Company Information

Buy Used & Local, LLC is an estate sale and downsizing online auction business committed to sparking a movement to encourage buying used locally, finding the most environmental waste stream possible for unsalable goods, donating a percentage of profits to organizations that have a positive impact on children and helping clients disperse of their items with integrity, compassion and efficiency.

We sell stories, history and useful things that need new homes or a new purpose. For our sellers and buyers we promise to be honest, transparent and to lead with both compassion and integrity. This is about more than just selling used goods, it is a movement to create a community that sees the economic and environmental value of buying used items locally.

We will lot, photograph, catalog, measure all the items in the home that are being sold to create an online auction. Only the winning bidders come to the home on a preset date to pick up their items. We also advertise the sale, collect payments and taxes, and supervise the pick up. We provide packing, sorting and cleaning services as well.

Benefits of an Online Auction:

1. Potential to sell more items. All items in the home are sold in lots. This allows us to combine several items together for buyers to bid on versus a traditional estate sale where buyers choose individual items to purchase. We sell most household items from the cleaning supplies to the furniture to the car.

2. Minimal disruption to the home. We lot most items in place. Dishes stay in the cupboards, all furniture remains in place and there is minimal movement of the items in the home. This decreases the potential for damage to the items and requires less set-up work and labor to sell the items. All lots are photographed and catalogued for the on-line sale.

3. Only the winning bidders enter the home. All the items are sold to the highest bidder on-line and only those buyers will come to the home at a preset day and time to pick up their items. Typically we can clear a house in a 5 hour time frame once the auction closes. The buyers are the movers - they pack their winnings and carry out their purchases. As part of our services, we supervise all buyers in the home as they pack their items. This process greatly decreases the foot traffic through the home which can be essential if a traditional estate sale would be difficult due to the location of the home, and decreases the possibility of theft and liability of having hundreds of buyers coming through the house. 

4. Ability to reach more buyers for a longer time frame. Buyers bid on-line for 1 to 2 weeks which allows us to market intensively during this time. Buyers are only limited by the ability to pick up their won items on the preset date and time. At a traditional estate sale, the items are priced ahead of time and the first person who picks up that item will pay that set price, and the sale is only held for 1 to 3 days which limits the number of buyers to those who are able to attend the sale. An auction allows for people to bid against each other to determine the final price of the item. This is great for buyers because every sale allows them to purchase the items they want as long as they are the highest bidder, and an advantage to sellers because the market value of the item is determined by how much the buyers are willing to pay. At a traditional estate sale the item a buyer may want (and would have potentially paid more than the asking price for) could be already purchased before they get into the sale.

Please visit our website at www.buyusedandlocal.com to learn more about us or give us a call at 650-766-3345. Consultations are free!