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MaxSold Reviews Summary
Maxsold exhibits a mixed reputation, with positive feedback highlighting efficient communication, smooth auction processes, and satisfactory customer experiences for both buyers and sellers. Many users appreciate the value they find in auctions and commend the professionalism of the staff. However, significant concerns arise regarding misrepresentation of items, lost goods, and communication issues, particularly during pickups. Customers also express dissatisfaction with the handling of complaints and the company's response to service failures. Overall, while Maxsold has a solid base of satisfied users, addressing operational shortcomings and enhancing customer support could improve their reputation further.
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MaxSold makes the whole, challenging and often emotional process of downsizing/decluttering or selling-up simple and rewarding! I've had the opportunity to work with MaxSold twice now: first with a MaxSold-managed sale of my late mother's house contents, and most recently through a seller-managed exercise in personal decluttering. Everything about the sales was professionally and efficiently managed. Moreover, when technical problems were encountered with my sale, MaxSold was quick to act in providing fair and compensatory support. I look forward to my next sale -- and would encourage anyone to do so too!
My review of my current auction held by this company nothing short of an abomination. The fact that my entire Thomasville Bedroom Queen Ann bedroom set went for $5, less than two Rubbermaid wrapping storage containers, is indescribable. There are no adjectives or descriptive phrases that I can use to express the absolute outrage at this auction and the resulting income.
Yes, I signed the contact with the terms of the auction. All along I was assured that the bidding would grow upwards towards the end of the auction. Well the following items went for $1 - SIX Thomasville dining rooms chairs, my Thomasville China Cabinet $1, Thomasville sideboard - $1, Thomasville coffee table $1, two Stiffel lamps $4. Almost every item or group of items went for $1 - highest price was $50 for everyday dishes.
Interesting enough most of the reviews are from buyers of this atrocity - To get over $5000 worth of furniture for about $5 is in itself reprehensible.
I have been to many auctions both in the UK and USA and in my opinion people think that their stuff is worth far more than it actually is. What they don't realize is that an item is only worth what anyone is prepared to pay for it. I had stuff that I thought would go for more and I also had stuff get a great price and I wasn't even going to put in the auction until I spoke with their knowledgeable staff. The staff came and photographed and sorted ready for the brochure and on the day those who were successful came and collected their stuff it all disappeared as if by magic. If I had got a junk removal firm to get rid of all I had it would have cost me big time but with MaxSold, even after paying their expected commission I have got a cheque coming to me. The staff of MaxSold were efficient and polite and never made me feel awkward in any sense. Thank you all so much - my house is now free of "junk" and I can go out and treat myself with the proceeds - you can't do better than that.
Just finished my third auction with Maxsold and have to say the staff there are awesome. They get things done quickly and have been accommodating to my deadlines. I am a Professional Organizer and use Maxsold as a platform for my clients to sell their goods. I always manage expectations by saying some items will make a lot and some will not but it is an average of the items together. The main thing is that everything leaves your home in those 4 hrs and you don't have to pay movers or post things for sale online, etc..
Using MaxSold was fun and relatively easy. My only disappointment was that I originally signed up for MaxSold managed sale but ended up having to do self- managed one instead due to unavailability of a team member. However they did put me in touch with someone locally who helped me for a fee. I probably would have netted a little more with a MaxSold managed sale. The process is very quick. They live up to the timeline they promise. A much easier and economical process than an on-site estate sale. The buyers do most of the work and the next thing you know, your house is empty! I enjoyed it!
This was a wonderful experience and saved us so much time an trouble with either moving it or getting rid of a houseful of 60 some years of memories and treasures. You have proved to me that some junk can truly be someone's treasure. I was surprised by some things that sold and some that didn't. Your staff was a pleasure to work with and made it a fun couple of days plus amazed me at how organized and quickly we were set up plus the pick up day went by very fast and completely without issue. I will recommend you to everyone and anyone! FANTASTIC!
Highly recommended... both teams were great to deal with and enjoyed the experience while making some money.
It is a way to have your possessions plundered for next to nothing. My husband and I found the results very disappointing. With $1.00 minimum bids it is unbelievable that incremental bids for under $1.00 were allowed. The $700 set up fee was excessive since we had to do the grouping ourselves, which was a lot of work. On the positive side, MaxSold employees were extremely nice.
