Where to Sell Antiques in 2026: Platform-by-Platform Guide with Take Rates, Shipping Costs, and Tax Rules
A retired teacher in suburban Philadelphia wrote to us last spring with the exact problem this guide is built around. Her late husband had spent four decades collecting Roseville pottery, Stickley furniture, and a smattering of Civil War militaria. She had cataloged 312 pieces. She had three estimates from three different sources, and they were not even close: a local estate liquidator offered $42,000 for the lot, a regional auction house projected gross sales of $95,000 to $130,000 with a 22 percent commission, and a Chairish-only consignor friend swore she could net six figures on the furniture alone if she was patient.
Three radically different numbers. Three radically different timelines. One actual collection.
The difference was not appraisal accuracy. The difference was the channel. Where you sell an antique matters as much as what the antique is. Pick the wrong platform and you donate your margin to fees, shipping, or a buyer pool that does not value what you have. Pick the right one and you can clear two to four times more, even net of commissions.
This guide is the reference she wished she had: the 2026 take rates of every major platform, a price-tier matrix that tells you which channel fits which dollar value, what shipping actually costs in 2026 (it is not what it was in 2019), the tax rules that hit collectibles harder than stocks, and the specific scams that target sellers of antiques online right now.
How the platforms actually compare in 2026
Every platform sells itself as the right answer. None of them are the right answer for every piece. The honest version is that each platform owns a price band and a category band, and bleeding outside those bands is what destroys returns.
The table below is the 2026 baseline. Take rates change, sometimes mid-year, so verify before listing anything over $1,000. All figures reflect publicly published rate cards and seller reports as of the most recent fee updates.
| Platform | Best for | Take rate (seller) | Payout speed | Audience size | Gotchas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eBay | Smalls under $500, glassware, ephemera, costume jewelry, breadth categories | ~13.6 percent final value fee plus $0.30 to $0.40 per order; some categories up to 15 percent | 2 business days after delivery confirmed | Largest. Hundreds of millions of monthly buyers globally | Buyer-protection slants strongly toward buyer; "item not as described" claims are common; shipping cost is your problem |
| Etsy | Vintage decor, sub-$300 jewelry, craft-adjacent items, small textiles | $0.20 listing fee, 6.5 percent transaction fee, ~3 percent + $0.25 payment processing; effective 11 to 15 percent | 1 to 5 business days | Mid-tier; ~95M active buyers, vintage and handmade lean | "20-year vintage" minimum rule still enforced; ad spend nudged hard once you cross $10K/yr |
| 1stDibs | $2,500+ design pieces, fine jewelry, high-end decorative arts | 15 to 25 percent commission, plus monthly subscription tier (varies) | 7 to 14 days post-delivery | Small but high-net-worth; designers and trade buyers | Application gated; cosmetic standards are strict; dealer-tier pricing expected |
| Chairish | Designer furniture, lighting, mid-century modern, decor $200 to $5,000 | Tiered: 30 percent (Professional), 22 percent on antique/vintage Pro tier; up to 40 percent (Consignor); drops to ~12 percent on items >$2,500 (Platinum/Elite) | 10 to 14 days | Mid-tier; design-savvy interior buyers | Curation gate on listings; you handle shipping and packing or pay their freight partner |
| Live Auctioneers | Mid-to-high-end estate items, fine art, militaria, $500 to $50,000 | No direct seller commission; platform fee (typically 3 to 5 percent of hammer) is built into buyer's premium; auction house takes 15 to 35 percent commission | 30 to 60 days after sale | Global; serious collectors and dealers | You consign through an auction house, not directly; you accept the gavel price, no take-back |
| Facebook Marketplace | Local furniture, large items shipping would kill, sub-$500 odds and ends | 5 percent if shipped via Marketplace; 0 percent if local pickup | Varies; cash-on-pickup or 5-day Marketplace payout | Massive but local; quality of buyer pool varies wildly | No-shows are the norm; scammer concentration is high; almost no buyer authentication |
| Craigslist | Furniture, architectural salvage, large local items | 0 percent; free listings | Cash on pickup | Local only, declining audience | Highest scam rate of any consumer channel; never accept checks, money orders, or "movers" |
| Local consignment shop | Mid-range furniture, decor, $50 to $1,500 | 40 to 60 percent commission to the shop | 30 to 90 days after sale | Local foot traffic; modest but engaged | Pricing often below market; storage time can stretch 90 to 180 days; unsold items sometimes returned at your cost |
| Estate liquidator (full-service) | Whole-house clearance, mixed quality and quantity | 30 to 50 percent of gross | 1 to 3 weeks after sale weekend | Local plus mailing list of regulars | Pricing is volume-driven, not piece-driven; rare items often underpriced; minimum-revenue contracts common |
| Regional auction house | $500 to $25,000 specialty items, cataloged sales | 15 to 25 percent seller commission (negotiable above $10K); plus photography, insurance (~1 percent), and transport fees | 30 to 60 days post-sale | Regional plus online via Live Auctioneers / Invaluable | Reserve fees if items fail to meet minimums; lot-withdrawal penalties; cataloging timelines often 60 to 120 days out |
A few non-obvious takeaways from this table.
