739: $5k in a Weekend Selling Other People’s Stuff

Summary

THE SIDE HUSTLE SHOW, EPISODE 739
"$5k in a Weekend Selling Other People’s Stuff"
Host: Nick Loper | Guest: Sue Antonoro (AuctionMastery.com)
Date: May 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the profitable world of running estate and downsizing sales for others—how you can earn thousands in a weekend by helping people clear out their stuff with online auctions. Guest Sue Antonoro draws on two decades of experience to break down her step-by-step process, tools, pitfalls, and strategies for launching your own estate sale side hustle, even if you have no prior experience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Modern Estate Sale Model

• Traditional vs. Online Approach

  • Traditional estate sales involve in-person crowds, strangers walking through homes, and potential for missing items.
  • Sue's method: Photograph and catalog items, list everything on an auction platform (Auction Ninja), run a week-long online auction, and arrange a scheduled pick-up window at the end.
  • “Instead of the traditional estate sales… we go home and catalog it. The auction runs for a week. At the end of the week, only the winning bidders would show up to get their items… Very efficient, quick.” – Sue (04:06)

• Financials & Splits

  • Standard model: About 50/50 split between operator and homeowner. Certain items (silver/gold) have lower commission for the operator (~35%).
  • It’s common to gross $5,000–$17,000 in a single event.
  • “The total auction grossed $17,000… Typically it’s about 50%. We do have a lower take for silver and gold items, which is like 35% to us.” – Sue (02:04, 02:50)

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2. How the Auction Process Works

• Platforms Used

  • Primarily Auction Ninja, designed for estate sales (not general eBay).
  • EstateAuctions.com and EstateAuctions.net used to drive more buyers.

• Auction Mechanics

  • Listings start at $1—almost everything sells.
  • Option to set reserves on a handful of items.
  • Rolling close: Items end every 20 seconds, extending if there’s last-minute bidding.

• Local and Remote Buyers

  • Most buyers are local (for pickup), but about 10% of items are shipped nationwide (especially unique/high-value items).

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3. Getting Inventory & Standing Out

• Finding Sources

  • Partner with realtors, assisted living communities, home stagers, and cleanout companies to get leads.
  • “Realtors are a great source… these people coming to them, getting ready to sell… Cleanout companies… are partnering with us because we have a consignment division.” – Sue (22:07, 23:14)

• Differentiators

  • Willingness to take the “entire house”—not just high-end stuff.
  • Full-service and hands-off for the client (no public walk-throughs).

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4. Execution: Cataloging, Photography, and Listings

• Photography

  • Most time-intensive part; all photos taken onsite.
  • Lighting, foam boards (black/white), and proper backgrounds are key.
  • “Learn to take good photos… Lighting is very important… Your first photo, you want the click right.” – Sue (16:57, 31:31, 40:08)

• Inventory & Lot Creation

  • High-value items listed individually; lower-value or similar items grouped into lots.
  • Use pre-printed stickers for inventory numbers—avoid residue on vintage items.

• Descriptions

  • Use Google Lens for quick identification and accurate descriptions.

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5. The Sale Event: Buyer Psychology & Strategy

• Auction Psychology

  • Competitive bidders drive prices—many items attract bidding wars.
  • Most action happens in the final hours of the auction.
  • “Everything happens in the last few hours. It’s fascinating to watch… All the magic happens at the end.” – Sue (19:52, 20:00)

• Success Stories

  • Bidding war on a vintage bugle: $5,000 (08:08)
  • Sterling silver sets regularly selling for $4,000+ (09:28)

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6. Marketing & Growing the Business

• Best Practices

  • Cross-list auctions on EstateAuctions.net and .com to reach wider audiences.
  • Order listings by most valuable items to hook buyers (“first 20” rule + “Pick 5” top lots).
  • Take unique pictures and always show flaws for transparency.
  • “Before you make your auction go live, you want to reorder your first 20 items… They have a thing called pick five which is your five favorite things.” – Sue (32:28)

• Consignment Model

  • Not just entire estates: Sue also sells small batches/individual items on consignment, and uses her platform for her own and client inventory.
  • Can be done out of a garage; best with 100+ items for visibility.

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7. Logistics & Post-Sale

• Shipping and Pickup

  • Buyers cover shipping on large/unique items.
  • 1-day scheduled pickups for local buyers.
  • “We ship maybe 10% of the items… silverware… will likely get shipped… For the most part, everything sells.” – Sue (10:01, 07:04)

• Appealing to Sellers

  • Most clients thrilled with results—overwhelmed at how much they sell and grateful the house is cleared.
  • “I never once heard a client be sad about it… they’re floored.” – Sue (38:46)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Unique Demand:
  • "We had this vintage bugle from the 1800s… bidding war that went on for hours and it sold for almost $5,000…” (08:08)
• On the Business Model’s Simplicity and Efficacy:
  • "Almost everything sells because with our process, the bidding starts at only a dollar. So it's very rare that things don't sell." (07:04)
• About Item Research on the Fly:
  • “If you don’t know—especially with antique books… first edition, you know, look it up while you’re there at the house. Because otherwise, like, an antique book might be put into a lot of books." (38:10)
• On What Surprises the Most:
  • “Honestly, some of the things that people spend money on… this old antique children’s book… sold for like $5,000.” (37:57)
• Photo Tip:
  • “My number one tip really is all about the photos. Learn to take good photos… Put [the item] next to somebody… so it's all about the photos.” (40:08)
• On the Seller Mindset:
  • “They've already taken whatever is special to them, and they're just at the point… don’t want to deal with the overwhelm, and you're assisting them. You're providing this great service.” (38:56)

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Recommended Best Practices

• Take outstanding, detailed, and honest photos.
• List your highest value and most eye-catching items first (“top 20” + “Pick 5”).
• Group less valuable items into lots.
• Always scale with at least 100 items per auction for traction.
• Use Google Lens or similar tools for quick item identification.
• Partner with realtors, home stagers, and cleanout companies for a steady source of leads.
• Cross-post auctions to estate auction aggregators for more buyer traffic.
• Encourage clients to avoid reserves except for their top “can’t lose” items—trust the process!

