Online Resources: All Things "Colnect"

What is the long term Colnect business model?

Is it to sale premium subscriptions The current rate is $100 per year. They do have ads for additional revenue for the members without premium membership.

A little Colnect Update

the work on transitioning from the Special Variant to the Minor Variant system continues, and we are about 1/5 of the way through the process - only around 43K listings left. Hoping that by end of 2023 we can have the process finished

We have also begun a major enhancement for collectors of Israel by adding separate listings for tab and non-tab versions of issues. Until now almost all listings were for tab versions only, mainly because that is how Michel lists them (they provide no price listing guidance for non-tab items) and as most early contributors to Colnect were Michel-based that is what was added. Of course the other three of the big 4 DO provide pricing for both tab and non-tab versions, so the decision has been made to have both versions separately listed to aid both in inventory maintenance and in trade/selling. Will take some time to get all the issues retrofitted, but I have completed the issues from 1948 to 1952, which is where the greatest valuation differential exists between tab and non-tab issues.

Colnect now closing on 1.3 million separate lisitings within the stamps category, and we keep adding more listings every week (still average 7500-10000 new listings each month, from variants on classic issues found only in specialized catalogues to the latest new issues for 2023 from around the world.

Anyone who wants to check out what Colnect is all about, come visit! Colnect Stamp Catalogue

djcmh, in order to do this do I have to create new sales listings or can I combine previously created single sales listings into one lot?

I must be obtuse , thick , boneheaded, dinosaur.  somehow I keep seeing these references to Colnect. 

I joined a year ago but I still can't figure out how to use it and what it can do for me apart from confuse and irritate 

Oh my! I use Colnect so much that I can’t imagine not having it now. What aspects do you find confusing? Maybe I could help.

EDIT - maybe post your questions in a Colnect thread and I’ll do my best to answer.

Yes, you are quite right, JeffS.... so I have moved the last few posts from the Stamp ID thread here to the Colnect thread.

Also tagging Terri (philatelia) and Alex (vikingeck) for info.

Clearly, Colnect offers some advantages to those who take the time to learn how to use it.  Personally, I find it much harder to navigate than TSF, for example.  But I also know that there are certain types of sites that are harder for me than others.  Facebook is a good example, as I still get lost on there sometimes, too.

Thanks for your kind offer, Terri.  At some point, I will probably take you up on it, but I don't have time at the moment.

First - remember that Colnect is a WIKI - knowledge entered by volunteers. The more people that collect an area, the more in depth the info. The site is constantly growing in depth. I’m learning more about the site all the time myself. It’s a powerful database. 

Ah I can answer one question. The country lists have sub areas grouped under major areas. This was done so that the list is shorter and associated areas are all in one place. To see all the subcategories you need to click the down arrow to the right. As I opened up those menus now there is an up arrow on the right

In regards to your first comment, since Colnect is a wiki all content comes from the community itself, including images. Given that forgeries/repronts are more common than originals, it is not surprising that some of the images contributed might indeed be forgeries/reprints at present

If the images for Samoa are of forgeries/reprints then we will need new images of the actual stamps to replace the images.

At the bottom of each main information page for each stamp is an Improve our Catalogue dialogue box for sending suggestions to correct data. This includes an add image function where correct legitimate copies of the Samoa stamps can be submitted for an editor to use as replacement image.

Alternatively if you want to send me the images directly, I can have the correct images added to replace images of the forgeries.

Your second comment has been answered by others.

Agreed, while we try to ensure that all images are legitimate, the sheer number of forgeries and reprints of the classical era mean that inevitably some will likely be used as images. When noted by users we can replace the image with a legitimate one if the contributor can provide it, but in the end none of the editors at Colnect are professional expertizers.

Bear in mind that published print catalogues as well have occasionally used images of forgeries/reprints for their listings as well, so it can happen to even the most prestigious names in philately.

One plan for the future is to begin development of resources to identify forgeries using the wiki information pages for a postal administration. But this would be a long term project.

I can imagine some of its uses though they don’t serve me and Yes michael my 2023 Stanley Gibbons 1840-1970 covers 90% of all I need to know and has tons more accurate info than Colnect can ever achieve. 

The potential demise of Gibbons will not come as a result of collectors not buying catalogues and switching to online alternatives, but rather from the sheer incompetence of the management of Gibbons failing to focus their business on providing collectors the products and services they wish, and not making pie-in-the-sky promises of financial returns by investing in "premium" items to the richest 1% of society who don't collect as a hobby, or selling microshare ownership of the world's rarest stamp (a large percentage of which remains unsubscribed)

Gibbons' decades long decline to the near bankruptcy it faces today is solely the fault of the corporate hacks who long ago placed shareholder value far ahead of the needs of their customer base.

Not sure I understand what you are sugesting???

I was looking for an image of Austria Scott P1 on Colnect.  The listing only has a P1a.  The image by the way seems more green than blue. I have a poor image but it i blue.

I noticed it said variants so I clicked the link and do not see any variants. It is just the same listing. There is tex in the description that mentions types,. It is not clear which type reflects the image. 

Newspaper stamps 1851/56
Catalog codes:
Michel AT 6I
Stamp Number AT P1a
Yvert et Tellier AT J1
Stanley Gibbons AT N11
ANK AT 6Iaa
Unificato AT G1I
Variants:
Click to see variants

My comment was that it states variants and has a link but see no variants. Is it just a placeholder for variants in the future.