The estate sale business is booming and is still very unregulated. When a person passes away many of their possessions will often need to be sold quickly. This is leading to an increasing demand for estate sale businesses that do the work of selling off a deceased person’s possessions and charging a commission. There are some entrepreneurs who are now franchising brand names for estate sale businesses so that consumers can be more confident that they are dealing with a reputable company. This article discusses the growing number of franchised estate sale businesses that are popping up all across the country. “More than 12,000 estate sale companies operate across the country, with more than 98 percent of them mom-and-pop businesses, estimates Micky McQuade, chief executive of EstateSales.net, a listing site for estate sales.”
See Janet Morrissey, Building an Estate Sale Business by Franchising a Name and Brand, The New York Times, May 4, 2016.
Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
