Collector Profile Improvments

It's high time we fixed our confusing profile page design. The previous concept was that a collector's own profile page is the same as others see it. So when you viewed it your own collector profile on Colnect, it looked the same as when other collectors viewed it. The biggest problem with that concept was that it's not what most people are used to on social networks today. So to make the long story short here are the important changes done to a person's own profile page.

• Private custom lists will be displayed when you view your own collector profile page.
• Clicking your profile picture or "Personal Page" header goes to "My Account" page where these can be changed.
• Added "My Lists" header which will go to "My Lists" page.
• Added "My Watchlist" to actions available under your picture. The "Send Private Message" is removed as you probably won't be sending messages to yourself ;)

Mind that others will see your collector profile page the same way they did before.

Future plans? Yes, many. Trying to put on more features and making Colnect easier to use for all your collecting needs. Your suggestions are welcome on our suggestions forum.

Happy collecting :)

Colnect's Servers Upgrade - Collectors Can Now Collect and Connect FASTER

We're very happy to announce that we've finished upgrading Colnect's servers and you will now be able to enjoy a MUCH FASTER Colnect.




For too long Colnect has been providing a rather slow service, especially when doing resource-consuming actions such as matching their personal lists with those of other collectors using our unique auto-matching feature. When many collectors were doing such actions, our former servers were getting too overloaded and the entire site started responding slowly. Hopefully, with the new servers, these days are gone.

Happy collecting :)

Over 100,001 Collectors Visited Colnect Last Month

Colnect's getting a bit of site traffic as over 100,001 collectors paid our website a visit last month. November is definitely a busy month for our website, isn't it? This is about almost around 30% increase in web traffic since we last announced 80,000 visitors last August. We are glad about this and we're only hoping for even more in the coming months. We will be upgrading our servers in the next days to better support that last growth.

We would like to commend everyone's efforts for spreading the news and letting their friends know about Colnect. This could never be possible without your contributions. As they say, little efforts when combined can contribute a lot to a big success. With our site's easy interface, connecting to collectors is just a click away.

While you're here, let us tell you what's in store for you. There are growing amounts of collectibles in each of our free catalogs. Choose among a variety of stamps, bank notes, coins, transportation tickets, hotel key cards, bottle caps, phone cards, tea bags, and bank cards. If you made your way to our website, then you are welcomed to join our community. Joining is easy by our site integration with Facebook. Visit our main website for this easy sign-up process.

17,171 Collectors Collect and Connect on Colnect

It wasn't that long since we announced 15,151 collectors on Colnect. As time passes by, more and more people flock on Colnect to join the community. It is such an achievement as more members join each month. Today we're so glad to announce that there are 17,171 collectors on Colnect. With this population increase in members, there is a plenty of room to grow on Colnect. We believe that more members on site, more collectibles in store for swapping or trading. There's really a reason to be merry. :)



Joining Colnect is free. With improvements each month and the integration of Facebook with Colnect, it's so much easier to register. You do not have to fill out lengthy registration forms which will require you around a couple of minutes to complete. In just a number of clicks, you can be an official member of the growing collectors community.

Invite more collectors to join. If you have friends on Facebook who love collecting, why don't you tell them about Colnect? Growing people could only mean growing items in our free catalogs. There's more! Connecting to people who are not native English speakers isn't a hassle on Colnect. With 53 languages to choose from, it's always a convenient way of connecting and collecting.

Let us all look forward to a bigger community for the months to come. Happy collecting :)

4,444 Gift Cards on Free Catalog for Collectors by Collectors

Time flies fast and so our collectibles in our catalogs. We're proud to announce that we now have passed 4,444 gift cards on our gift card catalog. This is more than a hundred percent estimated increase in gift cards this month since we last announced it in July boasting 2,222. We would like to thank the commendable work of our gift card catalog coordinator Claude Martin [Claude] who has exerted extensive efforts of managing the catalog over the past few months.