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Roadmap: How to Start Your Own Estate Sale Side Hustle

1. Build relationships with realtors, downsizing/assisted living consultants, and cleanout pros.
2. Offer full-service, hands-off, and efficient online auction management.
3. Catalog, photograph, and list with professional detail.
4. Prioritize and highlight the best inventory.
5. Set reasonable (or no) reserves to ensure most items sell.
6. Use established estate auction platforms; leverage additional listing sites for reach.
7. Schedule concise pickup windows and handle/arrange for shipping.
8. Gather testimonials to grow word-of-mouth.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:04] – How the business works, financial model, typical auction size
• [04:06] – The online auction process vs. traditional estate sale
• [06:52] – What differentiates Sue’s service
• [09:28] – High-value items and notable bidding wars
• [11:09] – Cataloging and photographing inventory
• [16:57] – Onsite photography techniques
• [21:47] – How to price, auction mechanics, and bidder psychology
• [22:07] – How to source clients and build partnerships
• [31:31] – Photo/listing best practices for driving more sales
• [34:52] – Consignment side of the business
• [36:59] – Minimum lot sizes for success on auction platforms
• [38:46] – Seller satisfaction and what clients say
• [39:41] – Sue’s plan to teach others and scale the business

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Final Takeaways

• The estate auction model is a lucrative, low-risk, and scalable side hustle for anyone willing to put in the work (mainly photography and cataloging!).
• The opportunity exists well outside eBay/Facebook; niche platforms like Auction Ninja have built-in motivated buyers.
• A professional, efficient, and compassionate approach—coupled with smart marketing and listing techniques—can legitimately yield $5k weekends helping others.

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For more info, visit AuctionMastery.com for Sue’s upcoming book and YouTube channel.

Tip: “It’s all about the photos… Give a sense of scale in some of the pictures.” – Sue (40:08)

Transcript

[Host]

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[Nick Loper]

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[Host]

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[Host]

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[Nick Loper]

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[Host]

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[Nick Loper]

$5,000 this weekend selling other people's stuff?

[Host]

Estate sales happen all the time.

[Nick Loper]

There's a steady flow of buyers, there's a steady flow of sellers. And in this episode you're going to learn how to insert yourself between the two and help pull off a successful sale. My guest is a longtime listener. She's been doing consignment, ebay, estate sales, auction sales for the last 10, 20 years from auction mastery.com Sue Antonoro. Welcome to the side Hustle show.

[Sue Antonoro]

Thanks for having me on. Nick. Nice to see you.

[Nick Loper]

Likewise. I appreciate you tuning in and appreciate you reaching out with this unique side hustle around, helping people clear out their stuff in this estate sale business. And my understanding is the last one that you did two parter, two part auction, brought in $17,000.

[Sue Antonoro]

That is right. Yes. It was very exciting. It was a house full of, full of stuff and they had so many items that we had kind of a two part auction. Everything got picked up in the same day, but the total auction grossed $17,000 because they had so many things. It was amazing. This is very exciting.

[Nick Loper]

Your typical split is half goes to the homeowner or to the maybe the who Are executing the estate sale.

[Sue Antonoro]

Typically roughly half goes to. In this case, it was the niece of the person. So a person had passed away and the niece, I assume was the executor, so it went to her. That's often how it goes. Sometimes it's a downsizing auction. So the people actually yesterday we did one and we called it the castle house because these people lived in a house that really looked like a castle.

[Nick Loper]

Okay.

[Sue Antonoro]

It had like a turret. It was just gorgeous, beautiful home. But they were moving, they were downsizing. You know, they're getting older and they were going to move out of state. And that auction I'm sure is going to go very, very well. But again, typically it's about 50%. We do have a lower take for silver and gold items, which is like 35% to us.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, got it, got it. But in any case, you came in, you took the pictures, you sold the stuff. We'll get into all that and call it eight grand for a couple weekends worth of work in this case.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yep, that's right.

[Nick Loper]

Now, estate sale services have been around forever and I kind of have a picture of it in my mind from when my grandma and grandpa passed away or downsized out of their house. And it was like an in person thing. Like people were walking through the house and saying, you know, I want that, or claiming it. I don't know, the piano or the dining room table or whatever it was.

[Sue Antonoro]

That's right.

[Nick Loper]

This is a little bit different, right?

