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Net worth |
| Get your junk appraised without leaving the basement | |
| By Alicia Androich | |
You've always wondered how much Grandma Rose's silver spoon collection is worth, and you've been meaning to get rid of the baseball cards that have been gathering dust in the garage since the late 1960s. Unfortunately, Antiques Roadshow isn't coming your way any time soon. Erik Kafrissen has an alternative: WhatsItWorthToYou.com, an online appraisal service he runs from tiny Perth, Ont. Kafrissen spent six years working as a rare-currency dealer and was constantly bombarded with requests for appraisals. In July 2000, he decided to turn it into a business—despite critics who said quoting items over the Web is worthless. "Even two years ago, the appraisal industry was leery of embracing online services," says Kafrissen, who also co-owns a local restaurant. "But through sheer necessity, they've had to embrace it." And now that the online auction business is a US$8-billion industry, accounting for 15% of Internet sales, Kafrissen thinks WhatsItWorthToYou.com has a good chance of cashing in. So far, 92 appraisers around the globe are working for the site--and they're no amateurs. Michael Findlay, an Angus, Ont.-based coin specialist and editor of the Certified Coin Dealers' Newsletter, has been working for the site since its launch. He recently appraised a 17th-century German coin that normally would have been valued at about US$100. But a picture of German king Friedrich Ulrich, plus the coin's rare denomination of one and a half thalers, upped its price to US$900—making its owner very happy. "It's great to find that an item has real value," says Findlay, "especially when someone has something they don't even know how to describe." Moreover, an Ohio-based appraiser who works for the site in his spare time is one of the world's foremost authorities on rare stringed instruments. "Someone who owns a sword store in Japan," says Kafrissen, "could appraise a samurai sword for a guy in Washington who finds one his uncle brought back from the war." But how can an expert on the other side of the world tell you how much your latest eBay buy is worth? Easy, according to Kafrissen: customers simply provide a detailed description of the item and often a photo—along with US$9.95. They can expect a quote via e-mail from an anonymous appraiser within 72 hours, as well as a link to an online appraisal certificate that can be used to verify the value. WhatsItWorthToYou.com also offers customers the option of sending their objects in for appraisal, trading or donating their pieces to charity. You can be sure the owner of a high-school yearbook signed by Elvis Presley in his senior year held onto it after it was assessed by one of WhatsItWorthToYou.com's experts at US$7,500—the site's most valuable item to date. And Kafrissen expects a big find any day now. "Sooner or later, one of our appraisers will say, 'Holy cow, I'd better tell this collector to get an armored car over there right away,'" he says. Despite the recent tech crash, Kafrissen is excited about WhatsItWorthToYou.com—so excited, in fact, that he's taking it on the road. For the next four months, Kafrissen, his wife, Clare, and their four young children will be traveling across North America in a 36-foot RV emblazoned with WhatsItWorthToYou.com's logo. He'll be meeting with collectors and appraisers to promote the site—and looking to land a deal with a major auction site like eBay. And that could put Kafrissen's bank account in mint condition. |