Honest comparison
Liquidator or Auction?
Short version: it's not actually one or the other. The auction captures the value of what bidders compete for, and our preferred-vendor list handles whatever doesn't sell. You get both.
Real numbers from a recent St. John's estate
A family settling an estate in St. John's called a local liquidator first. The liquidator walked through, looked at everything (furniture, tools, kitchen cabinets, scaffolding, a trailer), and offered $800 for the entire contents.
The family decided to try EastBid instead. We catalogued every lot, ran a 10-day online auction, and coordinated pickup. Final results:
Liquidator offered
$800
Take it or leave it
EastBid hammer
$9,500+
Real bidders, real bids
Family received
$6,000+
After our fees
7.5x more than the liquidator offered. Same house, same contents, different sales method.
Why is the gap so big?
A liquidator's business model is buying low and selling high. The $800 they offered wasn't what the contents were worth - it was what they could pay and still profit after their own labour, storage, and reselling effort. They aren't lying to you; they're running a wholesale operation.
An auction skips that middleman. The buyer who wants your grandmother's antique dresser pays close to what it's worth, directly. The retired contractor who needs scaffolding pays what scaffolding is actually worth, directly. No reseller margin in the middle. The family captures more of the value, period.
Side by side
Estate Liquidator
Strengths
Tradeoffs
Online Auction (EastBid)
Strengths
Tradeoffs
Quick decision framework
Closing date in less than 7 days?
Liquidator. You don't have time for an auction.
Estate includes tools, antiques, equipment, or quality furniture?
Auction. These items get lowballed by liquidators.
Out of province and need it handled remotely?
Either works - both can run without you onsite.
Contents are mostly low-value household basics?
Still auction. Basic items often surprise you - a box of dishes that a liquidator values at $5 can bring $40 from a young person setting up their first apartment. Our preferred-vendor list handles whatever doesn't sell.
2+ weeks to work with?
Auction. The extra time pays for itself many times over.
Emotionally exhausted and want it over?
Still auction - and we mean that gently. The auction is actually less work for you than a liquidator: no strangers in the house, no haggling, no being there for pickup. We coordinate everything, and our preferred-vendor list takes care of the leftovers. You don't have to be in the room for any of it.
You get both - auction first, then cleanup
This is the part most families don't realize when they're weighing options: choosing the auction route doesn't mean you're stuck dealing with what's left over. We maintain a preferred-vendor list of trusted NL partners - junk haulers, donation pickups (Habitat ReStore, Salvation Army), specialty liquidators - and we coordinate the cleanup of unsold items as part of the process.
The auction captures the 5-10x value on items bidders compete for. The preferred-vendor list handles what's left - usually within days of pickup. The house empties out either way. You just receive more money in the end.
So when we say "choose the auction," we're not saying "leave the cleanup to yourself." We're saying choose the path that gets you more money AND handles the disposal. There's genuinely no reason to start with a liquidator unless you're facing a hard deadline in the next 7 days.
Honest answers
When does a liquidator actually make sense?+
Only when the timeline forces it. If the house needs to be empty in 5 days and you have a hard closing date, a same-day liquidator pickup is your only realistic option. Outside of that 7-day-or-less window, the auction route makes more sense for almost every estate - because EastBid handles unsold-item cleanup through our preferred-vendor list of NL junk haulers, donation pickups, and specialty disposal services. You get the auction value AND the cleanup. The only thing a standalone liquidator offers that we don't is same-week speed.
When does an auction make more sense?+
For almost every estate outside of an extreme deadline crunch. Auctions consistently realize 3-10x what a liquidator pays for the same items, because liquidators buy at wholesale to resell at retail. An auction skips the middleman and lets real buyers compete. And because we coordinate post-auction cleanup through our preferred-vendor list, the family doesn't have to deal with unsold items either - you get the value capture AND the disposal in one process.
How much can a typical NL estate auction make?+
Industry benchmark for US estate sales is $5,000-$10,000 gross per event. We have hit that range on our second NL estate. Smaller estates can run $1,500-$3,000; larger ones with antiques, tools, or vehicles can exceed $15,000. A liquidator typically pays 10-20% of what the items are actually worth.
What about items that don't sell at auction?+
This is the question most families worry about and the answer most don't expect: we handle it. EastBid maintains a preferred-vendor list of NL partners - junk haulers, donation pickups (Habitat ReStore, Salvation Army), specialty liquidators for bulk items - and we coordinate cleanup of anything that didn't sell. Usually within days of pickup. You don't end up with a half-empty house full of leftover items. That's why we say the auction route gives you both: the value capture of competing bidders AND the clean-house outcome of a liquidator.
How does EastBid set prices to avoid items selling for too little?+
Each lot has a starting bid. For unique or high-value items, we set the starting bid at the minimum acceptable price - so even if only one person bids, you get a fair price. For common items, we start low to encourage competition. We discuss reserves and starting bids with you before launch.
What about items that liquidators say are "too much hassle"?+
Things like scaffolding, kitchen cabinet components, motorcycle trailers, and specialty equipment get lowballed or refused by liquidators because they need specialized buyers. EastBid targets those buyers directly: we reach out to NL contractors, dealers, and collectors before each auction. Specialty items often outperform common household items as a percentage of their retail value.
Is the auction approach more work for me?+
No. We handle everything. The auction takes longer (2-3 weeks vs the liquidator's same-day pickup), but the work you do is the same: give us access, decide what to keep, get paid.
Related reading
Get an honest assessment
Tell us about your estate. We'll walk you through the auction process and how the preferred-vendor cleanup works. If your timeline genuinely requires a same-week liquidator, we'll tell you that too.