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes. And I wish I knew about this when my parents passed away because it's so efficient process. So instead of the traditional estate sales, like you said, where people are coming in, you're not having a bunch of strangers coming to your house and just willy nilly looking at things. Maybe some things might go missing, who knows? The difference in this process is I would come in, in usually in a day, take pictures of everything. We go home and catalog it. It could go online in maybe two days. The auction runs for a week. At the end of the week, only the winning bidders would show up to get their items. And usually there's a one day pickup period, maybe four hours and then that's it. Very efficient, quick again, you don't have a bunch of strangers coming in. The only time people really come into the house is if they need to move out, maybe a big piece of furniture, something like that.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, so this is part of the pitch or maybe part of the benefit to the homeowner. It's like, look, you don't want to have a bunch of strangers walking through your stuff. We're going to put it all online. And this is like a week long ebay auction. What's going on?

[Sue Antonoro]

It's similar to ebay. Yes. So I just set an auction go live today. So it goes live, runs for a week. Typically it ends. So the auction that went live today is gonna end next Tuesday, I believe. And it starts to end at 7pm Eastern time. And it's a rolling close. So that means Lot number one starts to close and every 20 seconds it closes each item. So if you're bidding on a couple of different items, you have different time.

[Nick Loper]

This is not ebay. This is like an estate sale specific one.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes. It's called Auction Ninja is a third party platform that we used. There's a couple of them out there. Auction Ninja is just happens to be the that I use.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. So if I'm coming in and saying I'm thinking down the road to okay, I would kind of gently put my name out there to real estate agents or to moving services, maybe somebody who would be helping people kind of in this transition stage of life. You need to clear this stuff out.

[Sue Antonoro]

Right.

[Nick Loper]

To get my name into the ring as a potential estate sale helper person. But other companies have been doing this for years. It's a service that's been around forever. So what's the opening pitch or what gets you selected over everybody else?

[Sue Antonoro]

Honestly, a lot of people don't know. My thing is, first of all, we're taking the overwhelm off of you and it's hands free for the customer. You're not having all these strangers coming in the house. So I just talked to a woman today and she was like, I don't want anybody coming in. You know, she was very adamant about that. You know, sometimes older people don't want that. I think a lot of people, like, not that there's anything, it's kind of hard to say, but people like that we're all women in the job that I do.

[Nick Loper]

Do you find yourself competing with other services like, oh, they're gonna offer me a 60% take versus 50 or something like that?

[Sue Antonoro]

Y. That's true. I will say that typically we're a little less picky about the things we'll put in. So I think that's what sets us apart. Because around here anyway, a lot of these competitive companies are more, you know, they're going for the big bucks. So they might look at a house and go, you know, we're not going to do that because they're not finding A lot of high value items. So I will say that is something that sets us apart.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, well, we'll take everything. Yeah, you just, you just want it gone.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes, exactly. They just want it gone.

[Nick Loper]

Is that part of the process? Like, look, if it doesn't sell, we'll handle the disposal, the removal.

[Sue Antonoro]

Almost everything sells because with our process, the bidding starts at only a dollar. So it's very rare that things don't sell. As far as we don't really do like a junk clean out, but we do have referral partners so we will offer that up to people as well as like cleaning companies, that kind of thing. But for the most part, everything sells. It's great. People love to bid.

[Nick Loper]

My fear would be like, well, I put it up and I guess it sold for a dollar and maybe I was hoping to get a little bit more for it. Like, do you have customers coming in and say, well, there's gotta be a reserve for, you know, this, this item, this item, this item, something like that.

[Sue Antonoro]

That's fine.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Sue Antonoro]

I just had a woman tell me that today. She wants to sell some artwork. And so there are reserves if you want. We generally tell people you can put five things up for reserve. So in this particular auction ninja, people go crazy about bidding. It's like the secret sauce. Like they love to bid. It's like a winning thing. I can't tell you how many winning bidders have come up to me and they're like, yay, I won it. So that's like this particular buying base. They love to win, you know, and we always say all it takes is two people who really want something really bad. Like we had this vintage bugle from the 1800s. I don't know anything about instruments, but we had a bidding war that went on for hours and it sold for almost $5,000 for a bugle. And I heard from the losing bidder and she was like, oh gosh, I wanted to buy this as a birthday present for my husband.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, there's enough of built in audience of auction lovers here on the Auction Ninja site where stuff is unlikely to go. So the customer could set a reserve on a handful of specific items. But it's more like, look, trust our process. We're going to put it out there for a dollar, enough people are going to see it where if it's really worth anything, it'll sell.

[Sue Antonoro]

Trust us, this particular audience, they don't like reserves. We did an auction for a gentleman who lost his wife and he had absolutely beautiful things, gorgeous pieces of furniture, and he Was an older gentleman. He's like, I paid x dollars for this. And he put reserves on my five pieces of furniture, and they never sold. And then we had to do a second auction.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah.

[Sue Antonoro]

And we put them at a dollar, and of course, they didn't sell for a dollar. So we try to tell people not to put reserves, but you can do that. So, like, I see that silverware. I'm telling you, everybody's bringing out their grandmother's silverware lately.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah. Check this out. 4,200 bucks. And there's still five hours left on this for this sterling silverware set.

[Sue Antonoro]

We've sold at least four or five sterling silverware sets over the last month, and they've all gone for at least $4,000.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, so they tell you the weight on it here. What's the raw metal worth on this?

[Sue Antonoro]

You know, that's a great question. We do weigh out in grams. I don't know. I'm not a metals girl. You know, I don't know if they're melting it down.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah. Yeah. 41 bids here. And in your case, most of the buyers are local. So in contrast to ebay, we're going to be shipping everything. It's like most of the people. Look, we have a dedicated pickup day next weekend. You can come by and grab the thing.

