Droo

You can only wait on folks for so long. Why not grab it, drop it in the cache you found it in so the mileage to the previous cache can be tallied, retrieve it and move it along.

How many digits total in the tracking code you? If more than 6 you have a sequential "tail". Ignore the tail part.

If the activation code as a set of numbers after a hyphen, ignore that part. Only enter the first 5 or 6 digits.

A lot depends on what you bought it for. If you want to keep the geofigure thing to hang from your mirror or sumtin' like that set the flat replica on its travels. But if you bought the thing to set it traveling then keep the replica as a copy and a reminder of your traveler. If the original disappears the copy can take its place and brave the cold world of damp ammo boxes and leaky tupperware stashed in the woods. But it all starts with YOU... what was your original intent?

New is always more valuable than used. Unactivated implies that it's unused, even though we know it's not as it's been sitting in a box or pocket just like one in the field but it hasn't really gone anywhere but the occasional meet-n-greet. But that's human perception for you. As for things reaching the collectible value... that always depends on the number of collectors out there willing to bid up the value due to scarcity and demand. There are a lot of old coins out there that no longer have the cache' they once had; they are more readily available from dismantled collections, not as interesting to newer collectors etc. So before we start considering killing off coin makers to make their coins more valuable posthumously in our collections we may want to consider just how valuable they can reasonably get.

In the old days one would buy 3... 1 to release, 1 to keep and admire and 1 to trade.

As you can imagine building such a database would be extremely labour intensive. Coins are produced by myriad different sources and by hundreds of individuals. Gathering up the information on what's been produced alone is a monumental task. And adding insult to injury there's no renumeration for such a herculean feat. Many have tried and come up short 'coz it's just too big a job.

If the coin is FREE and you're giving them away you will attract loads of folks. If it's trackable then it'd be like Free x Free = Free Squared!! And if you have money left over and want to splurge on the custom icon then a FREE trackable coin with it's own custom icon is like mana from heaven... you can't go wrong with that. And keep in mind that trackable coins mean traveling coins and traveling coins means a certain free publicity to your park system. However don't scrimp on the design to get the custom icon to fit your budget. A good design trumps a custom icon any day of the week.

I believe this coin came out about 3 years ago and is still available here.... Suncompass

I had a bunch of those once and paid the postage to give them away to someone who could redeem them at face value from the vendour. I think you and your seller got cheated.... the seller for not insuring the package so your money could be returned in case it was lost in the mail and you for not getting equal value for the coin that was never delivered to you. Sucks from both ends.

In my opinion.. Your replying to my posts is a waste of MY time. If you don't have anything productive to add, why do you bother? By the way.. I was wondering... You have been a cacher for like 10 years, have only found 730 caches, but have posted in here 21,447 times? Are you a Geocacher or a Forum-Poster? Ouch... not a nice thing to say. BTW... you're preaching to the choir about frustrations with misuse of trackables. It's not a new thing. If anything it has gotten worse year after year. You are more than welcome to try what you can to stem the tide but if you want cooperation you might want to use kid gloves instead of the boxing ones. Just my opinion so I hope you won't dig into my profile and find ways to dismiss my opinion too. Good luck.

What Doc said but in pictures... I'm just a visual kindaguy. The geocoin Home page should be your new bff.

None really.... except that travel bugs have a generic icon only and geocoins can have a generic or custom icon. And they look different. Otherwise they are pretty much the same.

I don't know which help topics you used but I find that going the Geocaching website's descriptions useful. Here's one I always refer others to.... How to geocoins, as it has links to other useful pages. To get there you can use the following diagram.

If you activate them and leave them in caches they will be moved and you will be rewarded with emails every time a log is posted to your coins' pages. If you wish to gift them so the emails go to others you can adopt them away to interested parties or leave them unactivated, though this last option also leaves open the possibility it is kept (legitimately) as a trophy. Anything is possible. Try it both ways.... you've got a few to spare!

If it's a FTF prize do not activate but if you want it to travel under you name then do activate it. Place a small note in with the coin to explain it's a gift if you got that route as people get confused by finding unactivated geocoins. Include information on how they can access the activation codes and how to activate it.

It's not the name or theme that sells a geocoin design but the artwork that represents it. Come up with an eye catching design that people will like and it will sell.

I agree with LadyBee... get back to Ebay and let them know that the auction owner sold you what amounts to stolen property. Regardless of whether s/he knew it was stolen it is something that should not be passed on to Ebay buyers but resolved between the seller and the purported owner. Seller lie to you. Return the bad merchandise and get a refund with BIG feedback concern so future buyers won't be duped by this seller again.... or they won't be duped by their "friends" again.

Yup... big difference between collecting the ones you bought, like the ones you got off Ebay, and the ones someone else bought and released to travel in the wooly wilds of cacheland. The first is proper and perfectly acceptable but the latter can get you hung out to dry then placed before a firing squad before being flushed down a porta-pottie. It's a matter of choice.

Swag should be traded for with something of equal or greater value. Geocoins should only be moved (after logging them out of the cache then logging the drop when you place it in another one - see How to Log a geocoin for more details), no trading required. But it gets confusing with signature items or personal coins and such... so look for the "trackable at geocaching.com" label to be sure.

$150 starting bid? Obviously I'm missing something.

It's a trackable geocoin, trackable on geocaching.com, so it's perfectly legit to post your excitement about it. I remember seeing a post from the coin maker announcing it a little while back, if I'm not mistaken, that it was to be gifted to the wedding guests or something like that. Nice find on your part..... yeyyyyy!

As stated above not all coins, medallions, tuits, wafers, or metal/glass/ceramic/wooden slugs are geocoins. Many are personal sigitems (signature items) or just trade items (swag). It gets confusing 'coz swag must be traded for with something of equal or greater value but trackables only need to be logged out and moved to another cache with no trade required.

Repeating yourself won't change the answers you already got.

I think you can move another cacher's coin to your collection if it marked COLLECTIBLE. You shouldn't be able to but you can, as I found out when I did that very thing with a traveler that didn't belong to me. The only solution I can imagine is not marking it COLLECTIBLE if you're going to release it or its proxy as that is a clear signal to the uninformed that they may keep it.