How Our Online Valuations Work

Valuing personal possessions, or chattels, is one of the parts of probate people worry about most. It needn’t be. At Swift Values the process is as simple as taking photographs and uploading them to your dashboard. Most of our clients tell us it was the most straightforward part of the whole thing.

Every valuation starts with photographs. You take them, we assess them, and a written report comes back to you. Most people spend around ten minutes on their side of it.

Before you start

Press Start Your Valuation and tell us what you need valued. That creates your account and your dashboard, which is where you will upload your photographs and where your finished report will appear.

There is no password to set or remember. When you want to log back in, enter your email address and we will send you a link that signs you in. The link works once and then expires, so there is nothing to be lost or guessed.

You do not have to do everything in one sitting. Start now, come back tomorrow with the rest of the photographs, and everything will be where you left it.

1. Take your photographs

Photograph each item you need valued. For a single piece, one clear shot of the whole item is the starting point, followed by close-ups of any hallmarks, signatures, maker’s labels or serial numbers. For house contents, work room by room and photograph groups of items together, then take individual shots of anything you think may be worth more than £1,500.

Use natural light where you can and turn the flash off. Flash tends to wash out the detail on silver, glass and polished surfaces, which is often the detail our valuers need.

We have short video guides on our YouTube channel (which are also on your dashboard) showing what a useful photograph looks like for jewellery, watches, furniture and general house contents. They take a few minutes to watch and they save time later.

If a photograph is not clear enough for us to work from, we will tell you and ask for another. Nobody has ever sent us a set we could not work with at all.

2. Send them to us

Most people book with us on a computer, then find their photographs are on their phone. This is the part that catches people out, so we have made it straightforward.

On your dashboard you will see a QR code. Point your phone’s camera at it and a link will appear on the screen. Tap the link and your phone will open your photo gallery. Select the photographs you want, press upload, and they will arrive in your dashboard on the computer in front of you. There is nothing to download and no account to set up on your phone.

If your photographs are already on your computer, press Add Images instead and select them from your files in the usual way.

You can use both methods on the same valuation, and you can come back and add more photographs after you have sent the first batch.

3. A specialist reviews your photographs

Your images go to a valuer who deals with that category of item regularly. Jewellery goes to a jewellery specialist, watches to a watch specialist, rugs to a rug specialist. They assess each item against recent auction results and current market evidence to establish what it would realistically sell for on the open market.

If something needs a closer look, a mark we cannot quite read or an item where the difference between two possibilities is significant, we will come back to you and ask.

Mark Littler, co-founder and a former auctioneer with 20 years’ experience. He handles our silver and whisky valuations and is a regular contributor on antiques and collectables in the national press.

4. Your report arrives

You will have your report within one to two working days.

What’s in your report

An illustrated report. All of the images you upload are formatted into our report which you can attach to the grant application or send straight to your solicitor.

A signed valuer’s declaration. Confirmation of who carried out the valuation and on what basis, to support your IHT400 submission.

Individual breakdowns for items over £1,500. These are the items HMRC asks you to list separately on IHT407, so they are set out separately for you.

A section 160 compliance statement. Section 160 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 defines the open market value that HMRC requires. The statement confirms the figures in your report meet it.

Valuer’s notes. A short explanation of how each figure was reached, including the evidence relied on.

Your valuer’s background. HMRC will want to see that the valuation was produced by someone qualified to produce it. Their credentials are included so you do not have to ask for them.