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Australia 2007 geocoin


forthferalz

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Take reservations and then send invoices and/or direct people to a payment page once the coins are in transit to you.

Can you expand upon this, please? I understand the basics, but there are some details that I think the OP (and I) would like to know more about. For example, you mention a payment page; is this always necessary? Many people just take e-mails directly or through their profiles. We are getting to the point of wanting to do our own PC, so this isn't idle curiosity on my part. Thanks!

Edited by chaosmanor
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Thanks AG - I guess that's the ideal from a buyer's side but i wonder what the drop out rate is :(

 

How do I run a paid up presale? Like Loggerheads and Cornish? I could get a better price with firm ie paid up numbers and because the design allows for personalized area would have to insist on this if we carry through with that design element. What did prowler do for the arrowheads? I am hoping we can make track and release pairs with one number for like US$14 pair +p/h Will people wait patiently for this coin like the Cornish coin?

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Thanks AG - I guess that's the ideal from a buyer's side but i wonder what the drop out rate is :(

 

How do I run a paid up presale? Like Loggerheads and Cornish? I could get a better price with firm ie paid up numbers and because the design allows for personalized area would have to insist on this if we carry through with that design element. What did prowler do for the arrowheads? I am hoping we can make track and release pairs with one number for like US$14 pair +p/h Will people wait patiently for this coin like the Cornish coin?

 

I think the eventual drop out rate was 8 coins out of 350....

 

I'm amazed and thankful how patient people have been, on my side I think I've tried hard to let people know what`s happening, I imagine taking payment and then not hearing anything for months would be kind of offputting.

 

The Cornish coin was the first one I've been involved with, so I've learnt an awful lot, certainly for the next coin I'd be looking for someone in North America to work with..

 

I took pre orders using an online database (PHP/MySQL) from which I mail merged emails with requests for payment and other emails letting people know what was happening...

 

If it's of any use I've written up some notes on organising a Geocoin which I'll forward - ONCE its been rewritten slightly for a Non-Brit audience!

 

Once again - thanks people.

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Because of delays like the Cornish coin mentioned above (just the latest example of many), I really prefer to pay a few days to a week before the coins will be shipped to me. I mean I paid for those coins on 12/10 and I am still waiting. I'm not happy about it, but there's nothing I can do. I do believe the seller above would wait to make customers pay in the future, right Birdman?

 

To date, I have only dropped off of 1 coin where I reserved and paid later when the coins were in shipping, and even then I didn't drop out. I just lowered my original order amount.

 

$14 for a pair for coins with identical tracking numbers plus postage is quite a high price. Are these coins 2" and 4MM or something? :(

Edited by AtlantaGal
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Because of delays like the Cornish coin mentioned above (just the latest example of many), I really prefer to pay a few days to a week before the coins will be shipped to me. I mean I paid for those coins on 12/10 and I am still waiting. I'm not happy about it, but there's nothing I can do. I do believe the seller above would wait to make customers pay in the future, right Birdman?

 

To date, I have only dropped off of 1 coin where I reserved and paid later when the coins were in shipping, and even then I didn't drop out. I just lowered my original order amount.

 

$14 for a pair for coins with identical tracking numbers plus postage is quite a high price. Are these coins 2" and 4MM or something? ;)

 

A) Of course there's something you can do.. You can say you're not happy and check your Paypal account later and you'll see you have a refund... There we go - sorted!

 

B) Certainly in the future I'd aim to use a Company that offered a prompter service and I'd not be doing this over a Christmas?New year period which added two weeks between ordering and delivery to me.. I'd insist the company didn't use USPS which ships via Spain!

 

I see nothing wrong with asking with payment with preorders, otherwise you're asking one Geocacher (Me in this case) to take all the risk of say $1500 with no guarantee that those coins will be paid for. For most of us Geocoins are a hobby and for many of us, were not rich... prepayment is the only way to go.

 

If the general consensus is that I've ripped people off and have a bunch on unhappy and unsatisfied customers then I for one will not be producing another coin - or if I do then maybe I'll restrict it's sale to Europe as much of the delay has been in getting coins across the Atlantic.

 

At the end of the day - I did my best - Apologies if it's not good enough.

