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New Geocoin Policy


Keystone

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Since pinned threads are sometimes overlooked, I wanted the Geocoin Community to be aware of the new guidelines for this forum which have just been published here. For many weeks, Groundspeak and the volunteer team have been working very hard on a more workable policy for this forum. In doing so, we have carefully considered the feedback from the community.

 

In this thread, the moderators would be happy to answer any questions that you may have about the new policy. Enjoy the Geocoin hobby, and the very active discussions of it here in the Groundspeak Forums! :)

Edited by Keystone
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Okay, I have a question.

 

Bullet 1 says we can post the sale of coins that are gc.com trackable. But bullet 5 says posts soliciting customers to a coin selling, tracking or manufacturing website are not allowed. Um, what if a trackable gecoin designed and produced by me is being sold and distributed through one of these coin manufacturers. Meaning I as an individual am electing to use that particular service offered by a specific coin vendor. Is that allowed?

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My question would be:

 

In bullet number five sentence two it says we need permission to post a link for coin trading??  So does that mean we can no longer have a link in our sig line to direct people to a list of what we have for trades and/or are seeking??

it is fine to include a link to your coin trading list in a sig line so long as the link is just to your trading lists and not a promotion for the site hosting the trading service.

 

 

edit to change my answer

Edited by CO Admin
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Okay, I have a question.

 

Bullet 1 says we can post the sale of coins that are gc.com trackable. But bullet 5 says posts soliciting customers to a coin selling, tracking or manufacturing website are not allowed. Um, what if a trackable gecoin designed and produced by me is being sold and distributed through one of these coin manufacturers. Meaning I as an individual am electing to use that particular service offered by a specific coin vendor. Is that allowed?

I think the Gist is to avoid commercial. Geocoinclub is commercial. No links.

 

The CachingPlace has commercial coins but also handles the order fulfillment of personal coins. I do think it's worth a clarification. As I'd see it a link to a personal or not for profit, or charity coin woudl be ok but a link to a commercial coin would not be. However I'd like to be sure about that since I'm working on several coins and will probably spread the busienss around a bit.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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Okay, I have a question.

 

Bullet 1 says we can post the sale of coins that are gc.com trackable. But bullet 5 says posts soliciting customers to a coin selling, tracking or manufacturing website are not allowed. Um, what if a trackable gecoin designed and produced by me is being sold and distributed through one of these coin manufacturers. Meaning I as an individual am electing to use that particular service offered by a specific coin vendor. Is that allowed?

I think the Gist is to avoid commercial. Geocoinclub is commercial. No links.

 

The CachingPlace has commercial coins but also handles the order fulfillment of personal coins. I do think it's worth a clarification. As I'd see it a link to a personal or not for profit, or charity coin woudl be ok but a link to a commercial coin would not be. However I'd like to be sure about that since I'm working on several coins and will probably spread the busienss around a bit.

Hang in there an answer is forth comming

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Okay, I have a question.

 

Bullet 1 says we can post the sale of coins that are gc.com trackable. But bullet 5 says posts soliciting customers to a coin selling, tracking or manufacturing website are not allowed. Um, what if a trackable gecoin designed and produced by me is being sold and distributed through one of these coin manufacturers. Meaning I as an individual am electing to use that particular service offered by a specific coin vendor. Is that allowed?

I have that same question.

 

Bullet 1.

This forum may be used for selling, trading or giving away of geocoins which are trackable on Geocaching.com. This includes any trackable coin produced by an individual, business or geocaching organization.

 

Bullet 5.

Posts made with the intention of soliciting customers to a coin selling, tracking, or manufacturing website will not be tolerated. Links to other commercial coin selling, coin tracking, coin trading and coin manufacturing web sites will be permitted only with permission from Groundspeak.

 

Which one would overide for example if I had a Groundspeak trackable coin at

www.website.com would I be allowed to post it?

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Okay, I have a question...

This is very important to me as well as I was thinking of using GCC's "do-it-all" service for producing my first coin. Can't wait for the answer.

*refresh*

*refresh*

*refresh*

*refresh*

*refresh*

Its after hours on both coasts Id wait for tomorrow for an answer on that one

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I would like to be able to prominently display the link to an Ebay Charity auction of my non-trackable geocoin. I am not sure I would have made it trackable had I been given the choice, but that choice didn't exist back in June.

 

I'll wait for the particulars...

good idea becasue my opinion would not make you happy

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I think these new guidelines are great, and I am looking forward to an improved coin forum. As a geocacher myself, I am an avid supporter for no commercial solicitations in the Groundspeak forums. This sport is about geocaching, not businesses hassling for customers. Let’s start seeing coins in caches and actually getting around!

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Its after hours on both coasts Id wait for tomorrow for an answer on that one

This is the geocoin forum. It's 24/7 around here :):)

Very True but the guy that has the answers is smart enough to have a life and get sleep.

 

:)

I think I should be offended. But somehow I'm not :blink:

Please don't be offended I didn't mean it that way. the not having a life inference was intended to be toward me not you. It was a poor joke :)

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This is from Bullet 1

 

"This forum may be used for selling, trading or giving away of geocoins which are trackable on Geocaching.com. ... Non-trackable coins may be posted for trade by individual coin owners."

