Tag: antique-research-tools

WorthPoint can be worth paying for when you regularly need historical sales evidence for antiques and collectibles. Before subscribing, check whether it answers a question that your existing sources cannot. If recent eBay results already provide close matches for your item, an additional archive may add little to that particular decision.

Editorial disclosure: Antique Identifier is published by OBZENA LLC, which also operates the Antiqly identification app. This is a source-based assessment of WorthPoint, not a paid-account performance test. No subscription was purchased for this update, and no search-success rate, authentication accuracy or savings claim was independently measured.

Updated September 8, 2026. The assessment below separates published features, observable subscription information and practical research advice. Where a source is older or a current price could not be checked, that limit is stated beside the relevant information.

What WorthPoint actually is

WorthPoint provides research tools for antiques and collectibles. Its Price Guide documentation describes historical pricing information gathered from auction houses and online marketplaces. Its purpose is to help you find comparable transactions.

Price Guide and Marks are different research tools. The distinction matters when choosing what access you need:

WorthPoint documents Marks searches and Library searches separately. Those help articles date from 2019; use them to understand the distinction, not as a guarantee that today’s menus look identical. Current developer information on Google Play also describes pricing research, a visual marks database, Vault and Dictionary features.

An archived description is a lead to examine. A matching picture alone cannot establish that your own object has the same maker, condition or value. Start with the object’s measurements, materials, marks and repairs; our guide to antique marks and signatures provides a checklist for recording those details.

How much does WorthPoint cost?

Separate website prices from app-store prices. WorthPoint’s website checkout could not be verified during this update. Check the official website plan page before purchasing; the figures below are the public US iOS listing, not a quote for a website subscription.

The US App Store listing showed these in-app purchase entries on September 8, 2026:

These are listed purchase options, not confirmation that every option will be offered to every account. Check the selected product, billing period and final charge in your own purchase screen. A listing of a marks-only product should not be read as a promise that Price Guide access is included. Current web All Access and business pricing are not verified here.

For the value decision, make a short list of the actual objects you need to research before choosing a billing period. Note what you could already establish without a subscription and what remains unresolved. Pay for useful additional evidence, rather than for the size of the advertised database. The collection of free antique price resources can help you establish that starting point.

Free trial, renewal and cancellation

WorthPoint’s published trial FAQ, dated August 13, 2021 and accessed for this update, describes seven lookups within seven days. It explains that an additional lookup can prompt you to activate paid access early, and that billing begins after the trial if you do not cancel. Confirm the offer shown at signup, particularly when subscribing through an app store.

The lookup definition distinguishes entering a search from opening an individual result to see its price. This is useful when planning a trial: choose objects and search terms before using your available lookups.

For a website subscription, the cancellation instructions direct users to My WorthPoint, then My Account, then Cancel Subscription and a confirmation step. The article is dated August 13, 2021. If your account layout differs or cancellation fails, use the support contact shown there. For an app-store purchase, check the billing provider on your receipt and manage the subscription through that provider.

Keep a copy of your signup terms and cancellation confirmation. Record the renewal date separately from the date you first installed the app. Deleting an app should not be your cancellation plan.

Is WorthPoint legit, and what do reviews tell you?

WorthPoint Corporation is identified as the publisher in its official app listings. That establishes who offers the product; it does not establish whether the service will be useful for your particular collection.

Public app reviews provide questions to investigate rather than a reliable failure rate. For example, the US App Store listing includes a June 2025 review by MrPorterface describing repeated logins and a December 2025 review by Rod Alan 9 discussing access problems despite a paid subscription. These are individual reports, not findings reproduced for this article. The developer’s current release notes describe changes to search and navigation, so older complaints should not automatically be treated as current behavior.

Before committing to a long subscription, check the practical tasks you will repeat: sign in, refine a search, return to a result, inspect the record and find your billing controls. A large archive has limited value to you if it does not contain usable comparisons for your objects or if your chosen device makes those tasks difficult.

WorthPoint versus eBay: compare the right tools

eBay Product Research is different from the ordinary completed-listings search. According to eBay’s Product Research documentation, sellers with Seller Hub access can research up to three years of sales. The documentation contrasts this with the ordinary completed-listings window of 90 days, and says Product Research includes the accepted amount for Best Offer sales.

This is a comparison of documented scope, not a test of search accuracy or completeness. Do not buy WorthPoint solely because you think eBay has no research option beyond the ordinary completed-listings window. Its additional value needs to come from records or reference tools that help with your actual research problem.

For rare objects, seek more than one kind of reference: a maker or museum record for identification, and a relevant auction or marketplace record for pricing. The Smithsonian collections search can be a starting point for object research. Our guide to looking up antique values explains how to organize identification and pricing evidence.

Can you buy items on WorthPoint?

An item in the historical Price Guide is not an offer to sell that item to you. WorthPoint’s Price Guide buying FAQ explains the archive’s role.

However, a blanket claim that WorthPoint only shows past sales is too broad: its current app release notes describe Live Lots searches and alerts for new listings. Keep historical research results separate from current auction discovery. For any live lot, follow the listing’s instructions and check who is conducting the sale, what fees apply and how bidding works.

How to decide whether the subscription is worth it

Use a real research task as your trial, not a generic search that produces a large result count. The following worksheet is an editorial framework you can apply to WorthPoint, eBay or auction archives; it is not a report of a completed test.

1. Describe your object before searching. Record maker or suspected maker, pattern, dimensions, material, marks and condition. For example, with a silver spoon, distinguish the maker and pattern from its metal fineness. See our references for Gorham marks and American silver marks when those are relevant.
2. Try a specific search and record refinements. WorthPoint’s search guide documents quotation marks for phrases and a dash to exclude words. A search such as "Gorham Chantilly" spoon -plate is an example to adapt, not a tested result. Inspect excluded terms carefully so that you do not hide relevant listings.
3. Keep a record of each plausible comparison. Save the source link, transaction date, currency, item description and condition notes. Mark whether the amount includes shipping, fees or a buyer’s premium; if the record does not say, leave that field unknown.
4. Explain why each comparison belongs. A damaged piece, a pair, a complete service and a single replacement piece answer different questions. For a flatware set, our sterling flatware value guide helps identify the variables to record. Do not average together unlike objects just to produce a number.
5. Check identification separately. Compare dimensions and marks with an appropriate reference. A visually similar sold object can still be misidentified. Keep silver melt value and antique value separate in your notes.
6. Write down the decision the evidence changed. Did you resolve a maker, rule out a poor comparison, adjust a bid or decide to seek an expert? If nothing changed, record that too. This is more informative than counting searches.

Worth considering: you repeatedly research objects for which your current sources leave meaningful gaps, and the additional records or reference tools resolve those gaps.

Start with existing resources: your item already has useful recent comparables, or you need only an occasional lookup. For an estate-sale purchase, the immediate question may be condition and identification rather than a longer price history.

Seek an appropriate appraiser: you need a report for insurance, an estate or another formal purpose. Ask the recipient what documentation is required. A collection of database records is not itself an appraisal of your particular object.

Verdict

WorthPoint is a potential research expense, not an automatic good purchase for every collector. Its documented archive and reference tools give you a reason to investigate it; they do not prove that it will recover its fee or authenticate an object. Start with the question you need answered, compare the available evidence, and choose a subscription only when its additional value is clear for your own work.

If your first problem is naming an unfamiliar object, you can also explore Antiqly’s features and access options. Antiqly is our product. Treat any identification suggestion as a starting point to check against independent references.