eBay's headline 13.6 percent looks competitive until you add shipping costs and the 30 to 40 cent per-order fee on smaller items. On a $40 piece of Depression glass that costs $18 to ship insured, the effective platform haircut is closer to 20 to 25 percent of your gross.
Chairish's 22 percent looks expensive next to eBay until you remember the audience. A signed mid-century lamp that struggles to clear $200 on eBay routinely sells for $600 to $900 on Chairish. The higher take rate is on a much higher gross.
1stDibs is not a place to test prices. Application-gated, designer-facing, and cosmetically strict. If your piece would not look at home in an Architectural Digest house tour, it does not belong there.
Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist have zero fees and the worst signal-to-noise ratio of any channel. They are useful exactly for what local pickup makes profitable: furniture, architectural salvage, and items where shipping is a non-starter. Use them for nothing else.
Pro Tip: Verify the live take rate the week you list. eBay rolled fee adjustments in February 2025; Etsy moved its transaction fee from 6.5 to a slightly higher effective rate via processing fee bumps; Chairish restructured its tiers in 2024. Always confirm against the platform's current published rate card before pricing. A 1.5 percent fee surprise on a $4,000 piece is $60 you did not budget for.
Price-tier triage: which channel for which dollar value
Channel selection by dollar value is the single most useful framework you can adopt. Once you know the price tier of a piece, the channel choices narrow fast. The error most first-time sellers make is treating their entire collection as one homogeneous lot and pushing it through a single channel. That leaves money on the table on the high end and wastes hours on the low end.
| Price tier | Recommended channels | Why this works | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $100 | Estate sale, Facebook Marketplace local pickup, lot-it-up on eBay | Below $100, listing time and shipping cost destroy your margin. Bundle smalls, sell as estate-sale lots, or accept that local pickup is the only profitable path. | Etsy (listing fees and 4-month commitment); 1stDibs (price floor too low); regional auction (minimum lot fees eat the proceeds) |
| $100 to $500 | eBay, Etsy (if vintage/decor), Chairish (lower end of inventory), regional consignment | This is eBay's sweet spot. Etsy works for sub-$300 vintage decor and jewelry. Chairish takes the high end of this range if the piece is design-forward. | 1stDibs (below their effective minimum); estate liquidator (will price like Walmart); major auction house (under their attention floor) |
| $500 to $5,000 | Regional auction house, Chairish, 1stDibs (if applicable), Live Auctioneers via consignor, eBay only for known liquid categories | This is where channel choice swings outcomes by 2x or more. A signed $3,000 piece can clear $4,500 to $6,000 at the right regional auction or stall on Facebook Marketplace at $1,800. | Facebook Marketplace (audience mismatch); estate liquidators (pricing methodology breaks down at this band); Craigslist |
| $5,000 and up | Major auction house (Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams, Heritage), Doyle, top-tier regional houses (Rago, Skinner-now-Bonhams, Cottone, Freeman's-Hindman in the Philadelphia corridor), 1stDibs gallery tier | At this band, cataloging, provenance research, and global reach pay for themselves. The 20 to 25 percent commission is more than offset by the buyer pool. | eBay (audience and authentication lift insufficient); Chairish (price cap on attention); local consignment (one-shop foot traffic cannot reach the buyer who pays this) |
A practical example anchored to the Philadelphia-area collector mentioned earlier: her Roseville Rozane Royal vase had a documented purchase price of $400 in 1987 and an FMV estimate of $2,000 to $3,000. Three channels, three projected outcomes net of fees:
- eBay auction format with reserve at $1,800: projected gross $2,200 to $2,800, net after final value fee and shipping ~$1,800 to $2,300.
