After attending estate sales for a good many years, talking with others, consulting liquidators and family run sales, there seems to be some confusion over what an EARLY BIRD actually is. Many times in an estate sale classified ad you will see the footnote, "No Early Birds". This generally sends a red flag that this is a private or family run sale. Since professional liquidators realize there will be a line of people waiting for the sale to open, they don't consider these people "early birds". Is it any different than standing in line at a retail establishment on black Friday in order to obtain the best possible position? In spite of this, many times at a sale being conducted by an amateur or family, the situation is quite different. The proprietors can become quite upset if you show up at the location anytime before the stated opening time. This of course is NOT an early bird but rather a person who wants the advantage of being one of the first to be admitted to the house.
So what then IS an early bird? In the case of the amateur sale it would be someone coming to the sale days in advance to try and make purchases ahead of time. In the nomenclature of professional sales the term early bird does not, or rarely has a place, although you may at times see the no presales mention in their ads which is esentially the same thing. One thing Earlybird does NOT mean is a person arriving to a sale slightly beforehand. So the next time someone belligerently tells you that the sale strictly forbids early birds, tell them you are not and earlybird and that you are just waiting for them to open, unless of course you are there 3 days before the sale, in which case you ARE an early bird. Now you're on your own, GOOD LUCK! You know, sometimes the early bird really does get the worm, if not a slammed door. By checking the listed sales on pghestatesales.com you will always know the date and time of a sale so if you are an early bird, it will be of your choosing. One thing for sure, standing in line waiting for a sale to open is not being an early bird, although by positioning yourself to be one of the first in the sale, you just might find that worm. For a complete list of estate sales from the most respected liquidators in the Western Pennsylvania area, visit our website, updated weekly.
