{"id":1535,"date":"2017-08-14T14:47:14","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T20:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2017-08-14T14:47:14","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T20:47:14","slug":"estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"Estate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot goes into being a successful estate sale company. Knowing how to properly appraise and price items<\/a> takes time and research, and acquiring that breadth of knowledge comes from many years on the job. In other words, there aren\u2019t any short-cuts in this business.<\/span><\/p>\n

Successful estate sale companies<\/a> have also mastered soft skills like juggling the often competing demands of their clients and customers, organization and project management super powers, and fine attention to detail.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016, Milford, Massachusetts-based Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales<\/a> had the second-most views on our website, so they must be doing something right. We caught up with owner Chris Jordan to find out his take on the growing estate sale industry, how to handle the competition, and what he likes best about advertising on EstateSales.org.<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/p>\n

How long have you been in the business?<\/b><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve been in the antique business since 2001, but I\u2019ve been doing estate sales regularly since 2001.<\/p>\n

How big is your estate company and staff?<\/b><\/h3>\n

It ranges. . . \u00a0each house is different, so I don\u2019t need everybody in every house, but big houses might be up to eight or ten.<\/p>\n

How many estate sales do you do a year?<\/b><\/h3>\n

We\u2019re a lot different than some of the other companies around here. The last three years we\u2019ve been averaging over 100 sales a year. Which is probably why we got so many views.<\/p>\n

What do you attribute to your success?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Well I don\u2019t want to reveal my secrets too much to other companies, you know what i mean? (laughs), but put it this way: I\u2019m not as selective as some of the other companies. I\u2019m not looking to get rich quick.<\/p>\n

I have heard that sometimes newer estate sale companies try to be too choosy. . . <\/b><\/h3>\n

A lot of them have high minimums, too. Do I have a minimum? It\u2019s not etched in stone. If I look at a house and I don\u2019t see at least $4k worth of merchandise, it\u2019s not worth us doing a sale at our percentage. \u00a0But I hear of companies that have really high minimums, and that\u2019s fine if that\u2019s how they want to run their business.<\/p>\n

The thing is, too, you have people who run estate sales with their siblings who have careers, or they have another source of income. I don\u2019t have another source of income, My wife doesn\u2019t work. This is what we do for a living. So you gotta take it when when you get it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll take on that small sale that isn\u2019t gonna make a lot of money because I\u2019m thinking beyond it. There might be a neighbor or a family member or whatnot, and they might need an estate sale. So then that one that only brought 3 or 4k might be worth it in the long haul.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0lot of your sales come from word-of-mouth?<\/b><\/h3>\n

That and advertising. And my reputation. Reputation has a lot to do with everything, too. Word of mouth. There\u2019s so many estate sale companies now I\u2019ve noticed compared to like five years ago. I\u2019m sure you guys know from all the people that sign up on your website.<\/p>\n

(Ed note: Estatesales.org has\u00a03,979 companies listed on our site, a number that has grown since 2009<\/em>).<\/p>\n

That must give you an edge – having the longevity. Do you find your antiques background also helps?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Yeah, that helps a lot. I used to go to estate sales. I used to get up at two in the morning and go and wait in line and want to be number one in line and all that. I used to feed off the two-day sales, get there the next day, knowing if they didn\u2019t see it the first day they\u2019d be giving it away. I reincorporated a lot of that\u2014what I\u2019ve experienced before, going to sales\u2014into how I run the sales.<\/p>\n

And integrity is huge in this business. My staff, we\u2019re not allowed to buy anything, I\u2019m not allowed to buy anything. We don\u2019t bring stuff from one sale to another. I mean there are a lot games that go on with companies – with some of them, not all of them\u2014and you\u2019re hired to represent an estate. You\u2019ve got to be on the up and up with it. and that\u2019s our philosophy. So it helps.<\/p>\n

Do you advertise on social media and on the main 3 estate sale listing sites?<\/b><\/h3>\n

I do \u00a0a lot of advertising online and stuff like that. I\u2019m a paying member of your site and the other two (.com and .net).<\/p>\n

Is there anything about .Org that stands out?<\/b><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve always liked the layout better and the photographs, and the people that come to my sale, they like that too. The photos are bigger. I know you changed the website and there were some kinks to get over [when we added the ability to host your own online auction], but overall I like putting my sales on your site better. . . I mean your site\u2014it\u2019s brighter, it looks better. \u00a0I\u2019ve always liked it.<\/p>\n

When we post an estate sale on your site and we come up with a title, you want to put as much as you can, on your site, you pretty much have unlimited character space in the title area. On the other sites, they don\u2019t. It\u2019s little things like that that stand out. <\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have any advice for newer estate sale companies about challenges you face?<\/b><\/h3>\n

in my opinion, a lot of people go to estate sales, newer people, and they see companies like [Best Rate Estate Sales] and a lot of these other companies that are real busy, and they think, oh I\u2019m gonna start my own company and do it. . . It\u2019s not as easy as people think! It\u2019s a lot harder, and especially if you\u2019re new and you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing and you don\u2019t know that Chinese vase is 300 years old, and you sell it for $10. So it\u2019s a lot of things like that.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of people that want to start up estate sale companies and they don\u2019t do it right and they don\u2019t do the people that are hiring them justice\u2014by selling their items properly. I\u2019m constantly learning. I don\u2019t know everything. We have to do a lot of research. You deal with the good with the bad. It\u2019s a very fun business, and if they\u2019re in it for the money, they shouldn\u2019t get involved in the business! You have to love this kind industry, If you absolutely love it, then you\u2019ll be making money.<\/p>\n

