WorthPoint

The WorthPoint Corporation, founded by Will Seippel in April 2007, is the largest resource for researching, valuing and buying/selling antiques, art and vintage collectibles.^[1] WorthPoint is an online resource for researching and valuing antiques, art and collectibles while WorthPoint’s MarksandLibrary product, is an online resource for investigating makers’ marks as well as accessing a library of virtual books from leading publishers on a wide range of collecting topics.

WorthPoint empowers the antique and collectible industry by providing a steady stream of new data and quality information—helping improve the pricing transparency that exists between sellers and buyers. Just as eBay created the market for more efficient trading, WorthPoint’s collection and presentation of historical pricing data is helping sellers realize better prices and buyers gain comfort that the price they are paying is fair. WorthPoint is also accessible via iPhone, iPad or Android “in the field.”

WorthPoint offers both a do-it-yourself (DIY) model as well as access to a network of professionals (appraisers) with expertise in numerous collecting verticals who can provide a more detailed valuation. The DIY model is a comprehensive solution that gives a user access to more than 265 million historical prices and more than 1.2 billion photographs. This data is aggregated from both online marketplaces, including eBay, and from some of the leading auction houses in the country. WorthPoint has the largest database that covers information as far back as 2006—some of which is gone forever.

WorthPoint offers a 7-day free trial membership to allow people who register to look up items in the Worthopedia for free during the trial period. The trial membership requires disclosing credit card information as a condition of affecting the trial.

History

WorthPoint was established in April 2007 by Will Seippel. It reached one million page views in January 2008.^[2]

WorthPoint currently (as of December, 2010) reaches 12 million page views each month. It is ranked 768 out of the top 1 million web sites by Quantcast.com.^[3]

In March 2008 Worthpoint moved its headquarters from Northern Virginia to the Advanced Technology Development Center on Georgia Tech's campus in Atlanta.^[4]

In October 2008, WorthPoint, Inc. acquired GoAntiques, a Dublin, Ohio based company that maintained an online network for buying and selling collectibles and antiques,.^[5] GoAntiques has continued as a WorthPoint marketplace for buyers and sellers of art, antiques and collectibles.^[6]

In January 2009, WorthPoint signed a partnership agreement with eBay research and educational firm Terapeak, whose parent company is AERS.^[7] Under the terms of the agreement, AERS will provide WorthPoint with eBay’s entire daily sales of antique and collectible data for inclusion in WorthPoint’s database. In addition, Terapeak will re-sell WorthPoint’s knowledge-based products, which will be incorporated into the database.

In April 2009, WorthPoint began offering a 14-day free trial membership to attract more members. The free trial membership allows people who register to look up items in the Worthopedia for free during the trial period.^[8]

Also in April 2009, WorthPoint's Founder & CEO, received the George Mason University School of Management Distinguished Alumnus Award.^[9]

References