How to handle a major de-stash or estate sale

Well, this is the second one I've done now, so I thought I'd impart some of my wisdom in the hopes it might help someone else.

1. Spreadsheets are your friends. Split the stash into yarn, machines/accessories, and publications, and have a fourth tab to keep track of the money
2. All the yarn must be photographed, weighed and inventoried. This is best done directly onto the spreadsheet if possible - especially if (like me) you have bad handwriting!
3. If at all possible, sort the yarn out first so that all the cones/balls of one colour are in the same bag (I missed this one this time!)
4. Photograph as many cones at once as you can, and arrange them with clear colour contrasts. Each bag might need several pictures.
5. Designate each bag with a number, and label each bag with it (or in my case, pop a piece of paper with a number on it in the bag). It also helps to identify the bag by its colour or if it has a logo (charity bags are excellent for this).
6. When inventorying knitting machines, print out the "this machine comes with" page, so that you can visually check off all the bits that are present or missing. Do this for any item that has several parts, and keep the checked print with the items (plastic totes are great for boxless machines).
7. If someone asks for a lucky dip, £x amount of yarn, save your legs and work out which ones they'll get from the comfort of your armchair.
8. It's important to have a money tab, because buyers may want a mix of yarn, books and accessories, and it otherwise makes it rather hard to track between tabs who owes what and for what item
9. Don't rely on mental arithmetic at 11pm at night. It's not worth the hassle!
10. Don't forget Paypal and Ebay charge a fee; make sure you subtract that from the total raised.
11. Use a courier quotation service eg Parcel2go for the larger boxes - Royal Mail isn't cheap for large items.
12. Make sure you have lots of empty boxes, jiffy bags and parcel tape to hand. You have to weigh the packed item to give the buyer the final price.
13. Try not to curse if the buyer changes their mind and you have to reopen the package! :)
14. Make sure you put the weight and the recipient on the parcel. You may have more than one to send at once.

Still drowning in yarn but it's going down slightly. Next stop Ebay I guess.