 

It seems to say that we can only trade (as opposed to sell) non-trackable coins. Am I reading this correctly? Is this new?

Yes this is true and yes it is new.

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This is from Bullet 1

 

"This forum may be used for selling, trading or giving away of geocoins which are trackable on Geocaching.com. ... Non-trackable coins may be posted for trade by individual coin owners."

 

It seems to say that we can only trade (as opposed to sell) non-trackable coins. Am I reading this correctly? Is this new?

I SEE... as long as Groundspeak is making $1.50 off each coin it's fine..... kindof a double standard?!?!

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I find it not OK, that now all the the threads with personal geocoins for sale and without personal profit to be closed by the moderators! :blink::)

There's no plan to go back retroactively and search for stuff to edit, delete or lock. We would like to have a kind and gentle transition. :) I closed two threads because they were bumped.

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This will force those of us with new (already in production)coins to e bay.I might have changed my plans had I known this was coming but it would appear there is little transition.I felt strongly about offering some of my coins for sale so those without something to trade could obtain one. My main focus was and remains trading and coins to place in caches. The new guideline serves only to leverage new coins to be trackable. Fair but commercial just the same.

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Okay, Question #2

 

I mint a coin that's gc.com trackable and is sold out. With my coin order, I receive some production samples identical to the trackable coin except for metal of the coin and that these handful of samples are not trackable. Can I link to a charity auction on eBay for one of these production samples?

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Commercial but fair. We don't think so.

 

A company can spit out coins by the truckload and advertise freely and with full blessing on this site as long as they pay for tracking.

 

A geocacher with a personal coin cannot if they ask for money and not a trade.

 

This whole geocoin craze has been generated by the collectors that use this forum. Groundspeak and the companies that make the coins have ridden the coat tails of the collectors yet Grounspeak have now imposed a fairly heavy restriction on those same collectors.

 

Under this policy, in this forum, you will only get to see those coins that have a clear benefit to Groundspeak. We understand that this is their site. The question you need to ask yourselves is whether this is the best site to host the Geocoin collectors discussions.

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This is from Bullet 1

 

"This forum may be used for selling, trading or giving away of geocoins which are trackable on Geocaching.com. ... Non-trackable coins may be posted for trade by individual coin owners."

 

It seems to say that we can only trade (as opposed to sell) non-trackable coins. Am I reading this correctly? Is this new?

 

Yes this is true and yes it is new.

I wish I had knows this before I invested several hundred dollars in a personal, non-trackable coin that I intended to make available for sale on this forum.

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I'm not happy with the result, but this is a private company and they obviously have the right to do what they want.

 

I've purchased many cool geocoins that were listed on the site, that I wouldn't have been able to before I had my my coin. Now I have my own (non-trackable) coin, and others will be unable to get it unless they have a personal to trade.

 

I didn't feel it was worth the extra cost to make my coin trackable since 98% of personal coins never get put into a cache (I made that stat up, but 95% of all stats are made up anyway).

 

Can I put in my sig line a link to my own web site saying something like "ChileHead personal geocoin available"?

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I have an existing thread (now closed) offering trades or sales. Once all my numbers are finalized and if I have extra coins, can I post a new almost identical thread but offering only the trades?

 

Long term, is this going to end up happening:

GeocacherBob's non-trackable geocoin now available for trade! GeocacherX, GeocacherY, and GeocacherZ all email GeocacherBob and say I can't trade, how much to buy?

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Oh, now that geocoins have become popular let's leverage a buck fifty from each coin from now on. :blink:

 

Nah, I don't think so. I'm glad I didn't go trackable as this is yet another attempt to control the hobby. No? Well, if it is trackable the coin design has to be approved by Groundspeak. I will not have a third party telling us and our group what our coin should look like. It's not up to them. It's up to us.

 

Oh, and one more thing. From now on, each and every offering for a geocoin is commercial. Doesn't matter if there is a profit or loss, or even where the profit goes. The posting is a paid advertisment at a buck fifty per coin. Pretty steep for a 1000 coin run. Heck, this is almost like the Mob. Gotta pay your $1500 if you're gonna do business in this town.

Edited by CoyoteRed
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Okay, Question #2

 

I mint a coin that's gc.com trackable and is sold out. With my coin order, I receive some production samples identical to the trackable coin except for metal of the coin and that these handful of samples are not trackable. Can I link to a charity auction on eBay for one of these production samples?

I don't see any problem with this very narrow, fact-specific exception. The production sample is ancillary to the main, trackable coin series. If Groundspeak feels differently we will let you know.

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In their posts, Dancing Fool, Nomad and the Librarians and Chile Head have raised very legitimate questions about coins that are caught in the transition process between the old rules for using the Groundspeak Forums, vs. the current rules. I expected that questions of this nature would arise, and further guidance will be provided as soon as possible. At a minimum, as I already stated, we won't be going back through old posts to edit out things that used to be OK but would not be allowed under the new policy.

