c/estate-sales-wa

4

susanh46•1d ago

Picked up a set of vintage Pyrex bowls at a sale in Tacoma last Saturday

I went to an estate sale in Tacoma last Saturday and spotted a full set of primaries (yellow, green, blue, red) for only $25! They were sitting in a dusty corner of the kitchen with no chips or cracks. The seller said they belonged to the homeowner's grandma who collected them back in the 1950s. I snapped them up quick and checked online later to find similar sets going for $150 or more. Has anyone else gotten lucky with vintage kitchenware at a local sale?

4

wendy674•1d ago

That hidden box trick at estate sales legit doubled my finds

I was getting frustrated because I'd show up early to sales in Tacoma and still miss the good stuff. Turns out the pros weren't just grabbing visible items from tables. They'd ask the staff if there was a "holding area" for stuff pulled from back rooms or basements. I tried it at a sale last month, they pointed me to a cardboard box under a desk with three vintage Pyrex bowls and a 1940s camera. Has anyone else gotten lucky by asking to see the overflow?

10

lisa_murray•1d ago

That vintage lamp I bought at a sale last Saturday was a total fire hazard

Picked up a cool old brass lamp at an estate sale in Tacoma for $15. Got it home and when I plugged it in, the cord started smoking after like 2 minutes. Turns out the wiring was all cracked and frayed inside, totally unsafe. I ended up buying a new cord kit for $8 at the hardware store and rewired it myself, took about an hour. Has anyone else found dangerous electrical stuff at sales and fixed it up?

21

wyatt_ross27•1d ago

That hand-cranked cash register from the 1920s was a total nightmare at my estate sale last Sunday

Picked it up at an auction for $40 thinking it'd be a cool conversation piece for checkouts. Big mistake. First customer buys a $15 vase and I spent 5 minutes trying to figure out the crank mechanism while people lined up. The drawer kept jamming too. Took a loss and sold it to a collector for $20 just to get it out of my house. Has anyone else tried using vintage crap as functional furniture or tools at a sale? How do you decide what's worth keeping practical?

6

wyatt_ross27•2d ago

Swapped from price tags to QR codes at my last sale

I used to spend hours pricing every single item with those little sticky tags, but last month I tried QR codes linked to a shared spreadsheet for a big estate in Bellevue. Cut my setup time by about 4 hours and buyers could see bundle deals on their phones. Anyone else move away from traditional pricing methods?

22

mila_mitchell•3d ago

Just realized I've been pricing my vintage stuff all wrong at estate sales in Tacoma

I kept wondering why my vintage kitchenware from the 50s wasn't selling even at $5 a piece. Turns out buyers in Tacoma specifically want the old Pyrex with the blue patterns but will ignore the clear stuff completely. I finally split them up and sold 8 pieces in one morning for $40 total at a sale near Wright Park. Anybody else notice certain colors or patterns just fly off the tables faster than others?

24

sean_murray•3d ago

Am I the only one who tells people to put stuff back at estate sales?

I had this one interaction last weekend at a sale in Tacoma that really stuck with me. A woman was pulling old Pyrex out of a box marked $5 each and she just kept stacking pieces in her arms like she was gonna buy the whole lot. I walked over and said, 'You know some of these are worth way more than that, right?' She looked at me funny and said, 'I just like the patterns, not trying to flip them.' Then she put three pieces back because she didn't actually need them all. I felt bad for saying something but also kind of respected her for not being greedy. So here is the debate: Should we point out when someone is buying something way under value or just mind our own business? What do you guys do when you see someone grabbing up all the good vintage stuff at a bargain price?

9

webb.val•3d ago

I finally stopped listening to that lady who said 5-star items never get discounted

Last month at a Bellevue estate sale, this older woman kept telling me the 'good stuff' never gets marked down past day one prices. I believed her until I came back on Sunday and found a set of vintage Le Creuset for 70% off sitting right where I left it.

