Bermuda Triangle and your clutter
How online estate sales work
Do you have a closet, storage shed, garage or even an entire house that has turned into a Bermuda Triangle for clutter?
Ronald Usherwood has answers. He owns Taos Estate Sales. His life’s work is helping people liquidate, downsize and close estates. Tempo asked him a few questions about how it works. Here are his edited answers.
Describe your contemporary approach to estate liquidation.
Because of the Centers for Disease Control strictures for gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, we could not hold in-person sales. However, folks still need to liquidate items due to a loved one’s passing away or a desire to downsize. With our new online sale option, you can view items, bid on them in advance, purchase the items you wish to buy and pay for them all from the comfort and safety of your home. An appointment will hold your pickup at our retail space, 226 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, in Taos. Online auctions are not a novel concept; however, there is no one else offering this service in Taos.
Why is this service needed?
When a person or their loved one needs to downsize because of a move to assisted living, smaller accommodations or when someone has passed away, friends and family are often overwhelmed or ill-equipped to take care of dispersing their possessions. Taos Estate Sales assists with all aspects of liquidating the possessions the family or friends wish to part with, easing the stress, work and time combing through a lifetime of accumulation.
We prevent items from being sent to the landfill that are still useful and get them into the hands of those who could use it. We also help the community by providing an affordable option for the purchase of items they might need.
How does online estate liquidations work?
Online estate liquidation has the same goal as an in-person estate sale – to sell or donate usable items no longer needed. The difference lies in the venue. With online estate liquidations, the consumer visits an online auction site, in our case AuctionZip.com, to view the items. Each item has a description and multiple pictures of the actual item, a starting bid price and an estimate of what the low price and high prices could be.
If the person viewing the item would like to be a bidder, they need to register with the online auction site for that sale. Once verified to bid with the use of a credit or debit card, the person can then place a bid on any or all items in the auction. On the day of the auction, each piece comes up for sale one at a time, and we allow you to bid on an item as many times as you wish.
If you are the winner of the item, you are notified and we charge your credit or debit card, then you are given instructions for the pickup of your item(s). There is a charge for shipping items, so our suggestion would be to pick up won items at our store in Taos.
All of our personnel will be masked and gloved and there will be disinfectant available if needed. Our community’s safety is always uppermost in our minds. Once the sale is complete, you can collect your new treasures home with minimal in person contact.
For more information, visit taosestatesales.com or call (575) 613-0998.