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| Wednesday, January 07, 2009 . Login |
 Shopping With Us |
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| Getting in the Door on Opening Day, Hour One. No one previews our sales. No one shops our sales in advance. When you come to sign up for our sales, you can know that there has been no "dealer night" and no special privileges have been extended to customers, clients family, or friends and neighbors. PEERLESS Estate Sales assures you that, to the best of our ability, within the guidelines of our scope of work, our customers will find everything in this house when the doors open that we found in this house when we first came in to work. This creates quite an exciting "unknown" about the contents! But only one person can come through the door first, and there are many many people who want that spot. "The List" is an industry standard. It helps to create order in a potentially chaotic situation. PEERLESS Estate Sales is committed to showing no preference on any sign-up list. We do not control who signs up, and we do not put people's names on the list. Please don't call and ask us to break the rules. We're very concerned about keeping access to our events fair to all of our valued customers and friends. Until there is an on-line sign-up (which we promise to be the first in the business to develop!) here's how simple it is: The addresses of our sales are private and confidential until 6:00 pm the night before we open when they are automatically posted on the Calendar here at www.PeerlessPlace.com A sign-up list is posted at the front door of the property and names appear on a first-come, first-served basis. The person who gets the address first and gets to the house first will be #1 through the door. The second opportunity to learn the address is in the Newspaper Classifieds. Customers who wait until then are typically surprised to see so many names on the list already -- don't let a high number on the list keep you from coming to the sale! Remember this simple fact: many people who's names appear on the list don't make it back for the opening -- therefore, everyone after them gets a lower number and can get in quicker! So even if the numbers are already in the 60s and 70s for a sale, we strongly advise you take your chances! Trust our experience -- your chances of getting in at LEAST 10 numbers quicker are very very good. Q. "If you already have the sign-up list, why then do you need to hand out numbers?" A. We know our regular customers appreciate the number system because EVERY SECOND COUNTS. Once the numbered cards are in-hand, we can open the door and let people in quickly in the proper order. Without numbers, we read from the list and this can cause a delay between people because we have to read a name (sometimes, TRY to read a name), wait for a response, only to hear one of you shout out "not here!" Lots of people sign the list and then don't make it back -- reading their name just becomes a waste of everyone's time while the people inside are getting a shopping advantage. We know you don't like any delays between people getting in the door! Q. "Can I get a number for both my wife and myself?" A. One number per person. You must both be present. Q. "How many people are you going to let in at once?" A. There's never a pre-planned number. It depends on the size of the selling space, value of the collection, and what the first people in the door do! If they disperse quickly throughout the house, there's naturally going to be more room to let people in then if they all stay right in the front room close to the door. If you don't get in on the first wave, it won't be long. We'll appreciate your patience. Q. "What if I do come early, sign the list, come back, get a number, wait and then don't find anything I like? That would be quite a disappointment!" A. Naturally, we can't be responsible for that. And there are just as many people who don't like to deal with the crowds and the excitement when a sale first opens - they just wait and come after things have calmed down! And to those people we say with confidence, come anytime! People who wait for a number - we're sure you'll agree it was worth it. Those who chose to come later, you'll be glad you did. ... top |
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| Opening Bell Shopping! Shopping Baskets will be available right inside the door for your convenience. Please leave your boxes, back packs, or closed shopping bags in the car. We're happy to see your open baskets - we know to some of you, they're a good luck charm! "If it's bigger than a bread box..." Large pieces should have large price signs. We do this for your convenience and to keep up with the speed at which many customers can shop! If it's big, bulky, heavy, or furniture, you can't just pick it up and carry it around, and we definitely can't hold it behind the counter for you! If you want to buy a large piece, simply take the price sign off and it's yours. And we must politely enforce that -- it's yours, it's sold. You can pass the sign to a PEERLESS associate or you may be asked for it and we'll put it on your tab. Out of respect for all or our customers, we must frown on people who take the price off a large piece to "think about it" or "inspect it later." Please don't keep others from buying something -- we have only a few hours to sell. Be sure about your interest in a piece before taking the price tag. Many experienced shoppers use their own SOLD tags and that's just fine with us. We know it makes your shopping as efficient as can be. Please be sure your name is on your SOLD tag. It's easy to forget a piece you tagged at check-out but we'll be sure to hold it for you and contact you right away to get it paid for and picked up! PEERLESS Cashiers and sales floor associates are well trained to make the shopping as convenient for our customers as possible. We're happy to help keep your hands free by holding items at the counter while you keep hunting. You can bring things up to the front any time to "start a pile" and be sure to give us your name. If we see you with a full heavy shopping basket, we may offer an empty one and hold the rest for you. But please remember that if you give us something to hold, it means it's sold. We get lots of compliments on running an efficient operation to help keep our check-out lines short, and get you out the door on to the next sale! We like to run "tabs" for shoppers and pack their items carefully in advance. So if you start a pile, expect not to see it again until you get it home -- all you'll see at checkout is the cashier ringing up your order from a paper tab of all the items we've packed for your convenience, in advance. Some sales are such high volume that we can't always promise this service -- but we are driven to do our best whenever possible! ... top |