- Regional auction (Cottone or similar): projected hammer $2,400 to $3,200, plus 18 percent buyer's premium driving final price higher; net to seller after 22 percent commission ~$1,900 to $2,500.
- 1stDibs at $4,500 list: projected sell-through 6 to 12 months; if it sells, net after 20 percent commission ~$3,600.
The right answer depends on her timeline. If she needed cash in 30 days, eBay won. If she could wait a year, 1stDibs was a 50 percent uplift. The wrong answer was treating it like a $200 piece and consigning it to the estate liquidator who handled the rest of the house.
Pro Tip: Before committing a piece valued over $1,000 to any single channel, get at least two independent estimates and one comp set from sold listings (not asking prices) on Live Auctioneers, Heritage, or eBay's Sold Items filter. Asking prices on the open market are aspirational; sold prices are the actual market.
Shipping cost reality check: when shipping eats your margin
If you have not shipped antiques in the last three years, your mental model of shipping costs is wrong. Carrier rates jumped substantially between 2022 and 2026, dimensional weight rules tightened, and oversize surcharges now apply at thresholds that catch most furniture and framed art. Understanding what shipping actually costs in 2026 is the difference between a profitable sale and an accidental loss.
| Item type | Realistic 2026 shipping cost (CONUS) | Packing materials cost | Insurance add | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single piece of glass or porcelain (under 5 lbs, properly double-boxed) | $18 to $35 via UPS Ground or USPS Ground Advantage | $8 to $14 (double box, foam, packing peanuts) | 1 to 2 percent of declared value | Carriers exclude antiques and fragile items from default coverage. You need third-party insurance (e.g., Shipsurance, Parcel Pro) for anything over $250 |
| Set of glassware (8 pieces, 12 to 18 lbs total) | $35 to $75 | $20 to $35 | 1 to 2 percent | Almost always cheaper to ship in two parcels than one heavy oversized box |
| Framed art or mirror, under 30" longest side | $45 to $95 | $25 to $50 (custom cardboard corner protectors, foam-core sandwich) | 1.5 to 3 percent | Glass face must be taped or removed; broken glass voids most carrier claims |
| Framed art or mirror, 30" to 48" longest side | $95 to $220 | $50 to $100 (custom crate or heavy double-wall) | 2 to 3 percent | Crosses oversized threshold; expect handling surcharges |
| Framed art or mirror, over 48" | $250 to $750 freight, plus crating | $150 to $400 (purpose-built wood crate) | 2 to 4 percent | Parcel carriers will refuse or surcharge heavily; freight LTL or specialty art shippers (UOVO, Cooke's, Atthowe) become competitive |
| Small furniture (chair, side table, under 70 lbs) | $250 to $600 via UPS Ground or specialty (uShip blanket-wrap) | $40 to $120 | 2 to 3 percent | Parcel carriers cap at 150 lbs and 165" length+girth |
| Large furniture (dining table, dresser, sideboard) | $400 to $2,500 via blanket-wrap LTL or white-glove (specialty carriers like Plycon, Craters & Freighters) | $0 to $300 (blanket-wrap is uncrated; crating optional) | 1 to 3 percent | Liftgate, inside delivery, and appointment scheduling each add $75 to $250 |
| Sectional sofa or armoire, cross-country | $1,000 to $2,500 white-glove | $0 to $400 | 1 to 3 percent | At this level, your buyer is often paying shipping; quote it to them up front |
Two rules that follow directly from the table.
The shipping cost / item value ratio is your real margin indicator. A $35 piece of milk glass that costs $25 to ship and pack is a money-loser at $40 sale price. The same piece sells fine locally for $30 cash. Apply the 25 percent test: if shipping plus materials exceeds 25 percent of the item's market price, you are likely better off selling locally or bundling.
Furniture rarely makes economic sense to ship over distance. A $600 mahogany sideboard that costs $1,400 to white-glove from Philadelphia to Phoenix forces you to either eat the shipping (loss) or pass it through (buyer disappears). This is exactly why Chairish, 1stDibs, and Facebook Marketplace dominate furniture sales: Chairish and 1stDibs pre-screen buyers who expect to pay shipping at retail, and Marketplace concentrates the buyer pool to within a 50-mile radius.
Pro Tip: Before listing fragile items priced under $150, get an actual shipping quote from UPS or FedEx using real dimensions and weight, double-boxed. Then add 30 percent for materials, time, and insurance. If you are not netting at least $40 above your floor cost, sell it locally or bundle it. Time spent listing, packing, and answering messages on a $50 piece is time you should have spent listing the $1,200 piece.
