Frequently Asked Questions

General

We use a database containing 4.5 million different securities. But there are a few things we don't price. We do not price personal Certificates of Deposit, Life Insurance policies, or annuities. We also do not value privately held or valued securities.

Bills are sent at the end of each month through the method of your choosing (e-mail invoice or mail invoice) and are payable net 30 days.

It is possible to combine multiple accounts for billing purposes. This will allow you to take advantage of our Elite Discount program more effectively to get the lowest price at the greatest discount. However, the bill will not be itemized by account number.

There are a few reasons for this:

  1. The Historical Quotes section of BigCharts.com explicitly states:

    4.0 Ownership of Information; Downloading of Materials; Retransmission and Redistribution of Data.

    The Website is made available solely as a convenience to you for general informational purposes for your internal, non-commercial use, subject at all times to these Terms and Conditions. Unless otherwise noted, all right, title and interest in the Website, and information made available in the Website ("Information"), in all languages, formats and media throughout the world, including all copyrights and trademarks therein, are and shall continue to be the exclusive property of FT Interactive Data, its parent corporation, subsidiary corporations, affiliates, licensors, or third party data providers ("Data Providers"), or used under principles of "fair use." These Terms and Conditions are subject to any requirements of the Data Providers under FT Interactive Data's agreements with such Data Providers. Certain materials may be made available for download from the Website. Subject to these Terms and Conditions, FT Interactive Data grants you permission to download and copy such materials solely for your internal, non-commercial use; provided that all copyright notices appearing on the originals are duplicated on all copies thereof; and provided further, that you do not modify the materials in any way. Without limiting any other right or remedy available to FT Interactive Data, at law or in equity, the permission herein granted will automatically terminate in the event you breach the terms of this paragraph and, in such event you must destroy immediately all downloaded materials in your possession, custody or control.

    EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY PERMITTED BY THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH, YOU AGREE NOT TO REPRODUCE, RETRANSMIT, DISSEMINATE, SELL, DISTRIBUTE, PUBLISH, BROADCAST, CIRCULATE OR PROVIDE, THE INFORMATION OR SERVICES IN ANY MANNER OR FOR ANY PURPOSES (PERSONAL OR BUSINESS) WITHOUT THE PRIOR EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF FT Interactive Data AND/OR THE RELEVANT DATA PROVIDER(S).

  2. The Historical Quotes section of Yahoo.com explicitly states: By accessing the Yahoo! site, you agree not to redistribute the information found therein. Yahoo Finance explicitly states in its Historical Finance section:

    All information provided as is for informational purposes only, not intended for trading purposes or advice. Neither Yahoo! nor any independent providers is liable for any informational errors, incompleteness, or delays, or for any actions taken reliance on information contained herein.

    In fact, the Yahoo site also says, this website may contain inadvertent factual inaccuracies and typographical errors (and) expressly disclaims all liability for the use or interpretation contained.

    In addition, using the Yahoo site may be an illegal means to research security prices. The Yahoo disclaimer also states: By accessing the Yahoo! site, you agree not to redistribute the information found therein.

    By breaching these policies, an individual/institution can put itself in a very precarious situation by abdicating their fiduciary responsibilities and possibly violating copyright laws.

  3. Both sites only price equities and mutual funds. They do not value international securities, bonds, or fixed income instruments. Nor do they generate the dividend or accrual calculations, mean pricing, and inverse weighting required to complete an estate/gift tax return. It is an incomplete tool for a trust and estate professional.

According to IRS Regulations, treasury and savings bonds will not show a different valuation on alternate date reports. This is because the increased value is due only to the passage of time, rather than a trade.

Principal payments made between the Date of Death and Alternate Dates are itemized. The paydown factor from the Date of Death is applied to the Alternate Date report.

Accruals are included on the price in your final report. They will be displayed in the Accrued Dividend/Interest column on your report.

Carryover accrual on UITs is included as part of accrued income.

We use the same provider as the IRS. Interactive Data Corporation provides all pricing for our securities.

When pricing a portfolio with any of our Appraise products, users may occasionally get a value of *0* back with a message stating, "We are unable to price this issue".

This could mean one of a few different things. It could be...

  • The asset was recognized by our data vendor, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), but had no value or pricing information available on the valuation date.
  • The asset was not recognized by our data vendor and may not be publicly traded.
  • The asset is an Intercontinental Exchange asset, which cannot be valued by our data vendor for legal reasons.

This can happen even if the asset is displaying a value on places like Yahoo Finance, BigCharts, or the asset's organization's web site.

Unfortunately, this means that the Appraise software is unable to value the asset and the user may need to manually value it.

Appraise

You can import CUSIP®s and shares by using our Universal Import utility.

You can export an Appraise portfolio to multiple different formats. These formats are:

  • Excel (.xls)
  • Text (.DUT) Can be opened using Word or Notepad
  • ONESOURCE (.PRN)

This primarily happens when the accruals from a Date of Death Portfolio don't transfer to the Alternate Portfolio when the Alternate is created. In order to ensure successful transfer of the Date of Death accrual information to the Alternate portfolio, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the "Modify" screen for the already priced Date of Death portfolio.
  2. Click on the "View Portfolio" button to enter the "View" screen of your Date of Death portfolio.
  3. Click on the "Finished" button at the top left in the "View" screen. This will "load" the accrual information again.
  4. Back in the "Modify" screen, click on the "Switch to Alt Portfolio" button in the top right to open the "Modify" screen of your already priced Alternate portfolio.
  5. Click on the "View Portfolio" button to enter the "View" screen of your Alternate portfolio.

All of the accruals should be loaded into the Alternate portfolio now!

Web Appraise

As a Subscriber, you are not able to change the address associated with your account yourself. You will have to contact us at techsupport@appraisenj.com so that we can adjust the information associated with your account.

As a Pay-As-You-Go customer, your billing address is requested when you checkout. This address must match the address that was registered to your account upon creation or the attempt at payment will be rejected. There is a checkbox option that will allow you to enter in a different billing address temporarily for the payment you are attempting to process.

As a Subscriber, payment is handled by monthly invoice and is not handled directly in the web application. This gives freedom to our customers to pay in whichever manner they choose.

Pay-As-You-Go customers are restricted to paying with a credit card tied to a billing address in the United States. If an attempt to pay with an international billing address is made, the payment process will fail.

Appraise Outsourcing

Make sure the statements are clear and clean copies. If there is anything on the statements that does not need to be valued, please cross it off. Otherwise, it will be included in the valuation and increase your cost."

Let us know when you submit your order and we will be happy to do it for you at no additional charge. If you do not give specific instructions regarding the multiple accounts, we will automatically combine everything into one report.