Pathtag delivers

[+cachegame]

I have the story here in my blog.

[+Damenace]

I have the story here in my blog.

 

Well I am not sure why this person started two threads with the same titles, nor do I know if this is a promotional stunt but PathTags do need a topic so I am going to expand on them with my thought and questions.

 

I would like to start off with the pricing, for $99 you get a starter kit which includes 25 Pathtags plus some other goods. The refill kit is $99 for 100 pathtags and you can't do the refill kit unless you purchase the starter kit. So for $198.00 you get 125 tags or $1.60 per tag. Well that is certainly cheaper than an actual coin but certainly more than any other signature item. So my question is where do they fall when it comes to trading?

 

I understand that the concept was to get enough people to bite so you could trade pathtags with other "Tagers". I suspect that is going to be a slow process getting people to bite so there are going to be few people to trade with.

 

I myself wouldn't mind taking the plunge but like others I am afraid to purchase something and not be able to trade them. They are not worthy of a Geocoin trade and I don't want a handful of someones wooden nickels. You really are limited on trade ability.

 

I would really like to hear others input on these? How many people have actually placed orders for these? How many have received there orders? What do you think of them?

 

Is there any chance of the ordering options being altered? Maybe two options a "deluxe" and a "basic"? I personally do not want the clips or bags. Can those be omitted and just the setup fee be administered?

[+Marky]

I also don't really understand what kind of tracking they are talking about. Since all of your tags have the same tracking number, the only real "tracking" would be something the equivilent of a frapper map. You couldn't really have any type of movement tracked. I would be interested in knowing what the tracking site is like.

 

--Marky

[+Tank Hounds]

I don't think it's "tracking" in the typical travelbug sense. From my understanding you have ONE number on all of the tags, when someone gets one they can go to the site and leave a note on your site or comment on the tag. Each person as their own "space" on the site and it's almost like a mini website...

That's my understanding...

[+cachegame]

I have the story here in my blog.

 

Sorry, I don't know why it posted twice... I wanted to edit the first one and you can't seem to erase a mistake. No one has info on pathtags and I just didn't want to do it twice. If this upset someone, very sorry.

 

PS: I don't have anything to do with The Geocoin Club... just like geocoins and now pathtags

Edited October 7, 2006 by cachegame

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Pathtags are not geocoins so I'm moving this discussion to the general forums.

[+wsgaskins]

Pathtags are not geocoins so I'm moving this discussion to the general forums.

 

Well, there's your definitive answer.

[+Marky]

Weird this was moved when they allow threads on geotokens, wooden nickels, etc. in the geocoin forum. It seems to me that these are closer to geocoins than those are.

[+cachegame]

Very strange... its like they don't like the idea of someone else having a tracking system that they don't get their $1.50 a coin on

[+welch]

Very strange... its like they don't like the idea of someone else having a tracking system that they don't get their $1.50 a coin on

I think maybe the difference is this thread is sorta about the merits of one specific something you can BUY, as opposed to general threads about wood nickels (or whatever).

Unless your saying there are some treads about buying wooden nickels from some specific company loose in the geocoin forum??

[-mike-]

First I want to say that Groundspeak is well aware of the Pathtags project and the moderation you have witnessed is nothing more than the moderators (volunteers who work very hard) working in compliance with the current geocoin forum guidelines.

 

"Tracking" is probably a bad word. These are not travel bugs. They are not intended to travel. The "tracking" number is simply a way to quickly log a tag into your collection and is also serves as a password of sorts since you do not know someone's serial number unless you have the tag or were given the serial number. It's really more of a serial number for you. I guess that's a better word.

 

RE: price. Pathtags are stamped, much like coins. This requires a die be created for your custom design. The tags are not printed, they are stamped and colored with enamel. The $99 starter kit includes the die creation fee.

 

RE: trading. I don't know what you can get for these on the open market, but they are really intended to be "coin-like" sig items. We are building out trading tools for trading with other tag owners. Currently there are 30 unique designs and we're adding 2-5 each week currently. There aren't a zillion yet, but think about the number of coins there were to trade for a year ago.

