I started as a buyer a few years ago, and have bid and won so many great items from a lot of different sales. I know there must be competition because I don't always win, but I have many times.
A while ago my Aunt passed away and we used this company to clear out her home, and the whole process was wonderful. We were sent directions on how to get ready and how to group the stuff, then after the team came and did photos I got emailed a proof reading version for me to add notes to, and was only a couple things that I asked to be updated because it was good already.
The sale went on for about a week, and we sold pretty much everything, and it really helped us get the home cleared out. It was an emotional process but they were all so nice and understanding it made it easier. I knew not everything was high value, but we had less work to do that if we had tried ourselves.
We had a family gathering after the sale, worked all together to get the bits of cleaning and tidying up, as we knew some items hadn't moved in 15 years (the dust under the wall unit WOW!) But we knew we would have things to clean anyway, and no more mess was left than what you would find if you moved all your furniture that had been in place for so long!
I found the whole process great, we ended up with a small profit, but best was that my Aunts things found new homes with people who will hopefully enjoy them like she did, and we got the home empty without having to do the heavy lifting.
I am still buy things, and will continue to do so... maybe until I have so much I need my own sale LOL. But all in all the Max sold team was really good and we got what we expected. The only bad part is that you get hooked and buy stuff all the time ha ha.
This is the best online auction website I have used. Great customer service, easy to navigate, and everything is handled quickly. Great site.
They have hidden fees, items are not correctly marked, they most definitely bid on items to make prices go up. Waste of money!
The best online auction site out there, you can find all that you like and if you are lucky enough you can get it at a cheap price.
Hi Derek, Thank you very much!
Everyone was very friendly and helpful. Their listings were superb and look forward to future experiences!
I estimate that my items sold for about 10-20% of their fair market value. Items were bid on and then not picked up. When asked about it, I was told it was "my problem now". Also, items were not paid for and I was penalized for that. I asked for help from support and was told that I had signed a contract stating that I would be penalized. I don't recall that part of the contract, but all communication was cut off at that point. So, be warned. You won't get all of your items sold, and you won't get a good value for the ones that actually do sell.
UPDATE: I've seen other responses to negative reviews and there is a comment about these services being more about "time" than "money" - I. E. in order to assist people in a difficult situation they work quicker to get the items sold. However, that's the first time I had ever heard that as a seller. After talking to at least three different people in the phone and via email during the introductory phase of this process, it would seem someone could have told me that.
Also, I've seen where the effort is described as 45+ hours onsite. I had one person come out to take pictures for about 4 hours and one person stay to have items picked up for another 3 or 4. So, there is nowhere near 45 hours put in for these auctions. It seems like an excuse for an exorbitant rate. Now, in my case I was given a $200 credit on services since my auction wasn't that "large". Without that, though, I would have made less than $100. With it, I didn't even make $300. However, by this same math, they did about 20 hours of work for me and cleared over $600. That seems a bit high for the services I received as well as the fact that about 30-40% of my items were either not sold or not picked up.
Response: It’s always disappointing to have a seller unsatisfied with our process. In this case, we are both sorry but also confused by the comments as our information does not coincide with the details listed in this review. That said, I will attempt to address this review for other readers:
Prices: It’s an unfortunate reality that the market doesn’t always pay a seller what a seller thinks is a fair price for individual things (or perhaps even in aggregate) under a competitive auction model (this is true for any auction company). Maxsold does its very best to provide both a detailed outline of our process (www.maxsold.com/sell) and share our past auction data (www.maxsold.com/past) to prepare sellers for the realities of the market when items must be sold. Sellers have both financial and emotional attachments to items and so our job is to sell only those items they need to part with - typically items that will soon be a liability due to a move / sale of real estate / etc. as selling the items avoids additional, ongoing, logistical and/or storage costs. Our model, which includes selling everything to the highest bidder regardless of price, guarantees our sellers a finite and transparent experience that passes the logistical burden onto the buyers as they MUST arrive and remove, with their own resources, all of their purchases from the sellers location during a short time window agreed to by the Seller. This saves hundreds (if not thousands) in labor alone.
Contract Elements - Section 8 of our contract has the Seller understand and acknowledge that they will be responsible for things not included in our services such as organizing, pre-sale de-cluttering, cleaning, and disposal of unsold, unpaid, or unclaimed GOODS (if any). In this seller’s case, they had us market 16 auction lots (a typical ask is ~120 auction lots) and, due to the low volume, did not have the results one might expect from a full estate sale.
Our maxsold managed commission is public on our website (www.maxsold.com/fees) and is listed as 30% + $700. This typically covers about 40+ hours on site, 5+ hours behind the scenes, and $100s in marketing. In this seller’s case, we performed 6 hours on site so, instead of billing them our contracted and agreed to fees for our effort, we billed them our standard ‘time’ fee of $50/hr for the labour and 30% on the sale of goods (as if they had conducted a Seller Managed sale with us providing assistance). We cannot determine what ‘value’ a seller places on their time. In this case, we provided a credit (where no credit was owed) given we were efficient in completing the job. This represented a $400 discount on our fees.
