Pricing
What an estate sale costs
Almost no estate sale company in Hawaii publishes a rate. Here is ours, and exactly which factors move it.
An estimate, not a quote. It is deducted from the proceeds at settlement rather than billed to you upfront, and your rate is confirmed in writing after a walkthrough, before you commit to anything.
- Sorting and inventory
- Research and pricing
- Photography, cataloging and listing
- Staffed sale and written settlement
Included
What does our service include?
Everything needed to take a household from where it is now to sold and settled, whether the sale runs online or in the house:
- Room-by-room sorting and inventory of the contents in scope
- Research and pricing against completed sales, not asking prices
- Individual research on items outside ordinary household range
- Photographing, inventorying and labeling the contents
- Uploading the catalog and preparing the sale listing
- Running the sale in the agreed format, staffed and under control
- Checkout, payment handling and transaction records
- An itemized settlement: gross sales, fee, agreed costs, your balance
Costs
What it costs you to start
Nothing. There is no upfront cost for the core service above. The consultation and the walkthrough are free, and the commission comes out of the sale proceeds at settlement rather than being billed to you in advance.
A few estates need work that sits outside that core service. None of it is assumed, none of it is arranged without your agreement, and anything relevant to your estate is identified at the walkthrough and written into the scope before work starts:
- Large-scale disposal of whatever the sale does not clear
- A formal written appraisal, where one is genuinely warranted. That is specialist work and would be done by an outside appraiser, not by us
- Storage, or moving contents off site
- Deep cleaning or repairs undertaken at your request
Ask any company for this list in writing, including us. A written scope that names the exclusions is worth more than a lower headline percentage.
Why we publish it
So you can compare before you call
Cost is usually one of the first things families want to know, and it is an awkward question to have to ask. Publishing our range means you do not have to.
It also means you can weigh us against anyone else on the same terms, before you have spent an afternoon on it.
Context
What the rest of the industry charges
Reported by national estate-sale directories and cost guides, not by us, and describing the US market broadly rather than Hawaii specifically.
| Situation | Commonly reported range |
|---|---|
| Overall US range | Roughly 30–50% of gross sales |
| Most common band | 35–40% |
| Larger, higher-value estates | Toward 30–35% |
| Typical household estates | 35–45% |
| Small estates, or those needing heavy preparation | 45–50% |
| HiEstateSales estimated range | 25–35% |
A lower percentage is not automatically the better deal. A rate quoted before anyone has seen the property, or one that excludes preparation you are later billed for, can cost more than a higher all-in number.
The variables
What moves the number
Two things: what the sale is likely to earn, and how much work it takes to get there. The labor is close to fixed while the revenue is not, which is why a smaller estate carries a higher percentage.
| Factor | Toward the lower end | Toward the higher end |
|---|---|---|
| Expected gross | A full household with substantial furniture, collections or jewelry | A partly cleared home, or one where the contents are mostly low-value |
| Volume & preparation | Contents largely intact, organized, and ready to sort | Heavy accumulation, deep cleaning, or years of stored material |
| Research load | Mostly ordinary household goods with clear comparables | Collections, art, Hawaiiana or Asian antiques needing individual research |
| Access | Driveway or close parking, ground floor, easy loading | High-rise elevator reservations, restricted loading zones, long carries |
| Building rules | Single-family home, no association restrictions | AOAO limits on public access, or a sale that has to move off site |
| Location | Central and East Honolulu, urban core | North Shore or far leeward, where travel adds hours to every day of the job |
| Timeline | Several weeks between walkthrough and sale | A compressed schedule driven by a closing, pack-out or move-out date |
| Post-sale volume | Little expected to remain | Large volumes to donate, remove or dispose of after the sale closes |
Worked example
What the arithmetic looks like
Illustrative figures, chosen to show how the fee is calculated. They are not a quote and not a projection of what any estate will earn.
| At 25% | At 30% | At 35% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross sale proceeds | $40,000 | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Commission | $10,000 | $12,000 | $14,000 |
| Paid to the estate | $30,000 | $28,000 | $26,000 |
A note on Hawaii general excise tax
Hawaii levies general excise tax on business activity: 4% statewide plus the City & County of Honolulu surcharge of 0.5%, giving 4.5% on Oʻahu, with a visible pass-on rate of 4.712%. How tax is handled on sale receipts and on the commission belongs in your written agreement rather than in a website paragraph. Ask us, and ask anyone else you are considering, to state it there.
