The Hidden Conflict of Interest in Some Estate Sales (And How to Protect Your Family)
- Arthur Estill
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
Most homeowners assume that every estate sale company has one simple goal:
Sell as much as possible, for as much as possible, for the benefit of the estate.
In a perfect world, that would always be true.
But after many years in this business — and after quietly visiting a lot of other estate sales when my wife and I are “off duty” — I’ve noticed a pattern that most families would never see unless they’d spent years inside the industry.
This article is not about accusing any specific company of wrongdoing.
It is about explaining how certain business structures and incentives can quietly work against the homeowner — even when everything looks normal on the surface.
And it’s about giving you the right questions to ask before you sign a contract.
The Pricing Pattern That Raised My Eyebrows
Here’s something we’ve seen many times as quiet customers at other estate sales:
Prices start a little high (not outrageous, just on the high side)
But then:
The sale only runs 2 or 3 days
And the discounts never go very deep
Often stopping at 50% off, sometimes less
On the surface, that might seem reasonable.
But here’s the problem:
If you start near top-of-market and never deeply discount, you never actually discover the true market clearing price.
The result?
A lot of good, sellable items don’t sell
A lot of inventory is still sitting in the house at the end
That immediately raises a question:
Why wouldn’t the company want to sell everything they possibly can?
“This is why professional, research-based pricing and structured discounting matters, which we explain in detail in how professional estate sale pricing works.”
When You Look Closer, Another Business Sometimes Appears
Over time, you start to notice something else:
Some estate sale operators also:
Own antique booths
Own antique shops
Or have other resale channels that need inventory
Now, let me be very clear and very fair:
Having multiple businesses is not wrong.
But it does create a potential conflict of interest if:
The estate sale is not fully optimized to sell out
And large amounts of unsold merchandise regularly remain
Because that creates a silent incentive:
“It’s not actually a disaster if a lot of things don’t sell.”
Again — this does not mean anyone is stealing. It does not mean anything illegal is happening.
But it does mean:
The incentives may no longer be perfectly aligned with the homeowner.
The Contract Clause Most Homeowners Never Question 🚩
There’s another detail that almost no one talks about.
Many estate sale contracts say that:
The homeowner or executor cannot be present before, during, or after the sale until the company is completely finished.
Think about that for a moment.
That means:
The company controls:
The pricing
The discounting
What sells
What doesn’t
What gets removed during cleanout
And the homeowner cannot observe the process
Again — this doesn’t automatically mean wrongdoing.
But it does mean:
The homeowner has no visibility into whether the sale was truly optimized for their benefit.
Any time a system requires the owner of the assets to be absent, you should at least ask why.
How We Do It (And why)
At Afternoon Estate Sales, our philosophy is simple:
Everything that can sell, should sell — for the benefit of the estate.
That’s why:
We start at true top fair market value
Then we run real, meaningful discounts over the sale (often down to 75% off)
Because:
That’s how you actually find the true market-clearing price.
We also:
Allow the homeowner to be present if they want
Allow them to walk the house after the sale
Allow them to decide what they want to keep
And in some cases, we even help homeowners host their own sale with us assisting
We have nothing to hide.
In fact, I’ve told clients before:
“You can be here the whole time. You can even handle the money if you want.”
That level of transparency is intentional.
“If you’re looking for a transparent, homeowner-first estate sale company in Dallas, it’s important to understand how different business models work.”
“We also explain the post-sale process in detail in our guide to
A Very Important Clarification About Ownership
We want to be absolutely clear about this:
We do not own anything in your home.
If an item doesn’t sell:
It remains the property of the estate until the owner clearly abandons the item
Not every client even wants a cleanout
If a cleanout is done:
The homeowner decides what stays and what goes
Nothing quietly becomes “ours.”
Your property is your property. Unless otherwise defined by the owner as abandoned for the clean out.
Why Some Sales “Look Fine” But Quietly Underperform
Here’s the sad part:
Many homeowners leave great reviews for companies even when:
Large amounts of value went unsold
The sale never truly tested the market
And they simply don’t know what could have been achieved
From their perspective:
The house is emptier
The process is over
It felt “handled”
But:
They have no way to see the value that quietly never made it into their pocket.
The Right Questions to Ask Before You Hire Anyone
Before you sign any estate sale contract, ask:
How far do your discounts actually go and why?
What is your goal: to sell out, or just to run the sale?
Can I be present if I want to be?
What happens to items that don’t sell?
Do you or your company have any other resale businesses?
Who decides what gets removed during cleanout?
A good, aligned company will not be offended by these questions.
They’ll welcome them.
Why We’ll Never Be the Biggest — And We’re OK With That
We’ve said these many times:
We will probably never be the biggest estate sale company. We will never be the fastest. And we will never be the cheapest.
Because we are not built around volume.
We are built around:
Transparency
Alignment
And doing what’s right for the homeowner
This Is Also a Human Moment, Not Just a Business Transaction
There’s another part of this that matters just as much, and it often gets forgotten.
Almost no one calls an estate sale company because they’re having a great week.
Most families are calling because:
A parent has passed away
Or a spouse has passed away
Or someone has moved into memory care or assisted living
Or a lifetime chapter is coming to a close
These are emotionally exhausting moments.
People are:
Grieving
Overwhelmed
Making dozens of decisions under stress
And trying to do the right thing for someone they love
That is not a moment when families should have to worry about:
Hidden incentives
Misaligned interests
Or whether the process is truly working for them
In our view, this is exactly the time when the business model should be simpler, cleaner, and more transparent — not opaquer.
An estate sale is not just a liquidation.
It is the closing of a life chapter.
And that deserves:
Respect
Patience
Compassion
And absolute clarity that the family’s interests come first.
The Bottom Line
Not every estate sale company is the same.
Not every incentive structure is clean.
And not every sale is truly optimized for the family’s financial outcome — even when everything looks professional on the surface.
“We explain this in more detail in our complete guide to the estate sale process, including what happens before, during, and after the sale.”
The most important thing is not who has the most ads or the most reviews. It’s whose incentives are actually aligned with you.
"This is part of our broader Value-Protection Estate Sale Method, which explains how we approach these decisions.”
“If you want to talk through your specific situation, you can always
