November 18, 2017
This photograph of Rita Hayworth sold on Jan 7, 2015 an an Ebay auction. This sale price was $1700. But prospective sellers of such material are denied this infomation on Worthpoint’s database because the transaction is missing. And these potential sellers are paying Worthpoint $20 per month for this amateur service.
Worthpoint is an online company which compiles sales data from completed online auctions on any commodity. Their business model depends on sales information which is supplied to them through agreements with over 300 suppliers. Ebay is a major supplier. So is Emovieposter. Both of these companies regularly auction Ned Scott prints. The problem arises, as in this case of this Rita Hayworth print, when these auction companies do not supply accurate or complete information to Worthpoint. And Worthpoint has no mechanism to ascertain the accuracy of information. No quality control. Researchers using Worthpoint’s dadabase may not be seeing accurate information as a result of these faults. They need to know Worthpoint’s limitations.
Rita Hayworth portrait by Ned Scott for Down To Earth, 1947