EBTH, which was founded eight years ago by Jacquie Denny, founder of tag sale company Sorting It Out, and Brian Graves, an avid and informed vintage shopper, brings the content of estates sales online. But, as Denny and Mandana Dayani, the EBTH’s chief brand officer, tell EAL, the company is perhaps more about connecting people in the midst of major change than it is about finding a bargain. 

How did your 20 years of experience in the tag sale business inform the development of your company? 
Jacquie Denny: EBTH was the culmination of years of developing the service model for families going through life transitions such as divorce, downsizing or death in the tag sale industry. The single most challenging issue with the local tag sale process was the limited amount of buyers in a local community and the finite amount of time we could hold the sale. Once Brian Graves, my co-founder, and I realized we could marry the white glove service of a local tag sale with the power of selling for a seven-day period of time to bidders from around the world on the internet, we created the most effective market-driven process for monetizing household and estate contents on EBTH.com.

How would you describe your typical customer?   
Mandana Dayani: Curious. Eclectic. Passionate. Stylish.

What’s your mission, or driving force, behind the concept? 
J.D.: We created this business with the simple notion of providing a transparent, seamless solution for families navigating life’s most difficult transitions. Our mission is to be the world’s largest and most trusted marketplace for estate sales. Eight years later, we are still committed to our vision of a revolutionary platform for one-of-a-kind discoveries, powered by the same unparalleled service and our innovative technology.

What have been some of your favorite discoveries?
M.D.: There are so many vintage collectibles that I have fallen in love with on our site! We hosted a sale for country music icon Tanya Tucker this summer, which featured an amazing Azzedine Alaïa leather bustier and fringed miniskirt. Other favorites of mine include a limited-edition Andy Warhol silkscreen of Mick Jagger, and midcentury furniture such as a pair of Marcel Breuer Wassily chairs and a Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Knoll Barcelona chair. I also love this set of vintage Christian Dior Guadron Onyx china, which has a black-and-gold rimmed pattern.