As you may have noticed, the collectibles in store for you are growing. Grab your wish list and have your pick among the gift cards and get those that you wish to have on our free catalog. Check the new ones being added on the gift card catalog. You never know what you are missing unless you check the latest additions.

Tell everyone about this. Share this good news to your friends and let them know the wonderful experience you have with Colnect, your first stop for collecting needs. :)

Collectors Flock to Colnect - 80,008+ People Visited Colnect in August

We're proud to announce that over 80,008 site visitors have gone through Colnect for the whole month of August. This is about 30% increase of the total number of visitors from last month. This proves that the popularity of Colnect is on a progression. We are hoping and anticipating for more visitors to flock in Colnect. We're irreversibly moving on a positive trail and getting better each month.

This increase could be attributed to Colnect's faster service and more collectibles available in the catalogs. The integration of Colnect with Facebook aided a lot as well for this mark. A number of people connected by social media found their way to Colnect through this conjugation. The huge stride of growth of visitors is a reward and a motivation to all of us.

Our endless gratitude goes to each of you who refers Colnect and spreads the word to your many peers in the collection industry. Through your outstanding support, there's nowhere to course but forward.

Internationalization Snapshot - Collectors from All Around the World Using Colnect in 50 Languages

Colnect is a huge site dedicated to all collectors around the world. With this trend involving many people of different nationalities and origin, Colnect has made an array of national languages spoken and used all throughout the globe readily available to all its collectors. The availability of such feature has given way for non-English speaking collectors to switch to foreign versions of Colnect. This created a tie that binds all people in Colnect who do not have a common language of communication.



The internationalization of the website contributed greatly to the access of a common interface enabling collectors to do transactions smoothly. Through this feature, swapping can be done without the hassle of communication barriers such as language differences. We commend the commitment and dedication of our translations manager Jens Bruno Wittek who has done an exceptional job to this internationalization.

Through a unified goal and purpose, Colnect continuously receives a hand from its people from different countries. Our immense gratitude goes to these volunteers who are contributing non-stop to make Colnect a better place for collectors.

14,141 Collectors Connect and Collect with Colnect

Colnect reached a new milestone - a huge union of collectors now 14,141! Colnect is, with no doubt, an inevitable fever around the planet. Join the craze of collecting and connecting only with Colnect. We announced last July about having 13,131 collectors. We've grown a thousand more collectors in just a month time. Colnect is looking forward to grow a bigger number of collectors. Together, we'll reach higher milestones.



By reaching this mark, swapping and trading your collections are more fun. More collectors joining means more collectibles available. We are certain that we will grow bigger fractions in the months to come. Are you a collector? This is your chance to try and experience Colnect. Know why more and more people join our community.

Not a member? Click here to sign up.

With Colnect's never ending promise to bring you only the best service, we're proud to say that this will not be possible without you, our precious collectors. Tell your friends to collect and connect with us. Only from your best collections' manager, Colnect. :)

Collectors Welcomed To Presenting Themselves and Their Collections With Videos

Collectors from all around the world present their collection on Colnect. Now, a short video may easily be added to a collector's profile. In this short video the collector can talk a bit about herself and her collection. The video is available to all using a green PLAY button next to the collector's profile picture. See for example Colnect's founder video here.



This new feature is available through an integration with a cool new start up company named VanityVid. Colnect is one of the first platforms which will be implementing their fine product.

Collectors Collect and Connect on Colnect - Now With Over 13,131 Members

Collectors from all around the world manage their personal collections and swap with other collectors using Colnect's personal collection management and unique Auto-Matching feature.


