Is this estate sale worth your commission? Free, no signup.
Defaults are editable starting points, not market rates. Many organizers charge 30-40% commission; small sales often need a flat minimum fee to be worth taking.
Commission sounds good until the prep hours pile up. Estate sale organizers typically take 30 to 40 percent of gross sales, but a 35 percent cut of a small sale can still lose money once you count every hour of sorting, staging, pricing, and sale days. This calculator checks whether your commission actually covers your time at your bar rate.
Pick a preset that matches the job: a tag sale, a full estate, or a heavy cleanout. Each one loads editable starting guesses for expected gross, your hours, staff pay, and ad spend. Enter your commission percent and any flat fee you charge, then enter your real numbers. The calculator shows your gross commission, subtracts staff, advertising, card processing, and haul-away, and divides what is left by your total hours so you can see your true hourly rate. It also applies your minimum fee floor, because small sales at standard commissions are the classic trap. Use it before you sign a contract, while you can still walk away.
Example only, not typical pricing. A full estate expects $20,000 in gross sales at 35 percent commission, which is $7,000, plus no flat fee. Prep and sale days total 70 of your hours, staff costs $800, ads run $300, card processing takes 2.9 percent of the gross ($580), and haul-away costs $200. Your costs total $1,880, leaving $5,120 over 70 hours, which is about $73.14 per hour. Against a $50 bar the verdict fires THIN TAKE, because $73.14 is under 1.5 times the bar, and the calculator suggests adding a flat fee or bumping the commission for a real cushion. If the same sale only grossed $8,000, your $2,800 commission would leave $1,268 after costs, or about $18.11 per hour, and the verdict fires WALK AWAY.
Most charge 25 to 50 percent of gross sales, with 30 to 40 percent being common. The rate covers pricing, staging, advertising, staffing, and running the sale. Small sales often carry a minimum flat fee so the organizer does not work for pennies.
Because the percentage ignores your hours. A 35 percent cut of a $6,000 sale is $2,100, but if you spent 60 hours on prep and sale days plus $500 in staff and ads, your effective rate is under $27 an hour. Low-gross sales are where commissions quietly fail.
Many organizers do, especially for small or remote sales. A flat fee covers the fixed work that exists no matter what sells: walkthrough, contract, advertising setup, and staging. Put it in writing before the sale, not after.
Walk the house room by room and price the major pieces and volume of small goods. Be conservative. Most organizers mentally discount their first guess because families overvalue the contents. Never sign based on the family's estimate alone.
The big ones are their own prep hours, the end-of-sale haul-away or donation run, credit card processing fees, and staff for busy sale days. Each one comes out of the commission, so enter them all before deciding.