Luftwaffe Collection
 

Dear all,

Today, I would like to present you a new concept that I and some friends developed exclusively for collectors: swapey! (administrator: please don't delete this thread. swapey is completely free of charge and this is no commercial. It is a free tool for Luftwaffe collectors).


swapey is a free portal that enables its members to exhibit their own collections in their own virtual museum, and thus present them to a global audience. Members get the opportunity to access a worldwide network of likeminded collectors. Discover new treasures every day, expand your global collector network and discuss interesting topics with other swapey members.

MUSEUM
You can show your collection in 4 different museum halls:

(1) Exhibition-Hall: for items you only want to show to other collectors, but not trade or sell
(2) Swap-Market-Hall: for items you would like to trade against other interesting items
(3) Research-Hall: for items you would like to learn more about from other collectors
(4) Private-Hall: for items you only want to show your friends but nobody else

FORUM
Every item has its own mini discussion forum attached to it. At the moment the forum allows only text, but in the upcoming release it will also be possible to add photos and other files.

RATING
You can rate items with 1-5 stars. The purpose of this feature is to separate very rare and interesting items from more common items (which are of course also wellcome on swapey). Members can then search for items with the highest number of stars.

DEMO
A short demo explains the concept to you (you need flash-player for it): DEMO

TESTING
After 3 weeks of testing the software we finally go online today! That said, it might still happen that some errors occur. In this case, we would be very happy if you contact us via info@swapey.com so that we can improve as quickly as possible.

COMMUNITY
Also, since we go online only today, there are just a few dozen items in the swapey museum yet. In order that swapey becomes a success for all collectors we depend on you. With every item you upload you make swapey more interesting for other members and vice versa. Please share your collection and passion!

The success of swapey is based on the size of the community that actively uses swapey. For this reason you, as a member, will also benefit from every new member. You can help by recommending swapey to your friends.

CATEGORIES
We start with Militaria. In the future, you can access the militaria category directly via www.swapey.com/militaria so that you don’t see items in other categories. At the moment this feature doesn’t work yet, but will do so very soon.

CONTENT
The publication of contents that violate legal regulations, third-party rights, or moral standards is prohibited. Therefore, please don’t post photos that show swastikas or at least cover the swastikas on these photos. More: Terms of use

QUESTIONS
If you have any questions, remarks or suggestions please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@swapey.com

We do hope that we can soon welcome you at swapey and that you get into touch with many new collectors and that you may even find a thrilling item for your own collection at swapey! Welcome to swapey!

Roger Gaemperle

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Hi Roger,
What a great idea . Had a look at the demo and it has been very well designed, I particularly like the virtual museum map in the right hand corner with the various halls.
My only concern is that the majority of people seem to want to keep their collections to themselves which I always think is a shame.
Do you have plans to extend the museum to include the RAF as well?
I will definately keep it as a favourite site on my pc.
Well done
Gerry

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Hi Gerry,

Thank you very much for your kind words! Yes, definately, RAF items are more than welcome! In general, all military items are welcome. We hope that users can find their preferred category items by clicking through the categories on the left. There is also a subcategory for British WWII items.

I do agree that many collectors want to keep their most precious items for themselves. On the other hand, if I look at all the excellent photos posted on different forums, I am sure there are many willing to share their passion with others. The disadvantage of pure forums is that the items dissapear after some time as the threads move backwards and are replaced by new ones. So, although the photos are there it is a bit difficult to find them. That's where swapey is better. On the other hand swapey cannot replace forums like this one where the focus is more on discussion than on exhibition.

But since we know that not everybody wants to share his photos with everybody we have introduced the Private Hall where collectors can show items to their friends only. After you logged in you can indicate a certain collector as being your friend (icon underneath a user's profile). This member then can see your Private Hall items, others cannot.

It is the first day we made swapey public. So, please be patient if there are still some error messages. We do our best to resolve all problems as soon as possible.

Best regards
Roger

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Hi Roger,
I've signed up already and will start to get some images up soon.
I really like the originality of this idea and hope that you get the rewards you deserve for the tremendous effort you have obviously put in to the project.
Gerry

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Hi, Roger...

Nice to see you're still around... Your new site looks very interesting. I know you've been very busy with other ventures of late, presumably including the Swapey site, but will you be returning to the Luftwaffe Collectibles Blog in due course? I do miss the wonderful photos, and other items of interest, that you come up with, although I note that instruments, pieces of equipment from aircraft and flying suits etc, are beginning to appear on your new site already... :) Certainly an interesting concept and I'm sure it will be very popular.

Kindest regards.

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Hi Gerry,

Thanks! I am looking forward to seeing your items on swapey!


Hi obdl3945,

It was indeed swapey that kept me so busy. I wanted to test the concept of "showcase" items and a virtual museum with my blog before we spent more time and effort for swapey. The "brainteasers" can be shown in the Research-Hall of the swapey museum.

The advantage of swapey is that it is not only me who uploads showcase items or other photos, but everybody can participate and show their collection or items they have for trade/sale. Hence, it can potentially become much more interesting than the blog with a lot of new exciting items: it becomes the product of a community not only an individual.

The only drawback of course is that there won't be any ebay-auction links anymore. But EdWest ist doing a great job there already. And some of you might be glad that I stopped posting photos from auctions as you may have bought a photo and didn't like the idea that a photo you got for a lot of money is publicly available.

So, I do hope that swapey becomes even more interesting than the blog.

All the best
Roger

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Hello Roger,

I'm also pleased to see that the "collectors showcase" hasn't vanished. The idea and interface are great. In a few days I hope I will be able to contribute some of my items to the musem.

bes regards,
Tomislav

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Hello Tomislav,

I am glad that you like the concept!

I always felt that there should be something where I can show my collection to others and where to get to know other collectors all over the world. That was the starting point of the idea behind swapey. And finally after many months of hard work we are online :-)

I am looking forward to seeing your items in the museum. I hope that you will meet many new collectors at swapey and that you discover interesting items every day.

Best regards
Roger

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Congratulation Roger! Very nice concept!

Re: Luftwaffe Collection
 

Hi Olivier,

Thanks for the congratulations! :-) I am glad that you like the concept!

All the best
Roger