How-to guide

Let’s talk about sets.

On an almost weekly basis, Mearto’s customer support team receives an inquiry from a potential customer with a large collection of related items with the following question: Do I need to purchase an appraisal for every single item in my collection? Fortunately for most, the answer is often no.

At Mearto, we consider items that belong in a “set” to be one item and can provide one single appraisal for the affordable price of $19. However, when is a group of items considered a “set,” and are there exceptions?

In general, we advise our customers to think about how their items would be sold at auction. Would they be sold individually, or together as one lot? Items in certain categories make more sense when they are grouped together. For example, some collectibles like stamps or baseball cards, or china or silver cutlery. You wouldn’t likely see a single silver spoon at auction — these are typically sold as a “service,” which is just another name for a set. Other items, like books or records or a folio of prints might also be grouped by artist, author or genre, particularly when the items are of relatively low value on their own but may fetch a higher price at auction as a complete set.

On the subject of value, this is also something that we may ask our customers to take into consideration when submitting a set of items for appraisal. Are one or more of the items in your set especially rare or unique? In this case, such items should be separated from the rest of the collection, appraised and sold individually.

So how do you know whether you should submit your items individually or as a set? It’s simple… just ask us! We are always happy to take a quick look at your collection and determine:

  • how your items could best be grouped into a set (or sets) of items, and
  • if any of the items may be particularly valuable and should be appraised individually

Just send an email to [email protected] and we will usually get back to you within 24-48 hours.

On one final note, if our advice is that you submit each item in your collection individually, we may be able to offer our complimentary white glove service, which includes special bulk pricing and hands-on, personalized assistance uploading your items to our website from a dedicated customer support specialist. This service is available to all customers with collections of 10 items or more. To ask questions or learn more about this service, reach our management team directly by emailing [email protected].