Our Furniture policy
In some cases, we can conduct an “on-site online auction” or an estate sale, which means that furniture can be sold online from where it sits in the house and may be sold with other collectibles and quality items from around the house. To determine if your consignment qualifies for this type of service, please call us at 217-954-0314 to schedule a consultation appointment.
Our specialty is selling fine jewelry, coins, precious metals, and high value antiques and collectibles in nationwide online auctions. If you are moving and mainly want to sell some furniture to lighten your load, we request that you gather help and rent a truck or hire professional movers to bring furniture to our location in Urbana, IL. You must set an appointment with us for a furniture delivery, and we will assist with unloading and placement in our facility. We will help unload when you arrive for your appointment, so you do not need to bring help for unloading. See the “Qualifying Factors” paragraph below to avoid sending us furniture that might be rejected. Most furniture that comes to our facility will be sold in a live or a hybrid live/online auction.
Moving Furniture
We will assist clients with moving furniture from a home or business if we perceive the furniture value to be less than half of the value of the entire consignment, or if the furniture is considered to be more collectible than functional. In most cases, auctioning furniture is a complementary service that is paired with our specialty service mentioned in the paragraph directly above. Most furniture is functional (not considered to be collectible) and will likely sell at wholesale auction value to local buyers. We typically consider used furniture value to be in a wide range of 10% to 70% of the original purchase price when considering auction value. There are some exceptions, such as designer mid-century pieces and primitive pieces, which are considered to be collectible and very popular among collectors in the current market. In these cases, we have sold desirable collector pieces for very high prices.
Qualifying Factors for Selling Furniture
Furniture must be in very good condition or better. In most cases, we will not accept furniture that has stains, heavy scratches, broken legs, veneer chips, missing pieces, or any problems that would constitute a noteworthy flaw. When considering collectible primitive furniture, we realize that flaws can be part of the charm, so we make exceptions in this regard. Furniture must also come from a non-smoking home, and it cannot have pet stains, hair, smells, chews, or other signs of pet damage. We also do not accept flowery, plaid, or decorative upholstered furniture that was popular in the 1980’s but has no value in the current market. Upholstered pieces must have solid and stylish colors. Ultimately, furniture must be clean, appealing, and have a resale value to qualify for our auctions. Any furniture that does not qualify for our auctions may be donated to Salt & Light Ministries (if they will accept), which is located on the south end of our commercial complex.
We are skilled at moving furniture, and this is considered a separate service from our auctioneer services. We charge a rate for moving furniture that is comparable to professional movers. In short, the level of work involved will be the deciding factor in how much this service costs. From mileage to the size of your household or business, the day of the week, the number of items being moved, the amount of stairs involved, the number of workers and truckloads required, and the level of care that will be necessary to ensure items are not damaged – we factor all of these details into this cost.