Lets revive this.
When I think of "tagless" travel bugs and TB numbers, I was thinking of buying the numbers and either printing out the number to be attached (as others have indicated) or, better yet, carving or etching or engraving them onto the custom bug. Can you imagine an artist creating a small painting; a piece of wooden, metal or stone art; or any other truly unique bug which incorporates the number into the piece itself? There could even be "puzzle" TBs where things had to be done or guessed to figure out what the number is. For those who make it too hard or annoying, they would pay the price!
Even the Tshirts (or tattoos) some have made could only be activated after purchasing the physical tags. For those who worry about the cost, I ask, how could you increase profit MORE than by selling Virtual Merchandise? How much profit is there now in TBs? Can it beat 100%?
Besides, I would like the option of purchasing an entire block of numbers which I reserve for just my family. If I did that, I would likely buy far more than I anticipated using in the near future (such as buying 100 or 200), and may never use them all up. In that case, the profit would actually be above 100% as I may buy 200, but their computers would only end up dealing with 52 or 112.
Although I would always keep a few traditional bugs in the wind and I know many would always remain loyal to the traditional bug, there is room to allow the diversity of selling people numbers to use if they choose (or not) and incorporate them into some really cool and unique TBs. Any besides, is it not the imaginations of the cachers which makes this such a fun and refreshing sport?
Please consider creating this option for those who would like to explore it a bit further. There is nothing to lose and a higher-profit revenue stream to gain!