Online Antique Appraisals

The buying and selling of antiques is far easier today thanks to the World Wide Web - but it does make it riskier too. If you are buying anything from afar, how do you make sure what you are buying is worth the amount you are paying for it? Antique appraisals though, don't have to be difficult in the online world.

Thanks to the Antiques Roadshow reality TV show, antique experts invaded ordinary homes to root out and value any rare pieces that people might have stashed away in their attics. The whole selling-antiques-from-home business just got a whole lot busier, and a small-scale industry has sprung up to cater for it. Online appraisals has been the name of the game ever since.

It's not difficult to find free appraisal services online. A few of the most popular online services would be Priceminer, WorthPoint and Prices 4 Antiques, they are great at giving quick and free appraisals. Even paid online services are far cheaper than anything a real traditional service would charge, Antique-appraise.com has prices starting at $10.

The biggest problem with getting an appraisal online is that there is only so much that anyone can say about a piece, sight unseen, no matter how expert they are. An important detail could easily overlooked when they haven't had a chance to hold the item and inspect it closely. Still, even if they aren't perfect, an online appraisal is worth a lot more than the $10-$12 you pay for them.

Of course, a lot depends on how capable your specific appraiser is. It's difficult to ask for an expert by name, so you usually have to go with the expert you are assigned. If you find someone who is less than dependable assigned to you, you could be in big trouble. They would give you a hasty evaluation, probably because they are paid no more than five dollars for it. In the end, going with their opinion could cost you dearly. But the online services do evaluate the credentials of appraisers before retaining them.

Getting an online appraisal can still be a leap in faith, this is because that there is no licensing authority that appraises the appraisers. In the end, online antique appraisals can be a useful tool as long as you have a healthy amount of skepticism to go along with it. that would be a good rule to live by anywhere.

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