Response: In addition to taking feedback from our Seller’s and doing our best to make it right in their eyes, it’s important to provide the following information for transparency for others that may be reading this. It’s an unfortunate reality that the market doesn’t always pay a seller what a seller thinks is a fair price for individual things (or perhaps even in aggregate) under a competitive auction model (this is true for any auction company). Maxsold does its very best to provide both a detailed outline of our process (www.maxsold.com/sell) and share our past auction data (www.maxsold.com/past) to prepare sellers for the realities of the market when items must be sold. Sellers have both financial and emotional attachments to items and so our job is to sell only those items they need to part with - typically items that will soon be a liability due to a move / sale of real estate / etc. as selling the items avoids additional, ongoing, logistical and/or storage costs. Our model, which includes selling everything to the highest bidder regardless of price, guarantees our sellers a finite and transparent experience that passes the logistical burden onto the buyers as they MUST arrive and remove, with their own resources, all of their purchases from the sellers location during a short time window agreed to by the Seller. This saves hundreds (if not thousands) in labor alone.
If interested, check out this perspective on the evolving need and how Maxsold helps:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/maxsold-tomorrows-auction-housetoday-adam-gordon/
MaxSold continues to reinvest all funds made in the pursuit of its vision to Sell. Everything. Simply for downsizing and estate clients without judgement: http://maxsold.com/maxsold-purpose/
Feel free to check out the results of this auction for yourself. As with all our auctions, this auction was executed with unmatched transparently. Additionally, our experience suggests there weren’t other 3rd party sale of goods options for this seller (as others would have denied service or cherry picked goods on the basis of lack of ‘mix/fit/value’ for their models). We are transparent with all our results and, although we are confident that a 3rd party professional appraiser would agree that our results were fair value, we are ultimately sorry that our seller is disappointment in this case:
https://maxsold.maxsold.com/auction/ardsley-new-york-usa-moving-online-auction-faith-lane-14939/bidgallery/
I hired MaxSold to help me clean out my mom's large family home after she passed away. My brother and I went through the house and removed a good number of treasures we would be keeping, and were able to agree the items left were now 'stuff' to be sold. I think this realization was key and it enabled us to truly 'let go' of the items to be sold.
I found the crew to be professional and VERY good at what they do. The cataloging process was relatively simple and straight forward, and it was very interesting to learn the philosophy behind why they sort the way they do.
In the end, 80% of the goods in the house were sold, leaving only 20% for us to deal with. When we completely emptied the house (remember, with only 20% of the contents left) we still filled a single garage with donations for the Salvation Army AND filled a 20 yard dumpster. I cannot imagine what we would have done without this auction.
In the end the items were sold for $1500, and our take was just under $350 - for which I was immensely grateful. Not only did we save 80% our mom's items from going in the garbage, but we got paid for someone else to clean out the house. A complete win/win in my books.
I had to downsizing from a house to just two rooms! We had both my husband and myself lots of hobbies and lots of accumulated stuff over the years. With practically no family to give items away I could not have been able to get rid of all the things I was able to sell through Maxsold. On the otherhand it was sad to see certain items to sell for so little and feel that there should be a better base price to start the bidding!
They know nothing of the business. I bid on several items and then had a family emergency come up. The only answer was just wait and you will be outbid. Only
One did not. The COO called me to personally tell me I needed to show up at auction
To pickup the items and forget my family obligations. This guy just railed on and on, all
About $13.00 which was taken out on credit card immediately. I was willing to let the charge remain and never ask for a refund. Just another rectal opening running a company without a clue.
After 3 generations and 50+ years as a family business and 10 years as an online auction company, it’s always disappointing to have a customer upset. In support of reducing customer disappointment, Maxsold makes every effort to set expectations accordingly, outlining both the opportunity and the responsibility bidders have. The responsibility is not about the money - it’s about ensuring the Seller is not left with a problem created by not fulfilling responsibilities (the commitment to may payment, remove purchases during pickup and, if this responsibility is ignored, agreement to waive any refund and/or face possible removal from the bidder community for failing to keep commitments). Maxsold and it’s bidder community provide the seller with a finite experience that ensures items are removed on the Seller’s timeline - and for this commitment, bidders get the opportunity to choose to bid or not with everything starting at $1 and selling to the highest bidder.