Continuing the Colnect tradition of publishing statistics in numbers that are more fun to remember rather than rounded, we're happy to report that there are now more than 13,131 collectors on Colnect. This is nearly a 20% growth during the last three months since we last announced 11,111 collectors on Colnect. We deeply apologize for not announcing when we passed the 12,345 collectors mark but we'll try to do a big one when Colnect surpassed the 123,456 members :)

If you're a collector and haven't yet checked out Colnect, you're most welcomed to join our community and enjoy our unique free services. Happy collecting :)

Cheaters / Thieves - Swapping Tips

Colnect does its best to try and prevent cheaters and thieves from abusing Colnect members. Although most swaps are good for both sides, there are some cheaters out there. The following tips may help you avoid some common scams:

Swapping tips

* If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
* A collector with a few or no positive ratings should always send items first. If you're a new member, your best bet is to swap with members who have many positive ratings. After sending a package to a collector, you may give a neutral rating and change it to positive once you receive your package. This will help in preventing mass-cheats. See: Ratings
* Always use registered packages and keep the receipt. If you didn't register the package, it's your responsibility.
* Be very suspicious if the collector's real name or other details are different on Colnect and on the mailing address.
* Alert us about any suspicious offer you receive. This will help keeping other members protected.


For more information, check the Collector Warnings and Ratings Forum.

Recent Warning

The following person has opened numerous accounts on Colnect and got many negative ratings on all of them. If any collector from Serbia would like to report this person to the local police, please do. Here are some of the details used:

Dejan Kostic (or Marina Kostic)
Voje Micica 81
Bratmilovce
16000 Leskovac
Serbia

or

Mirjana Rajkovic
Radnicka 5 / 28
16000 Leskovac
Serbia

Please read more information about this person here

Recommend Collectors and Collectibles on Colnect to Your FaceBook Friends and WIN Prizes!

Who are the collectors you recommend on Colnect?
Which are the collectible items you recommend on Colnect?

If you have a FaceBook account, you can now easily recommend your favorite collectors and collectible items from Colnect to your FaceBook friends. To see the prizes you can win check out Colnect's news page.

Here's how to recommend a collector:


and how to recommend an item from Colnect's huge catalogs:


Happy recommending :)

Collectors Gain From Colnect and WorthPoint Partnership

We're happy to announce a new partnership between Colnect and Worthpoint.

WorthPoint is the place to help you discover your hidden wealth. WorthPoint can make you money in any financial climate. Value, sell and acquire with precision, through:
* Extensive valuation data & expert advice
* Networking with and promotion to trading partners
* Access to the largest auction houses & other trading venues
* Inventory from hundreds of antique dealers
* A collecting community 350,000-strong and growing every day

Collectors from both Colnect and Worthpoint can now benefit from special offers.

コレクトしてコネクトする時、コルネクとするのさ

Colnect Collectors Community promotional video with Japanese audio.



牛(cow)：あー、またやっちまったよ。
かえる(frog)：どうしんだい？

牛：またこのコインだよ。
かえる：いいコインじゃないか。

牛：そうだけど、もう僕のコレクションにあるやつなんだよ。
かえる：あら？

牛：それにもうこの持ってるコインのために他のいいやつをあげちゃったんだよ。
かえる：なんでさ？

牛：だってさぁ、もう持ってるってことを忘れちゃってたんだよ。親切なコレクターさんが交換リストを送ってきてくれてさ。それで自分のカタログを調べてたんだけど、あんまり長いから間違えちゃったんだよ。
かえる：ああ、それは君がコルネクトをやってないからだね。

牛：コレクトしてるよ！コイン収集さ。
かえる：コレクトはしてても、コルネクトしてないってことさ。

牛：コルネクトって何？
かえる：僕のテレフォンカードコレクションの管理のために使ってるいいウェブサイトだよ。

牛：そういえばかなりたくさん持ってるよね。
かえる：そうそう。５３１２個あるんだよ。

牛：全部数えてるの？
かえる：そうじゃないさ。世界一大きなテレフォンカードカタログがそのサイトにあってね、僕は自分の持ってるカードをそこでマークしてるのさ。それから僕が欲しいと思ってるカードや交換してもいいカードもマークしてある。それでコルネクとサイトは自動的に他の人のコレクションとマッチさせて、トレードしやすくしてくれてるのさ。

