Estate/Auction Specialist- Organizing + Inventorying
*Could be paired with Day of Sale Attendant job position also posted.
15-21 hrs/week @ $17/hr
Description
In this role, you will work closely with team members to ensure that projects are completed on time and meet the highest quality standards for both our clients and customer base.
The successful candidate will work well independently and with a team, be highly organized, have a keen eye for detail. Individuals who have a creative vision and have a knowledge base in antiques, vintage, art, jewelry, and the resell industry would be an exceptional addition to the Flipside team.
Responsibilities
Work with a team to execute the tasks of an estate sale prep or an online auction at personal properties.
Estate Sale Projects - A client’s property is organized, staged, photographed, and inventoried in a standard of 1-3 days with a team. The number of Estate Sales Specialist team members will be assigned according to the home/project’s size in order to get the project completed in the goal time that is based on organizing load and value.
Please arrive on time to get a project started by 10:00 am. First day requires a walk through tour and potentially details from the client or Team Lead so we want all team members to have those details so we can hit the ground running when the project tasks begin.
There may be some times that owner/team lead have consultations or other tasks like supply runs, shipping drop-offs, bank visits, etc that may cause me to be delayed. Ideally, a lockbox will be present on location for home access, if not, that will be communicated ahead of time.
Staff will receive notes ahead of project so you will have a greater understanding of the project pertaining to low vs. high volume, state of cleanliness of the home, how big the home is, what the contents are etc. so team can hit the ground running on Day 1 of estate sale prep.
Top 5-10 Items will be discussed before prep day so we can make sure to prioritize those items via inventory process, marketing, photography, and marketing (estatesales.net listing, email, and social media).
Team lead will discuss the goals for the day, and assign estate sale specialists to tasks depending on what employees excel at. You will receive a goal to work towards accomplishing by end of day/project.
Team members excelling in photography will have the opportunity to take on specific tasks relating to skill. Once a home is staged or at least organized enough to begin photography for marketing purposes, photographer(s) will shoot detailed shots of staged spaces and close-ups of notable items/everything before the inventory process begins. Team lead will create the estatesales.net listing, but estate sale specialist may be asked to add their own pictures or share in a folder for others to access.
If willing, assist in video marketing for social media purposes. The more creative content the team puts together, the more helpful! We can create so much creative content as a team- it can be a lot for one or two people to constantly be coming up with fresh details and keep it churning weekly. I’d love it even if team members want to shoot a few videos of their favorite things at the end of each day and relay some details! Ideas include tour of the home in process vs staged for the sale, what educational information can we be getting out to our following- this could be about a unique item/collection or our process (i.e. research, inventorying, cleaning, donation, trash removal, tox drop, estate vs. auction vs. consignment, sale days, post-sale tasks, day in the life of our team etc).
Supply responsibilities (responsibility for all team members) - take note at the end of each day/job that we are staying on top of supply count so we can be prepared to start the next day successfully! Do we need more tables, shelves, clothing racks, etc? Do we need to order more tags, dot stickers, jewelry bags, labels, etc for the next project?
Other tasks to assist with pre or during estate sale prep:
Printing household barcode tags according to the estimated volume amount of things at the sale.
Day of sale signage is present/posted after we have completed staging, photography, and inventorying.
Final walk-through inspection of inventory and tidiness.
Online Auctions - A client’s property (or curated collection of items transferred to the Flipside office/showroom) will be organized, lotted in a financially successful aspect, photographed, and packed up for customer pickup in a standard 1-3 days with a team. Team members will be assigned to perform one or more of these tasks.
Team lead will do a tour of the property and discuss the project at hand, and will establish roles and the best plan of action.
Online auctions are smaller projects typically but the process can be time consuming with description writing and photography, so we need to be mindful of how much time we are taking to get a project going. Having the knowledge of valuable vs low value items will allow us to cut down on time in the lotting process (whether we are listing items individually or in a collected grouping in order to maintain a $50/per lot value point). We want to prioritize marketable items for email and social media outlets.
For curated online auctions based at the Flipside Showroom assist with lotting, researching, inventory management, and marketing tasks as needed.
Other tasks to assist with pre or during personal property auction prep:
Creating lot numbers on post-it notes with estimate of lots, prioritizing furniture and high-value items. Divide numbers up and start tagging large objects that are sprinkled throughout the sale and the photographer can go ahead and start shooting.
Assign team members to tasks- measurement management and organizing like-items together and start prioritizing what will be included in the auction.
Separate out items that show damage or little to no value, compiling into one area for the client or for donation pack up. For some large objects that are of lower value, it may be more beneficial to prioritize them towards the end of the sale- it may be more helpful for something to go for not a lot of money just to get it removed, otherwise it's more costly to deal with removing via trash or donation.
Assist with inventory management- writing brief descriptions of items including details on conditions and measurements.
Bagging and organizing small lots.
Keeping a tidy environment.
Other tasks to consider in the future or during times where extra hours are needed:
-Self enrichment learning- It's important in this field to know at least a little about a lot so you know how to attack a project sometimes quickly and efficiently. Take what you learn and apply it to how we can teach other team members or our followers by creating content for social media posts and reels. Topic suggestions: oil vs acrylic paintings, identifying metals (brass, bronze, steel, cast iron, wrought iron), identifying common wood grains (oak, walnut, mahogany, teak, cherry, pine, etc), common furniture styles (contemporary vs antique vs modern, victorian, french provincial, mid-century modern, craftsman/arts and crafts, Art Deco, post-modern- and then there are sub-categories of all those!) Identifying rugs- wool vs wool-silk blend, hand-knotted, loom-made, machine-made, Persian/Turkish/oriental, southwest (Navajo vs Mexico etc.).
-Assist with keeping supplies organized - Sale prep and day of sale bins.
-Assist with keeping the showroom organized as needed making sure supplies are put back in designated areas, floors are being swept, workspaces are staying clear from projects and clutter, windows are being cleaned, bathrooms cleaned, noting shipping supplies as needed.
- Assist with staging showroom tasks as needed like floor sets, booth inventory staging and inventory management. Individual who excels in photography and description writing will be assigned with tasks of processing high value consignment items to list on Flipside’s website and other online venues.
-Fill in on day of sale estate sale attendant tasks as needed.
-Fill in on Flipside Showroom retail hours as needed.
* Employees are paid weekly on Fridays via Square. You will receive a W-2 to your email and a physical copy mailed in January. You will clock in and out on your own with Square Teams app.