[Sue Antonoro]

That's partly true, Although we've expanded our shipping lately, and we. We ship maybe 10% of the items. The silverware, I can tell you, will likely get shipped. It's mostly local buyers. I would also say maybe like, 40% of our buyers are resellers. Like, they have little stores or maybe they sell on ebay or things like that.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah. We have a signed, framed Barry Sanders jersey from the lions. Current bid, $71. 27 bids going back and forth on this one so far. I imagine for the right fan with the right man cave. Lions fan, we pay more than 71 bucks for that.

[Sue Antonoro]

I think you're right. It's fascinating the things you can find on auction ninja 2. And some things will sell. We'll go like, who knew that thing was worth so much money? But I always say, you know, the market will set the price. They will find you as long as you title it correctly and whatnot. And take great pictures.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, so that may be the step. So you get the house under contract or an agreement to do this, and then the next stage of the process, kind of cataloging everything that's in there. But it's still, like, really tedious to do that and then take multiple pictures of each and every one. What's your process like for that?

[Sue Antonoro]

So the process is we look at everything and we try to pick out the nice high value items first. Because you go into a house and there's a million things. So. And that comes with getting to know. Maybe some people know that, maybe some people don't, but you do want to kind of get to know that. So try to pull out the high value things first. Those are singles. And again, you want to take great pictures. We, you know, I have a method for that.

[Nick Loper]

What's an example? Like obviously the sterling silverware. What else would qualify as like high value for you?

[Sue Antonoro]

Some art pieces. Lately, art has been doing very well. Signed art, limited edition art, that's been doing great. And we've been shipping out a lot of artwork. Unique little, you know, mcm, mid century modern things, you know, things you can never find anymore. It could be anything. It could be like a brass cat figurine or something. I will tell you, people love cats. Again, gold jewelry goes with even costume jewelry. People love costume jewelry. Things that are unique. You know, glass is one thing where like no glass unless it's marked, like Waterford. But in general, you'll get the people that will come up and, oh, I, you know, what about my china? It's lovely and it is lovely, but it just doesn't sell that well. And you have to be kind of tactful and have empathy towards people.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah, they've kept this in their home for 50 years. They have some sentimental value.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yeah, yeah. You have to be like, well, you know, it's just not as sought after as it used to be. That's if you're dealing with the people are still alive. You know, if it's obviously, if it's the children dealing with their, maybe their parents stuff, they've already come in the house, they've taken what they wanted and they're just like, we want it all gone.

[Nick Loper]

Right. Trying to put myself in the mindset of the buyer and I guess you said most of most of the buyers are resellers, so they're trying to pass it on to somebody else. But just there's not a ton of shelf space or desire to have knickknacks filling up the space, but maybe certain people would be more into it.

[Sue Antonoro]

You know what little old ladies love buying knickknacks. Maybe that sounds funny, but yeah, they do. They still buy it and there's still a lot of people that love buying. And obviously things like, you know, power tools, like expensive tools are great because all that Stuff is so expensive to buy now. So we'll sell generators or ride on lawnmowers. Things like that are wonderful.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, you said the high value items, those are going to be single listings. Like we saw the silverware set, we saw the Barry Sanders Jersey. Single item.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yep.

[Nick Loper]

Alternative, I assume is lots like a bundle of things that are similar.

[Sue Antonoro]

Exactly. So we might even do like a cabinet. Lot of dishes and mugs and whatnot. But typically if it's a house that again, maybe someone's lived there for 50, 60 years, you're gonna find some treasures in there and unique things that you just don't see anymore. People really like that kind of stuff. Or nostalgia. I always say nostalgia always sells. You know, someone will come in and go, oh, I had that. My grandmother had that when I was a kid. Or, you know, that kind of thing. Older toys sometimes do well. Fisher Price toys, sometimes older, you know, pre 1980 kind of a thing.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah. Still made out of wood and you know, higher quality. They don't make them like they used to.

[Sue Antonoro]

Right.

[Nick Loper]

What's your process like for taking the pictures? Are you doing that kind of in place in the house or you got to take it back to your Lightbox Studio setup?

[Host]

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[Sue Antonoro]

So we'll bring lighting, we'll bring foam boards to have like, maybe black and white. So if it's glass, we want to put it on a black foam board. If it's a dark item, you want to put it on white. You kind of want to have an idea of how to take a good photo, obviously. And lighting is very important. We'll work through the rooms, you know, everything in the dining room, we'll take everything there and everything stays is where it is for the most part. Unless the client for some reason needs it moved whatnot. And then everything's given an identification number. You know, one through 50 is in the kitchen.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. Are you putting stickers on them like a moving company or just kind of in your own internal inventory tracker?

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes, our own internal thing. Exactly.

[Nick Loper]

Is it a spreadsheet or what do you use for that?

[Sue Antonoro]

So Auction Ninja will actually assign numbers to you. So if you're using Auction Ninja, you just print off the numbers you assign. Basically.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. As you go through room by room, item by item.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes. So we pre print the numbered labels and we just stick it on there. Yeah. I will say you want to get a tag or sticker that doesn't leave a residue. That's a big no. No. So especially on older vintage things.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah, you just ruined my mid century thing with your sticker.

