After witnessing a near-assault over a standard Danish sideboard, I want to ask you all... when waiting in line for an estate sale, what's proper for saving a spot? A trashy couple arrived after myself and another gentlemen, claiming they'd left their hats on the stoop. They'd been sleeping in their car across the street, they said. We didn't bring it up until right before the doors opened, when the woman became irate that we didn't believe they should get the front of the line simply because they'd placed hats on the steps at 11:30 the previous evening. Anyway, the lady running the sale asked everybody to be polite and figure it out ourselves. Feeling that the guy who arrived fifteen minutes before me should get the sideboard we all came to snag, I positioned him shoulder-to-shoulder with the burly, trashy man who stood in front of his wife. I knew where the item was and knew this would give him the inside track. The door opened, they both hurried to it, and the larger hat-leaver lunged around the other guy, nearly smashing the sideboard. For whatever reason, the sale runners allowed them to stay, and they quickly ran amok, grabbing anything they could and rudely pushing themselves through. Thankfully, they didn't get the sideboard and ended up with the worst items, save a badly damaged chair. I ended up befriending the winner, and we got to talking about things... it makes sense to me to respect those who actually wait in line, and also to probably give numbers. Better still, why not auction large furniture items and price the smaller things? How do they do it where you live, and how do you deal with bullies like these two? When sale runners naturally want to avoid confrontation, it generally gives the upper hand to the person willing to stoop the lowest. Anyway.
One of the few estate sales...
One of the few estate sales I've ever bothered to visit could have been this story. Over a sideboard also. And I can count on one finger the number of estate sales I've visited since then. It wasn't much better. Life is too short for estate sales. That is how I handle that.
Of course, I am a collector, not a dealer, so dinner doesn't depend on that sideboard....
I've never been to an estate sale but if I did I would consider taking an East end thug.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAGlUUAmjxk
I've been to a few years ago...
I've been to a few years ago and whoever showed up first would start a list on a clipboard filling names in as people arrived. Some would sleep in their cars to be first on the list.
Once non regulars started to show up they would be advised that no, they were not the first to arrive and that there was a list of people that arrived before they did.
The people throwing the sale would arrive and give out numbers according to the list. They would then decide how many to let in at a time depending on the size of the house.
I like that idea.
I think I might suggest it to a couple of the local companies.
I can understand why people would get burned out or turned off by this kinda thing. It's really sorta depressed me since it happened.
Any ideas on the desk? Some random Danish thing? I don't see too many with legs like that.
I once had a sale myself and
two guys got into a very heated shoving match on my front lawn over an antique dresser, lots of loud shouting included. When I discovered auctions years later, I was so happy--none of that kind of thing went on (thought plenty of other super annoying stuff did and eventually that got to me, too).
Anyway, yeah--the list thing sounds like a good idea but it would depend on the first person to show up, I guess, or the people running the sale would have to have the foresight to do it.
There was a dealer in these parts who was so anxious to get a better look at what was in an estate sale that he climbed a tree the night before so that he could see into the windows. Then he fell out of the tree and broke his leg. I'm not making this up.
Another time I was waiting (im)patiently in line to get into a tiny house after the sale had just started and a very shady dealer I knew arrived and said to the person in charge, "My partner's already inside, could I go in?" and the person fell for it, of course. There was a massive group eye roll among those still waiting in line.
picture resizing-
try putting it on your desktop, then right click and see if there's a "resize" option there, or go to the tool bar above and look under "Tools" or something. It's easy to do on a Mac and probably just as easy on a PC. Whatever---make it 500 pixels wide max for this forum.
I attend a few estate sales...
I attend a few estate sales a month and I can tell you how it works in my area.
Dealers usually show up the night before to place a numbered sign-in list on the front door. By the next morning the list has been torn down and put back up with differnt names atleast a few times.
People then arrive in the morning, sign-in and get in line with the dealers nowhere in sight as they wait in their cars until the last few minutes. Occasionally arguments flare up between the people who stand in line and the dealers who wait in their cars. There is a small group of 'anti-list' people who will sometimes get in line near the front of the door and will create a wall to block off the 'list dealers' which I thoroughly enjoy watching!
Sometimes the estate sale companies (or home owners) honor the lists, sometimes they discard them and go according to the line.
People twoard the front of the line usually carry 'sold' stickers with their names on them. When the doors open they rush in and slap their sold stickers on anything they want.
For the most part, people honor and respect the stickers.
Problem is, some dealers abuse them and will blindly affix stickers on everything in sight and when things calm down will begin sorting what they actually want or dont want, because of this, some companies force you to buy anything you place a sticker on or you get kicked out and banned.
Forgot to mention, some dealers also find ways to get into the houses the day before sales begin either through persistence (and scamming) or via their relationships with the companies.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com