Aaron’s Estate Sales — Local services in Birmingham

Update: so within 10 minutes of posting the below review, Aaron called to ask about my experience and offered only $600 compensation and the return of a few boxes of artwork if I removed my review. When I explained the additional duress and issues, he said he would call me back. He never did. And he never sent the piddly $600 either. Two pieces of furniture were to be auctioned; I received notification in July I believe that they were up for sale. After that, nothing. No word. No money for that. No update. Did they sell it and keep the money? Did they donate it? Why no update? These practices confirm and align with my original contention that they have lost integrity and credibility- shame on them for such poor ethics and customer service. Original review: 1. They contradict what they tell you versus what they really do. They tell you that they will work with you in donating the remaining items that you want to give away. What they don’t tell you is the fact that they will not only not coordinate with you to itemize and determine what will be donated, but their 3rd party clean up crew will trash everything and take away anything that they feel is of any value to either keep or sell for themselves. 2. They tell you that they will clean up any damaged walls or carpet From the sale. But they don’t do that. In fact, they will leave quite a mess behind without any accountability for it. And they will make you sign off on any other major house damages that might result. The example I was given, was that if they rammed through your garage, they wouldn’t be held responsible for it. The contract makes you sign off on that. 3. I have my doubts about the How they presented the items for sale. Because they left a horrendous mess of the items that were not sold., It looked like they had created more of a dump sale that people could just rummage through. 4. They tell you that they will work with you in coordinating items, such as artwork, to put in their auction house. But that’s also a lie. They tell you that they will coordinate with you to determine by their appraisers if such items would have any value in an auction. But they do not coordinate with you at all or communicate directly with you about this. They suddenly in arbitrarily Tell you that the appraisers didn’t find any value in your items. 5. They imply in the beginning that they will return the items that did not sell back to you, in other words that they will make arrangements to have everything moved to your place. However, this is also a lie. You will find out later that they will do no such thing. You are left with having to rehire movers to get them to take any remaining items that you want to keep because it did not sell or was not approved to go to auction. The fact that they do not coordinate with you on donating items is an atrocity. They make it seem like they will choose and connect with the right kind of charities to donate to, but they actually have no accountability or coordination with this because they leave it to the cleanup crew to determine weather and where they will take those few items to any organization. I found them untrustworthy, lacking, proper coordination, communication, and sophistication in their work ethic. Trust them at...

I’m very disappointed in this company. I went to one of their sales last week and I saw a large glass front curio cabinet that I wanted to buy. I came prepared with a truck and had read their policies online and reviews that said the workers would help you carry things. They refused to help me carry it to my truck. A female worker gave me their business card so that I could call and buy it over the phone once I found people to help me. I called the next day and it was still available and asked if I bought it if I could arrange a pick up time after the sale was over because I had an obligation the next day and absolutely could not make it. I had no obligations the following week and was 100% open to getting there any time or day since I know usually workers will have to go back and clean out the house. I was told by Aaron that he wouldn't know for a few hours and he would get back with me. Well he never contacted me back and he ignored my text and follow up phone call. I don’t even really care that I missed out on that piece because I know that I was trying to arrange something that was outside of the usual policies, but what does upset me is that they say they will help carry things out, but it’s only select things and also the fact that he just blew me off and didn’t have the balls to say no we would really rather not do that or even say sorry it’s sold. It’s disappointing and dishonest to give someone the runaround and not be straightforward with them. People value honesty in a company. The cherry on top was today when I was looking at my receipt. I bought one item at the sale and it was regularly $45 and I went on a day where everything was 20% off, but my total somehow was $40. There is a mysterious $5 charge added to my receipt that I didn’t buy. My total should have been $36 and now they have an extra $4 of my money. I didn’t realize it when I was told the total because I was talking to them about the curio cabinet. They are shady and I will never visit another one of their sales or recommend them to anybody. I’m sure they will come on here and say they we were never notified about a discrepancy in the charge, but honestly trying to deal with you guys again and get my $4 back would obviously be more trouble than it’s worth. I’m sure someone would say they would get back with me and never would. Maybe the extra $4 can go toward buying Aaron a...

I recently used Aaron's Estate Sale for a full house estate sale, and while there were some positive aspects, several significant issues leave me unable to recommend their services.

The Good The staff was consistently courteous and professional in their interactions with me as the client. They provided regular updates on daily sales totals, which I appreciated. Communication was adequate throughout the process.

The Major Problems Lack of Transparency in Sales Reporting My biggest concern is the complete lack of detailed reporting on what items were sold and for how much. After having a full house of items, I was genuinely surprised by the final payout amount – and not in a good way. Without itemized records, there's no way to verify whether all sales were properly reported or if items were accurately priced and accounted for.

High Commission Structure Be prepared for their steep fees: they take 48% commission PLUS the first $5,300. This wasn't clearly explained upfront, and the final amount after their cuts was shocking.

Property Condition Issues Despite offering cleanup services for an additional fee, expect your house to be left in poor condition. The sale areas were trashed, and the cleanup they provide doesn't seem worth the extra cost.

Poor Customer Service to Buyers Multiple people I know who attended the sale complained about rude staff behavior toward customers. This is concerning since happy buyers typically mean better prices for sellers.

Problematic Pricing Strategy Their markdown schedule seems designed to minimize seller profits rather than maximize them. Items go to 50% off on Saturday and 75% off on Sunday, with an additional blowout day for around $300. I'd strongly suggest negotiating to keep items at full price longer.

Bottom Line While Aaron's Estate Sale handles the logistics of running a sale, the lack of transparency in reporting, high fees, and poor treatment of the property make them difficult to recommend. The fact that I can't verify what was actually sold or for how much is a dealbreaker for me.

Would I use them again?No. Would I recommend them? Not unless you're comfortable with minimal oversight and potentially questionable reporting practices.

Consider getting multiple quotes and ask detailed questions about their reporting procedures before committing to any estate...