How it works for estate sales

This page is the whole workflow on one page, for you and your team. Each part links to its own page, step by step, and the page prints on a few sheets.

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How it works

Four steps, on your phone. The family needs no password and nothing to install.

1. You photographOne photo per thing, room by room. A name is optional.
2. The family answersEach relative taps Save me that on what they want to keep.
3. You decideWho gets what, when everyone has answered, or sooner.
4. What's left is the sale

   What nobody saved, under Not saved in Things. Sets partly given are listed apart.

Your client stays the person passing things on: the family sees everything in their name. You set the house up as their helper, which lets you do everything they can, except remove them or archive the house.

Set up the house as your client’s helper

On your phone, open savemethat.com and tap Set up a house. Name the house as the family will recognize it, like “Nana’s house” or the street, and type your client’s name as the family calls them. Tap Next. Then tap the second answer, the one that says you’re helping your client, and type your name and your work email.

Your client’s email is optional: type it and they get a code of their own. Leave it empty and you run the house alone. You can add it later. Tap Create the house, then type the 6 numbers we email you. There is no password, for you or anyone: the code from the email is how you get in, every time.

To keep things moving, give the family a short window: on Home, tap House settings, then Time to answer, and choose 3 days, or type another number of days from 1 to 60. House settings has the rest.

Photograph the house

Tap Add at the bottom. In a browser, tap Take a photo; in the iPhone app the camera opens by itself. One thing per photo, close enough to recognize it. The room you tap under Which room? stays chosen for the next photo, so a whole room goes quickly. Under How many?, tap + when one photo stands for a set, like 6 chairs or 12 place settings, and the family can ask for some of them.

Tap Save and next after each photo, and Done adding when you’ve finished. Already walked the house with the camera app? Tap Choose from your photos. At a desk, Add takes up to 50 photos at a time. Every step is on Add your things.

Send the family one link

On Home, tap Send the family the link. The message is ready, in your client’s name: “Nana is passing some things on.” Send it to the family’s group chat, or to your contact in the family. Whoever taps it types their name and email, gets a code, and is in, so you never collect their addresses. The link works for 14 days.

Anyone not in the chat can be added by email from Family and helpers. Make a relative a helper only if your client wants one running the house with you. Everyone else stays family: they only say what they would love, and never see what the others asked for. See Send the family the link and Family and helpers.

While the family answers

Home shows one card. Waiting for answers says until when, and who hasn’t looked yet. Remind the family sends the link again with a short reminder, and Who has answered shows how far along each person is. See Home’s next step.

Decide

Tap Decide at the bottom. Ready is everything the family has answered, or whose time is up. Still waiting is everything they’re still answering, with who has asked so far, and Decide now settles one before then.

Each person who asked has a button with their name on it. When several asked, you or your client choose, or tap Let the app choose fairly. When nobody asked, tap Not saved: nobody in the family gets it, and it is free for your sale. For a set, choose Not saved under Any left over and tap Save these, and the rest of the set is left for the sale. If the house tells everyone at once, each of these is a draft until you share: wait for the share before you count anything as sale stock.

Your screen has a button with your client’s name, like “Nana is keeping it”, for something your client is keeping. The pictures on these pages, taken as the person passing things on, show I’m keeping it there. Every step is on Decide who gets what.

Telling the family

The first time anyone decides, we ask once for the house whether to tell people as you go, or all at once at the end. Deciding all at once, tap Review and share on Home when you’re done, then share: everyone hears once, in one message each. See Telling the family.

What the family sees

Relatives open the link and see Look: one photo at a time, with how many days they have to answer. They tap Save me that, Not for me or Later, or swipe. They can change an answer while the thing is still open, unless some of a set is already saved for them, and they’re told once something is saved for them.

Questions your clients will ask

• Can my brother see what I asked for? No. Only your client, and anyone helping, sees who asked for what. Once a thing is decided and shared, everyone can see who it was saved for.
• What if two of us want the same thing? Whoever decides chooses, or lets the app choose fairly, like pulling a name out of a hat. How that works, in full: savemethat.com/fairness.
• Do I need to sign up, or a password? No. They type their email, and we send a code of 6 numbers whenever they need to get in.
• How long do we have? As long as the house’s time to answer. Each photo in Look says how many days are left to answer.
• I changed my mind. Tap Things at the bottom, then Change beside the answer, while the thing is still open. Once some of a set is saved for them, that answer stays.

Where to next

• Not saved: what's left for the saleWhat's not saved by anyone in the family is your sale. Find it in Things, print the list, and start the next client's house.
• Not there yetWhat Save Me That doesn't do for estate sales yet, and how to tell us which you need.
• If you're helpingFor a helper. Get in, or set the house up for them, then add things, say what you'd love, and decide together.