Tax basis and inheritance: the rules every seller should know before listing
Selling antiques triggers tax consequences that most casual sellers underestimate. The IRS classifies antiques as "collectibles," and collectibles get their own special tax treatment that is meaningfully worse than what applies to stocks or real estate. Understanding the rules before you sell is how you avoid surprises in April.
This is general information, not tax advice. Anything over five figures or anything inherited should be reviewed with a CPA who has handled collectible sales. With that disclaimer, the rules look like this:
| Topic | Rule | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Collectibles long-term capital gains rate | Capped at 28 percent federal (vs. 0/15/20 percent on stocks) | If you sell a piece you owned over 1 year for a $20,000 gain, federal tax is up to 28 percent of that gain, not the 15 to 20 percent you might owe on appreciated stock |
| Collectibles short-term capital gains | Ordinary income rates (up to 37 percent federal) | If owned under 1 year, gains are taxed as regular income. The 28 percent cap does not apply |
| Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) | Additional 3.8 percent for high earners (single >$200K MAGI; joint >$250K MAGI) | High-income sellers can face an effective federal rate of 31.8 percent on collectibles gains |
| State tax | Varies; most states tax capital gains as ordinary income | A New Jersey or California seller can face a combined effective rate north of 40 percent on a large gain |
| Stepped-up basis on inheritance | Basis resets to fair market value (FMV) on the date of death | Inherited grandma's painting bought for $500 in 1962 that's worth $50,000 in 2026? Your basis is $50,000. Sell next month for $52,000 and you owe tax on $2,000 of gain, not $51,500 |
| Gifted items | Carry-over basis from the donor | If grandma gave you the painting while alive at $500 basis, that's still your basis. Sell at $50,000 and you owe tax on $49,500 of gain |
| Documenting basis | Burden is on the seller | Original purchase receipts, restoration invoices, and appraisal documents all support basis. Without records, the IRS can argue zero basis, taxing the entire sale price |
| 1099-K threshold for online sales | $2,500 in 2026 for most platforms (down from $20,000 pre-2024) | eBay, Etsy, PayPal, and others will issue 1099-Ks at relatively low thresholds; assume any meaningful online selling activity is reported to the IRS |
| Hobby vs. business classification | Multi-year, profit-seeking activity may be classified as a business | Business sellers can deduct expenses but pay self-employment tax; hobby sellers can no longer deduct expenses against hobby income (TCJA elimination) |
Three planning moves that follow directly from these rules:
Stage liquidation across tax years. A collection that triggers $80,000 of gain in one year may push you into a higher bracket. The same gain spread across three years often costs less in total tax. Coordinate timing with a CPA, especially in years where your other income is unusually high or low.
Document the inheritance basis the moment you inherit. Get a qualified appraisal dated as close to the date of death as possible. The appraisal cost (typically $300 to $1,500 depending on collection size) is often deductible against the estate, and it locks in your stepped-up basis. Without that paperwork, you are guessing five years later when you finally sell.
Charitable contribution can be a better answer than sale for high-basis pieces. A piece you bought for $200 that's now worth $5,000 generates a $4,800 gain taxable up to 28 percent if you sell. Donate it to a qualifying museum and you may deduct the FMV ($5,000) as a charitable contribution if you itemize and the museum accepts the piece for its mission. Donations over $5,000 require a qualified written appraisal filed with your return.
Pro Tip: If you are clearing an estate, do nothing financially binding for 30 days after the date of death except secure the property and document its condition. The stepped-up basis appraisal, the executor's authority confirmation, and the title work all need time to settle. Selling early can lock in a lower basis or expose the estate to claims that would otherwise be cleanly resolved.
Red-flag buyer warnings: scams that target antique sellers right now
Antique sellers are uniquely vulnerable to fraud. The pieces are valuable, often one-of-a-kind, hard to authenticate from photos, and frequently shipped on the seller's risk. Scammers know this. The patterns below are the ones we hear about from dealers and private sellers in the Philadelphia and Adamstown markets every month. None are theoretical.