[Sue Antonoro]

Seriously, like one time I had a box of. Okay, this is something. I myself got into a bidding war. This is another thing people will say all the time. You know what? I never knew I needed this thing. They were called cheese mice. Never heard them before. They were the cutest thing ever. These little wooden mice that, where people would put, you know, you're serving a crudite. And I was like, I had to have these. So I had put the sticker on the box and it was a very old box. And sure enough, a little thing had come off of it and I was like, oh, I should have known better. But I did not end up winning the cheese mice, by the way. But the woman who came to pick them up, I was like, I was bidding against you. And she was like, I had no idea I needed these so bad. But she didn't really need them, but she wanted them.

[Nick Loper]

And the way you're describing it, is there a, I assume like a bulk upload for these images or is it really like, okay, one, one by one, if I'm taking five or ten pictures

[Sue Antonoro]

of each thing, the way I do it is you have all your photos on your camera. Unfortunately, Auction Ninja doesn't have an app for some reason. But I'll put all the photos on my computer and then I'll just drag and drop. So you know, item number one, drag them and it's. It's pretty quick.

[Host]

Okay.

[Sue Antonoro]

And then I use Google Lens to identify, I mean, most of the stuff. I know what it is anyway. But Google Lens is great. So you can just right click Google Lens and then copy and paste the title.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. This is to identify items without a barcode, without a label. Okay. That's a smart way to do it because you're like, I don't know what this thing is. Yeah. Ask the AI to tell you.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yeah, it's very time efficient.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. So the pictures go up, the listings go up, and then the fun starts. Then the auction starts. Everything starts at a dollar. It's a week long thing. And if it's anything like any of the auctions I paid attention to, all the action happens at the very end. Or do people start bidding right away?

[Sue Antonoro]

Everything happens in the last few hours. It's fascinating to watch.

[Nick Loper]

Which has got to be so stressful for the, like the owners. It's like, dude, nobody. We got no action on this.

[Sue Antonoro]

It's so stressful. So many times, like there's no, nobody's bidding. Nobody's bidding. Then they get a little nervous and then we're like, just you wait, just watch. And all the magic happens at the end.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah. In the way you described it was the, the timer kind of resets if there's a bid towards the end. Is that true?

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes. If you have two people bidding on the same thing. If somebody bids within the last five minutes, it resets to another five minutes.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. To prevent sniping at the last second.

[Sue Antonoro]

I don't know why that happens. I think it's auction ninja, maybe want some more money. But that happened to me one time. I was selling a Bose stereo system, so I'll put my own stuff in the auctions. And I remember I was going out to dinner with my daughter. It was only up to like $50. And I kept watching it in my phone and every five minutes somebody with two people clearly would bidding on it. And three hours later, it finally ended and it got up to like $350. I was so excited.

[Nick Loper]

All right. Yeah, that's a little. A little bit better than the $50 initial sale. So sometimes that week long auction could get extended maybe by quite a bit if people are really going after a particular item or two.

[Sue Antonoro]

In theory, yep. But for the most part, people tend to like, peter out. I don't think it's ever gone over like, like past midnight kind of a thing.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. They hit their limit at some point. Would it allow you to say, look, my top bid is $100 for this thing. Just walk away. Or like, you know, bid up until that point.

[Sue Antonoro]

We tell people that all the time. I tell myself that. Just put your top bid in so you can do that. It's very similar to ebay, I believe, where you just, you can start at a dollar or you can say, okay, like $20, but then it will say, oh, you're the high bidder at a dollar. So it won't go up to $20 only unless somebody bids $19 against you, if that makes sense.

[Nick Loper]

Okay, talk to me about some of the marketing relationships. I think we've got an idea of kind of the mechanics of how this is going to work once we get into a house. But how about on the getting people to sign up with us in the first place? Some of the partnerships that worked or some ways you found effective to kind of get your name out there.

[Sue Antonoro]

Definitely Realtors are a great source because they have these people coming to them, getting ready to sell this house. So Realtors are a great partnership as well as People who work in maybe like an assisted living community. And they're dealing with these older folks coming in and they're selling their house to get into the assisted living community. So those are good people to have relationships with.

[Nick Loper]

Okay.

[Sue Antonoro]

I also have a wonderful relationship with a woman who does house staging. She's staging these multimillion dollar homes, and these people have to get all this stuff out. And so that's also a great person.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. So before the staging comes in, because she's saying, I want to take the listing pictures, like it's kind of a few steps earlier in the process. In that case, yes.

[Sue Antonoro]

So she's good to know. We've also been lately dealing with clean out companies. So that's around here, that's. They're everywhere, these clean out companies, that's more in the consignment model. So that's typically they're cleaning out a house, they have all this stuff and, you know, they don't want to put it in the trash. And they come to realize, hey, some of this stuff is worth money. So they are partnering with us because we have a separate consignment division.

[Nick Loper]

Oh, okay. That's another way to. Yeah, we had 1, 800, got junk on the show. And I remember asking him, like, well, do you resell any of this stuff? Some of our franchisees have tried for a while, but ultimately not really worth it.

[Sue Antonoro]

Really? Oh, my gosh, they must have so many good things.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah. And so it's like, oh, I always thought that would be interesting because in their case, they're getting paid to take this stuff away. So it's like, oh, you get inventory for better than free, but not their model.