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We currently have a scout coin in production that is trackable with a new icon that will be released in Feb. The coin is being funded by a geocoin store where they will cut the scouts a commission check after the sale. The entire commission is being used to help send some scouts to the 2010 national and world scout jamborees. The coin company is producing the coin with no out of pocket money to the scout.

 

So under this new policy, would we be able to post a link to the website that these coins will be offered for sale?

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We currently have a scout coin in production that is trackable with a new icon that will be released in Feb. The coin is being funded by a geocoin store where they will cut the scouts a commission check after the sale. The entire commission is being used to help send some scouts to the 2010 national and world scout jamborees. The coin company is producing the coin with no out of pocket money to the scout.

 

So under this new policy, would we be able to post a link to the website that these coins will be offered for sale?

Although the facts are a bit different, under the Geocoin Forum policy I believe your question would be analyzed just like Atlanta Gal's question in the third post to this thread. As indicated, the moderators are discussing that question privately with Groundspeak. I believe I know the answer but I would hate to post something and then have to correct the advice later on. Thanks for your patience!

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O.K. so even if you can't post a link to a store that is selling your coin, you would be able to say the following in a thread:

 

My new coin -- trackable on GC.com with it's own icon -- available through the geocoinstore.

 

Correct? It's not a link just a name. (all of us have all of the places (the caching place, geocoinstore, etc) bookmarked anyway :blink: ).

 

Please note that I have no plans for a trackable coin. Just trying to define the new rules in my own mind.

 

Windrose

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Maybe it's time to start up our own forum for geocoins buying and selling where we can post what we want without gc having to have their hand in everything. I personally will not pay anymore money to gc for anything. I already have to pay them the $3.00 a month for the "priveledge" of using their site. I'm not going to have them dictate how and who's coins I will collect as well.

 

I wonder how long till the rest of the geocoin collecters get tired of it as well. :):):blink:

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Personally I only trade and buy trackable coins on GC.com for the icons, and yes I am a icon ho. Its way to expensive for me to buy them all.

 

Love the new guidelines, it looks like they were made just for folks like me in mind.

 

Keep up the good work

 

JOE

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I have an existing thread (now closed) offering trades or sales. Once all my numbers are finalized and if I have extra coins, can I post a new almost identical thread but offering only the trades?

 

Long term, is this going to end up happening:

GeocacherBob's non-trackable geocoin now available for trade! GeocacherX, GeocacherY, and GeocacherZ all email GeocacherBob and say I can't trade, how much to buy?

The new policy is written in a way that leaves room for discussion of legitimate trading activity for geocoins, regardless of whether they are trackable on Geocaching.com. I would caution against "wink and a nod" types of posts, such that people are offering coins for "trade" as a means of indirectly soliciting sales of the coins.

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So the guidelines have reversed themselves...

 

It was ok to sell personal coins here, as long as it wasn't a commercial site.

It wasn't ok to sell commercial coins here at all, even GC trackable - though many slipped through.

 

Now, it is NOT ok to sell personal coins in any manner (unless they are gc trackable)

It is now OK to sell commercial coins, even at commercial sites. (as long as they are GC trackable and the link isn't to the sites home page but to a specific sale page?)

 

Is that correct?

 

edit:

Also, Ebay is no longer a taboo site if the item is GC trackable.

Edited by Not So Lost Puppies
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I would caution against "wink and a nod" types of posts, such that people are offering coins for "trade" as a means of indirectly soliciting sales of the coins.

So if I post a thread fully intending it to be for trades only and somebody asks me privately if they can buy one, am I supposed to say no even I I have some available?

 

I wouldn't post "chilehead coin available for trades only ... nudge nudge wink wink" but if asked ...?

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My coins are in production right now, but if I'm not even allowed to show people who want them where they can get them, maybe I should just cancel that order right now. Not to mention all the money it's costing me for custom icons and gc trackable numbers. I think we all deserve a bit more definitive statement on the new guidelines. The contradictions in the current guidelines make no sense at all other than "we want our cut". :blink:

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I can see the amount of traffic on the forum dropping drastically.

yup,,, found another option already :)

Where? Please send me a PM to let me know, because I bet your post would get edited if you said it here. :blink: This is a sad day for people who don't really care for 99% of trackable coins. I'm so dissapointed in this that I am speechless. Shutting out the geocoin club is one thing, but not allowing Joe Cacher to sell his untrackable personal coin through these forums is just going way too far for me.

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So if I post a thread fully intending it to be for trades only and somebody asks me privately if they can buy one, am I supposed to say no even I I have some available?

 

I wouldn't post "chilehead coin available for trades only ... nudge nudge wink wink" but if asked ...?

No, they said in the guidelines (and in their posts) those kind of transactions (i.e. selling & other things that don't follow the guidelines) are supposed to be done by email, phone, or other means of private communications.

 

Windrose

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:blink: I know of a few new and existing forums if anyone wants the places for the coin listings now. Email me at prinke@gmail.com

 

People may want to start posting their email address too to avoid going through gc.com's message service to make ways of contact easier.

Edited by Parrolet
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