier than normal. The pickup and preview on that day will be from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Thank you.

Tony Elfelt
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April 20, 2011
Online Estate Sales

We will consider your special needs when making a recommendation for the best way to hold your sale. For some the best approach might be a live auction. For others it might be a traditional estate sale. But for many people an online estate auction brings in the most money with the least risk and hassle.

Here is how we do it:

A trained appraiser or auctioneer goes to your home and meets with you. If it turns out that we recommend an online estate auction and if that is what you choose, a date will then be set up for our staff of usually two or three people to return to your home to take pictures of everything to be sold. They will also put a numbered sticker on each item and type a description of that item into our computer.

Once all the photos are taken and descriptions written, we will turn the data over to our webmaster, who will make every photograph look fantastic, and put the auction on the Internet for the world to see. We then return to your home again for a "preview day” which is a time when people can come to the home and inspect the items to be sold. After the auction closes at a predetermined date and time, we send all winning bidders an invoice by e-mail. We will then come back to your home two days later to collect the money from the buyers and to give them their purchases. Finally, in 7-10 days after the auction we will send you your check and a computerized printout of everything that sold.

An online estate auction is often better than a live estate sale because:

The seller is not subject to leaving money on the table in case the traditional estate sale host prices something too low or too high. If the item is priced too low, it will obviously sell for below market value. If it is priced too high, it obviously won't sell at all. Then on the second day of the live estate sale when most everything is marked down 50%, the item may sell, but for less than what it is worth. For example, assume an item is worth $200, but on the first day of the sale, it is priced at $300. No one will buy it. Then on the second day when prices are routinely dropped by 50%, the item will be marked down to $150. Naturally, it will then sell, but the owner will have lost the $50 between the item's $200 real value and the selling price of $150. However, if the item were sold in an online auction, the market will drive the price up to where it should be and it will likely sell at or above the $200 value.
Another reason an online estate auction is often better than a traditional estate sale is because many things are often left over after a traditional estate sale. After an online auction however, almost everything gets sold and goes away. That is because the lower value items are sold in groups or lots at an online estate auction. For example, instead of selling screwdrivers out of a box for 50 cents each and having 50 of them left over, we will sell the whole box to an online bidder. We will also sell flats or boxes of items that will include some less desirable items with the more desirable items.
A traditional estate sale often has 100 or more people lined up outside the seller's door waiting for the start of the estate sale. Although they are not all allowed in at once, when the first 20 or so are allowed in, there is usually a mad rush all over the house. Items can be broken and carpets can be soiled. Items can also find their way into pockets where they do not belong. An online estate sale, however, is orderly. Since people cannot buy the item in person, there is no rush. Also, since most of the buyers will rely on the photographs and descriptions they see online, throngs of people don't go through the seller's house at all.
Like it or not, people like to buy online. It’s easy. It’s convenient and it’s fun. Online bidders also don't have to get up at four a.m. to get a number to be first in line at the estate sale in order to get the best deals. Everyone has an equal chance to bid and that means more bids and money for the seller.
Whereas some tradtional estate companies take up to six weeks to pay you the proceeds of your sale, we pay you within 7-10 days.

So, while there is certainly a place for traditional auctions and traditional estate sales, in many cases you can get more money with less risk and less hassle when your sale is conducted as an online auction.