Traditional Estate Sale Services 

What is a Traditional Estate Sale?  

An estate sale is like a liquidation or garage sale in which every asset in a house is converted into cash. It involves making an inventory of all the items in the house, setting prices, marketing and managing the sale, leaving the house empty, clean and ready for its next chapter. 

Sales prep includes re washing laundry and folding or hanging to appeal to the buyers.
Miller Estate Management will transform the estate into a boutique like environment.

Sale Preparation

The dollar value of many small, seemingly inconsequential items found in every home have the potential to compound and generate thousands of dollars of income during an estate sale.  Please, don't throw anything away!  Significant time is spent sorting through these items, ensuring each piece is brought to light, and cleaning items as needed to give them the best chance possible at selling.  The amount of time spent on this step varies greatly depending on factors such as the size of the home, the amount of personal property within the home, and the general organization of the space at the time of our consultation. All personal items we find we will set aside for you. 

To ensure success, we utilize every part of the home to display the tagged merchandise during an estate sale. Each space is carefully laid out to maximize the exposure and appeal of your items, and furniture is rearranged to optimize flow for a smooth shopping experience.  Time is taken to clean, rearrange, organize, and attractively display all items. We also place jewelry and smaller, high dollar items in protective cases at the checkout so they may be carefully monitored by staff. 

We provide tables, display cases, clothing racks, clothing forms, and shelves to assist in displaying items. 

Advertising 

We have experienced photographers that will take high quality photos of your items and the sale using many different types of lighting equipment to ensure your items are shown clearly and to catch the eye of the buyer. After photos are taken, we then cross-post these images on multiple national estate sale advertising websites that thousands of shoppers frequent.  We typically post 150 + photos to give customers plenty to get excited about! Additionally, on the day of the sale, colorful directional signage will be placed around your neighborhood to encourage drive-by traffic to come on in!

We advertise on Facebook, EstateSales.Net, our website, post signs, and we have a growing mailing list. 

For online auction sales we also advertise on several auction sites in Missouri to get your sale the maximum traffic. 

Miller Estate Management will handle all of the advertising. Taking high quality photographs and posting sale ads on social media as well as posted signs in the neighborhood.
Miller Estate Management prices items using the current market value and will provide you with a record of all transactions.

Pricing & Transactions 

Our knowledgeable staff utilizes current fair market pricing and spends time carefully researching all of your home’s items and prices items accordingly. 

We use certified appraisers, gemologists, and antiquarian on an “as needed” basis for things like fine jewelry, crystal and rare glass, coins etc. 

We believe in transparent transactions and take inventory of the items sold and payments garnered.  We will provide you with a copy of these transactions for record-keeping purpose

We accept cash and all major credit cards. Our team collects payment for items, and we document all offers and bids for possible post-sales, and we collect and pay all sales tax as required by Missouri state law. We use a Square terminal for secure payment processing which processes swipe, tap, and chip payments.  

The Sale

The sale will typically last 3 days. Staffing the sale with qualified, uniformed staff members who will manage customer traffic, answer questions, test electronics if requested, encourage sales, and manage all monetary transactions.  We want buyers to browse your sale without being crowded, so we’ll organize everything to have a nice traffic flow. During that time our staff will ensure all things run smoothly with frequent walkthroughs to maintain a clean and organized sale. We carefully wrap and bag any fragile items purchased. Your estate is carefully organized from the beginning with security in mind.  We provide adequate sales staff (for any sized sale) to ensure that we have appropriate coverage and security. Video surveillance is also used in areas where high-end/valuable items are displayed and a person will be closely monitoring the exits for security. Additional video surveillance can be provided if requested. 

Miller Estate Management will supervise and host the sale over the course of 3 days. We will handle all monetary transactions and provide adequate security.
Following the sale Miller Estate Management will clear out the remaining contents and clean the empty home so that it is realtor ready!
We typically have the estate empty and clean within 3 days following the sale and all proceeds of the sale are released within 10 business days.

Post Sale & Arrangements

Our services don’t stop when your estate sale is over. Though we pride ourselves on the amount of an estate’s items we are able to liquidate, there are typically some items left at the end of each sale. We can assist with facilitating donations to local charities, such as From His House to Your House Free Store or another entity of your choosing. A buyout option, depending on the quantity and quality of the items that are remaining, is another option to consider for unsold items. We will go through your remaining items and work with you to decide the best option for you. 

Once the home is clear of all property we will ensure your home is ready for its next chapter by cleaning all countertops, sinks, floors, and bathrooms to make sure your home is ready for the market.  A professional cleaning crew can be hired, if necessary.

All remaining funds after fees are deducted are released to the client within 10 business days following the sale.