The four routes at a glance
| Route | Speed | Money | Cost to you | Privacy | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dealer buyout | Days | Lowest ceiling; certain | None | Total | Ordinary-to-good contents, deadlines, whole houses |
| Consignment | Months | Higher; uncertain timing | Percentage when sold | Total | Quality furniture, silver, art, decorative pieces |
| Auction | 3–6 months | Highest for the right piece; can disappoint for the wrong one | Seller's commission + fees | Catalogued, but can be anonymous | Rare, signed, documented, collectible |
| Estate sale | 2–4 weeks + a weekend | Moves volume; low prices per piece | Commonly a third to half of sales, plus fees | None — the public in the home | Large houses of ordinary contents where the public is allowed in |
Dealer buyout
A dealer looks at a piece, a room or the whole house and makes a written offer; if you accept, you're paid and the pieces are removed. It is the fastest and simplest route and the only one with no fees, no waiting and no public in the house. The trade-off is the ceiling: the dealer is taking the risk, the work and the cost of selling, so the offer is below what the pieces will eventually retail for. For most of what's in a house — the sofas, the dining suite, the lamps, the everyday china — that gap is small and the certainty is worth it. For a genuinely fine piece, it can be a lot of money left behind, which is why an honest dealer will tell you when something shouldn't be sold this way. How our offers work.
Consignment
The piece goes on a shop's floor; you're paid a percentage when it sells. The return is higher than a buyout because you're keeping the retail margin, minus the shop's cut. The cost is time — weeks or months — and uncertainty; a piece can sit. Consignment suits quality furniture, silver, art, mirrors, lighting and decorative objects that a designer or collector will pay properly for, and it suits families who can wait. It doesn't suit deadlines, very large pieces, or anything ordinary. How consignment works with us.
Auction
The piece is consigned to an auction house, catalogued, shown to collectors and sold to the highest bidder. For a rare, signed or documented object it is the best route there is — two determined bidders can take a piece far past any dealer's offer. For anything ordinary it's the worst: it can sell for less than a dealer would have paid, after the house's commission and fees, three to six months later. The skill is in knowing which is which, choosing the right sale, and negotiating the terms; that's what an advisor does. How auction houses actually work · how we place pieces at auction.
Estate sale
An estate-sale company prices everything, advertises, and opens the house to the public for a weekend, keeping a share of sales — commonly a third to a half — plus fees for setup and clean-out. It can move an enormous amount of ordinary contents in two days, and it's the right answer for a large house of mid-value things in a neighborhood that allows it. The costs are real, though: strangers in every room, prices that drop sharply on the second day, valuable pieces that go cheap because they weren't recognized, leftovers to deal with — and in Naples, the plain fact that most condominium buildings and many HOAs prohibit them. We don't run estate sales; when one is the right fit for a house, we say so and refer a reputable company.
How to decide
- What's the deadline? A closing in three weeks rules out consignment and auction for all but a piece or two. No deadline opens every door.
- Is the public allowed in? If the building or HOA says no, the estate sale is gone. That's most Naples condos.
- What's actually in the house? This is the one nobody can answer alone. A free walk-through from a dealer who does this daily separates the ordinary from the genuinely good — and only then can you match each piece to the right route.
- How much work do you want? A buyout is one signature. Consignment and auction involve agreements, timelines and follow-up. An estate sale involves preparing the whole house.
- How do you feel about privacy? Some families don't mind the public in the house. Many, in Naples, very much do.
What we usually recommend
A mix, in writing. Buy the general contents outright so the house empties on schedule. Consign the handful of pieces that deserve a proper Naples buyer. Send the rare thing — the signed painting, the important silver, the piece with provenance — to the right auction. Donate what's serviceable, and clear the rest. It is more thought than "sell it all to one person," and it is almost always more money and less regret. Estate liquidation, explained in detail.