The first estate sale I ever did was my grandmother\u2019s, and it was hard. But I liked antiques, and not just antiques but I liked interacting with people. And that\u2019s more of the challenge of an estate sale\u2014is dealing with all the different people who come to the estate sales. They haggle you. They\u2019re sneaky! (laughs) So you have to deal with that kind of baloney. You have to keep a smile on your face. You can\u2019t be an ass to people or they won\u2019t come back. You can\u2019t be rude. I see some of these companies, they have mega lists of rules, you can\u2019t do this, you can\u2019t do that. Yeah, you\u2019ve gotta have rules, you gotta keep an eye on stuff, .but you can\u2019t have that many! Can you imagine all that stuff stuck in the door at a Wal Mart before people walk in? (laughs)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m constantly learning too, but it\u2019s definitely one of those businesses where you have to love it, you gotta live and die by it, you can\u2019t just do one sale a month. There are people in this industry that are signed up to your website that have been in the business way longer than me. They\u2019ve been antique dealers for forty or fifty years, and they run sales now. \u00a0They have the knowledge. They have a background, so it\u2019s tough for when you get somebody that thinks they\u2019re a know-it-all, and then you hear horror stories about ripping families off or something happens. It\u2019s a shame when you hear that.<\/p>\n

I just want people to know that if they\u2019re honest and they have integrity, then they\u2019ll be successful.<\/p>\n

\"estate
\nAre you an estate sale company that’s been in the business for awhile? What do you attribute to your success? Leave a comment – we’d love your input!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot goes into being a successful estate sale company. Knowing how to properly appraise and price items takes time and research, and acquiring that breadth of knowledge comes from many years on the job. In other words, there aren\u2019t any short-cuts in this business. Successful estate sale companies have also mastered soft skills like\u2026Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[135,29,43],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEstate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A lot goes into being a being a successful estate company. Find out from estate liquidator Chris Jordan what it takes to make it in this industry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Estate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A lot goes into being a being a successful estate company. Find out from estate liquidator Chris Jordan what it takes to make it in this industry.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Estate Sale Company Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/estatesales.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-14T20:47:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eso-wordpress.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/university\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/21151528\/Estate-Sale-Company-Success-Stories.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2449\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1224\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Estate Saler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@estatesalesorg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@estatesalesorg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Estate Saler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/\",\"name\":\"Estate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-14T20:47:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-14T20:47:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#\/schema\/person\/53f98678e88dcdf40e9e7246d07bc4af\"},\"description\":\"A lot goes into being a being a successful estate company. Find out from estate liquidator Chris Jordan what it takes to make it in this industry.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Estate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/\",\"name\":\"Estate Sale Company Blog\",\"description\":\"for estate sale companies\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#\/schema\/person\/53f98678e88dcdf40e9e7246d07bc4af\",\"name\":\"Estate Saler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5d6fec8f7ebc41abf666ff2f24889e16?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5d6fec8f7ebc41abf666ff2f24889e16?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Estate Saler\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/author\/siobhan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Estate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales","description":"A lot goes into being a being a successful estate company. Find out from estate liquidator Chris Jordan what it takes to make it in this industry.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Estate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales","og_description":"A lot goes into being a being a successful estate company. Find out from estate liquidator Chris Jordan what it takes to make it in this industry.","og_url":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/","og_site_name":"Estate Sale Company Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/estatesales.org\/","article_published_time":"2017-08-14T20:47:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2449,"height":1224,"url":"https:\/\/eso-wordpress.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/university\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/21151528\/Estate-Sale-Company-Success-Stories.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Estate Saler","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@estatesalesorg","twitter_site":"@estatesalesorg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Estate Saler","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/","url":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/","name":"Estate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-14T20:47:14+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-14T20:47:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#\/schema\/person\/53f98678e88dcdf40e9e7246d07bc4af"},"description":"A lot goes into being a being a successful estate company. Find out from estate liquidator Chris Jordan what it takes to make it in this industry.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/estate-sale-success-story-best-rate-cleanouts-estate-sales\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Estate Sale Company Success Story: Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#website","url":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/","name":"Estate Sale Company Blog","description":"for estate sale companies","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#\/schema\/person\/53f98678e88dcdf40e9e7246d07bc4af","name":"Estate Saler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5d6fec8f7ebc41abf666ff2f24889e16?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5d6fec8f7ebc41abf666ff2f24889e16?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Estate Saler"},"url":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/author\/siobhan\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1535"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1685,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions\/1685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/university\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}