Estate Sale - Don't Buy Into The Jargon

Some people/sellers are going to not like this article, but it's overdue. With eBay raising fees and yet more gimmicks, it is hurting both parties.  So, now your seeing excessive shipping fees, an increase in sensationalism thru verbage like vintage, antique, estate sale, and people being reluctant to ship any other way than by priority mail.

So, what does all this jargon mean, and am I really getting a good buy.  The answer in most cases is no.  Rather than analyze all the terms, I'm focusing on the use of the word Estate.

Estate sale doesn't mean the postcards are any better. Whether it came from an estate or not is open to interpretation.  Consider, that these parties pick up postcards and otehr collectibles from various sources. I mix my stuff from various lots, but don't say it came from an estate. Are any of them estate handling firms in your neck of the woods? Odds are no. 

Now, here's the scary part.

In my opinion, people are overbidding thinking there's going to be a lot of better cards when in most cases the cards are not any better. I see common chrome era, low interest linen cards, and damage stuff as being listed in estate lots.  Then we have, the person collected all kinds of stuff - again, interpretation. Sure, we may have some real photo also, but likley it's low interest or non-identified cards.

Conclusion

Don't buy into all of the hype.  If your getting very vague answers - odds are something is wrong. And finally, look at the lot and similar stuff.  There's a lot of lots that are better which are not listed with the word estate.