牛：いいね。いくらかかるの？
かえる：無料だよ。コインもあるし。カタログは参加者が作ってるんだ。


牛：じゃあ君がカタログを今作ってるのかい？
かえる：そうじゃなくてさ。ウィキペデアと同じ原理さ。

牛：へ？
かえる：僕が自主的にやってる。

牛：なんで？
かえる：このサイトが他の人は僕のことも助けてくれてるからね。

牛：君だけだろう？
かえる：すでにもう世界各国から１００人以上のボランティアが参加してるんだよ。

牛：へー。この世界のみんなは英語ができるみたいだね。
かえる：コルネットのコレクターのほとんどは英語を使わないよ。３５カ国語で利用可能だからね。

牛：コルネクとって言ったっけ？
かえる：そう。コレクトしてコネクトする時、コルネクとするのさ。

牛：誰とコネクトするの？
かえる：世界中とさ。

牛：気づいたんだけど。
かえる：何？

牛：僕らもコレクティブルなんだよね。
かえる：うん。そうだね。

牛：ってことは僕らもコルネクと上で取引されるってこと？
かえる：そうだけど、、、それって変な感じだな。

Frognector's Visit in TheMarker's ComVention 2010 - First Part

Frognector has decided to share with us his impressions of the Internet convention he has visited today. @Frognector is @Colnect's superstar frog and has been attracting collectors to Colnect for the last year.

Dear fellow frogs and humans (especially collectors as the rest are simply less interesting...), please bear with me as this is my first post outside the swamp where I usually pass my time. Your comments are welcomed here and will motivate me to post more pictures.

This year's ComVention was held in a much scarier place than last year. A dinosaur roared at me and although he initially scared me, he actually just wanted to compliment my green outfit.



As I'm against war, I jumped a green soldier that was running amok in the convention and told him he definitely should collect militaria instead of actually firing it.



Some of the geeks around didn't know me and looked at me pretty oddly. Luckily, this guy had a green shirt so we had a good connection.



But not every goof with a green garment is that friendly. I was almost eaten alive.



Luckily I was saved by a guy with a mask.



And went on to talk about Israeli Palestinian business with a red head.




Using Ouriel's new iPad, I explained to her Colnect has long been available in both Arabic and Hebrew, as well as 48 more languages.



She was quite impressed and...

to be continued

If you want to see the second part you'll have to comment here.

11111 Collectors Collect and Connect on Colnect

Collectors from all around the world manage their personal collections and swap with other collectors using Colnect's personal collection management and unique Auto-Matching feature.



Not long ago we announced there more than ten thousand collectors have already become members of Colnect and today we're happy to announce there are over 11111 collectors on Colnect. There has been a record growth on March and we hope to soon break that record. Technical difficulties rose as a result of the growth and we've been working very hard to optimize Colnect and upgrade our servers to better cater for our collectors. Meanwhile, our free stamp catalog has been growing rapidly and recently passed the 100,000 stamps marker.

If you're a collector and haven't yet checked out Colnect, you're most welcomed to join our community and enjoy our unique free services. Happy collecting :)

Hotel Key Cards Catalog Presents Over 5,000 Cards

Collecting hotel key cards? Collectors from around the world have created and maintain a unique catalog of hotel key cards. The catalog now has over 5,000 hotel key cards, after over 800 cards have been added during the last month.
Colnect's hotel key cards catalog is created in a wiki-fashion by collectors. Their efforts are coordinated by Ignacio F López Vico [iflvico] from Spain. He is one of Colnect's most important team members, being also responsible for Colnect's phone cards category.

Collectors from around the world can now use this catalog (as well as other Colnect catalogs available for other categories) to manage their own person collection. New categories will soon be added to Colnect so stay tuned.

Collectors Joining Colnect on March - a New Record

March has shown record growth to Colnect's collectors base. Many collectors still use Colnect without registering and enjoy the free catalogs offered on the site. Over 60,000 people have visited Colnect on March. However, to manage their personal collection with Colnect, collectors have to register Colnect. This March, as Colnect passed the 10,000 members milestone, a record growth of 11% (1,033 new collectors) was achieved.

