Maloney Appointed Chief Appraisal Officer
by Don Johnson
AntiqueWeek

(February 25, 2002) David Maloney Jr. has joined CollectingChannel.com, where he will direct the company's "Ask the Appraiser" online appraisal service.

An author, appraiser, and lecturer, Maloney will serve as Chief Appraisal Officer for Sales Online Direct, the parent company of CollectingChannel.com. He is president of the Association of Online Appraisers and is a former vice president of the International Society of Appraisers.

Maloney is well known for his highly acclaimed book, Maloney's Antiques & Collectibles Resource Directory, a database of resource people, organizations and institutions in the collecting field. As a result of Maloney's appointment, CollectingChannel.com acquires ownership and all rights to the directory.

Maloney is not new to the site. He was the chef architect of CollectingChannel.com's appraisal system about a year and a half ago. At that time, online appraisals were still in their infancy. Since then, they have steadily become more accepted.

"Two and a half years ago, when online appraisals started to make inroads into the industry, there were some traditional appraisers who feared that online appraisals would take away from their income," he noted. According to Maloney, those appraisers weren't familiar with the limitations of online appraisals, which can't be used for insurance settlements, IRS matters, divorces or other legal settlements.

Instead, online appraisals are designed to be for personal use, giving someone an idea of what they have and what it's worth. In the past, many appraisers used to give that type of information away on the phone, Maloney said.

Although there was resistance at first, momentum for online appraisals changed when Maloney and auctioneer Leslie Hindman addressed the issue before a gathering of professionals in 2000.

"The traditional appraisers started to embrace online appraisals," Maloney said.

Despite growing acceptance, the concept was dealt a blow in June when Eppraisals.com, a main source of Internet appraisals, went out of business. However, some of the business that normally funneled to Eppraisals.com was redirected to CollectingChannel.com's "Ask the Appraiser."

Maloney said "Ask the Appraiser" is doing well and will be expanding in the future, although he isn't at liberty to elaborate on plans at this time.

"Traditional appraisers today are more aware that it's nothing different than appraisers have been doing for years," Maloney said of online appraisals. He notes that appraisers have long used photographs to appraise items destroyed in home fires or for objects that were stolen. "Sometimes we don't even have photographs, we just go by verbal descriptions. The only difference now is that the image comes to us in electronic format."

Maloney remains enthusiastic about the role of "Ask the Appraiser," as well as what users get for the $19.95 fee.

"The product that 'Ask the Appraiser' has is unique in that anybody who happens to view an online version of it will see not only the appraisal, but also the information that was provided to the appraiser," he said.

Greg Rotman, president and CEO of Sales Online Direct, is sold on the concept.

"Our selection of Dave Maloney for this important position demonstrates our commitment to the ethics and professionalism of the online appraisal industry," Rotman said.

"As an ISA Lifetime Achievement recipient for his decades of experience, knowledge and contributions to the appraisal industry, David is a respected industry leader and eminently qualified to direct our online appraisal service. His expertise will help ensure that the public is served by experienced professionals who prepare appraisals in compliance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. We are proud to have David on the team," Rotman said.

Maloney is a Certified Member of the ISA and a former ISA representative to the Appraisal Foundation Advisory Council. In the recent past, he hosted the PBT television series Collecting Across America and was lead appraiser on CollectingChannel.com and PAX TV's Treasurers in Your Home: The World of Collecting.

In addition to Maloney's Antiques & Collectibles Resource Directory, he has written the Complete Online Course in Personal Property Appraising. The online course, which is maintained on a continual basis, is available through the Association of Online Appraisers (AOAonline.org), a not-for-profit organization that makes appraisal education available to the public at a reasonable cost.

CollectingChannel.com, launched in October 1998, serves as a gateway to the Internet for avid collectors of all kinds. Consumers can access information on a variety of collecting categories.

 "CollectingChannel.com has primarily been a portal where people can get gobs of information for scores of categories of antiques and collectibles, and that's still available," Maloney noted. "CollectingChannel.com is going to incorporate MaloneysOnline.com in some exciting ways down the road, so there is a tight relationship there between the online version of the directory, as well as CollectingChannel.com"