Patrick van der Vorst, the founder of Value My Stuff. The website, that offers paid-for online valuations provided by a team of valuers, had been working with Barnebys art and antiques search service for some time. “We see growing need from individuals as well as from auction houses around the world wanting easy and quick valuations for their items by competent experts. Art market reports show that currently under 5% of people use auctions to trade in the secondary market. We expect that figure to double within the next ten years”, said Christopher Barnekow, co-founder of Barnebys. ValueMyStuff was owned from 2015 by online auction house Auctionata but, in March 2017 in the wake of the Auctionata bankruptcy, administrators sold the firm back to its founder for £120,000. Van der Vorst now becomes a shareholder in Barnebys.
The online art valuation website ValueMyStuff, started in 2010 by former Sotheby's director Christopher Barnekow, was purchased by Swedish auction group Barnebys. Barnebys founder Patrick van der Vorst said the need for online paid-for valuations is growing and the number of people who use auctioneers to trade in the secondary market, currently only 5%, will double over the next 10 years. ValueMyStuff was originally bought by Auctionata in 2015, but after its collapse the administrators sold the platform to back to its founder for £120,000 ($152,500).