An honest side-by-side, updated 2026. Our Seattle prices are published on this page — $95 minimum, sofa $170, queen mattress $139, quarter truck $325, full truck $985. Theirs are not published anywhere, by design: the model is an on-site estimate. That's the real difference between us, and it matters more than any single number.
Send a photo — exact flat price back in seconds
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →1-800-GOT-JUNK prices by how much of the truck your stuff fills, and only tells you the number in person. We price the item, and tell you the number from a photo. On a typical Seattle job ours usually comes out lower — third-party figures put a single franchise item at roughly $130–$400 against our $170 sofa or $139 queen mattress — but we're not going to build a page on that claim, because we are not the cheapest hauler in Seattle and we won't pretend to be. Local independents advertise lower entry prices than ours. What we're actually selling is that you know the price before anyone leaves the yard, that a crew carries it out of the unit rather than meeting it at the curb, and that the Washington tax on the job is stated correctly instead of appearing as a surprise line at the end.
| JunkRabbit Seattle | 1-800-GOT-JUNK (third-party figures) | |
|---|---|---|
| How it's priced | Per item, or by truck-fill tier | By truck volume, ⅛ to full |
| When you learn the price | From a photo, before dispatch | On site, after a crew arrives |
| Price online or by phone | Yes — published, and the same in the app | No — on-site estimate only |
| Single item | Sofa $170 · queen mattress $139 · fridge $221 · treadmill $155 | ~$130–$400 ⚠ third-party estimate |
| Half truck | $580 (4/8 tier) | ~$400–$600 ⚠ third-party estimate |
| Full truck | $985 (8/8 tier) | ~$700–$1,000 ⚠ third-party estimate |
| Minimum | $95 | Not published |
| Carry-out from the unit | Yes — stairs, basements, towers, no surcharge | Yes, full-service |
| Stair / hill surcharge | None | Not published |
| WA tax handling | 3.6% state refuse tax on disposal, named; no retail sales tax on the service | Not published; typically surfaces in the on-site total |
⚠ Every figure in the right-hand column is a third-party estimate, not a quoted Seattle rate. Sources: HomeGuide and moveBuddha's published breakdowns of 1-800-GOT-JUNK pricing, plus local reporting. Only the company itself can quote you, and it does that on site. Our column is our actual Seattle price list, current 2026.
These are the real numbers — the same ones the quote app returns. Carry-out and disposal are inside them.
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Minimum (any job) | $95 |
| TV (small → large) | $84 – $98 |
| Queen mattress | $139 |
| Treadmill | $155 |
| Sofa / couch | $170 |
| Refrigerator | $221 |
| Sectional — 3-piece | $249 |
| Hot tub / spa | $434 |
And for anything bigger than a few pieces, truck-fill tiers — the same published ladder the franchises keep behind an estimate:
| Truck fill | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Quarter truck (2/8) | $325 |
| 3/8 truck | $455 |
| Half truck (4/8) | $580 |
| 5/8 truck | $690 |
| Three-quarter truck (6/8) | $790 |
| 7/8 truck | $890 |
| Full truck (8/8) | $985 |
We'd rather you see the whole board than just the two of us. Everything below is sourced from third parties or the companies' own published pages — none of it is a quote we can give on their behalf, and prices move.
| Company | Pricing model | Published / reported figures ⚠ |
|---|---|---|
| 1-800-GOT-JUNK | On-site estimate only; volume tiers ⅛–full; no online or phone price | Single item ~$130–$400 · half truck ~$400–$600 · full truck ~$700–$1,000 (HomeGuide / moveBuddha). A Seattle Redditor reported a ~$400 quote for a single refrigerator. |
| College HUNKS Hauling Junk | Free on-site estimate; volume tiers | Single from ~$150 · half truck ~$350–$500 · full ~$600–$800+ · an advertised ~$99 minimum reported as undercut by add-ons |
| Junk Seattle (local) | Published tiers, dump fees included | Small load, 1–3 items ≤200 lb, $89 · quarter $149 · half $279 · full $449 (their own site) |
| Junk B Gone (local) | All-inclusive on-site quote; "price quoted = price paid" | Single from $99 · most jobs $125–$600 · itemises the 3.6% WA refuse tax openly (their own pricing page) |
| JunkRabbit | Flat photo quote, published per-item and truck-fill | $95 minimum · sofa $170 · quarter truck $325 · full truck $985 |
Market context, also third-party: cost guides from Homeyou and Yelp Costs put an average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253–$325, across a range of about $170–$433. Locals' rule of thumb runs a quarter truck around $150–$250, a half around $300–$450, and a full truck around $450–$700+.
