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How do I sign-up for
an account?
Signing up for an account to post pieces from your collection,
or to comment on items in someone's Showcase, is very quick
and simple. Just click the SIGN UP link in the upper menu,
review the Terms & Conditions of this site, then fill out
the form at the bottom of the page. Click the Sign Up link
when done and you will be emailed your login and password
promptly.
Does it cost anything
to Sign Up and create a Showcase?
Creating a Showcase and displaying your collection is free,
however there are some restrictions placed on free accounts
to conserve bandwidth and drive space. The chart below outlines
the differences between a free Showcase account and a Premium
Showcase Account:
| Feature |
Non-Premium |
Premium Showcase |
| Item Posting Limit |
60 |
None |
| Featured Item Limit |
6 |
12 |
| Classifieds |
No |
Yes |
| Collection Preferences |
Yes |
Yes |
| ebay Keywords, Sellers |
100 Limit |
100 Limit |
| Site Keywords |
16 Limit |
100 Limit |
| Watched Showcases |
No |
Yes |
| Site Mailing |
Once Daily |
Twice Daily |
| Want List |
Yes |
Yes |
| About Me |
No |
Yes |
| My Ebay |
No |
Yes |
| My Watermark |
No |
Yes |
To learn more about our Premium Services, or to sign up for this service, please CLICK HERE.
How to Use this
Site, Instructions on How to Add Items to the Site and Manage
Your Preferences
After you have Signed Up for an Account you are sent an email
with your login information. A password is selected for you
at the time you sign up, but it can be changed to whatever
you prefer once you first login to the website. Follow the
Login link from the Registration email, or click the 'LOG
IN' button in the upper menu on this website, and enter the
Username and Password you were emailed.
After you successfully Log into the website, the upper menu
buttons will change slightly, with the SIGN UP and LOG IN
buttons being replaced with an ADMIN TOOLS button. Hovering
over the ADMIN TOOLS button will give you access to manage
your Account.
First, if you would like to update your preferences on the
site select the 'Edit My Profile' button. From this screen
you modify your User Name and Password, determine how you
want to be know on the site (either by your First and Last
Name, or your Username), and also manage your collection preferences.
Collection preferences will help us customize certain parts
of the site for you, in terms of ebay auctions we display,
highlighting things we think you are most interested that
were posted by other collectors, and so on. When you make
changes to this page please be sure to click the UPDATE YOUR
PROFILE button at the very bottom of the page.
Second, you can also manage other site preferences which
help make the site more useful to you. Also under the ADMIN
TOOLS button is another button called 'Edit My Preferences'.
Click that button and you will see many options to choose
from. Each site preference is explained on that page, but
please Contact Us if you have any
questions.
Last, and most important, is button labeled 'Manage My Showcase'.
It is from this section that you manage the items you wish
to display on the MilitariaCollectors.com website. Depending on
whether or not you are a premium member defines some of the
features, but in general the way our system works can be outlined
as follows:
Registering for an Account created a Main Showcase for you.
To display your collection in the Main Showcase you must fist
create individual Showcases with which to add your militaria
collectibles. The individual Showcases help you to keep your
collection organized for yourself as well as our website visitors.
Once you create your first showcase you are all set to start
uploading items from your collection. And don't worry, if
you choose to reorganize your Showcases later you can move
items from one Showcase to another. A Showcase or an item
in a Showcase can be hidden from view if you choose by leaving
the 'active' checkbox unchecked.
From the Manage My Showcase page you would want to start
by clicking the 'My Showcase' link to get started. First,
there will be a note at the top of the page letting you know
that you do not have a description set for y our Showcase.
This isn't necessary, but it does serve as an introduction
to your Showcase when people browsing the site first find
your Showcase on the site. So mentioning something about your
collecting habits or how you got started is encouraged. By
default, your Showcase is not active to give you the chance
to set it up and then activate it. Activating your overall
Showcase is done by clicking the Edit Decription link on the
page and checking the 'Active' checkbox and saving your changes.
Now to the fun part, adding your collection to the site.
As we mentioned previously you need to create individual Showcases
to organize your collection, so the first thing you need to
do is click the 'Add Showcase' link and give your Showcase
a Title (required) and a Description if you would like to
have one. Click the 'Add Showcase' button at the bottom when
you are finished and you will be returned to the main My Showcase
page and you should see your first Showcase listed in the
Your Showcases section. If you ever need to edit the Description
of the new Showcase, or make it active or inactive on the
site, just click the 'Edit Showcase Description/Details' link
to make your changes.