Edited by Birdman-of-liskatraz
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$14 for a pair for coins with identical tracking numbers plus postage is quite a high price. Are these coins 2" and 4MM or something? :(

Oh is it? The Sydney coins were smaller and nearly $9 ea. The round will be 3D, hard enamelled, 1.75 inches, 3.5mm thick and bimetallic, and PERSONALIZED and note the US dollar is not so great at present.

If that ain't enough extras on a coin I guess the presale will flop - the pairs is just a travellers option - there will be majority sales of singletons I suppose. The shaped if it goes ahead on a presale ,is over 2 inches!

Edited by forthferalz
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Another thought to ponder is this:

 

If you have a personal website where you can build a page for your presale, you could insert a "Pay Now" button from PayPal (if you are taking payment that way - It's a tool under merchant services tab). Of course, you would have to place several buttons on the page if your customers wanted more than one coin - there's really no limit as to how many 'pay now' buttons one could have on a page.

 

Another option is to just take reservations (email interest with number of coins wanted only) until the time comes to take payment. This will let you know how many coins you will be selling (less drop rate) thus you will know your minting run by this as well.

 

Either way, if you were to tell prospective customers you have a coin coming out and it will be available shortly or whatever, you will have interest sparked on this forum (although we are quite new to this as well). Remember the movie 'Field of Dreams'? "If you mint it, they will come!" LOL - Hey... I may use that! :(

 

Keep in mind however, that you must tell your prospective customers whether or not you have your coins ("in-hand" or if they are "in transit", or whatever their status is) before pre-selling.

 

Good Luck! And since you mentioned it and started this thread, where's the picture of this coin?

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good points - we can have a 'paymate.com' system or a 'cointracking.com' system for presales via a webpage.

I am keeping the artwork underwraps for a little while longer as the mint has to redraw it and have it approved ( sometimes a lengthy process) before starting to mint proof coins. I was only going to send it to presale once the proof coin was to hand so the wait time is reduced to the minimum.

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If you're going to do a major coin like Australia I suggest taking a little time to set up a shopping cart. It'll be much easier and more familiar to use for your customers and you'll have better reporting, invoicing, postage, stock control, etc, etc. Cube Cart is free and only takes an hour or so to set up. It has easy to follow instructions for installation. Contact me if you need help or want more info. :(

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$14 for a pair for coins with identical tracking numbers plus postage is quite a high price. Are these coins 2" and 4MM or something? :(

 

That would depend on postage. Most trackables are running in the $9.00- $10.00 range, so in this case you get a second coin for $4.00- $5.00. Not a bad deal in my book.

 

As for pre-orders: Take an interest "poll" in these forums and then mint a fixed amount. Don't colelct until you have the coins on the way or you run into issues with PayPal and "customers" who get upset having to wait.

 

I won't pay more than a couple of weeks in advance for a coin (at most), and usually only buy when they are ready to be shipped.

 

Part of the deal with making a coin is taking the risk on the investment IMO. If people are going to treat this as business, then it should be run as one. Be willing to take the risk for the rewards.

 

Finally, you can always run a small batch (250-500) first and if they sell out, re-run a nother batch. jsut be upfront about intentions.

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On my Breast Cancer Ribbon coin here was my drop out rate.

 

On the non personalized coins zero drop out.

 

On the engraved or personalized I had 8 coins dropped. They were an order on 1, an order of 2 and an order of 5 coins.

Not bad 650 coins 8 drops.

I did have to remake 5 coins that I had sent in the wrong words to engrave, and 1 coin that the person who ordered sent the wrong date to engrave.

 

You can see the coin by hitting on the link in my sig line if you wish.

Edited by GA Cacher
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I see nothing wrong with asking with payment with preorders, otherwise you're asking one Geocacher (Me in this case) to take all the risk of say $1500 with no guarantee that those coins will be paid for. For most of us Geocoins are a hobby and for many of us, were not rich... prepayment is the only way to go.

One word of warning is that if you use paypal for a presale, you are asking for potential problems. I know of some people who had their paypal account temporarily disabled because of it.

 

From the paypal site:

-------------------------------------

Pre-Selling Products Policy

You may not use PayPal to sell "pre-sale" items. Pre-sale items are items advertised for sale before the seller has control or possession of the items. These generally consist of items that are sold prior to the item's availability to the general public, or that are sold by the seller with the intention of using the payment to go out and purchase the item being sold.

