If you\u2019ve visited a few estate sales, you\u2019ll quickly notice that there\u2019s no particular industry standard to follow. Each company sets its own standards, and outline it in their estate sale contract agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Payment methods also vary across estate sale companies. Some companies choose to only accept cash, while others accept both credit cards and cash, use a manual list of tracking items and what they sold for.<\/p>\n Sooner or later, if you\u2019re in the estate sale business<\/a>, you\u2019ll have to accept credit and debit cards as a method of payment.<\/p>\n Customers are relying on their \u201cplastic\u201d more often and carrying less cash. Besides, if the goal is to sell more, estate sale shoppers<\/a> are eager to purchase more and higher priced items if you accept credit cards. Not everyone runs around with a lot of cash in their pockets.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a daunting task to say the least no matter what system or platform you use.\u00a0 Estate sales<\/a> are generally held over a 3 or 4 day period. They involve a lot of foot traffic, lots of questions, distractions, and a huge variety of items, so it\u2019s not easy to track it all and be able to produce a 100% accurate list for each item sold. There are however some tools that can help ease the process.<\/p>\n We asked a few companies in our private estate sale company network<\/a> where professionals share knowledge, exchange ideas, and help each other grow about their payment acceptance methods.<\/p>\n We spoke to Robin Hall, who together with Linda Whisnant founded RetroCats Estate Sales<\/a>, which provides professional estate sale services in Conway, AR and surrounding areas in Faulkner County.<\/p>\n Hall said \u201cOur company accepts personal checks, we use PayPal Here for credit card transactions<\/a> and of course, we always accept cash.\u201d<\/p>\n How long before a client is paid for the estate sale held?<\/p>\n Hall replied, \u201cWe pay our clients within 5 days. I go to the bank to deposit the cash and checks on Monday after the sale. Usually by Wednesday, all the checks have cleared the bank.”<\/p>\n She continued, “Since the Paypal transactions are immediately available, there’s no need to wait too long, so I usually process the distribution checks on Thursday or Friday, whichever day is convenient for the client.”<\/p>\n Do you supply your client with a list of items sold and do you use a “POS” point of sale system to get a report?<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as an item tracking system goes, I manually write each item that’s sold and can provide that to the client if they want to see it. I also compile a very detailed spreadsheet that tracks the sales each day by transaction type, all the credit card transactions and overall summary of the sale with percentages of each sale day are compared to the overall sales.\u00a0\u00a0This has been extremely helpful for us to estimate sales projections. This is provided to each client with their distribution check.\u201d<\/p>\n We took it a step further and polled professionals within the estate sale company group on Facebook founded by EstateSales.org<\/a>. We wanted to know what a fair waiting period is before the estate sale commissions<\/a> are calculated and a client is paid after the sale.<\/p>\n Although the answers varied, the majority of professional estate sale companies<\/a> agreed that payments are made to the client within 7 days of sale end.<\/p>\n In general, clients do appreciate getting a detailed breakdown of items sold, however in an unregulated industry such as estate sales<\/a>, there are no set standards to follow.<\/p>\n Each company provides their services, and distribute sale proceeds based on their policies and what they\u2019ve outlined in their estate sale contract to the client.<\/p>\n Not all companies distribute funds within 5 to 7 business days – some funds could take up to 30 days or even longer depending on the liquidation services provided.<\/p>\n If online estate sale auctions<\/a> or consignment is provided after the on-site estate sale is over, returns, chargebacks, and other issues do hold up the process including the funds.<\/p>\n Many clients choose to leave items that didn’t sell on consignment with the estate sale company, which takes longer to sell. They may receive a distribution check for the estate sale quickly, but wait longer to be paid for individually consigned items.<\/p>\n In summary, whatever the accounting & payment distribution policy is for your estate sale business, it\u2019s important to stick to that policy, and make sure you’ve properly outlined the policy in the legally binding estate sale contract between you and the client.<\/p>\n Online estate sale services<\/a> are a lot like consignment. If an estate sale company sells items online, they may need to wait a bit longer to distribute funds because they want to make sure the buyer receives the item without any complaints or returns before they distribute funds to the client.<\/p>\n Depending which online platform is used, calculating fees, commissions, and costs can be quite a tedious process.<\/p>\n EstateSales.org<\/a> offers an online\u00a0\u00a0estate sale auction platform<\/a> with features that allow estate sale companies to fill in estate sale commission fees<\/a> and provide a final report that gives detailed accounting information quickly.<\/p>\n It\u2019s efficient, detailed, and makes the process seamless by automatically calculating the distribution.<\/p>\n We asked Mike Judkins<\/a>, the Founder and CEO of EstateSales.org, to give us more information about the online auction accounting tools.<\/p>\n Judkins said, \u201cEstateSales.org provides out-of-the-box statement generation for sellers who would like to generate a report for their consignors at the end of a sale.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSellers who are conducting online sales via EstateSales.org can attach consignors and commission rates to individual lots in their sale or as a blanket commission rate that applies to all items in their sale. When the sale is over, an itemized statement is automatically generated showing total sales, total commission fees and buyers premiums if applicable. Sellers can filter statements for individual consignors and save statements as PDFs so that they can send a report to their consignor electronically.”