FAQ
What Does Lineage Do?
What is the Lineage app?
Lineage is a digital inventory and provenance platform designed specifically for antiques, vintage items, and collectibles. It helps users document, organize, research and preserve item history across ownership, sourcing, and resale.
What problem does Lineage solve for antique collectors and resellers?
Lineage solves the problem of lost information and fragmented tracking that antique collectors and resellers face as their inventory grows. Most dealers rely on a mix of memory, notebooks, photos on their phone, spreadsheets, and auction receipts. Over time, key details—where something came from, what was paid, condition notes, or how profitable it was—get scattered or forgotten. That makes pricing harder, profits unclear, and selling more stressful than it should be. Lineage brings everything together in one place. It lets you track items and lots, photos, condition, purchase and sale prices, locations, and profit—while preserving the story and research behind each piece. The result is clearer insight, better buying decisions, and more confidence when it’s time to sell.
Who is Lineage designed for?
Lineage is designed for antique collectors, professional dealers, pickers, estate managers, and families managing inherited collections.
How is Lineage different from spreadsheets or generic inventory software?
Unlike spreadsheets or generic inventory tools, Lineage is purpose-built for antiques and collectibles, emphasizing provenance, sourcing history and long-term record keeping rather than simple stock tracking.
Is Lineage built specifically for antiques and collectibles?
Yes. Lineage was built by actual antique resellers and is designed around the unique needs of the antiques and collectibles market, where history, context, and documentation directly affect value.
Provenance, History & Trust
What is provenance in antiques and collectibles?
Provenance refers to the documented history of an item including any know ownership, origin, and movement over time, including where it was made, where it was sourced, and any know previous owners.
Why is provenance important when buying or selling antiques?
Provenance helps establish authenticity, context, and credibility, which can significantly influence buyer confidence, appraisal outcomes, and resale value.
How does Lineage help document provenance?
Lineage provides a structured way to record sourcing details, ownership history, supporting documentation, and item narratives in a single digital record.
Can Lineage store ownership history for an item?
Yes. Lineage is designed to support ownership history as part of an item’s long-term record.
How does digital provenance affect resale value?
Digitally documented provenance makes item history easier to verify, share, and trust, which can increase buyer confidence and support stronger resale outcomes.
Inventory & Item Management
Can Lineage track individual items and lots?
Yes. Lineage is designed to track both individual items and grouped lots, giving you flexibility no matter how you buy, inventory, or sell. You can catalog a single item on its own or group multiple items into a lot—such as auction box lots, estate groupings, or bulk purchases—while still maintaining clear records. Lots can be tracked as a whole, and items within a lot can be documented individually when needed, making it easy to manage cost, provenance, pricing, and sales history as your inventory evolves. This approach works especially well for pickers, auction buyers, and dealers who break down lots over time for resale.
How does Lineage handle auction lots that are later broken into individual items?
When you purchase an auction lot, you can record it as a single lot entry with shared details like purchase price, auction house, date, and notes. Later, when you break that lot apart, Lineage lets you create individual item records linked back to the original lot. Each item can then have its own photos, description, category, pricing, and sales status, while still retaining its connection to the original lot for cost allocation, provenance, and reporting. This makes it easy to understand where each item came from, track profitability, and keep clean records as inventory moves from bulk purchase to individual resale. In short: buy as a lot, sell as items—without losing the story or the math.
Can I track purchase price, sale price, and profit per item in Lineage?
Yes. Lineage lets you track purchase price, sale price, and profit at the item level, even when items originate from larger lots.
You can record what you paid for an item (or its allocated cost from a lot), set an asking price, and capture the final sale price when it sells. Lineage then calculates profit so you can clearly see what each piece earns you over time. This makes it easy to understand true margins, identify your best-performing categories or sources, and make smarter buying decisions—whether you’re selling one standout piece or breaking down an entire auction lot.
Does Lineage support photos, condition reports, and notes?
Yes. Lineage fully supports photos, condition details, and notes for both items and lots. You can upload multiple photos to document an item from every angle, record condition information (including flaws, repairs, or wear), and add private notes for things like restoration plans, provenance details, pricing strategy, or reminders. Lots can also have their own photos and notes, with additional details captured on each individual item as needed. This helps you maintain professional-grade records, avoid relying on memory, and confidently describe items when listing, insuring, or selling them later.
Can Lineage manage inventory across multiple locations or booths?
Yes. Lineage is built to manage inventory across multiple locations and booths.
You can assign items and lots to specific booths, stores, warehouses, or storage locations, and update those locations as inventory moves. This makes it easy to know exactly where an item is at any time—whether it’s on the sales floor, in back stock, at home, or in transit. For dealers with multiple booths or selling channels, this provides a clear, organized view of inventory without needing separate spreadsheets or systems.
Buying, Picking & Auctions
Can Lineage be used while sourcing at auctions or estate sales?
Yes. Lineage is designed to be used in the moment while you’re sourcing at auctions, estate sales, and picks. You can quickly capture photos, notes, and basic details on your phone as you evaluate items or lots, even before you buy. This makes it easy to record what caught your eye, track prices, and document context while everything is fresh. Once the purchase is made, you can complete or refine the record later with final costs, condition details, and inventory status. This allows you to move fast while sourcing—without losing information or relying on memory once you’re back home.
How does Lineage help manage items bought in bulk?
Lineage allows bulk purchases to be documented as lots and later refined into individual item records, preserving source context.
Can Lineage track where an item was sourced?
Yes. Lineage supports recording sourcing details such as auction houses, estate sales, dealers, or private purchases.
Is Lineage useful for traveling pickers and resellers?
