If you missed it, Read Part 1 first!
Day two started much the same way, but we began to see progress: the attic had been mostly organized, and the basement was proceeding as well. The garage began to fill with garbage bags. The garbage will be handled by another of the behind-the-scenes people who make estate sales happen: the junk dealer. The unsellable items from the house will have to go someplace else after the sale, and a junk dealer hauls it all away, for a price. In a sense, he’s paid a fee to take ownership of the garbage, but once you see just how much garbage can come out of one household, you’d think he deserves your sympathies. While part of his 
income is made hauling, he will sell scrap parts and metal to other outlets. Rather than renting a roll-off and sending everything to the dumpin an environmentally unfriendly way, all trash is set aside for the junk dealer to take away after the sale. By the end of day two, the basement was organized and the attic was nearly done; the main floor still had a long ways to go.
Another reason the trash went into the garage was for employee reasons. When a sale fills an entire lot, employees are needed to cover every floor, to both deter shoplifters and answer questions about items. If the garage was also a staging ground for the sale, someone would have to be assigned to the back yard. All the sellable garage items were moved to the basement, so that one person in the attic, one in the basement, and a couple on the main floor would be enough. The tables on the main floor are also arranged so that the checkout position has a clear view of most nooks and crannies, besides allowing for traffic.
By day three, one thing was evident: an estate sale can never have enough tables. The piles of sellable items now far exceeded the display areas, so favors were called in from friends and tables arrived a couple times during the day…but there’s still not enough.
The experts, however, could begin pricing the items finally. Estate sale pricing requires a bit more mathematics than selling in an antique mall or at a rummage sale. On the first day, everything is full price, but drops to half-price on the second day, and one-quarter on the third. The price marked on an item should be reasonably low enough to attract a buyer but get a reasonable price for it — but half-price has to be reasonably high to make it worth selling at all. A few items, with the owners’ permission, were removed to better research prices, and possibly list on eBay if they would bring more at auction.
The end of the third day was the end of my part in the estate sale, due to other obligations. While most of the house was sorted and organized, much had still not been priced, and additional tables are still needed
to properly display everything. No Egrets will definitely be working right up until Sunday evening to prepare for the sale — putting in over a week’s work in all.
I had attended estate sales in the past, but had never experienced how much work they took to set up, organize, and put into motion. Of course, the collector in me found a number of items that I’d have liked to take home with me — but, of course, I’d have to wait for the sale and hope to get to it first, just like everybody else. For a few minutes, I thought that my wife and I could get into the business of running estate sales, and maybe get first shot at some cool stuff, but the work involved made me reconsider. I think I’ll stick to finding treasures at estate sales, as a customer – it’s much more fun.