| Scam | How it works | Why antique sellers are targeted | Defense |
|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal "Friends and Family" request | Buyer asks to pay via F&F to "save you the fees." F&F payments are not covered by Seller Protection. After delivery, buyer files a chargeback with their card company; you have no PayPal recourse | Offer of fee savings sounds like buyer doing you a favor; it's the opposite | Never accept F&F for goods. Always Goods and Services payment. The 3 percent "savings" is your only protection |
| Address change after payment | Buyer pays through a covered channel, then asks you to ship to a different address ("staying with my daughter," "moving next week"). PayPal/eBay Seller Protection only covers shipping to the address on the original order | Antique buyers do travel and have second homes, making the request feel plausible | Ship only to the address on the verified order. If the buyer pushes back, refund and relist. The pushback is the tell |
| Overpayment / refund-the-difference | Buyer sends a check or bank transfer for more than the sale price, asks you to wire the difference to a "shipper they hired." The original payment bounces a week later; you've already wired real money | Common for furniture and items where buyer arranges their own shipping is plausible | Never refund any portion of a payment until the original payment has fully cleared (10 to 30 days for checks). Wire transfers to third parties are the universal red flag |
| "I'll send my mover" Craigslist scam | Local listing for furniture; buyer can't pick up but will "send their mover" who needs payment in cash or transfer. Mover never arrives or arrives and tries to take the piece without paying | Concentrated on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace furniture listings where local pickup is normal | Cash only, in person, buyer present. No third-party pickups without prior payment cleared. If the buyer cannot show up, the sale is not happening |
| Stolen card buyer with rush shipping | Buyer pays with stolen credit card via PayPal or eBay, requests overnight shipping. Real cardholder disputes the charge after delivery; platform charges back; you're out the item, the shipping, and often the chargeback fee | Antiques have high resale liquidity for the scammer | High-value sales: require signature on delivery, full insurance, and verify buyer history (eBay feedback count, Etsy review history). New accounts buying expensive items overnight is the classic profile |
| Fake Zelle/Cash App "screenshot of payment" | Buyer shows a screenshot of payment "in process," asks you to release the item before funds clear | Common in local pickup scenarios | Verify funds in your account before releasing the piece, every time, no exceptions. Screenshots are trivial to fake |
| "Item not as described" return abuse | Buyer files INAD claim after delivery, returns a different (broken or substituted) piece, gets a refund | eBay and PayPal lean toward buyers in disputes; antiques' age and condition give cover for false damage claims | Photograph and video every item before shipping, with timestamps. Photograph packing process. Use unique identifiers (small ink dots, condition photos of a specific chip) you can match on return. Document maker's marks and any unique flaws |
| Phantom auction house "interested in your collection" | Cold email or DM from someone claiming to represent a major auction house, offering to consign your collection. Asks for upfront "appraisal fees" or "transport deposits" | Recently widowed or downsizing collectors are heavily targeted via obituary and estate-sale listings | Real auction houses do not solicit upfront fees. Confirm any auction house contact through the company's main switchboard, not the email signature. Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams, Heritage, Doyle, and Freeman's-Hindman do not collect appraisal fees in advance for consignment |
A few sharper rules that consolidate the table:
No payment method is universally safe, but cash and verified bank transfers are the safest. PayPal Goods and Services has chargeback exposure. eBay's protection has carve-outs. Wire transfers (the Federal Reserve kind, not "Western Union" or "MoneyGram") are essentially final and traceable, but you have to verify they cleared.
The story is the tell. Almost every scam involves a slightly inconvenient request that the buyer presents as helpful: "save you fees," "ship to my daughter," "I'll send my own mover," "let me send extra and you refund." Inconvenience aimed at moving the transaction outside the platform's protection envelope is, almost without exception, fraud.
Document obsessively for items over $500. Photos of the piece (multiple angles, marks, any flaws), photos of the packing process, photos of the labeled box on the carrier scale, the carrier's pickup confirmation. This packet is what you produce if a chargeback comes in 60 days later.
Pro Tip: For any sale over $1,000 to a buyer you do not know, require signature confirmation on delivery and insure the package for full value. The $5 to $25 it costs you is dwarfed by what you lose if the package is "stolen from porch" three days after a confirmed delivery.
Putting it together: a sequencing playbook for a real collection
If you are sitting on a meaningful collection right now, the order in which you do things determines your net proceeds. Here is the sequence we recommend in this order, tested on the Philadelphia-area collector mentioned at the top and on three other six-figure collections we have advised in the last 18 months.
Step 1 — Inventory and triage by price tier. Walk the collection, photograph every piece, and assign each to one of the four price tiers from the matrix above. Do this before contacting any buyer or platform. Do not perfect the photos at this stage; you are sorting.