<\/p>\n The goal with estate sale accounting is to have accuracy, yet be efficient in gathering the data. Let\u2019s discover some other tools of the trade<\/a> that help the process.<\/p>\n We\u2019re talking electronic tools that go beyond a standard cash register and make your life and final liquidation accounting report much easier. A wireless hotspot is an access point that\u2019s used in public locations, it provides internet access to mobile devices such as a laptop, smart phone or iPad even if you\u2019re away from the office. \u201cYour cell phone can have a wireless hotspot that gives your iPad internet access to run transactions when you need it or visa versa\u201d.<\/p>\n Hotspots are great because you can get online anywhere but they can also have some security concerns. Your internet or phone line provider can discuss all the hotspot options available. Many will offer unlimited data and this is essentially the most cost-effective plan choose if you plan on holding a lot of sales.<\/p>\n There are hundreds of ways to accept credit cards, ideally, companies prefer a merchant that also offers a point of sale \u201cPOS\u201d system. This will allow you to run the credit card transactions and output a list of items sold and what they sold for.<\/p>\n We went out to discover the options most often used and some new ones to consider.<\/p>\n As you can imagine, there are hundreds of choices, so we focused our search on mobile merchant systems<\/a>.<\/p>\n These mobile apps runs on your smartphone and allow mobile merchants such as estate sale companies to accept card payments on-the-go.\u00a0 Sales tax by state<\/a> can also be preset and accounted for.<\/p>\n Used on iPhone, Android, and iPad For iPhone, Android and iPad The most common one used by estate sale companies we polled is Square. When we asked why, the answer was simply the ease of setup and use.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re starting as an estate sale liquidator, deciding whether to go with a traditional merchant account or opt for a mobile POS like Square can be complicated.<\/p>\n The right choice will depend on the nature and size of your business. A small business starting out may find it easier to start with square, and the all-in-one solution it offers. A medium to large size business might find their pricing structure a bit of a turn off.<\/p>\n If you choose other merchant services, the majority of them can integrate with a stand alone POS system, payroll system, and other software, but Square is an all in-one-solution that offers all the bells and whistles needed for liquidation accounting.<\/p>\n Wells Fargo Bank offers a mobile merchant solution with POS called Clover. It has all the bells and whistles you need to accept payments and track items sold. The system is a cloud based system which is secure and allows you to monitor and manage your estate sale accounting from anywhere using any device.<\/p>\n Chase, Bank of America and many other banks offer solutions that may be a good fit for you. When comparing systems like Square, Paypal with other merchant services, reaching out to your current bank is a good idea and will help you get an even better comparison.<\/p>\n Anyone can get Square, and with a few basic pieces of information you\u2019re up and running. The same applies to PayPal, however Square offers better seller protection than PayPal.<\/p>\n Getting a traditional merchant account is more involved which may be for your benefit in the long run. Merchant accounts will analyze your business for risks such as chargebacks, claims of fraud, and may not agree to an account as quickly.<\/p>\n Square and PayPal\u2019s loose approach on accepting anyone also means their underwriting department can hold your funds for large transactions until they decide you\u2019re not at risk. Merchant accounts have a more intensive vetting process and will minimize ever doing this to your funds.<\/p>\n![\"Online](\"https:\/\/eso-wordpress.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/university\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/21151445\/ACCOUNTINGMADE-SIMPLE-1-e1522990551747.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Estate](\"https:\/\/eso-wordpress.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/university\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/21151445\/Sale_Statement___My_Account___EstateSales_org.png\")
Mobile Merchant Platforms<\/h2>\n
\nSince most estate sales are held on-site, mobile merchant software is essential. Each home is different and often times one must rely on a hotspot in order to have a good WIFI signal. What\u2019s a hotspot?<\/p>\nPopular Credit Card Transaction Systems in Estate Sales<\/h2>\n
Square<\/h3>\n
![\"Square](\"https:\/\/eso-wordpress.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/university\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/21151447\/square-logo-300x75.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/h3>\n
\nNo contract or monthly fee
\nFree magstripe reader
\nFlat 2.75% fee for swiped card processing<\/p>\nSpark Pay<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/eso-wordpress.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/university\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/21151446\/spark-pay.png\")
<\/p>\n
\nNo contract or monthly fee (unless you choose a paid plan)
\nFree magstripe reader
\nSwiped card rates: $19\/Month at 1.99% or $0\/month at 2.65% both options have $0.05 per swipe<\/p>\nPayPal Here<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/eso-wordpress.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/university\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/21151446\/paypal-here-300x268.jpg\")
For iPhone, Android, iPad, and Windows mobile devices
\nNo contract or monthly fee
\nFree magstripe reader
\n2.75% per US card swipe<\/p>\nIntuit GoPayment<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/eso-wordpress.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/university\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/21151446\/intuit-go-e1522989881316.png\")
For iPhone, Android, and iPad
\nNo contract or monthly fee (unless you choose a paid plan)
\nFree magstripe reader
\nFree Plan 2.40% +$0.25\/swipe or 1.6% + $0.25\/transaction & 19.95\/month<\/p>\nAccount Stability<\/h2>\n