Tips for Shoppers

A few suggestions for those who have not shopped our sales and want to have a good experience while doing so:

It is always good to be prepared. Bring boxes, bags, and/or paper you plan on using to wrap just in case we run out. It is common for us to go through 200-500 boxes and bags a day. Come to the sales with your sold stickers in hand. They can say something like “Sold to Jane Doe 916-123-4567″. It is also good to have your own pen, be patient and do NOT ever shop or pilfer off of hold tables out in front of the sale. Even digging through someone else’s box is a show of disrespect and you may be asked to leave.


.Never ever ever smoke in line or in front of the home, instead do that in your car. It is difficult for many to breathe when smoke is near and many others cannot tolerate having smoke blown in or near their faces so please abstain from smoking at our sales or you will be called out on it openly and public embarrassment is never a good thing.


We offer coffee, donuts, and water at most of our larger sales for your pleasure free of charge. Whenever possible we hire a facility for you to use when the home bathrooms are not available. Due to the volume of our sales, the porta potty company is not always available for us on short notice so please be aware that there are days you will have to drive off and use the restroom at a public place, in which case you may lose your spot in line. Come prepared with an empty bladder if you are planning on arriving early and waiting in line for a long while.


When we do open the door, every single person in the line is in most cases allowed inside the home. Obey the signs and follow what they ask of you. Be polite, kind and respectful of the people ahead or behind you. If someone is using a walker or wheelchair, be mindful and give them room. If they have children, kindly ask them to hold their tyke. At the very least they should have their child in-hand to avoid them being stepped or trampled on. Once the sale begins, you are requested to carry your own items from inside the home in your own boxes and bring it all out to the hold table. The one exception is with large items and we will send a crew-person in to help you with that endeavor.


Please do not ask a price for each and every item in the house before shopping. Realize we are too busy and it makes no sense to sticker each and every one of 50,000 plus items a sale or twice a week. It has been our experience that you can sell hundreds of thousands of items unmarked for a fair price and have everyone involved: shopper, family, and neighbors happy with the outcome at the end of the sale. On the other hand, realize that we are motivated to sell every item by the end of the sale or it is most often free. We have no intention of giving you a price you will not pay so have faith that we will be fair.


If you have picked out something from our smalls or jewelry tables, which man their own line with one shopper per each manager of the table (normally five on five), we hold those valuables until you are ready to check out so be sure to alert your cashier to add those items to your bulk price. We will separate that price from the inside groupings but it is common for folks to forget their smalls and then a week later wonder where they went when they get home and finally go through the items in their trunk. Tie a ribbon to your finger if you have to but do attempt to remember your jewelry and smalls when you’re ready to checkout.


If you are aware of someone shoplifting or having odd behavior like seeing them place anything in a pocket or glancing around before they hide it away in a closet or cupboard, alert a crew-member and it will be taken care of immediately. Theft, disrespect, or dishonest behavior is not rewarded at our sales and the list of banned shoppers grows each year as our following gets larger. Our email list is just over 4,000 and getting stronger each day. We do not suffer fools kindly. Let us know off to the side, and we will take care of it.


An organized shopper will have nearly all of their chosen items laid out of the boxes they are held in (small items are not a problem to leave in the boxes) larger or clothing items are good to group together so that we may arrive at a fast and fair price for you on your grouping of purchases. This will enable us to show you what each item is costing you and doesn’t take all that long but it is annoying for you to ask this to be done after we have already spent 20 minutes adding your 50+ items and given you a price and should be onto the next person in line, and you want us to start all over. Be thoughtful please.


If you do not agree with the price offered and want it for significantly less, please come back when we are having discount period at the end of the sale. Allow us to obtain more money for the family from someone who values the items more than you do. This is only fair.


Be prepared to pay cash or card during checkout. We no longer accept checks.


Once completed and paid for you may remove the items to your car. The larger items are normally loaded by the crew for you, but once in a while you may have to recruit a friend or fellow shopper when we are shorthanded which is not often.


Thanks so very much for making our job easier by being an educated shopper: one who wants to make everyone’s job easier, one who wants to enjoy the experience, and a shopper who wants to return again and again to find treasures they can love for a lifetime while having pleasant memories of how they obtained them from our sales.


Thanks for the read
Fresh Start Estate Liquidators and Crew

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