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Limited Edition Geocoins


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I think that limiting the minting of geocoins to 300-500 is great. It makes a particular geocoin more desireable to us collectors. However, with the recent boom in collectors, these limited editions are selling out in less than 24 hours. Witness the KTAG and WCRC coins over the past week or so.

 

What happens is the coin groups are gobbling up the coins all at once.

 

I'm considering minting a coin for the group I belong to, but when/if I do, I plan to limit the pre-orders to 5 per geocacher for a period. Maybe 3 days to a week. This gives the individuals a chance to get theirs before the coin groups come in and pre-order theirs.

 

What does the group think? Good idea? Bad? What other ideas do folks have for giving everyone a chance?

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As the boom continues, I think we'll see a maturation of collector habits. Rather than try to get evey coin, folks will collect themes or area. Maybe one day folks will find coins so common that they even place them in the occasional cache! :huh:

 

If the demand is for 1000 or 2000 coins -- then pre-orders will let you know this. Limiting quantities of coins to individual cachers isn't a bad thing either.

 

I would personally just make a local coin, let locals order as many as they wanted, and then other folks can trade the locals for them. This has a few benefits:

 

1) Less administrative overhead

2) Gives locals a way to build their collection

3) Encourages other local groups to create coins

 

If I did want to sell outside of the local area, I would limit the number of coins a person could buy and/or take pre-orders for a week and mint the appropriate number of coins per demand.

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What happens is the coin groups are gobbling up the coins all at once.

 

I'm considering minting a coin for the group I belong to, but when/if I do, I plan to limit the pre-orders to 5 per geocacher for a period. Maybe 3 days to a week. This gives the individuals a chance to get theirs before the coin groups come in and pre-order theirs.

 

What does the group think? Good idea? Bad? What other ideas do folks have for giving everyone a chance?

I'm not sure why you're down on the groups. I'm a member of the GBA coinclub, which has about 20 members and typically orders about 60 coins. At three coins per person, that's not different than an individual order. It's not like a couple of people are hoarding all the coins so that others don't have a chance.

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Looks like you are planning ahead some of the things that you need to have in mind. Groups have advantages. One thing to track for 12-30 members. They also have a drawback. Their block of orders will come in at 35-113 coins all at once.

 

For individuals a group has the advantage of not missing out on coins because you are not in the forums 24/7, and forgot to look during the short time KTAG was up. If you truly wanted your coin to make the most milage you could limit it to one or two per person. One and there is no trading that will happen unless thay just don't like your coin. Two and you allow some trading.

 

My group ICE would then be at 12 or 24 coins depending. It's not a large group.

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Remember also, if you only mint a certain number of coins - they are no longer really "cachable" - that is, they won't be used for caches after about 4 weeks of release.

 

For individuals, a small number is ussually a matter of economics. while some coins will be traded, I would hope some are intended as the signature item to be placed in caches. Remember, the first geocoin was created to celebrate a 100th find. limiting quantities ensures they are too unique or rare for leaving in a cache.

 

For group, state coins I would definitely accept pre-orders from that group or state and mint as Many as demand dictates.

 

In fact, I'd be more than a little irked if someone created an "Alberta Geocoin" and only minted 100-300.(I live in Alberta). It would likely exclude Me from buying as many as I would want (I like to get 20-50 if offered worldwide 170-100 if only offered regionally).

 

Personal coins are up to the individual, state and city coins should be minted based on demand (pre-paid maybe) IMHO. Organizational coins should be up to the organization.

 

Could you imagine if I did my own USA coin! -only 100! minted in Canada by a guy from Alberta! :huh:;) Totally joking!! :D:D

Edited by Lemon Fresh Dog
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A local cacher recently offered a personal coin on the local forums. He was able to sell the quantity he needed to swing the deal without ever even posting it on gc.com. I think his total minting was 300. Since it's a cool coin to begin with and few collectors have it. That should be highly sought after. We'll see when they are actually out.

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The thing about not letting a group order is that you'll probably end up getting orders from the group members individually. So it's a matter of having to package and ship one order or 30+ individual orders.

This is the truth behind the thing. If you don't allow groups to buy, all those members will be ordering individually and you'll have a lot more shipping to do and a lot more payments to keep track of. I've even heard of people wanting to only sell to groups or at least sell to them first because it makes the process easier and someone else has to do the distribution work.

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