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| Find Great Bargains! --but sometimes there's another price to pay... Buying furniture and appliances at our sales at great prices is always easy! Getting it home isn't always as easy. You'll sometimes see reminders on our price signs like "U-Haul," or "Plan Your Move!" Like other businesses in our industry, Workers Compensation premiums are astronomical. Safety and minimizing risk of injury to our staff must be a priority. Please understand that our cashiers can't leave the registers and our sales associates and managers have a 30 pound lift limit. When it's possible, you'll find us to be helpful and accommodating but please plan your move on heavy and oversized pieces BEFORE you buy them. Our cashiers will probably even ask for your moving plan when they hand you the receipt, and remind you that refrigerators require an appliance dolly, for example. It is our responsibility to protect the property as well as sell its contents. Some customers often have the misunderstanding that we are desperate to sell something and should feel lucky they're offering any money at all to take it away. To them, we remind that we would rather NOT sell the refrigerator than risk personal injury or damage to the floors on it's way out the door. This is an example of using good judgment to work in the best interests of our Clients as well as staff. Click on the link for Contact Us --> Resources to find our recommended vendors for moving services and piano movers. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation! ... top |
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| Bring Your Shopping List. You might be surprised to learn of the many people for whom estate sale shopping is neither a business nor a hobby! We see the same wonderful group of customers week after week who come to sales knowing exactly what they need: *Teachers looking for craft supplies in volume and at bargain prices since they have to pay for many things out of their own pockets *Small business owners stocking up on office supplies *Independent contractors who need tools, ladders and building supplies *Mothers with children who are growing faster than they can wear out cloths! *Trend-setters of all ages adding to their unique collection of vintage clothing ... top |
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| Why Buy New?. When you shop regularly, here a things you should always expect to find at our sales: A good TV. If there's one thing that works in the living room of an elderly person, it's the TV. Working appliances like washers and dryers, refrigerators and freezers. A sofa sleeper - but get there early! They're always a "steal." Cooking and baking supplies. Spices and Pyrex are expensive when you buy them new in the stores! Not at our sales... A large service of china and glassware Shop off-season! Unlike the retail business, we have holiday decorations and supplies year-round -- but if it's summer, Christmas stuff is very VERY reasonably priced! Likewise, lawn mowers and grills cost less in the winter but sell quickly in the summer. ... top |
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| Everything Has Two Prices. Every item in the house which is priced over $50 will have an associated "Bid Number." The price you see is our cash-and-carry price. We consider it to be fair market value. If you think that's fair, buy it! If you would like to take a chance at buying it for less, leave us a written bid in the bid box which is almost always in the kitchen. Fill out the bid card completely, sign it to make it a bonafide offer, and if it doesn't sell at full price by the last afternoon of the sale, we'll pull the bids and call the highest written offer. This is a "closed bid system." We are not licensed auctioneers and do not create a live bidding environment between customers. We do not disclose the highest offer to date, or even if there is an offer. If you must have the piece, we recommend of course, that you simply buy it and avoid the disappointment. If it's not a critical purchase, but would be fun to get at your lower price, by all means, we encourage you to leave an offer! New customers often feel they don't want to leave an "insulting" bid. We politely remind that these are not our things, we certainly don't take any offer as an insult, and in many cases are as happy to sell some items to low bids as the customers are to pay them! Make a bid that works for you! You'll be surprised how often you may win! But the voice of experience shares this with you: It is our observation that the opening days of sales are often shopping and browsing days for some customers. Many people leave written bids, and then go home, measure, think about it, decide that it's the perfect fit for their home and then come back Sunday morning eager to buy it for the asking price. Sunday is often a very busy day for full-price purchases on higher ticket items. Sunday is also always Half Price Day! Our "Going Out of Business Sale" every week! As soon as the doors open on the last day of the sale, all items priced $50 or less are now 50% off. A whole new line of people are waiting at the door in the morning with fingers crossed that the item they saw there yesterday didn't sell for full price after they left. As you can imagine, the house starts to feel very empty very quickly soon after we open! Prices are firm on opening days at PEERLESS Estate Sales. As we've promised our Client, we follow our guidelines for selling, we stick to the rules, and we create a fair shopping environment for everyone. Q. "It's almost time to close, and tomorrow is half price day. Can you just sell this to me now at half price so I don't have to come back tomorrow?" A. It wouldn't be fair to all those people who came before you who took a chance that it will still be here on Sunday morning and who are trusting us to stick to the rules. Q. "Well can you hold it for me until tomorrow?" A. (People really do ask us to do this!) ... top |
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| Means of Exchange Cash. Cash is always nice. But not always convenient! We're very happy to be offering the convenience of using your MasterCard or VISA. If you use your debit card, we'll even offer to give you cash back! It might come in handy for the next sale you visit that isn't a PEERLESS event! We're still happy to accept your personal or business checks. Please be prepared to show your Oregon or Washington Drivers License. The name and address on your ID must match the check, and the photo needs to look familiar! Out of State Checks? We're happy to accept your MasterCard or VISA! ... top |
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| Returns In order to ask a fair price for electronics and small appliances, we need to provide a reasonable guarantee that they work. Please understand that in the small amount of time we have to turn these houses into shops, we do not have time to test electric items to see if they work! We do indeed encourage you to do so before you buy them! However, for most items you purchase at a PEERLESS Estate Sale which you expect to use for it's intended purpose such as contemporary electronics and small appliances, you can buy with confidence that they can be returned if they don't work when you get them home. Returns and refunds must happen before we close the registers at the end of the sale. Monday will be too late. This guarantee does not apply to vintage or collectible items such as old radios, old cameras, etc. Remember, you're shopping in a resale market where everything is being sold as-is whether it's marked that way or not! ... top |
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| We Hope You Remember Us! Everyone on our team works hard to create the best in-home liquidation events in the Pacific Northwest. We're all having fun and hope you're having a great time too. You should always expect a clean, safe and friendly atmosphere and although we don't get to pick the merchandise, we do our best and use all our resources to make every PEERLESS sale a great sale. Thank you for shopping with us. We recognize and appreciate your repeat business. ... top |
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