If I could leave less then 1 star I would too, just like the other lady. Don't hire this woman. She will promise you the moon & do nothing she says. I hired her to do a sale, asked all questions prior to signing, she even showed up with her staff at the initial walk through, in uniform. I thought she a professional.
She was supposed to come in, review everything, price properly by looking everything up for a correct value, take 200 to 300 photos & start marketing the sale a MINIMUM of 2 weeks prior on estate sales.net & estate sales.org & adhere to the contract.
As per the contract I was to provide a list of items that were NOT to be sold below a pre-determined dollar amount. I was NOT in a rush to sell everything, in fact, the plan was to keep bringing merchandise in & do at least 4 sales & anything left at the end would be marked down to ensure she got her money for everything. She agreed to this & I even made signs & priced items for her. In fact, the evening before the sale items were STILL not priced & a friend & myself had to stay until midnight to try & get everything priced!
This sale was a very easy sale with everything set up & ready to go! Almost all the work was done for her. She stated "I still want my 40%". In reality what happened was this:
1. She did not even START advertising until 4 days before the sale!
2. She absolutely DID NOT price everything! So many items with no price. She gave a price at the register! Or scribbled a few prices on masking tape & group items " example: any small vase $3 " of course items were moved all around by customers.
3. She posted about 75 photos, not nearly enough. I sen't her photos I had taken & begged her to post them! I ended up with 115 photos compared to 300 that professional estate sale companies post!
4. She didn't even post pictures of the furniture! She didn't like my photos but didn't take the time to take her own photos!
5. She showed up a few times prior to the sale to "price" & actually showed up alone. No staff. I had asked this question when I hired her, did she have a support staff to help her set up & price, she said yes. The guy I met with her when she made the appointment never showed up again.
6. She came one day with one person prior to the sale to help move a few things, that was it.
7. We discussed parking prior to the sale. She didn't provide signage as she said she would. Period. My husband had to go every morning & set up parking signs AND return at night to put them away! Exactly WHY did I hire this person!?
8. Several times I asked her to add brand names in the advertising, she did not. She did have brand names in the advertising that I didn't even HAVE in the sale but she did finally take those brand names out.
9. She brought her own box of jewelry to sell at the sale? Taking her time away from completing pricing and such at the sale. Very unprofessional.
10. She had a 3 day sale even though the turn out each day was dismal! I really should have forced her to cancel. She blamed the poor turnout on another larger sale nearby. The fact is she didn't advertise for 2 weeks prior as contracted.
11. She sold at least 5 items way below the agreed upon minimum price.
12. Instead of continuing to work the sale & keep pricing & checking items to receive top dollar, she sat & her & her staff tried on clothes or took pictures of themselves. They had 3 days to continue to look at everything & at least keep pricing so it would at least be priced & ready for the next sale. We have cameras for security & the whole sale is on tape.
13. Several sets of very sellable China such as Lenox Christmas China was to be sold ONLY as a set. She sold all the large completer pieces to a few sets and I was left with just plates cups and bowls. Ruined the whole sets! Who does that? Pure greed!
14. She broke a very expensive Fenton lamp by trying to move it herself. It was too high up. A professional would have known these glass shades can tilt & it was way too high to try to lift on her own. She broke it even though I had asked her not to move it by herself. It was priced at $150 she didn't even say she was sorry or offer to pay for it.
I can go on and on but the point is, don't hire this lady! She is purely a LIQUIDATOR who wants to come in & sell everything for cents on the dollar with minimal effort, take her money and run. Her ads state she is a retired school teacher and she "knows how to get things done! " But that doesn't mean she knows how to do it correctly & help her client solve a problem & make money.
I feel she saw this sale as an easy "ready to go" sale, did not give it the attention it deserved, did NOT review & price everything as contracted, sold specific pieces way below the agreed upon minimum price, had a dismal turnout from lack of advertising, & squeezed this sale in between several sales to make a quick buck!
She kept every penny from this sale & canceled the contract as if it was my fault she had a poor turnout. Run! read more