 

I'm not 100% sure that this thread is kosher because Pathtags are commercial so I'll just close by saying I'm happy to answer any questions about the product, but think it might be best to take questions and answers off-forum. mike@geocoinclub.com

[QuigleyJones]

I Just found one and it would be nice if I could view info about it instead of being told I need to make my own

[+Confucius' Cat]

Well, the OP link is about as obscure as they come. It looks like a commercial website to me, where they are selling geocoins and such.

 

What is the topic? What are you trying to say?

[+DanOCan]

I Just found one and it would be nice if I could view info about it instead of being told I need to make my own

 

Agreed. I grabbed one out of a cache recently thinking it was a trackable such as a geocoin or TB. As such I didn't trade anything for it thinking standard TB rules would apply. I went to the website to log the find and was surprised to see there isn't any real tracking available.

 

I contacted the pathtag owner and he told me I am welcome to keep it but I'll likely put it back into another cache to make amends for my "theft".

[+Bjorn74]

The collection/pathtracking aspects of the site are currently in beta, so they're only open to early adopters. We anticipate opening those features to everyone in a couple months when all the "boo-boos" are worked out. It's better to have a stable system when thousands of people arrive than have to make changes midflight.

 

I think that for the next few months, very few will be making their way into caches. The trading is going very fast, so Starter Kits are running low before they arrive.

[+Strapped-4-Cache]

I can vouch for the starter kit going quickly. Between passing out several to friends and setting up trades, my initial order was gone quickly. I've already placed a reorder and have several more trades pending the arrival of that shipment.

 

I feel that I have received good value for the money I paid for these tags. True, they're not actual coins, but I have no problem with that. As a collector of many things, I find it nice that this item comes in a consistent size and can be displayed easily. Gimme a corkboard and some map tacks and I'm set.

 

As noted earlier, the tracking seems to be for an owner of a profile to be able to see where *any* of the tags may have been found instead of being able to track the progress of any one tag. The mapping feature hasn't been set up yet, but they are bringing up new features for owners quite rapidly considering this is a rather new concept and everything probably has to be built from the ground up.

 

I've only experienced a couple of glitches and the problems were addressed shortly after I sent a message. Only one issue hasn't been resolved yet, but it is minor and I'm not worried about it.

 

About the only drawback for me has been attempting to set up trades with people who want to use the tags as a signature item and are not interested in trading tags. About the only way I might be able to get those tags would be to post trade requests on these forums. Someone might run across one in a cahe and be willing to trade one I want for one of my own tags. It could happen.

 

Ramble, ramble, ramble. I've gone on too long. Short version - I'm happy with the tags as both a trade and sig item.

 

S-4-C

[+4leafclover]

I plan to get a starter kit for Christmas.

[+9Key]

They sure are expensive signature items.

[+sbell111]

They sure are expensive signature items.

As you reorder more and more, the expense per item becomes fairly reasonable.

[+carleenp]

They sure are expensive signature items.

 

A lot cheaper than coins as sig items if the peson makes a refill order. I intend to get some for use as signature items. I want something like that to actually leave in caches. Not to trade, or sell or anything else. Just to leave in caches.

[+sbell111]

I want to do the same thing, but I have to find someone who will design my item for me.

[+4leafclover]

I want to do the same thing, but I have to find someone who will design my item for me.

 

on th e"design" page, there are 3 links you can use. I had mine designed for $25, and I am thrilled with it!

[+Bjorn74]

I want to do the same thing, but I have to find someone who will design my item for me.

 

on th e"design" page, there are 3 links you can use. I had mine designed for $25, and I am thrilled with it!

I highly recommend getting a designer if you aren't familiar with designing for coins or some other similar media. Most of the problems with designs come from colors, fonts, photos and outlines. If you take a look at the nicest enameled geocoins, you'll get an idea how the design needs to be, but the professionals have the tools in hand and can do it efficiently. $25 is really worth it, I'd say. That goes for geocoin designs as well, btw.

[Jeremy]

Very strange... its like they don't like the idea of someone else having a tracking system that they don't get their $1.50 a coin on

 

That's a terrible observation. If that was the case it would have been locked or hidden, not transferred to the most popular section of the forums.

 

That'd be like me saying you're obviously pimping your blog by posting a link to it instead of copying your observations here. That would just be a poor observation on my part.

Edited December 7, 2006 by Jeremy