Time is Money!

Time is Money – Calculating the Time to Sell One Estate Item  ​(courtesy of https://www.executorium.com/blog/)

October 10, 2020

There are many ways to sell an item, and convert the item to cash for deposit in the Estate Bank account.  Often Executors bristle at the cost or commission of Auctions or Estate Sales companies, but the value is not often obvious until you look at the time it takes to move 1 item.  Multiply those ‘manhours’ that times the number of items in the undistributed personalty designated for liquidation, and the value becomes clear.


Research
Spend time looking at comp items to get an idea of the price to list the item .  EBay, Google, Facebook Groups all provide good information to help determine price and desirability.


Cleaning
To give your item the best change of selling, for the best possible price, prepare the item by cleaning in order to present in the best possible light.

scene on a flea marketListing
Note: there may be some seller’s fees associated with listing an item for sale online.

1. Photograph item for listing.
2. Provide details for listing, including any research not discovered during research phase above. Post photos from above.
3. New? If you are listing on an auction site such as EBay or other similar site for the first time, there is some time to register and get set-up, this should be included in the calculation of time to budget for a sale.  There may also be some time learning how the process works.
4. Checking-in: Depending on the dynamics of the sale, some monitoring of the item through sale, including Q&A with potential buyers should be considered.

Sold
Once your item is sold, consider time for packaging the item as necessary considering its fragility.  Consider the time and expense of the post office visit.  Do you have the proper packaging, or will that require additional time and money to acquire?  Packing and addressing time varies depending on the item.  If professional shipping prep is necessary, consider the cost of the professional work and travel to and from the professional pack and ship location.


Collection
Collection is normally straightforward on e-mail and other online selling platforms; however, collection and conclusion of the transaction might be considered in your time calculation.


The incremental time of each stage in the selling process might seem like “not much”, but when you put it all together, the full amount of time can put a serious dent in your monetary “take-away”.
Your time is not free.

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