The unpaid amount in this sellers auction was $3.69 and neither party (the Seller or maxsold) benefited from this as Maxsold does not collect commission on unpaid amounts.
Ultimately, it’s always disappointing when we do not achieve our average 98% sell-through/removal rate, however, I think you’ll find that if you review the auction yourself, you’ll see it was an odd and interestingly low volume for an estate sale.
If interested, check out this perspective on the evolving need and how Maxsold helps:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/maxsold-tomorrows-auction-housetoday-adam-gordon/
MaxSold continues to reinvest all funds made in the pursuit of its vision to Sell. Everything. Simply for downsizing and estate clients without judgement: http://maxsold.com/maxsold-purpose/
Feel free to check out the results of this auction for yourself. As with all our auctions, this auction was executed with unmatched transparently. Additionally, our experience suggests our solution was not the first chosen given the very limited volume of goods (i. E. there were other sales conducted first by other parties which in turn hurt our ability to create a more successful result for the Seller). Although we support every seller who wishes to hire us, we can only work with the inventory we are provided and we are ultimately sorry that our seller is disappointment in this case:
https://maxsold.maxsold.com/auction/dalton-georgia-usa-estate-sale-online-auction-south-glenwood-avenue-13517/bidgallery/
Great website for auctioned off stuff. Always 3 auctions close to me with great stock. Be wary of what you buy but overall great and fun website.
Hi Jalal, Thank you for your feedback! Yes, most items are listed as-is, where-is and untested, so we definitely recommend bidding with caution. Also, always remember to check your items on-site and bring up any issues you might have with the Auction Team member or Seller at that time.
So far just buying. The staff and sellers have always been helpful. I buy from some of the same sellers repeatedly and they seem very happy also.
I have used Maxsold when we downsized our home and since then have become a buyer as well. I have always found their staff to be great.
I have made a few purchases and with each and every one, the bidding, transaction and pick up were all superb! They make the process so easy.
I have enjoyed bidding and winning items with maxsold. I won this mid century glass sculpture. I love the unique things I find on maxsold.
Wow! Thanks for sharing the photo of you glass sculpture! We love to hear about the great finds!
The whole process works efficiently and is easy. Have not had any issues. Would recommend to others and have done so already.
Love the product diversity and prices for auction items... max sold will always be my go to for my online treasure hunting!
Everyone is always excellent and the deals are awesome. Sometimes you don't win on the item(s) you're bidding on, but it's fun.
I like finding good deals for
My household and this auction site is great for that. I liked using maxsold so far
Wow, thanks so much for the kind words, we are so happy you enjoy shopping on MaxSold! Thank you!
I have had the best time dealing with max sold. The people are wonderful and very helpful. I find them very accommodating. Love you max sold you rock
I have used MaxSold for a long time now. I have paid 1.00 for awesome stuff. And as much as 100. For something special.
I love Maxsold! It's amazing and you'll never know what you'll find. I'm always on the lookout at what auctions are in my area. Thanks Maxsold!
Able to search for awesome items and collectables. I've bought everything from cupboards to jewellery.
Overview
MaxSold has a rating of 3.3 stars from 985 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with MaxSold most frequently mention online auction, great deals and customer service. MaxSold ranks 7th among Auction sites.
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- Rockville, NY, United States
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- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
Response: It’s disappointing when we haven’t made our transparent bidding process clear to a customer. Our fees are listed on our site, confirmed by the bidder prior to being allowed to bid, and are pointed out each time a bidder wishes to confirm a bid. Additionally, any items found to be in a condition other than what is listed on the site is subject to a refund claim made at the discretion of the winning bidder as either a full or partial refund. Finally, Bidders on Maxsold experience competition from other bidders (no other entities) - just like fair and transparent auctions have been run for centuries. Some of the more savvy bidders use Maxsold’s ‘Maxbid’ feature. Clarification on this feedback is found in these FAQ articles:
1) Why do I get immediately outbid sometimes:
https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/articles/203144324-Why-do-I-get-immediately-outbid-sometimes-
2) How do I enter a Maxbid:
https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/articles/203143774-How-do-I-enter-a-maximum-bid-MaxBid-and-can-I-outbid-my-own-bid-if-I-increase-my-maximum-bid-
3) What is a Buyer’s Premium:
https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/articles/203144004-What-does-the-buyer-s-premium-mean-
Therefore, so long as another bidder has a higher maxbid, underbidders will continue to drive up the hammer price while remaining ‘outbid’, just like if a bidder in a live auction kept their paddle in the air for the auctioneer while other bidders attempted to outbid them.
When a bidder has concerns, Maxsold is able to share the bidding history (scraped of names for privacy reasons) with the bidder. If the bidder felt compelled to meet an actual winning bidder, they would find them at the pickup (where 98% of everything is sold and removed on average - further demonstrating that bidding is occurring among other valid bidders only and without intervention from Maxsold).
Bidder’s who feel their bid is too high after considering and being shown the bid with buyer’s premium at the time of bid confirmation are allowed to cancel their bid confirmation.