When a bidder/buyer decides to trade one obligation for another (instead of making arrangements as other bidders in the same situation do), it comes with consequences. In some cases, we make exceptions (as we did in this case) to refund a bidder provided they take the time to understand their responsibilities going forward. When we do this, the buyer is refunded (at Maxsold’s cost), the Seller still has to figure out how to get rid of the item (that another bidder would have presumably been happy to purchase and remove), and we contact the buyer to explain their responsibilities for next time so as not to create the same problem again. When a customer suggests our purpose isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, we are forced to remove them to protect the integrity of the other bidders in the bidding community as well as future sellers from repeated abuse.
For more on Maxsold’s Purpose, check out: https://maxsold.com/maxsold-purpose
To see WHY our policies are made the way they are, watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKUDQZ6sSCM
If you are thinking about bidding, please read (and more importantly, understand!) our terms and conditions before deciding to bid! https://maxsold.com/terms-and-conditions
I bid on two auctions and went to pick up on same day 50 km apart. Time lines are set in stone so I was in hurry to get to both. First auction seemed ok but one of the items which was described as unplayed cards had 1500 plus cards in it. There was no way I could inventory the cards in that short a time and I had to go to the second location. When I inventoried the cards at home I found that they had been used and picked through the best cards were gone and only the commons were left. Had it been listed correctly I would never have bid that high. I applied for a refund but was told because I left the site with it i was out of luck (read that small print the process is definitely stacked against the buyer)
I rushed to the second location and picked up some coins I was surprised to see it was an old run down coin store (not an estate sale as advertised). I got there about an hour before closing and had to wait a bit I picked up my items and took them to the car to inspect I was surprised to see that an item I had bid over $200 for that was advertised as various USA coins actually consisted of wheat pennies and was barely worth $30. The listing did not say they were pennies but various USA coins. Based on only two pictures it was reasonable to assume by the dates that there were some silver coins in the lot. I went back to the store to complain. The owner pretended not to know it was just pennies but based on the pictures taken and the misleading description it was obvious they were using max sold as a partner to dump their junk at auction on unsuspecting bidders. I said that is not what I thought i was getting and he smiled and said too bad it's done I went home figuring I'd turn to max sold for some justice (there were no staff on site to complain to) again i was told I was in violation of their terms so out of luck
This is how they take advantage of first time customers. They are only worried about their bottom line they don't check the listings for accuracy and let the sellers rip off the buyers beware I got scammed for over $500. Will never trust this company again and will spread the truth to everyone to stay away from scammers the grief is not worth it.
They have hidden fees, items are not correctly marked, they most definitely bid on items to make prices go up. Waste of money!
Response: It’s disappointing when we haven’t made our transparent bidding process clear to a customer. Our fees are listed on our site, confirmed by the bidder prior to being allowed to bid, and are pointed out each time a bidder wishes to confirm a bid. Additionally, any items found to be in a condition other than what is listed on the site is subject to a refund claim made at the discretion of the winning bidder as either a full or partial refund. Finally, Bidders on Maxsold experience competition from other bidders (no other entities) - just like fair and transparent auctions have been run for centuries. Some of the more savvy bidders use Maxsold’s ‘Maxbid’ feature. Clarification on this feedback is found in these FAQ articles:
1) Why do I get immediately outbid sometimes:
https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/articles/203144324-Why-do-I-get-immediately-outbid-sometimes-
2) How do I enter a Maxbid:
https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/articles/203143774-How-do-I-enter-a-maximum-bid-MaxBid-and-can-I-outbid-my-own-bid-if-I-increase-my-maximum-bid-
3) What is a Buyer’s Premium:
https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/articles/203144004-What-does-the-buyer-s-premium-mean-
Therefore, so long as another bidder has a higher maxbid, underbidders will continue to drive up the hammer price while remaining ‘outbid’, just like if a bidder in a live auction kept their paddle in the air for the auctioneer while other bidders attempted to outbid them.
When a bidder has concerns, Maxsold is able to share the bidding history (scraped of names for privacy reasons) with the bidder. If the bidder felt compelled to meet an actual winning bidder, they would find them at the pickup (where 98% of everything is sold and removed on average - further demonstrating that bidding is occurring among other valid bidders only and without intervention from Maxsold).
Bidder’s who feel their bid is too high after considering and being shown the bid with buyer’s premium at the time of bid confirmation are allowed to cancel their bid confirmation.