We extend our warm welcome to all new members of Colnect. Colnect is built by our members and the more collectors join, the better our catalogs will get.

10,000 Collectors Collect and Connect on Colnect

Colnect has achieved probably its most prestigious milestone to date, as we now have 10,000 registered collectors from all over the world! This accomplishment was greatly accelerated by a record number of new collector sign-ups over the past couple of months, a trend that surely indicates Colnect is on the verge of becoming one of the world's most popular collecting sites. Perhaps even more impressively, 109 countries spanning every continent are now represented by at least one active Colnect collector. As our international reach expands, we can only except even more collectors to discover the benefits of using Colnect to collect and connect with fellow collectors from all around the globe.




While all this is obviously great news for the site, individual collectors (like YOU) stand to benefit most from Colnect's rapid development. More collectors means more possible swap partners as well as a greater number of potential contributors to Colnect. This is a crucial point, since Colnect's catalogs are created and managed entirely in a wiki-like fashion, meaning the catalogs can only be as complete as the resources of our collectors. In addition, having an incredibly diverse membership on Colnect will open up many more opportunities for new collectible categories, with several of these already in the planning or development phase. As always, feel free to contact us if you would like to assist Colnect with language translations, adding new items to the catalogs, or editing the current catalog data.

Facebook: Celebrate Your Birthday Every Day

Since Facebook's inception and rapid ascent to global prominence, many users have doubtlessly experimented with ways to play practical jokes on their friends or to get a certain message across, depending on their reasons for using the social networking site. One simple yet highly amusing method has been for a user to change their birthday periodically in order to repeatedly generate the massive flood of greetings left on their walls from well-meaning "friends". All that is required to pull this off is a simple profile modification and a sufficient number of gullable and/or forgetful friends. Due to Facebook automatically displaying birthday notifications on every friend's homepage, this can also be a highly effective way to generate clicks on your profile and attract attention, even if some people don't write on your wall or actually see through your little ruse.

To test out this practice, founder of Colnect conducted a small experiment whereby he and an associate entered a fake "Facebook birthday" into their profiles on two separate occasions within a 4-5 week period. One interesting stat he wished to uncover was how many "friends" would obliviously send him birthday greetings on both days. As he observed, his Facebook friends list is a particularly fascinating test group, since it consists of people he has fairly close personal relationships with and those who are entirely virtual connections made to promote his collectors web-site. In the end, he found the results of his skullduggery both humourous and befuddling.



On his original fake birthday, he received a total of 63 birthday wishes on his Facebook Wall and Inbox, while his associate's profile accepted 47 such misplaced greetings only a couple of days following his non-existent celebrations. Perhaps most interesting is that he also received three "Happy Birthday" phone calls from real world friends who believed the information on Facebook, despite having attended his real birthday celebrations only six months earlier. "I didn't realize how forgettable my party was," the chairman of the collectibles web-site quipped. In addition, his 2nd fraudulent Facebook birthday generated 62 well wishes, including 26 repeat offenders from the first day barely one month prior, while the second time around his associate's profile received 57 greetings and 17 duplicate wishers from before.

Although the direct ramifications of this may be trivial, it does perhaps illustrate a tendency of users to automatically accept information displayed on Facebook as absolute fact, even when contrary evidence is readily available (in the cases of those who wished the same person "Happy Birthday" twice within a matter of weeks and his real world birthday party attendees). Savvy Facebook users and spammers could easily utilize this fact to manipulate others for far more cynical purposes. It also brings up the question as to why Facebook lets its members change their birthday an infinite number of times, given that by definition it's a static piece of information. While it's understandable that someone could lie or mistakenly enter an incorrect birthday when they first registered and wish to correct this, allowing users to alter their birthday on multiple occasions seems to be opening the door to such blatant shenanigans.

So what's your opinion on this? Should FaceBook limit the ability to modify one's birthday?