1

nancys90•4d ago

The day I stopped showing up early to estate sales

I used to get to estate sales like an hour before they opened, you know, thinking I had to be first to get the good stuff. But last month at a sale in Tacoma, I stood in the cold for 45 minutes and watched the same five people rush in and grab everything interesting before I could even get past the front door. Then I overheard one of them talking to a buddy about how they only bother with sales that post detailed photos online, so they can skip the ones with junk. That really got me thinking. I realized I was wasting weekends staking out houses when I could just check the listings the night before and show up at a reasonable time. Now I aim for 30 minutes after start instead, and honestly I find better stuff because I'm not competing with the pros. Has anyone else shifted their timing and seen better results?

6

theawest•20d ago

Stopped guessing on furniture prices after I took a photo to Google Lens last month

I used to just look at a piece and think 'hmm, that's probably worth $50' and price it in my head. Then I missed out on a 1960s Danish sideboard at an estate sale in Tacoma for $40 that resold for $600 because I didn't know what it was. Last month at a sale in Federal Way, I snapped a pic of a lamp with my phone and Google Lens told me it was a mid-century piece selling for $300 online. I paid $15 for it and flipped it within a week. Has anyone else had good luck using a photo search tool to spot the real value items?

27

thomas_young•20d ago

Hit 500 estate sales this Saturday without even noticing

I was digging through my notebook and counted the entries from the last three years, came out to exactly 501 sales. That's a lot of Saturday mornings standing in other people's driveways. Has anyone else kept track of their total and been surprised by the number?

26

fiona_scott44•21d ago

That 'vintage' lamp at a Bremerton sale turned out to be a cheap knockoff

I spotted this old brass lamp at an estate sale in Bremerton last month, $45 and the patina looked perfect. Took it to an antique shop in Poulsbo for a quick appraisal, turns out it was a 2010s reproduction with a fake maker's mark stamped into the base. The guy showed me how the original had a solid brass socket where this had a cheap plastic one inside. Anyone else get duped by fakes hiding in plain sight at these sales?

9

johns18•21d ago

Heard someone at the Spokane sale say cash only is a scam...

But the other side said it keeps the tire kickers away and makes the line move faster at the checkout. Which side do you lean on for the smaller estate sales around here?

10

the_ryan•22d ago

That estate sale organizer in Tacoma told me to show up 30 minutes early and I still missed the good stuff

She said getting there right when doors open is too late, so I got there 45 minutes early last Saturday and the line was already around the block. Has anyone else dealt with people cutting in line at these sales?

14

verab28•22d ago

I got roasted by an old lady at a Bellevue estate sale last spring

She told me I was pricing my vintage Pyrex too high and said 'nobody wants your 70s kitchen junk if it has a scratch'. I used to mark pieces up based on eBay listings but after that I started checking for actual wear and damage first. Now I price down for any flaw and things move way faster. Has anyone else gotten blunt feedback from a shopper that actually helped?

11

the_luna•24d ago

Found a hidden jewelry stash behind a fake outlet plate at a sale in Tacoma

I went to this estate sale in Tacoma last weekend and something felt off about the layout. There was this outlet in the back of a bedroom closet that looked too new compared to the old fixtures. I tapped on it and it sounded hollow so I popped it off with a screwdriver from my delivery truck. Behind it was a little zippered bag with three gold rings and a brooch worth about $400 at a pawn shop. Has anyone else found secret hiding spots like that at estate sales in Washington?

6

troy996•26d ago

I finally switched from going to estate sales on Saturdays to Fridays instead

For years I always went on Saturday mornings like everyone else but last month I tried a Friday preview day at a sale in Bellevue and it was night and day. The house wasn't picked over yet and I snagged a vintage Pyrex set for $20 that would have been gone by Saturday morning. Has anyone else noticed a big difference going on different days?