[Sue Antonoro]

So on that note, that's another great selling point because I had a friend who had to get out of her house quickly. The house was being sold, she had to find a new place, and she's like, you know what? I'm just gonna rent a dumpster. And I'm like, no, don't do that.

[Nick Loper]

Let me sell it.

[Sue Antonoro]

So I had an auction at her house, and not only did she not have to rent a dumpster, but she made money. So, you know, I'm saving her all this money from not renting a dumpster. And I think that's a good selling point.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah, yeah. This is an interesting one because, you know, I would think ebay, Facebook, marketplace, but no, there's a whole audience of buyers over here on this Auction Ninja site.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes. And Auction Ninja will promote you too. A lot of people who buy things will say, hey, I, you know, never heard about your company, but I've been buying an Auction ninja and they find you through Auction Ninja. So that's also kind of nice.

[Nick Loper]

Is there anything you need to do to promote the listings or is it just literally like I'm gonna put it up there at a dollar and trust the system, trust the process.

[Sue Antonoro]

We do promote on estateauctions.com and estate auctions.net so those are kind of the two big ones. And we definitely get traffic from there. We've had people reach out to us

[Nick Loper]

from there and that those point back to the Auction Ninja Auction, yes.

[Sue Antonoro]

Okay, so those are probably the biggest promotions that we use.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. Trying to get additional eyeballs on the thing.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes, exactly.

[Nick Loper]

But you're not syndicating to any other sites?

[Sue Antonoro]

No, just those two.

[Nick Loper]

Have you ever experimented or somebody on your team doing live selling for some of the stuff where you hold it, hey, we're walking through the house. Look what we found.

[Sue Antonoro]

That's a great idea. We haven't done that. Usually we're so like just get in and get out of the house. But, you know, that's a great idea. We haven't, but I think that would be great.

[Nick Loper]

It seems to be having a moment right now. So that may be the next stage for the business.

[Sue Antonoro]

You know, it's funny because we again, we didn't auction for this woman and we sold her parents house and she kept telling us that she was a whatnot seller and I hadn't even heard of it. I was like, what are you talking about? And she's like, oh yeah, this could

[Nick Loper]

be the next thing.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes, it could be.

[Nick Loper]

And so the next stage is people come by and pick it up during this window. Or you ship the stuff that needs shipping. And is there anything left over? Are you charging shipping to the buyers if they're out of state?

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes, yes, charging shippers, shipping to the buyers. Okay, we don't do free shipping. Maybe some companies do. Even when I've been selling on ebay now I've been selling on eBay for 25 years, believe it or not, a long time. And I used to do free shipping, but I don't know, no one really complains about it, but I think people expect it. Yes. And the other thing too, I think with the things that we have, again, they are really unique. A lot of the stuff is one of a kind. So if we're shipping to someone, they really want that thing. Like we just shipped a Beatles record that had been in a frame and it had been signed by Ringo Starr. And he paid, like, $1,500 for it. And he paid. Thing was huge. And he paid quite a lot of money to have it shipped.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. Wow.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yeah. He was okay with it because he really wanted it.

[Nick Loper]

How much stuff, in terms of auction value, does a typical house have? I'm trying to think of, like, what would our stuff be worth if somebody were to come in and just auction it off? I don't know.

[Sue Antonoro]

You want to have a minimum of a $5,000 sale, which is. Is pretty easy to do because, again, the houses we're going into, they have so much stuff, it's crazy.

[Nick Loper]

Just for the effort required, you want to make sure it's worth your while.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes.

[Nick Loper]

Do you ever walk in and say, I don't really want to take this one?

[Sue Antonoro]

Yeah, every once in a while. Gosh. I mean, there was a house that we had. I think we did a preview in the winter, and then we came back in the spring, and we're like, oh, my gosh. I think an animal had died in a house or something. It was terrible. So we brought everything out to the porch to take pictures. They actually had a really gorgeous Model T Ford. The person who lived there was like a Model T person, and it was beautiful. And that alone. That auction also probably did, like, $15,000.

[Nick Loper]

Okay.

[Sue Antonoro]

Because sometimes you just gotta. You gotta deal with it.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Nick Loper]

You never know what you're gonna find in there.

[Sue Antonoro]

You never know. That's the thing. It's like, what treasures are in there. But we went to a house that was dangerous or had mold or, you know, that kind of thing. We'll drive a lot.

[Nick Loper]

You ever get anybody asking you to, oh, could you run my garage sale for me? Or you just, like, even a neighborhood consignment event or anything like that? I'm thinking like, well, once we have this skill set and this resource to find buyers, now we just need more inventory. Like, where else can we source it?

[Sue Antonoro]

You know? That's a great idea. I know. No one's ever approached me like that. I do have my own clients that they want me to sell things. Not in a. I'm just. I'm kind of anti yad sale. Only because I feel like it's. People are going to nickel and dime me to death. But that's another thing about the auction ninja is I put my own things in there. I have a client that's a house stager. I put everything. I don't even almost do ebay anymore, because auction ninjas, you just put it in. You don't have to deal with it. I pretty much guaranteed to sell. People come and pick it up. It's so easy as a seller to do it that way. And again, I love ebay. I've been doing it for years, but it's just having inventory sit. That's another beautiful thing. There's a time thing. You're gonna buy it or else you're gonna.

[Nick Loper]

Right? You want to turn it over quick.

[Host]

More with sue in just a moment,

[Nick Loper]

including other auction ninja best practices a

[Host]

look into the consignment side of her business.

