After thousands of sales, regular pickers develop a rhythm. These are the habits worth copying.
1. Reserve your position online when it's offered
If a sale lists a line-reservation link, use it. Signing up Thursday night beats standing in the dark on Saturday. Tools like EstateEntry show your number and an estimated entry time, so you know whether #12 means 20 minutes or two hours.
2. Do a walkthrough pass first
Resist buying the first thing you see. Walk the whole property once, note what you like, then act. The pros know that the best item on the property is sometimes in the garage.
3. Check these before you buy
- Furniture: joints, wobble, missing hardware, lifting weight.
- Electronics: ask to plug it in; no outlet means no sale.
- Signed items: bring reference images, not just hope.
- Lamps: assume rewiring unless it powers on.
4. Negotiation usually works better on day two or three
Negotiate on the first day when items are fresh and you can bundle several. On the last day, everything is half-off anyway, and the leftovers are heavily picked over.
5. Know what you're actually good at pricing
You can't win on everything. If your thing is vintage tools, let the competitive buyers chase the designer handbags while you make 300% on the shop equipment everyone else walked past.
6. Cash discipline
Set a budget per sale and stick to it. Nothing kills afternoon judgment like an empty wallet by lunch.
7. Bring the right gear
Boxes, packing paper, bungee cords, a cart or wagon, bottled water. If you're buying furniture, bring straps and know your vehicle limits.
The same behaviors that made resellers wealthy in the 2010s still work: smart sourcing beats expensive sourcing, every single time.