20

wright.cole•26d ago

That one lady at the estate sale in Tacoma who knew every piece of furniture's history

Went to this sale out in Tacoma last month, some old craftsman house near the stadium district. There was this older woman, must have been in her 80s, just sitting in the corner of the living room on this beat up armchair, not really talking to anyone. I walked over to check out a dresser and she just pipes up, tells me that dresser belonged to her mother in law who brought it over from Sweden in 1937. She went on for like ten minutes about how the family used it as a changing table for four generations of babies. I ended up buying the dresser for $40, and she gave me a little handwritten note with all the names of the kids who used it. Has anyone else run into a family member at a sale who just sat there telling stories all day? It made the whole thing feel totally different than just digging through junk.

24

margaret_bennett3•28d ago

I finally found a simple way to spot the estate sales worth going to

After too many wasted Saturday mornings driving to sales with nothing but old Tupperware and broken lamps, I started checking the photos for kitchen tools and bookshelves. If the listing showed a good set of Wusthof knives or a full collection of old cookbooks, I knew the homeowner probably had taste. Has anyone else found a reliable clue in the pictures that saves you time?

29

margaret_nelson•28d ago

Warning: That high-end auction house price guide is killing your estate sale profits

I used to rely on those fancy online price guides for pricing, but a buyer told me straight up I was leaving at least 30% on the table for mid-century stuff. Switched to checking actual sold comps on local auction sites instead and my last sale in Tacoma did $4,200 over my original estimate. Anyone else ditch the big databases for local data?

15

spencer_johnson22•1mo ago

PSA: I tagged every item at estate sales without checking prices first for 2 years

So I've been going to estate sales in the Seattle area for about 3 years now and last month I finally figured out I was doing something dumb the whole time. I used to just grab anything that looked cool, throw a price tag on it with the sticker they hand out, and pay at the end. But last month at a sale in Ballard I saw this older guy pick up a set of 4 vintage bar glasses, look up the pattern on his phone, and put them back because they were worth maybe $8 each and they wanted $15. That's when it hit me that I had been overpaying for junk for years because I never checked comps before slapping on my offer. Now I bring my phone, look up completed listings on eBay while I'm standing there, and I've saved maybe $40 just in the last 3 weekends. Who else was doing this backwards and only realized when someone else showed you how it's done?

8

webb.val•1mo ago

Went to an estate sale in Tacoma and the kitchen stuff was completely different than the garage

The first sale it was all vintage Pyrex and Corningware and the second one two weeks later at the same house was just old rusted tools and half empty paint cans, anyone else notice some sales are totally picked over by the time you get there while others are untouched?

15

west.alice•1mo ago

Estate sale prices went way up then dropped back down - what gives?

I go to sales in Spokane pretty regular. Two years ago everything was cheap. Like $5 for a vintage lamp cheap. Then last summer prices shot up. Saw a chipped Pyrex bowl for $40. Felt crazy. Now this month I'm seeing stuff back to normal. Like $3 for old records. What happened? Did the resellers give up or did sellers get real again?

13

alex_coleman•1mo ago

Had to choose between a 1950s lamp and a vintage typewriter at a sale in Tacoma

I went to this estate sale last Saturday and there was a gorgeous mid-century lamp for $40 and an old Smith-Corona typewriter for $35. I grabbed the lamp because my living room is dark, but now I keep thinking about that typewriter and how cool it would look on my desk. Has anyone else regretted a quick choice like that?

14

dylan_green58•1mo ago

Heads up about those estate sale jewelry lots

I hit three estate sales in Tacoma last weekend and saw the same thing at every one. People are scooping up those grab bag jewelry lots without checking the clasps and findings first. I do repair work on the side and about 70 percent of those pieces have broken or bent clasps that cost more to fix than the jewelry is worth. One lady paid $40 for a lot and three of the four necklaces had broken spring rings. If you're buying jewelry at estate sales flip every clasp and check every jump ring before you hand over cash. Has anyone else run into this or found a way to spot the good lots faster?