[Nick Loper]

And some of the biggest surprises when it comes to estate sale auctions coming up right after this.

[Host]

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[Nick Loper]

so it sounds like doing a little bit of promotion on these external sites to drive some additional eyeballs over to Auction Ninja and then anything else you're doing to make your listings stand out and sparkle in the eyes of prospective buyers.

[Sue Antonoro]

I think one of the best things is you really want to be able to take a good photo and maybe sometimes unique photos. So sometimes I'll have something and I'll hold it like this and click take a picture like that. Your first photo, you want the click right. So you have to be able to pose something good. You have to take pictures of all the sides. Definitely grab those maker marks on the bottom of something. You want to take measurements. If something has a chip or a crack, you want to zoom into that because you know all that stuff will prevent refunds. And people tell us all the time how our photos are amazing. So I will say that's very important. And if get yourself a good we all have iPhones. Get yourself a good iPhone, okay.

[Nick Loper]

Showing the flaws if there are know make sure you're presenting it accurately and honestly so people don't show up and be like wait, wait a minute, this thing has got a crack in it as long as your arm. Anything else on the listing side or Auction Ninja best practices so they have

[Sue Antonoro]

a thing on Auction Ninja when you put your auction on you want to have your first 20 things be in the order where it's your nicest things. So you want, you can reorder. So it's something you just going in there, taking pictures, click, click, clicking, putting it on. But before you make your auction go live, you want to reorder your first 20 items because that's going to show up and you want people to continue to click through so you definitely want to do that as well. And then they have a thing called pick five which is your five favorite things. So for example, the one we're Doing tonight, number one, of course, surprise, is the sterling silverware set. That's number one. So that's the thing that's going to show up. That's very important.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. Yeah, I found this one near me. So they kind of have this like cover image that is a amalgamation of a bunch of the. The stuff that they have. And then to your point, they have maybe prioritized some of the more unique or high dollar items. Towards the top, this mahogany writing desk. This thing looks like an antique and a half.

[Sue Antonoro]

Wow.

[Nick Loper]

A hand carved ceramic smoking pipe signed SLO I'm not sure what that means. And some unique pieces of art in a pre Columbian effigy. Fish form, earthen vessel.

[Sue Antonoro]

Wait, that's unique.

[Nick Loper]

That is. That definitely checks the unique box. $25. 6 hours left if you want to get in on that one.

[Sue Antonoro]

Oh, I'm going to bid on that.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. So prioritizing some of the high value and just that gives it kind of a higher perceived value in the eyes of the shopper.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes, I think so. And then people will be like, well, what else do they have? You know, and they'll continue to click through.

[Nick Loper]

You find people buying like multiple things from the same sale.

[Sue Antonoro]

Mm, yeah, we definitely have the usual suspects that come and they'll buy. Of course, we have the resellers, so they'll buy a lot. But then we have some people that just love to shop. Like we have this lovely older gentleman, Bob. We love Bob. He buys maybe 20 to 30 items every auction.

[Nick Loper]

Wow.

[Sue Antonoro]

He's got a lot of stuff.

[Nick Loper]

Does he have a store or does he resell it? What does he do with it? He's a collector.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yeah, he's a collector, to put it nicely. Yeah, he lives on like 100 acres and he's got a lot of room and he's got a lot of things.

[Nick Loper]

All right, well, in a few years he may be doing the same thing for him.

[Sue Antonoro]

I think you're right. I think you are absolutely right.

[Nick Loper]

So your fee comes from this profit split after the auction with the homeowner. Are there any other revenue streams in this business or is that. That's kind of how. Just how it works. We'll take a performance based commission on what sells.

[Sue Antonoro]

We have our going into the person's house, that part of the business. But then we also have a consignment part of the business because there's a lot of people out there that don't have a whole house full of stuff. Maybe they have 10 things, maybe they have 50 or whatnot. You could Just do that. You could just not even go to people's homes. If you had a garage, you could just continue to do auction ninja sales out of your garage on a consignment basis.

[Nick Loper]

How does that side work for you? People kind of know you have a reputation for being able to move some product, and so they say, hey, sue, can you help me sell this stuff?

[Sue Antonoro]

Pretty much. I would get people on the moms group on Facebook. I would chat, and people got to know me. And that's probably how I started to get my first clients, for lack of better word. But, yeah, I would just put myself in word of mouth. That type of thing travels very fast. Maybe it's a mom thing, I don't know. Or the. The woman in town like to chat.

[Nick Loper]

Yeah. If you need help getting rid of something, sue can help. I think that's such an easy way to start. And maybe it's like, kind of around spring cleaning or we have kind of a neighborhood garage sale that happens every year where you could easily go around because, like, everybody's out selling the same weekend. Like, look, if you found something that doesn't move, still want to get rid of it, I can help you with that.

[Sue Antonoro]

Right? Yeah. And people love that. They just. Especially, like you said in spring cleaning, this is a great time of year to do that, because everybody's got, oh, I got this. I got to get rid of. It's. It's. It's just a nice thing. Or, you know, maybe you have a friend whose parents are downsizing or moving or kind of a thing. So, yeah, just put yourself out there. People really will take you up on it. It's very popular.

[Nick Loper]

Right. Dealing with the listings and the tire kickers and the messages on Facebook, Marketplace or something like that. It's like, I don't want to deal with.

