Dec 9, 2015 - Things to Do

Everything but the House (aka the dead guy’s eBay) has expanded to Charlotte. Here’s what to expect.

Kylie Moore

When I woke up early to visit the VTGCLT Winter Market back in November, I expected a lot of things, including but not limited to: crowds, hot chocolate and cute gifts I probably couldn’t find anywhere else. What I got was an old JC Penney sweater, a succulent I didn’t realize was fake until I got into the light and an introduction to Everything but the House.

A photo posted by Everything But The House (@ebthofficial) on

Everything but the House (lovingly known as EBTH for short) was founded in 2008 when Jacquie Denny and Brian Graves set out to help grieving families find an easier, more effective way to sort through and sell items left behind by those departed.

Graves approached Denny with the idea to take estate sales online and they launched their first online sale in 2008. Since then, the company has expanded and now holds 100 estate sales per month on their website that feature jewelry, art, cars, books and everything in between.

I walked into an estate sale by accident last summer. Well, I say ‘by accident,’ but I knew what I was doing — trying to impress the guy I had just started dating. Drinks and dinner were standard, but rummaging through a dead person’s things? This was uncharted territory, and I tried to settle my stomach as I followed him inside.

It felt wrong, and I couldn’t wait to get out. I wanted to melt into the floor when he actually stopped to consider buying an old projector, and I think it’s avoiding that feeling that I appreciate so much about EBTH. I’m given the ability to rummage through things that belonged to people I never met without feeling guilty about it. Plus, I can do it on my computer, miles away from the estate. Just like eBay.

It works like this: The family calls EBTH, who comes for a free consultation and begins the long process of clearing the house wall-to-wall. They “handle literally everything but the house,” hence the name. Once the house is empty and the items have all been cataloged and photographed, the sale goes live. Each item starts at one dollar, and shoppers bid until the sale ends a short seven days later.

Once everything is said and done, the family receives an itemized inventory and settlement check. Noteworthy: sales made through Everything but the House make, on average, around 3-5 times the amount of money that traditional estate sale methods (auctions, consignment shops, in-home drop-ins, etc.) do.

Charlotte recently joined 17 other cities in becoming home to Everything but the House. While you can never expect to find anything since no two sales are the same, here’s a preview at what you could find:

Vintage Wooden Airplane Propeller. The model number on the propeller indicates that this type of propeller was used on Boeing 13 and 17 planes during World War II between the years of 1932 and 1945.