Just a comment on estate sale people and their pricing. I went to a sale this week-end and the house had allot of tv's (none of them real vintage tho.) Anyway... I picked up a mint 1979 19" Zenith System 3 with remote and the Zoom feature. The set is cable ready and the picture is fantastic. They had it priced at $20.00 and I got it for $10.00 on "half off under $50.00 day" There was also an old 19" Sony. Non remote and non cable ready priced at $65.00, so it was not half off. The picture was good on it, but just because it had the Sony badge on it they assumed it was worth more........

In West Texas it seems like there are estate sales just about every week. At one time there were 7 estate sale companies doing business, now there are about 5 which still operate. You come to know which of the companies do fair pricing and which of them try to gouge. There are some of these estate sale people that I will not even attend the sales of because of their attitude and high prices. However the fair trading companies are always a pleasure to do business with.

I don't know if it is a regional thing or it is because of the time period, but it seems like in Texas, there are a lot of estate sales and very few estate auctions...when I lived in Ohio in the 1990's most estate items were sold at auction. You could bid a half a dollar on a TV, console stereo, etc. and get it; it was fun to listen to the auctioneer chant, but the auctions sure could be long, hot, and tiring, waiting for the item you want to go up for bid.

I find the estate sales talked about here interesting and I'm envious-I don't know of anybody really doing it around here. LOTS of auction companies, though. There is one group called the Rummage Rats that is in the yard sale column most summer weekends with a sale somewhere or another but I don't know if this is the same thing; will have to check them out.

I was talking to an elderly customer the other day, he is preparing to move from his home of 40+ years to an apartment and we were discussing all the stuff he has to get rid of. It sounds like he will end up having the local auction company haul everything to their facility; I warned him about good stuff being hidden in the bottom of box lots, and he was concerned about theft. Apparently he has several tvs and radios stashed away & I told him I was interested so we will see.

Hi All
Chad I don't think that it's much different here as far as estate or tag sales go. We have four or five companies that specialize in estates. And there is one that I won't go to till it's half price day. They try and gouge the shit out every sale. I'm surprized they're still in business. But people keep calling them. I think they would sell more if the prices were reasonable.
Oh well
Army

I often wonder if some of the high priced estate sale people are in a racket, that they put these high prices on stuff and then, at the end of the sale when there is a lot of stuff left over tell the estate owners..."well, I'll take this stuff off your hands" for a cheap price and then proceed to take all the unsold stuff for a song to their antique shop or whatever.

The good thing about auctions is that EVERYTHING is sold. If there is not too much interest by others in something YOU are interested in, you can get it for a great price. I still remember what the auctioneers sounded like...Zenith TV, they said it worked... Bid a dollar bill, will you give a dollar bid...how bout a half...half now one..all in last call, sold it to ya, half dollar, number 21.

I hear ya there. I'm in Omaha, and I think we have 3 large companies and a few small ones. I noticed that they ALL gouge to make up for 1/2 off day. I bet there aren't too many sales on the first day! I also noticed a new trend in my area. On Monday's it used to be half off of everything, but now they stick to the 1/2 off anything under $50.00, Even on the last day!!! I'm just more blunt now on making offers or telling them "What were you thinking when you priced this?" I'm sure they love me.... LOL I'm just lucky that I like old tv's because most places have them at a low amount because they figure they are a nuisance. I did notice on the newer sets that they sometimes price em' higher than what they sell for new. :dunno: