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Value My Stuff
The online art, antique & collectibles valuation service
Business description
Value My Stuff provides online valuations for art, antiques and collectables. Customers pay a flat fee of £5.99 per item and within 48 hours one of more than 50 experts provides an online valuation report. This report identifies the object, dates the piece, values it and provides any extra information that is relevant or fun to know.
Often the art market can be perceived as unapproachable and the process of getting an item valued seen as time consuming and complex. Value My Stuff has changed all that and, as they do not buy or sell any items, their approach is completely independentand unbiased. Their experts are all based in England and have worked for Sotheby's, Christie's or other leading auction houses. They offer their knowledge, covering over 28 collecting fields, in order to make the art valuing and appraisal process as straightforward and accessible as possible.
Pitchers
Patrick Van der Vorst
Series 8 Episode 8
Investors
Deborah Meaden
Theo Paphitis
£’s invested
£100,000
% stake in business
40%
Deborah’s reasons for investing
Patrick delivered a pretty faultless pitch where he clearly, confidently and intelligently took us through his antiques valuation website and why it would be successful and, more importantly, why he had the credentials to make it work. I quickly became very confident that he not only completely understands the market and his place in it, but that he has a very clear vision of what needs to be done. Ultimately I liked Patrick, his proposition and his approach and I could plainly see the part I could play in helping his business change the way we value our antiques, by making it less costly and more accessible.
What’s happened since they appeared in the Den?
The company has continued to grow by 10% per month, and has now launched into the USA, where it has seen a very positive uptake. About 40% of customers are now American, which is very promising for future expansion of the business.
Latest update from Patrick
Value My Stuff now counts over 30,000 customers and with over 60,000 valuations done since trading, the company is sustaining growth month on month. Most recently an 'Agency Service' has been added to the core valuation services, which means that customers can now also fall back on the company's expertise to help bring their item to auction. Value My Stuff will help determine what the best auction would be, what strategy should be employed to sell the item, etc. Alongside the Agency service, a new "House Visit" service will be launched too where the VMS experts will go in situ to people's houses to value contents. Finally, at the end of May, a new and very exciting iPhone and iPad App will be launched, making valuation services mobile!
Contact details
0207 148 7040
Little Tufton House, 3 Dean Trench Street, London, SW1P 3HB
