Options for downsizing within The Villages
 

We are not interested in having either a garage or estate sale, but we are interested in selling some of our possessions. These items may include furniture, framed artwork, small kitchen appliances, pot and pans, dishes, utensils, table linens, electronics, cameras, electrical and manual tools, ladders, water hoses, garden tools, work bench and storage cabinets & shelves, camp chairs, etc.

An out of state friend suggested an auction house so if you've had experience with one locally, we would appreciate any recommendations.

Thanks for suggestions or advice.

We just downsized before we moved here and had tremendous luck with Facebook marketplace. Put good photos good descriptions and good prices. We did it a couple of weekends and sold everything very fast. No weirdos no issues ( just don't fall for the scammers who want to txt you directly and only take cash) and we didn't have to pay fees...

As someone who is currently purging possessions in anticipation of a move down there this year, I would say to take a very critical look at what you have to determine what is actually sellable vs not. For things we don't see as easily sellable, we just pack up and donate. Let a thrift store or similar try to figure out how to sell it. For what's left, I have been selling on facebook marketplace with reasonably good results. My rule is, if it doesn't sell in a week, lower the price. If it doesn't sell in two weeks, donate it. For some items that don't sell, but I think could be useful, I put on our local buy nothing (gift) facebook group. It'll be gone in a day and I'm helping someone local. And it's good karma.

You can advertise on this site for free or for a few $ for the premium listings, I have sold several items this way and purchased several more. On a side note I might be interested in your tools, you can send a PM but you cannot include pictures on those.

Similar experience, did not want a yard or garage sale, and not a complete estate sale as some auction businesses do. So as others on here stated, we had great luck selling items in the "free ad" section of this TOTV's site. List the items with GOOD descriptions of age, condition. Price it "reasonable", by that I mean if you look through some ads, you will recognize that many people believe that an item of furniture, say a patio set, it "worth" about the same as they paid for it new ! We find asking a very reasonable price means it will sell very quickly. Much the way it works when a home is priced correctly, instead of significantly higher and then having people see it lower over a period of months by 5K,10K, 15K, etc. Things priced "right" sell quickly, over valued things slowly, or not at all ! For larger, or quality items, we've also used the consignment businesses and again, everything has sold promptly.

When wife and I had a major clear out, if an item wasn't worth at least $40-$50 we donated it.
Fiddling about for small $$$$££££ is not worth the hassle.
JMO.

We are in the process of downsizing now and have amazing response using Facebook market place. Good pictures and right pricing is the key. You can always reduce price, better to list it correctly up front IMO.

We had an online Auction before we moved here and had great success! I helped a friend here sell a lot of furniture and other items using Nextdoor and Villages Buy Sell or Trade Facebook page. Everything was gone within 2 weeks.

If you use Facebook Marketplace make SURE you stick with a "cash and carry only" policy. If they offer to send you money, ignore them, just don't even respond to them at all. If they ask you something in Spanish - ignore them, don't respond (unless you post your ad in Spanish, of course).

An auction house would give you pennies on the dollar, significantly less than what you'd get if you had a tag sale. The only time I'd consider an auction house is if someone died, and I took the few things I actually wanted to keep for myself, and just wanted to get rid of everything else. Let an auction house handle it, if I'm lucky I'll get a couple hundred bucks out of the deal and they can make a few thousand.

I started at least 2 years before I moved. I made 15K or more on stuff I couldn’t take with me. Back then I used Craiglist and garage sales. IMO best plan is start early and don’t have fire sale…:undecided:

This is brilliant advice - but not everyone knows that they are moving in two years. The pandemic and health issues forced us to move within a four month period. But even if we had two years, the sad truth is that most used items (furniture, books, pictures, garage tools, sports equipment) aren’t worth anywhere near what you think they are worth. I was stunned that pictures with nice frames sold for far less than the frame was worth! And those souvenirs that you have picked up over the years are worth nothing.