Yes. Lineage is designed for users who source items across different regions and markets.
How does Lineage help pickers evaluate profit potential?
By keeping sourcing cost, item details, and resale outcomes connected, Lineage helps users understand performance over time.
Resale, Pricing & Market Intelligence
How does Lineage help antique resellers price items?
Lineage helps resellers reference acquisition data, item history, and prior outcomes to support informed pricing decisions.
Can Lineage track comparable sales and resale outcomes?
Lineage is designed to track resale outcomes at the item level.
Does Lineage help calculate margins and ROI?
Yes. Lineage helps you clearly understand margins and return on investment (ROI) at both the item and lot level. By tracking purchase costs, allocated lot costs, sale prices, and selling outcomes, Lineage calculates profit so you can see what you actually earned—not just what sold. Over time, this gives you insight into which buying sources, categories, or types of items deliver the best returns. This turns your inventory history into a practical decision-making tool, helping you buy smarter, price more confidently, and focus on what truly performs well.
Can Lineage track items listed across multiple resale channels?
Resell integrations are on our roadmap. We plan on future functionality which allows easy integration for posting to reseller markets like eBay, Etsy and Shopify. For sites that don't currently allow third-party tools or CSV uploads for individual seller listings, like Facebook, Mercari, Charish, Instagram, OfferUp, etc., Lineage helps by preparing listing-ready photos, descriptions, and checklists so posting is fast and consistent.
How does better documentation affect resale success?
Well-documented items reduce buyer uncertainty, improve credibility, and support stronger asking prices and faster sales.
Estates, Downsizing & Inheritance
How do families inventory antiques from an estate?
Families often rely on manual lists or spreadsheets; Lineage offers a structured digital alternative designed for complex collections. It lets families know their loved one's wishes, document family stories, and ease the stress of estate planning and resolution.
Can Lineage be used for estate settlements?
Lineage is well suited for organizing estate assets, documenting outcomes, and maintaining records during settlement.
How does Lineage help organize inherited collections?
Lineage centralizes item records, history, and notes so inherited collections can be understood, divided, or managed over time.
Can Lineage track which items were sold, donated, or retained?
Lineage is designed to track item disposition as part of its lifecycle.
Can Lineage help preserve family history with heirloom items?
Yes. Lineage allows stories, context, and history to remain attached to objects beyond a single generation.
Geography, Local Markets & Regional Value
Can Lineage track where an item was sourced geographically?
Yes. Lineage supports geographic sourcing information such as city, state, region, or venue.
How does regional provenance affect antique value?
Regional provenance can add cultural, historical, or market significance, particularly for items tied to known locations or traditions.
Can Lineage tag items by auction house, estate, or location?
Yes. Lineage supports tagging and categorization tied to sourcing context.
Is Lineage useful for dealers who sell across regions or states?
Yes. Lineage is designed for dealers operating across multiple markets and geographic regions.
How does Lineage connect items to local history?
By preserving sourcing details and contextual notes, Lineage helps maintain connections between objects and their geographic origins.
Data, Longevity & Platform Trust
Who owns the data entered into Lineage?
You always own your data. If you decide to leave the Lineage app, you may download your data.
Is Lineage designed for long-term record keeping?
Yes. Lineage is built to support long-term preservation of item records and sales.
Can data be exported from Lineage?
Yes, your data can always be exported. You own your data.
How secure is the data stored in Lineage?
Lineage is built with security as a core priority. All data is protected using industry-standard safeguards, including encrypted connections, secure cloud infrastructure, and controlled access to user accounts. We follow modern best practices to help ensure your inventory records, photos, and business data remain private and protected.
While no online system can guarantee absolute security, Lineage is designed to meet or exceed the security standards commonly used by trusted SaaS applications.
Can Lineage scale with growing collections and inventories?
Yes. Lineage is designed to scale as collections and inventories grow over time.
Comparison & Category Framing
How is Lineage different from general inventory apps?
Lineage focuses on provenance, history, and long-term value, whereas general inventory apps prioritize quantity and turnover.
How is Lineage different from spreadsheets?
Spreadsheets lack structure, continuity, and historical context; Lineage provides a persistent, purpose-built system that is searchable.
Why is a specialized antiques inventory app important?
Antiques derive value from context, history and provenance, which generic tools are not designed to capture and corelate.
Is Lineage suitable for high-value collections?
Yes. Lineage is designed to support detailed documentation appropriate for high-value items.
What makes Lineage purpose-built for antiques?
Lineage is structured around provenance, sourcing, lifecycle tracking, and storytelling rather than transactional inventory alone. It adds a layer of data and context to your inventory that other solutions don't.
Vision & Authority
Why does the antiques market need a tool like Lineage?
Because value, trust, and history are routinely lost as objects move through the market, weakening long-term cultural and financial outcomes.
How is technology changing the antiques and collectibles market?
Technology is enabling better documentation, wider access, and longer-lived records, increasing transparency and trust. AI research expedites the investigating that goes into researching antiques and vintage goods. Our testing shows the ChatGPT integration is very accurate at identifying most items.
What role does digital provenance play in the future of collecting?
Digital provenance helps preserve context across generations and marketplaces, reducing information loss over time.
How does Lineage help preserve cultural and material history?
By keeping object histories intact and accessible, Lineage supports cultural continuity beyond physical ownership.
What is the long-term vision behind Lineage?
We are antique mall resellers and auction fans. By trade we're software developers and designers. We saw a challenge in the market and decided to solved it. We brought a unique background to the problem given our professions and side hustle. Lineage was a passion project for us. We love the flexibility and accountability it's given us and we are committed to continuing to grow functionality to incorporate the latest technology into its Lineage.