We were downsizing and had lots to sell. If my wife and I were left to do the MaxSold job by ourselves we would have canceled our move. But watching the MaxSold personnel execute was a pleasure. As experts usually show us, professionals make hard jobs look easy and simple and MaxSold is professional. I would recommend MaxSold to my family without hesitation
I filled out the registration and left my credit card number, which felt very intrusive as I was new and just wanted to browse. Today, I go back to the site hoping to bid on some items and can't even " login" as a protective window pops up over and over again, immediately after I press " login ". To add another dimension of unnecessary obstruction just to look at photos of furniture, all answers to my questions are answered by " artificial intelligence ". The robot answers plenty of questions but none of them are the one I asked.
There is no requirement for users to register to review any auction lot in a Maxsold auction. The system does ask for registration however as a frequent disappointment with previous shoppers (before our update) was that they missed out on items they would have bid on because they didn’t plan for the time required to register prior to attempting to bid (usually in the last few minutes). Users who experience difficulties are encouraged to contact Support@maxsold.com or 877 257 7799 x1 to speak with a Support team member for assistance. We do have an A. I. chatbot also available for those that are okay interacting with that sort of tool but it is still learning how to understand and address questions. We also have an in depth FAQ page for bidders available here: https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/sections/200632144-Buyer-Frequently-Asked-Questions
I would encourage anyone that has reservations or unanswered questions to reach out to our support office so that we may help. Operating in about 50% of all of North America with millions of viewers a month, we continue to become a great place to bid on everyday and unique (used) items where bidders decide how much they are willing to pay (before either winning, or passing until the next opportunity).
Check your items at pickup, and do not remove items from site or you will be docked for a refund. Duct tape mattresses, pool table fabric ripped, metal lounger with broken wrung-none of it photographed while you bid. Save your time, money, and gas. Poor management and crappy customer service. Many items are inadequately marked and do not show the faults, as happened to us on at least 4 auctions we bid on. A waste of time and money. And, it ask for credibility but will not let my photos post. Go figure...
It's disappointing that we appear to have failed this customer (potentially on numerous occasions based on their review).
In any case, this response attempts to highlight the process, performance rate, and method to avoid disappointment as a potential buyer on Maxsold's platform.
Maxsold has two models - Maxsold Managed and Seller Managed. In one offering Maxsold is never on site and therefore has no visibility of the items sold. In the other, our teams catalog and thus have a bit more awareness of the items. That said, regardless of who is cataloging, both honest mistakes and dishonest actions can occur - thus, Maxsold uses a transparent claims process that has worked for centuries in the live auction world - specifically, the buyer can inspect the item in full view of the auction staff, other buyers (and sometimes the Seller) and make a claim (partial/full refund) if the item is found to be in a condition other than what was described before leaving the site. In both models, the process is the same and is outlined in the bidder terms (www.maxsold.com/terms) and on the buyer invoice:
CLAIMS: ENSURE YOU INSPECT items at pickup (and preview if available) and IMMEDIATELY inform the MaxSold team (or Seller if Seller Managed) of any issues related to mis-cataloging of condition (remembering that you are purchasing used items in AS IS WHERE IS condition). By departing from the pickup site you acknowledge that you have all your items and that you are satisfied with them and/or have brought up issues with the Lead on site. NO CLAIMS ARE PERMITTED AFTER REMOVING ITEMS FROM THE PREMISES as condition issues cannot be validated once items are released into your possession. If required, bring an expert to validate purchases at pickup. We are not responsible for the acts or omissions of the Seller.
This ensures fairness and transparency to both the buyer and the seller. When a buyer accepts an item without inspection, they are waving any potential claim issues as, once the item leaves, there’s no way for Maxsold or the seller to know when the (potential) issue was created. Was it lost in transit? Damaged on the way home? Or is it someone trying to take advantage of the process (by ignoring a transparent opportunity to make a claim).
Bidders that accept and live by the terms love that the as is where is used goods start at $1 with the highest bidder winning. It’s a fair and transparent model for those who can accept and abide by the terms and conditions laid out (and agreed to) prior to bidding. To date, Maxsold’s error rate in selling used goods is unmatched in both the used and retail industry at less than 2% of all goods sold.
