A typical estate sale clears a whole house in two or three days: a few hundred lots, a family that needs the keys handed back, and an estate company pricing everything from a Le Creuset pot to a box of 1970s hi-fi. Most of those sales are listed on a handful of sites. Some are directories that tell you where to turn up on Friday morning. Others run the bidding online and ask you to collect on a set pickup day.
Below are the nine worth knowing, from both sides: buyers looking for underpriced lots, and families or estate companies deciding where to sell.
TL;DR: the best estate sale sites
- To find in-person sales near you: EstateSales.net and EstateSales.org, with email alerts on.
- For online estate auctions: HiBid and MaxSold (every lot starts at $1), plus EBTH for curated estates.
- For estates with real collectibles: LiveAuctioneers and Proxibid.
- Families usually pay an estate company 25% to 50% of gross sales. Get two quotes.
Run an estate sale company? You can host online estate auctions under your own name, with no per-sale platform fee. See launching your own estate auction site or try the live demo.
The nine sites at a glance
| Site | Format | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| EstateSales.net | Directory of in-person sales | Finding weekend sales near you |
| EstateSales.org | Directory plus online sales | Alerts and a second set of listings |
| AuctionZip | Auctioneer directory | Local estate auctions, live and online |
| HiBid | Online bidding for auctioneers | Regional estate auctions with thin competition |
| MaxSold | Online estate auctions | $1 starts, whole-house clearouts |
| EBTH | Curated online estate auctions | Furniture, decor, jewelry |
| Proxibid | Online auction marketplace | Estate and personal property, farm estates |
| LiveAuctioneers | Auction house marketplace | Antiques, art and collectibles from estates |
| Facebook Marketplace and eBay | Fixed price and local listings | Price research, families selling direct |
Directories for in-person estate sales
1. EstateSales.net
The biggest directory for traditional in-person estate sales in the US. Estate companies post upcoming sales with photo galleries, addresses and opening times, and you search by zip code. You can’t bid on anything here. It tells you where to queue on Saturday morning.
Turn on email alerts for your area. The best items at a good sale are gone in the first hour, and the alert is how regulars find out in time to plan a route.
2. EstateSales.org
The second big directory, with a different set of companies listing on it, since few estate companies pay to post everywhere. It also lists online estate sales and auctions alongside the in-person ones, and lets you set alerts by distance and by day of the week. If you only check one directory, you miss sales. Check both.
3. AuctionZip
A directory of auctioneers rather than estate companies. Search by zip code and radius and you’ll find estate auctions run by local auction firms, often with on-site preview days and online bidding. The listings tend to be plainer than on the estate sale directories, which is part of why fewer people read them.
Online estate auctions
4. HiBid
A huge share of independent auctioneers run their online bidding through HiBid, and estate auctions are a big part of what’s listed there. Filter by distance and you’ll find regional estate sales that never appear on the curated platforms. Fewer casual buyers search this way, so bidding on a Tuesday-night estate auction in a small town can be very quiet.
The catch is consistency. Each auctioneer sets their own buyer’s premium, photos and pickup rules, so read the terms on every sale. If you’re comparing it with other platforms, see our HiBid alternatives.
5. MaxSold
MaxSold runs whole-house online auctions on a simple rule: every lot starts at $1, with no reserve. Its buyer guide says an 18% buyer’s premium (plus tax) is added on top, and you collect your items in person during a scheduled pickup window, usually at the house itself.
The $1 start pulls in a lot of bidders. That works both ways. Ordinary furniture can go for almost nothing, while anything desirable gets bid up hard in the final minutes. For a family, the trade-off is speed and a guaranteed empty house against the risk of a few items selling cheaply.
6. EBTH (Everything But The House)
EBTH photographs, researches and catalogues estates, then sells them online with low opening bids. It’s strongest on furniture, decorative arts and jewelry, and the presentation is better than most estate auctions. EBTH has closed several local markets over the years and relies more on mail-in consignment now, so check whether it serves your area before planning around it.
7. Proxibid
A marketplace where auction companies run live and timed sales, with “Estate & Personal Property” as its own category. It leans toward rural and farm estates, so you’ll see tractors and tools next to china cabinets. That mix suits buyers who know what equipment is worth.
