| URL | http://www.colnect.com/ |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | yes |
| Type of site | Online collectables catalogs and personal collection management |
| Registration | Free registration is optional |
| Available language(s) | 50 languages claimed as supported |
| Owner | Colnect, private |
| Created by | Amir Wald |
| Launched | 28th of April, 2002 |
| Current status | Active |
Colnect Collectors Club Community, is a website containing wiki-like collectables catalogs. It allows collectors to manage their personal collection using these catalogs and automatically match their swap/wish-lists with those of other collectors. Colnect's phone cards catalog is the biggest in the world [1][2].
Contents |
Colnect was founded in 2002 as Islands Phonecards Database with the aim to create a catalog of all phonecards. Since autumn 2008, stamps and coins are supported in addition to phone cards. In the mean time, 14 types of collectables are represented. Here is an overview:
| Collectable | Added on | Number of items | Link to catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phonecards | April 2002 | 323,000 | Phonecard catalog |
| Stamps | September 2008 | 207,000 | Stamp catalog |
| Coins | September 2008 | 27,000 | Coin catalog |
| Banknotes | May 2009 | 34,500 | Banknote catalog |
| Bottle caps | May 2009 | 13,000 | Bottle cap catalog |
| Tea bags | August 2009 | 14,000 | Tea bag catalog |
| Bank cards | November 2009 | 4,500 | Bank card catalog |
| Transportation tickets | November 2009 | 4,500 | Transportation ticket catalog |
| Hotel key cards | November 2009 | 15,500 | Hotel key card catalog |
| Postcards | December 2009 | 10,000 | Postcard catalog |
| Gift cards | June 2010 | 13,750 | Gift card catalog |
| Casino cards | June 2010 | 700 | Casino card catalog |
| Beer Coasters | January 2011 | 20,000 | Beer Coasters catalog |
| Sugar Packets | November 2011 | To be introduced | [Sugar Packets catalog] |
(updated: 18 November 2011)
The collectables catalogs on Colnect are created by collectors using the site. New items are added by contributors and verified by volunteering editors. Though any collector may add their comments on a catalog item, actual changes are done only by site-trusted editors. All users can see the catalog information (issue dates, print runs, pictures, etc.). Registered users can additionally manage their personal collection by marking each item as belonging to their collection, swap list or wish list while browsing through the catalogs. These users automatically can match their swap list with a wish list of another user and vice versa.[3] Users can purchase a membership with Premium features. Contributors get it for free.
The site reports it caters for collectors from 113[4] countries. Lots of them are helping the site voluntary including the translators who translated Colnect into 50 languages. Still, the result may be so poor as to be barely understandable[5].
On April 25, 2009 Colnect was announced as the winner in the European Startup 2.0 competition, out of about 200 competing companies and 11 finalists [6][7].
On December 31, 2009 Colnect was a close runner up on the TechAviv Peer Awards startup companies competition. It has lost to 5min by a single vote[8][9].
As exporting user collection data is currently only “planned”[10], Colnect is a closed system where users, although they provide the site's contents, cannot make free use of their data.