MaxSold continues to reinvest all funds made in the pursuit of its vision to Sell. Everything. Simply for downsizing and estate clients without judgement:
http://maxsold.com/maxsold-purpose/
Do yourself a favor, find another hobby it's all fake. You are bidding against a computer as soon as you bid the computer outbids you to raise the price, and it goes on like that until the final minute, if they don't get their prices it gets extended, wasted time it should be illegal.
It’s disappointing when we haven’t made our transparent bidding process clear to a customer. Bidders on Maxsold are never bidding against a computer. They are only bidding against other (non-seller) bidders - just like fair and transparent auctions have been run for centuries. Some of the more savvy bidders use Maxsold’s ‘Maxbid’ feature. Clarification on this can be found in these two FAQ articles:
1) Why do I get immediately outbid sometimes:
https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/articles/203144324-Why-do-I-get-immediately-outbid-sometimes-
2) How do I enter a Maxbid:
https://support.maxsold.com/hc/en-us/articles/203143774-How-do-I-enter-a-maximum-bid-MaxBid-and-can-I-outbid-my-own-bid-if-I-increase-my-maximum-bid-
So long as another bidder has a higher maxbid, underbidders will continue to drive up the hammer price while remaining ‘outbid’, just like if a bidder in a live auction kept their paddle in the air for the auctioneer while other bidders attempted to outbid them.
When a bidder has concerns, Maxsold is able to share the bidding history (scraped of names for privacy reasons) with the bidder. If the bidder felt compelled to meet an actual winning bidder, they would find them at the pickup (where 98% of everything is sold and removed on average - further demonstrating that bidding is occurring among other valid bidders only and without intervention from Maxsold).
I really enjoy my time on Maxsold, It's really a great place to buy stuffs. Maxsold Bidding Feature is really awesome.
I have been a repeat buyer for years with Maxsold and if your looking for a company that is fast, friendly and offers great auction prices... look no further
I have been shopping on Maxsold for a while now and have always found it to be an exciting, positive experience. Highly recommend.
From the business
MaxSold.com online auctions provides local expert help to sell goods through our hyper-local online auction service when downsizing, estate sale or clearing business inventory.
- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
Response
On the statistic - there are about 50 buyers for every Seller so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the ratio of reviews isn’t 1:1 sellers to buyers.
In addition to taking feedback from our Seller’s and doing our best to make it right in their eyes, it’s important to provide the following information for transparency for others that may be reading this. It’s an unfortunate reality that the market doesn’t always pay a seller what a seller thinks is a fair price for individual things (or perhaps even in aggregate) under a competitive auction model (this is true for any auction company). Maxsold does its very best to provide both a detailed outline of our process (www.maxsold.com/sell) and share our past auction data (www.maxsold.com/past) to prepare sellers for the realities of the market when items must be sold. Sellers have both financial and emotional attachments to items and so our job is to sell only those items they need to part with - typically items that will soon be a liability due to a move / sale of real estate / etc. as selling the items avoids additional, ongoing, logistical and/or storage costs. Our model, which includes selling everything to the highest bidder regardless of price, guarantees our sellers a finite and transparent experience that passes the logistical burden onto the buyers as they MUST arrive and remove, with their own resources, all of their purchases from the sellers location during a short time window agreed to by the Seller. This saves hundreds (if not thousands) in labor alone.
Where other solutions try to control prices while having no control over time of sale, we give the seller control of time while giving up control of price to market competition. For people who have items that will soon cost them to hold onto, this is the most economic (and green) solution to the problem of getting things removed on their timelines (typically for a much larger value proposition such as a closing real estate transaction or avoiding ongoing rental/lease costs).
If interested, check out this perspective on the evolving need and how Maxsold helps:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/maxsold-tomorrows-auction-housetoday-adam-gordon/
MaxSold continues to reinvest all funds made in the pursuit of its vision to Sell. Everything. Simply for downsizing and estate clients without judgement: http://maxsold.com/maxsold-purpose/
Feel free to check out the results of this auction for yourself. As with all our auctions, this auction was executed with unmatched transparently. Additionally, our experience suggests there weren’t other 3rd party sale of goods options for this seller (as others would have denied service or cherry picked goods on the basis of lack of ‘mix/fit/value’ for their models). We are transparent with all our results and, although we are confident that a 3rd party professional appraiser would agree that our results were fair value, we are ultimately sorry that our seller is disappointment in this case:
https://maxsold.maxsold.com/auction/brooklyn-new-york-usa-moving-online-auction-clinton-street-15789/bidgallery/