[Sue Antonoro]

Oh, gosh, even me. I'm like, do you really want to be looking at that? Is this available message? Like, nobody wants to do that. You know, it's. This is very time consuming.

[Nick Loper]

If I'm an individual seller, can I start my own, you know, auction? Or does it. Does it have to be, like, a real, like, lot of products? Like, if I just have, you know, a couple things out of the garage I want to get rid of. Could I start something on this auction ninja, or does it need to be like, I got to have a whole house full of stuff to get any attention?

[Sue Antonoro]

You want to have at least 100 items, because I think you're just not going to get the eyeballs if somebody only sees you. Have five things depending on what it is. But the more items you have, the better it will do.

[Nick Loper]

That's good to know. What's a typical week of cadence here? I guess you don't need to be sitting there for 10 hours on a Saturday because it's all online. But where's the time going into the photography, into the marketing, into the whatever else?

[Sue Antonoro]

I would say the photography by far takes up the most time. Time. That's where your time is spent on the photography. And then you're putting it online and cataloging it. That's maybe a quarter of the time you spent doing photography. Roughly. And then the rest of it is easy peasy. Is, you know, maybe responding to questions. The marketing, again, is just using those two sites or, you know, you put something on your Facebook page. But yeah, in the house. Or photography is your huge chunk of time. But then once that's done, the rest is much easier.

[Nick Loper]

You what's surprised you the most along the way?

[Sue Antonoro]

Honestly, some of the things that people spend money on. I'm trying to think, oh, we did sell this antique book one time, this old antique book. It was like a children's book. I wish I could remember the title, but it sold for like $5,000.

[Nick Loper]

Whoa.

[Sue Antonoro]

I couldn't believe it. We always say, like. Like, look at every single thing. We'll do some research on site. Sometimes if you don't know, it's another tip. Like, if you don't know, especially with antique books, I'll tell you at first edition, you know, look it up while you're there at the house. Because otherwise, like, an antique book might be put into a lot of books.

[Nick Loper]

Oh, I see what you mean. So to make sure that has its own individual listing.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes.

[Nick Loper]

Did the customers ever come back and they look at the total and they say, okay, you sold 12 grand worth of stuff. Are they disappointed? Are they happy at that stage? Just that it's over.

[Sue Antonoro]

Honestly, I think they're all thrilled. I never once heard a client and be sad about it.

[Nick Loper]

Okay. It's all a bonus for them, for the most part.

[Sue Antonoro]

Exactly. Yep. Because again, you know, if you're dealing with the children, like, they've already taken whatever is special to them, and they're just at the point that's kind of your, you know, client avatar, if you will. Like, you're dealing with these people who don't want to deal with the overwhelm, and you're assisting them. You're providing this great service, and you're getting everything out of the house. House. And they're floored. I need to set up like the camera doing like the before and after. Because just the other day, that house that sold 17,000, it was crammed full of stuff. It was so crowded you could barely walk. And then by the end of the auction, it was completely empty. It was great.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Nick Loper]

Collecting those testimonials from the customers, I'm sure helps sell the next person.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes.

[Nick Loper]

Well, what's next for you? Where do you want to take this thing?

[Sue Antonoro]

I want to actually teach this to other people. I think it's a great side Hustle or even a full time thing. So I'm looking at that maybe writing a book and or going to start up a YouTube channel to teach other people how to do this.

[Nick Loper]

Well, very cool. AuctionMastery.com is where to go to stay connected with the upcoming YouTube channel, the upcoming book from sue on that. We'll link that up in the show notes as well. Let's wrap this thing up with your number one tip for side Hustle Nation.

[Sue Antonoro]

My number one tip really is all about the photos. Learn to take good photos. I can tell you also, if you have something, we always have this thing that says how big is this vase? If you have something that you might not necessarily know how big it is, like a vase, it could be a little vase, it could be a three foot tall vase. Put it next to somebody or have somebody hold it or something like that. So it's all about the photos.

[Nick Loper]

Oh. Give a sense of scale in some of the pictures. Okay.

[Sue Antonoro]

Yes, thank you. Sense of scale. Yeah.

[Nick Loper]

Got it, got it, got it. Well, this has been a lot of fun. This is a new to me site. Oh. I mean the service has been around forever, but kind of a unique angle goal on it that hopefully some listeners can can go out and run with again. Auctionmastery.com you can find sue over there. My initial thought, like low risk way to start and maybe just putting it out in the neighborhood Facebook group. Like look, if you got something to sell or this neighborhood garage sale that's coming up, like be the consignment guy, you know, try and start it off. Low risk way to get some inventory, get some sales experience under your belt and give it a try. If you're wondering what to listen to next, I want to invite you to take our little quiz at Hustle Show. It'll take you just a couple minutes. You can do it right from your phone. Phone. How it works is you answer a few short multiple choice questions and then it'll build you a custom curated playlist of some of our greatest hits episodes that you can add to your device. You can learn what works and you can go make some more money again. Hustle show for that, big thanks to sue for sharing her insight. Thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone. For all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place, Sidehustlenation.com ddeals is where to go to find those. Claim your discounts. That is it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're finding value in the show, the greatest compliment is to share with a friend. Fire off that text message to that professional garage sailor in your life. Someone who needs to hear this. Until next time, let's go out there and make something happen and I'll catch you in the next edition of the side. Hustle Show. Hustle on the.