Honest limits
When should we not do an estate sale?
Sometimes a sale is not the right answer, and we would rather say so at the walkthrough than three weeks in. Three situations come up most often.
Not enough to sell
If the contents will not support a staffed sale in either format, we will say so, and talk through the routes that remain: consignment, a bulk buyer, or documented donation.
The building will not allow it
Some Oʻahu condominiums prohibit opening a unit to the public. Where that is the case an in-person sale is off the table regardless of what is inside, and an online sale with scheduled pickup is usually the route worth looking at.
The timeline does not work
Preparation is where value is found. If your date does not leave room to research and price properly, we will tell you what it will cost you rather than rush it.
Getting a number
How the estimate works
An estimate here means the terms are settled: the scope of the work, the commission rate, the schedule, how and when you are paid, and what happens to anything that does not sell.
It is not a prediction of what your estate will earn. Nobody can promise that figure honestly, and a company that offers one before the sale has run is guessing at your expense.
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Tell us the basics
Where the property is, roughly what is in it, who has authority, and the date you are working toward.
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We walk the property
Contents, volume, access, and for a condominium, the house rules. Nobody can quote an estate sight-unseen and mean it.
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You get it in writing
The rate, the scope, the sale format, the schedule, the settlement terms and the unsold-item plan. Read it, compare it, take it elsewhere if you want to.
Questions worth asking any estate sale company
- What is your commission, and what does it cover?
- What is not covered, and what would I be billed for separately?
- When do I get paid after the sale closes, and in what form?
- Will I get an itemized accounting of gross sales?
- What happens to what does not sell, and who decides?
- Are you insured, and for what?
- Have you run a sale in a building with house rules like mine?
- Who is actually on site during the sale?
- Can you run it online as well as in person, and which suits my estate?
Pricing questions
More on cost
How much do estate sale companies charge?
Estate sale companies are almost always paid as a percentage of what the sale earns, deducted from the proceeds rather than billed upfront. National directories and industry cost guides commonly report a range of roughly 30–50% of gross sales, with 35–40% typical. Our estimated range is 25–35%, and where a specific estate lands inside it depends on volume, value, the amount of preparation and labor required, access, and timeline. The rate for your estate is confirmed in writing after a walkthrough, before you commit to anything.
What decides where in the range my estate falls?
Broadly: how much revenue the sale is likely to produce, and how much work it takes to produce it. A large, well-kept, high-value household that is ready to prepare sits at the lower end. A smaller estate, or one needing heavy sorting, cleaning, disposal, repeated trips, restricted building access, extra staffing or security, or a compressed timeline, sits higher, because the labor is close to fixed while the revenue is not. The pricing page breaks each of these factors out individually, and your own rate is confirmed in writing after the walkthrough.
Are there any upfront costs?
No. There is no upfront cost for the core service, and the consultation and walkthrough are free. The commission comes out of the sale proceeds at settlement, so families do not have to fund the process out of pocket. A few estates need work that sits outside that core service, such as large-scale disposal of what the sale does not clear, or a formal written appraisal by an outside specialist where one is genuinely warranted. None of that is assumed or arranged without your agreement: anything relevant to your estate is identified at the walkthrough and written into the scope before work starts.
Industry comparison figures on this page are drawn from published national estate-sale cost guides, including EstateSales.org and EstateSaleFinder. Hawaii general excise tax rates are published by the Hawaii Department of Taxation. Nothing on this page is tax or legal advice.
Planning an estate sale?
Tell us where the property is, roughly what's in it, and the date you're working toward. We'll come look, tell you what the estate is realistically likely to do, and put the scope and the rate in writing before you commit to anything.
No cost for the consultation. No obligation to book a sale.