8. LiveAuctioneers
When an estate holds something with collector value (a signed painting, a watch, a run of Steuben glass), auction houses usually pull it out and sell it here, where the buyers are collectors rather than bargain hunters. Better for the family’s bottom line. Worse for anyone hoping to find a sleeper. See our LiveAuctioneers alternatives for similar marketplaces.
Marketplace routes
9. Facebook Marketplace and eBay
Plenty of families skip the estate company and post furniture and household goods on Facebook Marketplace or in local buy-and-sell groups. No fees, no protection, a lot of no-shows. If you’re local and patient it’s worth watching.
eBay is where many estate items end up anyway, listed by dealers who bought them at the sale. Use its sold listings before you bid at an estate auction. It’s the quickest way to know what a lamp or a camera body actually sells for, rather than what someone is asking.
For buyers: where the value hides
Estate companies price what they know. They know furniture, silver and costume jewelry. They often don’t know tools, audio gear, sewing machines, technical books or lab instruments, and those get underpriced or lumped into box lots.
Location matters as much as category. A rural estate auction with poor access and a two-hour pickup window gets fewer bidders, and fewer bidders means lower prices. Badly photographed lots work the same way: the item isn’t worse, the pictures are.
And at in-person sales, go back on the last day. Prices often drop by half because the company has to hand back an empty house.
For families: what to expect
A full-service in-person estate sale typically costs 25% to 50% of gross sales, depending on the company and the size of the estate. Smaller estates pay the higher rate, and some companies won’t take an estate below a minimum expected total. That commission covers staffing, pricing, security and advertising. Cleanout of whatever doesn’t sell is often extra, so ask.
Online estate auctions usually cost the family less in commission, but you give up control of prices because lots start low with no reserve. Have anything that might be valuable appraised before the sale, not after, and consign it separately if it is. And be realistic about brown furniture. A dining set that cost $6,000 in 1995 may sell for $200. The service you’re buying is a clear house by a deadline.
For more on what auctioneers charge and why, see how much does an auctioneer charge.
Launching your own estate auction website
Every estate company listed on HiBid, MaxSold-style platforms or a directory is paying someone else for each sale and sending its buyers to a site where competitors’ sales sit one click away. Once you run more than a couple of sales a month, owning the bidding site starts to make sense: your brand, your buyer list, your fee structure.
Estate auctions have specific needs. You’ll load 300 to 600 lots in a day or two, so lot entry has to be fast and photo-led. You need timed auctions with soft close so the last-minute bidding doesn’t end abruptly, proxy bidding, a buyer’s premium you set yourself, and invoices that bidders can pay before pickup day. Families want a clear settlement statement at the end.
Our auctioneer software covers timed and live online auctions, proxy bidding, soft close, Buy It Now, bidder deposits and approval, and live simulcast for on-site estate auctions. It runs on your own server, our team installs and sets it up at no extra cost, and you pay once: $899, $1,999 or $2,999, with no commission on what you sell. The Professional license includes 10 hours of custom development and Enterprise includes 30, which is enough to add something estate-specific such as pickup time-slot booking. Enterprise also adds multi-vendor selling, if you want other estate companies to list on your site.
The auction management page shows the back-office workflow, and launching a local online auction business covers the commercial side: sourcing estates, setting fees and building a bidder list in your area.
Run estate auctions on your own website
Try the live demo, compare license pricing, or tell us how many sales you run a month.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best website for estate sales?
For in-person sales, EstateSales.net and EstateSales.org together cover most US listings. For online estate auctions, HiBid has the widest regional coverage and MaxSold the simplest format.
How do I find estate sales near me?
Set location alerts on EstateSales.net and EstateSales.org, then search HiBid and AuctionZip by zip code for auction-format sales. All four are free to use as a buyer.
Are estate sales cheaper than estate auctions?
In-person estate sales are priced by the company, so there’s no bidding war, but also no bargain if they priced it well. Auctions swing both ways. The best deals tend to be no-reserve online auctions with few bidders.
What commission do estate sale companies charge?
Usually 25% to 50% of gross sales for a full-service in-person sale, with higher rates on smaller estates. Online-only auctions often cost less. Get quotes from at least two companies and ask what cleanout costs.
Can an estate sale company run its own online auctions?
Yes. With your own auction software you host timed estate auctions on your domain, keep the buyer’s premium and build your own bidder list instead of paying a platform for each sale.
