USPAP is an acronym for Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice as promulgated by The Appraisal Foundation of Washington, DC. USPAP are the generally accepted standards for all appraisers in the United States - be they real property appraisers, personal property appraisers, or business valuators. The purpose of USPAP is to promote and maintain a high level of public trust in appraisal practice by establishing requirements for appraisers. If properly understood and complied with, USPAP establishes a basis for credibility so that a report can be properly developed, meaningful, not misleading and worthy of belief. There is a high level of probability that a report has been developed competently and ethically if it has been written to the standards of USPAP.

USPAP was originally written in 1986-1987 by an appraisal profession Ad Hoc Committee and was donated to The Appraisal Foundation in 1987. The Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) of 1989 cites USPAP as the standard to be enforced by state real estate appraiser licensing and certification boards. In the Pension Protection Act of 2006 the Internal Revenue Service cites USPAP as a recommended standard to which all donation appraisals must be written. USPAP compliance is also required by professional appraisal associations, client groups and by dozens of federal, state and local agencies. USPAP is updated on a periodic basis, and is growing in acceptance throughout the world. Many professional associations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia have accepted USPAP as the standard of practice for their membership.

ValueThisNow.com (VTN) is an Appraisal Management Company that makes use of personal property appraisers as well subject matter experts to provide appraisals for numerous categories of antiques and collectibles.VTN supports the goals of The Appraisal Foundation of Washington, DC which, by means of its USPAP, helps to promote and maintain the public's trust in the appraisal profession.

All major personal property appraisal societies mandate that their members comply with the requirements of USPAP whether developing written or oral appraisal reports, or whether or not the appraiser personally inspects the subject property.

Those who are appraisers MUST comply with USPAP.

Subject matter experts, on the other hand, while extremely familiar with their specialty areas including item identification and value, are not appraisers. Regardless, USPAP states that when such individuals are representing that they are performing as appraisers, SHOULD comply in order to help support USPAP's goal of maintaining the public's trust in the appraisal profession.

VTN also supports USPAP's admonition that regardless of the nomenclature used to described a valuation service (e.g., valuation, expert opinion, evaluation, advice, answer, counseling, verbal approximation of value, opinion of worth, etc.) when an appraiser develops and reports an opinion of value, that appraiser has performed an "appraisal" and is subject to the requirements of USPAP.

While it is the appraiser's responsibility to comply with USPAP, as an Appraisal Management Company, ValueThisNow.com assists the appraiser in meeting that obligation by designing an online appraisal service which enables the appraiser to comply with his or her USPAP requirements. It also enables the subject matter expert to closely follow the requirements of USPAP as well. This is accomplished by enabling the appraiser to identify the subject property and its value-relevant characteristics, to identify the type of value and value definition to be employed, and by designing the appraisal report so that it incorporates the elements of information (including, for appraisers, the signed USPAP certification) required by USPAP depending on whether the assignment calls for a "Restricted Appraisal Report" report or an "Appraisal Report."