Step 2 — Get an independent valuation for the top 10 percent. For pieces you suspect are worth more than $1,000, hire an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA), American Society of Appraisers (ASA), or International Society of Appraisers (ISA) credentialed appraiser specialized in your category. Cost runs $300 to $500 per day or $75 to $150 per piece. Do not skip this step on inherited collections; it doubles as your stepped-up basis documentation.
Step 3 — Match channels to tiers. Use the price-tier table above. Resist the temptation to push everything through the easiest channel. Plan a multi-channel sequence: estate sale or local consignment for the lowest tier, eBay/Etsy for the middle, regional auction or Chairish/1stDibs for the top tier.
Step 4 — Stage by tax year. If gains will exceed $50,000 in a single calendar year, talk to a CPA before you list. Spreading sales across two or three tax years often saves 5 to 10 percent of the gross to taxes.
Step 5 — Sell the top tier first. Counterintuitive, but correct. Selling the high-value pieces first means the rest of the collection is funded if you change your mind, and it captures market peaks while you have the patience to wait for the right buyer. Liquidate the bottom tier last when you are tired and want it over.
Step 6 — Document everything. Sale prices, buyer information, dates, platforms, fees paid. You will need this for taxes, for tracking which channels actually paid, and for your own learning if you ever advise another collector through this same process.
For local context: collectors in the Philadelphia and broader mid-Atlantic region have unusually good options at every tier. The Adamstown market, the Renninger's complex in Kutztown, Freeman's-Hindman in Philadelphia, Pook & Pook in Downingtown, and Rago in Lambertville all sit within a 90-minute drive and collectively cover everything from $20 lots to seven-figure single pieces. If you are local, lean into that. If you are remote, the same regional auction houses will accept consignments by appointment, and the better ones will arrange transport for the right collection.
Quick-reference summary
Selling Antiques in 2026: The Quick Reference
Take rate cheat sheet:
- eBay: ~13.6 percent + per-order fee, effective 14 to 17 percent including processing
- Etsy: ~11 to 15 percent all-in (transaction + processing + listing)
- 1stDibs: 15 to 25 percent, application gated
- Chairish: 22 to 30 percent depending on tier; 12 percent on >$2,500 at top tiers
- Live Auctioneers (via auction house): 15 to 35 percent seller commission to the auction house
- Facebook Marketplace local: 0 percent
- Estate liquidator: 30 to 50 percent
- Regional auction house: 15 to 25 percent, negotiable above $10K
Channel-by-tier:
- Under $100: estate sale, local pickup, lot it up
- $100 to $500: eBay, Etsy
- $500 to $5,000: regional auction, Chairish, 1stDibs
- $5,000+: major auction house, 1stDibs gallery tier
Shipping reality:
- Glass/porcelain under 5 lbs: $18 to $35 + materials and insurance
- Framed art over 30": $95 to $220 parcel; over 48": $250+ freight or specialty
- Furniture cross-country: $400 to $2,500 white-glove
- 25 percent rule: if shipping + materials exceeds 25 percent of value, sell locally
Tax basics:
- Long-term collectibles capital gains capped at 28 percent federal (not 15 to 20)
- Inherited collections get stepped-up basis to FMV at date of death
- Document basis: receipts, appraisals, restoration invoices
- 1099-K threshold dropped to $2,500 for 2026
- Consult a CPA on anything over $50K of gain or any inherited collection
Red flag scams to refuse on sight:
- "PayPal Friends and Family" requests
- Address changes after payment
- Overpayment with refund-the-difference
- "I'll send my mover" Craigslist requests
- Cold-email auction house solicitations charging upfront fees
- Buyer screenshots of "payment in process"
For related deep dives on specific categories before you sell, see our guides on Depression glass identification, antique silver authentication, antique furniture identification, and vintage jewelry authentication. For buyers' perspective on what makes pieces sell at premium prices, our estate sale success guide covers the buy side of the same dynamics.
The collection you are about to sell took years to assemble and represents real expertise. The selling process deserves the same patience and the same attention to detail. The single biggest predictor of how well a collection sells is not the quality of the pieces; it is whether the seller picked the right channels for the right tiers and refused the wrong shortcuts. Use the tables above as your reference, document everything, and do not let urgency push you into a single-channel decision that costs 30 percent of your net.
Need a second opinion on where to consign a specific piece? The directory of antique professionals on our main directory is searchable by specialty and region, including the Philadelphia and Adamstown corridor.