Read that table honestly and you'll notice we're mid-market. Junk Seattle's $89 small load and Junk B Gone's $99 single item both start below our $95 minimum, and both are good local operators. If your job is one small item at the curb and the lowest possible number is all that matters, they're a fair call and we'd rather you knew.
Before you judge any of these prices, it helps to know what every hauler in this region pays the moment the truck reaches the scale house. King County Solid Waste's 2026 rates: $243.38 per ton, with a $40.25 minimum per load (up to 320 lb), plus a $25 fee if the load isn't properly secured. Special items are billed on top: mattresses and box springs $30 each (limit six per day) and refrigerant appliances — fridges, freezers, ACs — $30 per unit, requiring EPA-certified freon recovery.
That per-ton figure is roughly ten to sixteen times what a Sun Belt market pays. It's the reason our own Seattle minimum sits at $95 rather than the $75 we run in lower-disposal cities, and it's the reason a $50 junk-removal job doesn't exist here no matter whose van shows up. Inside Seattle city limits SPU's own stations — North in Wallingford on N 34th St and South at 8105 5th Ave S — publish a friendlier gate rate (around $35 minimum per trip up to 420 lb, roughly $165 per ton as published), but most metro-wide hauling ends up at county scales.
It's also why diversion is not a marketing word here. Donation, free WA E-Cycle electronics recycling, separated metal and clean wood (clean wood tips at roughly $115 a ton versus $243.38 for garbage) each avoid both the per-ton fee and the 3.6% refuse-tax base. A hauler that sorts is cheaper to run, which is precisely what lets us commit to a price from a photograph.
This is worth its own section, because it's where Seattle customers get confused and where the industry is sloppy.
Washington does not apply its retail sales tax — roughly 10.35% in Seattle — to junk-removal service. What it does apply is the 3.6% state refuse and solid-waste collection tax under RCW 82.18, charged to the customer on the disposal portion of the job. Two errors follow from not knowing that. Some companies quietly add something like a sales-tax-sized line to a service invoice. Others advertise "no tax," which is equally wrong — the 3.6% is real and it is owed.
Credit where it's due: the local incumbent Junk B Gone openly itemises a "3.6% Washington State Refuse Tax" on its published pricing, which is the correct treatment and confirms it independently of us. We handle it the same way — named correctly, shown in the total, not sprung at the door. The big franchises, by contrast, generally don't publish any tax treatment at all, because they don't publish a price at all until they're on site.
A comparison page that only argues one way isn't worth reading, so here's the other side.
Us: $221 flat, quoted from a photo, freon handled and the King County $30 refrigerant-appliance fee absorbed. Third-party reference: a Seattle Redditor reported a ~$400 on-site quote from 1-800-GOT-JUNK for a single fridge.
Us: $170 + $139 = $309, both known before dispatch, carried down the walk-up stairs. Third-party reference: franchise single-item figures of ~$130–$400 each, confirmed only on site.
Us: $580 half truck / $985 full, published tiers, choose from a photo. Third-party reference: franchise half truck ~$400–$600, full ~$700–$1,000, quoted in your driveway.
Left-hand numbers are our real Seattle price list. Right-hand numbers are third-party estimates and reported quotes, not rates we can quote on another company's behalf. Page current as of 2026.
How much does 1-800-GOT-JUNK cost in Seattle?
There's no published Seattle price list — the model is an on-site estimate with no online or phone price. Third-party sources (HomeGuide, moveBuddha) put it at roughly $130–$400 single item, $400–$600 half truck, $700–$1,000 full truck, priced across ⅛-truck tiers. A Seattle Redditor reported a ~$400 quote for one fridge. All third-party.
Is JunkRabbit cheaper?
Usually on a comparable job, but not the cheapest in the city — Junk Seattle ($89 small load) and Junk B Gone ($99 single item) start below our $95 minimum. Our claim is the number arrives first, not lowest.
Why won't they quote over the phone?
Because they price truck volume, which can't be assessed remotely. We price the item, and a photo identifies an item. Different unit of account, not bad faith.
What do you charge?
