Tips for Shoppers

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.

Whenever possible, we arrange a facility for you to use when the home bathrooms are unavailable. 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 plan to arrive early and wait 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 to the people ahead of 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 on or trampled. Once the sale begins, you are requested to carry your own items from inside the home in your own boxes and bring them all out to the hold table. The one exception is for large items; we will send a staff member to mark the item sold.

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: the 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 are staffed by their own line with one shopper per 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 check out.

If you are aware of someone shoplifting or exhibiting odd behavior, such as placing something in a pocket or glancing around before hiding it in a closet or cupboard, alert a crew member, and it will be taken care of immediately. Theft, disrespect, or dishonest behavior is not tolerated at our sales, and the list of banned shoppers grows each year as our following grows. 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 items or clothing are good to group together so we can arrive at a fast and fair price for you based 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 during our 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 in cash, card, Venmo, PayPal, or Apple Pay at checkout. We do not accept checks.

Once completed and paid for, you may remove the items to your car. You are responsible for loading all purchases as staff are busy running the sale and may not have time to leave the house.

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