Why On-Line Art & Antique Appraisals Are Worthless - Q & A

We’ve all heard the old adage: “You Get What You Pay For”

Whether you pay $9.95 for an on-line appraisal of a single item or $29.95 or more for a Collections Appraisal, you may just as well take you $10 or $30 and toss it out the window.

Purpose of This Blog:

To put an end to the scamming of the American public by on-line art and antique “appraisal mill internet companies” – To advise the public these appraisal reports do not stand up in court - they cannot be used for IRS tax deductions and they are useless documents as selling tools.

Question?

Why you are throwing money out the window...............

Answer!

Because “appraisal mills operate on the churn-and-burn” business model. They take your money. You get an inflated appraisal. Maybe you return to the site several more times. Spend some more money. Finally you come to your senses and abandon the service. Why? Because you found the item that was appraised for $500 can’t even be sold for $50 on eBay…or on the appraisal mill’s own site.

These companies appeal to honest hardworking people; the “newcomers” collectors, the weekend treasure-hunters or uneducated inheritor of family heirlooms, if for a single item or an entire collection.

Experienced art and antique collectors, auctioneers and dealers are NEVER their clients.

The appraisal report your receive for your hard-earned money is “boiler-plate” filler - providing nothing more than a hypothetical “guess-ti-mate” of the fair market value.

Question?

How much time do you think an internet-based qualified certified appraiser is going to spend on your appraisal request?

They are getting paid $4.00 for a classic appraisal or $9.00 for a deluxe appraisal?

Answer!

A minute or two at best and you’ll seldom get the real fair market value. For example, if you submitted a request for an internet on-line appraisal for an item you were told was worth $500 and your appraisal report came back with a value of $50, would you use that service again? Probably not.

The internet appraisal mills and internet appraisers who work for them know this. So it’s in their best interest to “accentuate the positive” and provide fluffy inflated figures in the appraisal reports. Sad, but true.


Question?

Do you know why the appraisers won’t tell you the truth?

Answer!

I already gave you one reason. The second reason is that these “appraisal mills” have a feedback system. This feedback can only be seen by the company and the appraiser. If an appraiser’s feedback falls below an “above average” rating, the appraiser is fired. So for the appraiser to continue earning money and keep their feedback score high, they are going to tell the politely-called “client” what they want to hear…and this is most often not the truth.

I speak from experience being an on-line appraiser for more than three years for a Canadian based company. One name the company uses is What’s It Worth To You http://www.wiw2u.com/ The parent company also has a host of sub-companies, with names like http://www.eppraisals.com/

I have terminated my connection with this company; however, my profile is still posted on their site, probably because it paints a pretty picture and great for advertising their services.

Here is the link if you want to take a peek:

http://www.wiw2u.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=users.bio_view&userID=136472

Summary

If the appraisal you require is for nothing more than having some item insured, then go the inexpensive route. Use the appraisal mills.

Caution: make sure the people in your life that may have a financial interest or dependency in your property understand that the appraisal is nothing more than an insurance appraisal. It should not be relied upon to equitably divide personal property in an estate or matrimonial dispute nor should it be relied upon for re-sale purposes.





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