$95 minimum; sofa $170, 3-piece sectional $249, queen mattress $139, fridge $221, treadmill $155, TVs $84–$98, hot tub $434; truck-fill $325 / $455 / $580 / $690 / $790 / $890 / $985.
Is there sales tax?
Not on the service — WA's ~10.35% retail sales tax doesn't apply. The 3.6% state refuse tax (RCW 82.18) applies to disposal. Junk B Gone itemises it the same way; most franchises don't publish any tax treatment.
Why is Seattle junk removal expensive?
King County disposal: $243.38/ton, $40.25 minimum load, +$25 unsecured, mattresses $30 each, refrigerant appliances $30/unit with EPA-certified freon recovery. Ten-to-sixteen times Sun Belt rates — it's why our minimum here is $95 rather than $75.
What can you do that they don't advertise?
No stair or hill surcharge on Capitol Hill walk-ups, Ballard basements or the Queen Anne grade — and COIs issued (typically $1M GL naming management) with freight-elevator windows booked for Downtown, Belltown, SLU and downtown-Bellevue towers.
Usually on a comparable job, but we will not claim to be the cheapest hauler in Seattle, because we are not. Local independents publish lower entry numbers — Junk Seattle lists a small load of one to three items under 200 pounds at $89, and Junk B Gone quotes single items from $99. Our floor is a $95 minimum, a sofa is $170 and a quarter truck is $325. Against the franchise model our numbers usually land lower, and always land earlier: you have ours from a photo before anyone is dispatched, while theirs arrives after a crew is standing in your home.
Because the pricing unit is truck volume, not the item. Until someone sees the pile they cannot say what fraction of a truck it fills, so the model requires a visit. That is internally consistent — it is simply a different unit of account from ours. We price the item, and photographs are enough to identify a sofa, a queen mattress or a refrigerator, so we can commit to a number in advance. The trade-off is real either way: volume pricing can beat per-item pricing on a huge mixed pile, and per-item pricing beats volume pricing on predictability.
Published, and the same numbers appear in our quote app: $95 minimum; sofa $170, 3-piece sectional $249, queen mattress $139, refrigerator $221, treadmill $155, TVs $84 to $98, hot tub $434. Volume jobs price as truck-fill: quarter truck $325, three-eighths $455, half $580, five-eighths $690, three-quarters $790, seven-eighths $890, full truck $985. Carry-out and disposal are inside those numbers.
Not on the service. Washington does not apply its retail sales tax — roughly 10.35% in Seattle — to junk removal. What applies is the 3.6% state refuse and solid-waste collection tax under RCW 82.18, charged on the disposal portion of the job. This is a genuine local transparency gap: most franchises surface any tax only in the on-site total, while the local independent Junk B Gone openly itemises the 3.6% Washington refuse tax on its published pricing. We name it the same way. Anyone telling you there is no tax at all on a Seattle junk-removal job is wrong, and anyone charging you 10.35% on the service is also wrong.
Disposal. King County Solid Waste's 2026 rates are $243.38 per ton with a $40.25 minimum per load, plus a $25 fee for an unsecured load, mattresses and box springs at $30 each with a limit of six per day, and refrigerant appliances at $30 per unit requiring EPA-certified freon recovery. That is roughly ten to sixteen times what a Sun Belt market pays per ton. Every hauler operating here pays it, which is why nobody in this market is cheap and why our own minimum sits at $95 rather than the $75 we use in lower-disposal cities. It is also why diversion matters — donation, WA E-Cycle and separated metal and clean wood avoid both the per-ton fee and the 3.6% refuse-tax base.
Same basic model, slightly lower published figures. Third-party sources put College HUNKS Hauling Junk at a free on-site estimate, single items from about $150, a half truck at $350 to $500 and a full truck at $600 to $800 or more, with an advertised roughly $99 minimum that reviewers report being undercut by add-ons. As with the other franchise numbers here, those are third-party estimates, not quoted Seattle rates.
Two things concretely. First, full-service carry-out with no access surcharges — Capitol Hill and First Hill no-elevator walk-ups, Queen Anne's roughly 18 to 19 percent Counterbalance grade, Ballard and Wallingford basement stairs, all inside the flat price rather than added to it. Second, high-rise paperwork: Certificates of Insurance naming building management, typically $1M general liability, plus reserved freight-elevator and dock windows for Downtown, Belltown, South Lake Union, First Hill and downtown-Bellevue buildings. Independents frequently cannot issue COIs at all, and the franchises can but rarely mention it.