To add items from your collection click the 'View/Add Items'
link for the Showcase you wish to work in. If this is your
first time in the new Showcase there will be no items for
you to edit and the first thing you must do is click the 'Add
New Item' link. First you need to select the Main Image for
this item and you do that by clicking the 'Browse...' button
beside the Main Image field. Browse your computer for the
image file you want to use and select it. Any Item you add
can have up to 3 additional images (6 if you are a premium
member), and if you wish to show more images than the Main
Image you need to give each image a Title and also Browse
your computer for the images you wish to use. Next give this
Item a Title (required) and a Description (not required).
If you are not a premium member you may put a price in the
'For Sale Status' field if you wanted to, but you would not
be promoted in the Classifieds area. If you are premium you
would be promoted there. If the item is not for sale then
simply leave the field as NFS (Not For Sale). The remaining
drop menus help to classify and Specify the type of militaria
collectible you are posting. You can leave these selection
boxes as 'Not Specified' if you like, but selecting the appropriate
parameters will aid in advanced searches on the site, and
also give more information about your Item to people viewing
Items in your Showcase. If you are ready to post this Item
to the site then check the 'active' box as well. Finally,
be sure to click the 'Add Militaria Item' button at the bottom
of the page and the Item will be added to your Showcase. Depending
on how large your images are, and how many you are uploading,
determines how long it takes for the upload to occur. After
the Upload is complete you are returned to that Showcase and
you will see that new Item displayed. If you ever wish to
return to that Item to make changes just click on the thumbnail
or Title of the Item.
When in a Showcase, if you are a Premium member, you can
also take advantage of the 'Multiple Image Upload' link at
the top of the screen. When using this page you may upload
up to 6 Item Images at a time and then go back and edit each
Item to make them active on the site. This does save time
when you have large updates to release.
PLEASE NOTE that deleting anything from the site really
permanently deletes it. There is no retrieving an Item, or
a Showcase. Please be aware of this, and use the 'active'
checkboxes when you wish to temporarily hide something from
site visitors.
There are also a few other things you can do from the 'Manage
My Showcases' page. For one, you can also manage you 'Featured
Showcase Items'. A Featured Showcase Item is an Item shown
on your Main Showcase page on the website. As a Premium Member
you can have up to 12 of these, and as a non-Premium Member
you can have up to 6. If you are a Premium Member there is
also a link to 'Manage My For Sale Showcases' which will get
your Items listed in the Classifieds. Finally there is one
last feature available to all Members, and that is to 'Edit
Your Want List' which allows you to announce to other collectors
what you are hoping to add to your collection.
As always, if you have any questions please Contact
Us and we will do our best to help you out as quickly
as possible.
How is my privacy
protected?
We promise that we value your privacy as much as you do.
When you are signing up for an account you have the option
to state that you wish to be known on the site by either your
First and Last Name, or the Username you created. Whichever
you select is what we'll show when someone visits your Showcase
or finds pieces of yours in the site search. We also never
show your email address anywhere on the site. Site visitors
may only contact you through the email form within your Showcase,
and when they do their email is visible as the Sender of the
email. Your email is never shown unless you choose to reply
to their email.
What type of
items can I share in my Showcase with other Collectors?
It's a bit subjective, but we do have some guidelines for
you to follow.
- Any items you choose to display in your Showcase must
be militaria related. If the item is not militaria related
and we discover the item we'll contact you and ask that
the item be removed. In some cases we will remove the item
for you.
- You must own whatever it is you are posting to your Showcase.
That means you cannot create a Showcase of items you would
like to own or collectibles you used to own and have sold.
You must own the items posted or you will run the risk of
having your Showcase shut down. This site is a celebration
of the hobby, and the items each of us collects, and at
no time will we allow you to show items that are in someone
else's possession. It is deceiving and misleading. Anyone
who sees another Showcase member breaking this rule should
immediately Contact Us.
- Acceptable items can be anything related to militaria.
This includes, but is not limited to, firearms, swords,
uniforms, patches, badges, pins, holsters, helmets, photographs,
manuals, period magazines, bayonets, or knives. As you might
imagine this list is incomplete and we are just providing
it to you some examples. If anyone feels someone is posting
items which are not militaria related please Contact Us.
We'll continue to add to this list as we get questions which
seem relevant. Above all else, we expect anyone visiting this
site to treat others with respect. Anyone found to be acting
in an unprofessional way will be banished from the site. So
please have fun! That's why this site was created!
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