Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with valuation

How much was that stuff worth?

nakedcodemonkey — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:11:37 -0800

How much was that stuff worth? I have to prepare a fairly precise net worth statement for Sept 93 on short notice. Most is easily pulled off old statements, but how do I come up with a solid fair market valuation for household/personal goods? It's peak tax season, so impossible to get an fast answer from an accountant. The only obvious calculator just throws validation errors. The place has been through several clutter purges and a couple buying sprees in the interim. Darned if I recall what was and wasn't here so long ago. What's a good method for estimating the value of household contents?

How do I spin this? And how much should I charge?

juliewhite — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:16:59 -0800

How do I spin this? And how much should I charge? Posting for a friend:

So how do I spin this?

Small company – a startup, only seven people, only two years in to it, apparently “well funded” and “just about to take off” – posts an ad for a scientist. I am their dream candidate.

I work for a huge company, and solve an analogue of their problem two or three times a year. I could do this in my sleep. Don’t get me wrong: what they want done is not easy, but I am a rock star. I am in a lab full of rock stars, and I still stand out.

I really have no interest in working for the startup – been there, done that; plus I love my cushy, high paying industry job. But, I would love to consult for them! I am sure I can solve their problem in my spare time, show them how I solved it, and teach them how to solve similar problems in the future. And, hopefully, be hired to solve different problems.

So, the tricky bit, part 1: How do I convince them that they want 1/20th of my time, rather than 135% of it? My thinking is to say something along the lines of “That’s a very interesting problem you have, but it is only one problem, the same, forever. I can solve it for you in two months and then I will be bored out of my skull. You don’t need me full time – just book my services. Moreover, you won’t get just me – I will draw on my colleagues in my lab, and my contacts in industry and academia, who I will hire as necessary to help me out. I can even write articles that show up in peer reviewed journals, giving you a shiny veneer of science to market. ”

The tricky bit, part 2: How do I value my work? What I am looking to value is not so much my time as my intellectual property. Solving their problem is worth a ridiculous amount to the company, and they are already short on time in solving it. Meanwhile, I am expert in the field, and am sure I can knock the ball out of the park. They offer “competitive salary”, “incentive compensation”, and “equity”. Realistically, it will probably take me about 80 hours to solve it, so if I charged say $300/hr, that would only be $24K, which strikes me as kind of low; plus, I may want to pick up some special services from some of my contacts, which won’t be free. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to convince these guys to pay me a lump sum for the solution, and any idea how I might value the solution?

Cash in the Attic?

kimdog — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 09:06:45 -0800

My boyfriend's mother died recently, and he and his father are starting to "take stock" of the household. They spent a lifetime traveling and collecting so there are lots of items that we believe are worth something, but we really need to get them appraised. We aren't sure how to do this given the wide range of stuff including art, pottery, furniture, antique costuming, and ephemera. Some of our questions:
I know that I could track down individual appraisers, but would they come to the apartment? Most of items are too bulky or voluminous to take somewhere.

What should be expect to pay for this kind of service?

How specialized of an appraiser should we be looking for? The TV appraisers seem to have a large repository of general info about lots of things. We aren't looking for exact value. Rather we just want to know which items should be considered more carefully in his father's estate planning. Are there people like this around?

Or should we look for people with more specialized in the following areas:

Art -20th century artists of varying stature, with Whistler being the most "known"

Furniture- Roomfuls of high end Mid-Century Modern in great condition, with some random antiques thrown in.

Pottery- about two dozen pieces including Roseville and Rookwood

Antique Costuming/ Jewelry- 17th/18th century lace fans and kid leather gloves. Beaded bags. Lace collars. Antique silver and gold jewelry and accessories

Ephemera- Filing cabinets full of Victoriana. 18th and 19th century illustrations, advertisements, posters, prints, etc. Not reproductions.

They aren't planning to liquidate the household, although some of the items might be sold to reduce the clutter.

This is in Manhattan.

How can a layman come up with a rough but reasonable valuation for a private company?

wildblueyonder — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 09:25:40 -0800

How can a layman come up with a rough but reasonable valuation for a private company? Assume access to information a typical employee of the company would have, plus overall revenue and profit history, maybe value of significant assets, if any. This doesn't have to be watertight. Getting a figure that's likely to be in the same order of magnitude is just fine. Getting a figure that's likely to be within +/- 25% would be beyond expectations. This is mostly to settle some curiousity among several of my co-workers and I who have been talking about the value of stock options we hold.

With the recent decision by Kottke.org to be reader supported, I'm curious to see how you value your daily reads?

Dukebloo — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 11:39:50 -0800

With the recent decision by kottke.org to be solely reader-supported, I'm curious to see how you value your reads. Would you be willing to pay $30 a year for Metafilter? More? Less? How about for some up-and-coming web magazines that operate on a daily basis, say The Morning News, The Black Table, etc.? And how much for up-to-the-second pro blogs in the Gawker empire where advertising is used? Gawker? Gizmodo? Wonkette, etc? How much for Boing Boing were it to be ad free? How much for Fark? How much for the individuals' blogs you frequent? And for some Kottke.org fans who don't see $30 as a micropayment, how much would you be willing to pay for a year of his content? Curious to see what range of dollar-value folks assign to their daily reads that are currently free to access. Please name and value other sites of your choosing.

How should i value my recent edition of Mary Poppins signed by P.L. Travers?

Savvas — Mon, 24 Jan 2005 23:35:15 -0800

I have a recent edition of Mary Poppins signed by P.L. Travers shortly before she died. How would I go about valuing such a thing and what would be the best way to sell it? I'm in South Australia if that makes a difference.

Valuing a Web Site

quibx — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:30:37 -0800

Someone has expressed interest in buying my web site. How do I assess its value? How do I know what to ask for it? The company in question is rather large, so it could be a considerable amount of money. How do I know if I am getting a good deal? I have 4+ years into it, and a full back-end administrative system. I get moderate traffic and little ad revenue. Has anyone ever sold an entire site?