Frequently asked questions

CheapskateIQ helps you decide what to buy while you're shopping. Photograph an item and its price tag, and it tells you what the item is, what similar ones sell for, the most you should pay, and your profit after fees. It also saves every find and tracks its price, so you can list it when the time is right.

Yes. CheapskateIQ is free during the beta and you don't need a credit card. We'll tell you well in advance if that ever changes.

We're letting testers in a small group at a time so we can fix problems quickly and keep the service reliable. Each appraisal also uses a paid AI service, so we're keeping the beta small for now.

Request early access with your name and email. When your spot is ready we'll email you a personal link and QR code. Scan the QR code with your iPhone camera (or open the link on your iPhone), then add CheapskateIQ to your Home Screen. It takes about a minute.

We're approving testers in small batches and can't promise a date. You'll get an email as soon as your spot is ready, so check your spam folder too. If our email lands there, mark it "Not spam" and add hello@cheapskateiq.com to your contacts.

The beta is built and tested for iPhone, and it isn't in the App Store. It's a web app that you add to your Home Screen from Safari, so it looks and opens like any other app. Other phones may work in a browser, but we haven't tested them yet.

CheapskateIQ looks at comparable listings on eBay, ignores the odd outliers, and takes the typical price. Because listings are asking prices rather than final sale prices, it applies a conservative 15% discount to estimate what an item will actually sell for. See the full walkthrough.

It's an estimate, not a promise. Accuracy depends on how clearly the item is photographed, how many similar listings exist, and the condition of your item. Every result shows a confidence score so you know when to double-check, and you can always correct the tag price. Use your own judgment before you buy.

Two possible reasons. If there aren't enough comparable listings, CheapskateIQ won't guess. And during the beta we're still finishing our connection to eBay's market data, so some testers will see appraisals without market prices at first. Your item is still identified and saved, and prices fill in as soon as they're available.

During the beta each tester can run up to 20 appraisals a day. Saving, viewing and tracking items has no limit.

Not without you. For eBay, you connect your own eBay account once and CheapskateIQ creates a draft from your saved photos and details. Nothing goes live until you review it and tap Publish. You need an eBay account only to list from the app. Appraisals work without one.

Vinted doesn't offer a public API for individual sellers, and automating the site would break its rules and risk your account, so CheapskateIQ doesn't do that. Instead it makes listing fast: it saves your photos to your library, gives you a tap-to-copy title, description, brand and price, and opens Vinted's new-item page.

Facebook only offers listing tools to approved partners, not to individual sellers, and automating the site would risk your account, so CheapskateIQ doesn't do that. It works like Vinted: it saves your photos to your phone, gives you a tap-to-copy title, price, category, description and brand, tells you which condition to pick, and opens Marketplace's create-listing page. The Facebook price assumes a local meetup, so it has no fees and no shipping in the math.

Your photos are sent to an AI service so it can identify the item, and they're saved to your private list so you can come back to them. Other testers can't see them, and we don't use them for advertising. Read the Privacy Policy for the details.

Yes, any time. Delete a single item from its page, or open the Account tab and choose Delete my account and data to permanently erase your account, saved items, photos and price history.

CheapskateIQ is built and run by Eric T. Morris. You can reach me through the contact form. CheapskateIQ isn't affiliated with eBay, Vinted or Facebook (Meta).