Welcome to the new-and-improved InstAppraisal.com, the original online crowd-sourced antique & collectible appraisal service.
At InstAppraisal our goal is to provide a source for free and paid antique appraisals where collectors of all sorts can gather and discuss their items and hobby with each other. Our membership includes experts in antiques, jewelry, electronics, coins, stamps, toys, movie and sporting memorabilia and just about anything else you can imagine. If you can collect it there's probably somebody in our ranks that does and is eager to share his or her knowledge with others.
Today we have unveiled a major upgrade of the site and wanted to tell you about some of what's new, what's changed, and where we're going from here.
InstAppraisal Points
As you perform various actions around the site you'll be rewarded with InstAppraisal Points automatically. For example, posting an item for appraisal earns 10 points. You'll get 1 point for every comment you add to items posted by other members. If your comment is accepted as best answer by the original poster of the item you'll get 15 more points. Every member starts out with 10 points and earns an additional point every day they visit InstAppraisal. You can check your current point standing by simply visiting "My Account" at the top of the InstAppraisal pages.
At the end of each month we award a $50 Amazon.com Gift Certificate to the point leaders in two categories -- Most Accepted Answers and Most Points Overall. We'll also have other special prizes from time-to-time. The more you participate on InstAppraisal the better your chance of winning these prizes! See http://www.instappraisal.com/instappraisal-points for more details including a list of actions that generate points!
Premium Appraisal Services
Our free crowd-sourced antique appraisals have delivered answers to thousands of curious folks on thousands of different items. Because of this model, however, it can take some time to get a response on a posted item.
For those in a hurry we're now offering two new premium antique appraisal services -- InstAppraisal Advantage and InstAppraisal Ultimate. Rather than being submitted to the InstAppraisal audience at large, these low-cost alternatives receive a timely and informative response directly from our InstAppraisal Experts staff. InstAppraisal Advantage gets a response within 72 hours for $9.95, while InstAppraisal Ultimate gets a response within 24 hours for just $14.95. If we're unable to complete the premium appraisal for any reason the cost will be refunded 100%.
As always our regular crowd-sourced appraisals (which we refer to as Standard) remain free, the premium services are entirely optional.
Email Notifications
Now when you've posted an item on InstAppraisal you'll get an email letting you know when a response has been received. You can also easily locate items you've posted by checking your "My Account" page.
Enhanced Events and Appraisers Maps
We've added a huge number of swap meets, flea markets and other Events that are great places to find new treasures or sell some of your own. Visit http://www.instappraisal.com/events for an interactive map and find out what's happening near you!
Some items can't be well-evaluated remotely, paintings being just one example. With that in mind we've assembled a list of appraisers and other valuation experts near you at http://www.instappraisal.com/appraisers or via the link at the bottom of the front page. Please note that we are not affiliated with these organizations and they are offered for informative purposes only.
Collector Forums
We've reset our forums and added a number of new topics to appeal to a wider array of interests. Drop in and introduce yourself at http://www.instappraisal.com/forum , tell us what you like to collect or just shoot the breeze with other members of our global community! The forums are 100% free!
In addition to all these new things you'll also notice the site is much brighter and more friendly, with more images and larger text. Our aim is to continue improving InstAppraisal and we have big plans for the coming months. Our community is what drives InstAppraisal and we're interested in any suggestions you may have. We can always be reached via our contact form at http://www.instappraisal.com/contact
Thanks for being part of the 18-year history of InstAppraisal, we're glad you're here!
