Estate sale

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An estate sale is a type of garage sale, yard sale or auction to dispose of the majority of the materials owned by a deceased person. Estate sales are usually conducted, for a percentage of the take, by specialists. This is because the scope of the process is usually overwhelming to the survivors, and for the specialist's experience with pricing antique items, his or her following of customers, and the specialist's experience in disposing of unsold goods in an unsentimental manner after the run of the sale. Antique and collectible dealers use estate sales as one of their more important wholesale sources, and many estate sales have their first day reserved for dealers. Estate sales are typically 3 to 4 days long, often with a price reduction toward the end. Unknowingly to the shopper, estate sales can be salted with goods left over from other sales or business ventures of the sale's conductor.

Where the survivors of the deceased can not agree to the disposition of tangible property, a court may order those goods to be sold in an estate sale with the proceeds to be divided between the survivors. Such a sale and division may also be mandated in the will of the deceased.