 

PayPal does permit pre-sales on a limited basis, as long as the seller guarantees and reasonably expects that the item will be shipped within 20 days from the date of purchase, and that he clearly inform the buyer that the item is a pre-sale item.

 

Such a policy ensures that buyers can pay for an item and still have the option to use PayPal's Buyer Complaint process in the event there is a problem with the transaction.

-------------------------------------

 

The real issue that it is is hard to predict how long it will take a coin to be minted and it is very easy to go beyond the 20 day limit for the pre-sale exception.

 

--Marky

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Because of delays like the Cornish coin mentioned above (just the latest example of many), I really prefer to pay a few days to a week before the coins will be shipped to me. I mean I paid for those coins on 12/10 and I am still waiting. I'm not happy about it, but there's nothing I can do. I do believe the seller above would wait to make customers pay in the future, right Birdman?

 

A) Of course there's something you can do.. You can say you're not happy and check your Paypal account later and you'll see you have a refund... There we go - sorted!

 

:( Certainly in the future I'd aim to use a Company that offered a prompter service and I'd not be doing this over a Christmas?New year period which added two weeks between ordering and delivery to me.. I'd insist the company didn't use USPS which ships via Spain!

 

I see nothing wrong with asking with payment with preorders, otherwise you're asking one Geocacher (Me in this case) to take all the risk of say $1500 with no guarantee that those coins will be paid for. For most of us Geocoins are a hobby and for many of us, were not rich... prepayment is the only way to go.

 

If the general consensus is that I've ripped people off and have a bunch on unhappy and unsatisfied customers then I for one will not be producing another coin - or if I do then maybe I'll restrict it's sale to Europe as much of the delay has been in getting coins across the Atlantic.

 

At the end of the day - I did my best - Apologies if it's not good enough.

 

No need to get defensive. My post is merely a statement of fact and not an attack.

 

If I wanted a refund, I would have asked. Obviously I wanted the coins :( But try putting the shoe on the other foot. Consider $40 an order on 8-10 different coin editions and waiting 6 to 12 weeks to receive the merchandise for those orders. It adds up and adds up big. For those reasons I prefer to pay for the coins when I will receive them in a more reasonable amount of time.

 

If you're going to retail coins, then as a seller, you really do need to absorb the risk. It's not fair to ask your customers to do that for you.

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I'm sorry... if you were unhappy.. I feel you should of said so and I would have corrected the situation.

 

Having read the Paypal policy then there will no more coins from me as I don't have a £800-£1000 to risk on Geocoins. I'll let the Big Boys with money and Companies take the market.

 

The Cornish coin was never a "Business" venture... like many other coins I guess we wanted a coin from our area, yep we made a few Pounds but the alternative is to make a loss, its terribly hard to budget to break even....

 

With apologies to all I've upset along the way.

Edited by Birdman-of-liskatraz
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Ok the artwork should be back ready for a pre pre sale! (no money to change hands just ballparking international numbers) perhaps even this weekend. I'll start another thread for that to keep it tidy. I'm glad I know some of the pitfalls now but perhaps try not to scare me into leaving it aussies only or giving it to one of the big guys to sell!

PPS I'd also need to know how many folk are interested in personalising as this is the most tedious shipping problem but not undoable by patient persons.

Edited by forthferalz
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That is possible - i already have bulk shipping prices to US calculated into a price but the personalising is the sticking issue - USA would save a few dollars on a single coin but lose this if the US receiver refuses to go the extra yards ( as has already happened with first offer ).

Edited by forthferalz
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Please remember me when this coin goes on sale.

 

I never check out these coin forums anymore and its been months since I bought a coin but I MUST GET one of these coins...maybe 2. I love Australia and have been trying to get my hands on an Australian 2006 coin as well. I found one in the wild here and fell in love with it...was sad to pass it on.

 

I send all my TB's to Aussie because they travel far and wide and the australian cachers take lots of pictures for me. So please remember me when it comes to the sale of this coin...I dont want to miss this one. It would break my heart!

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Please remember me when this coin goes on sale.

So please remember me when it comes to the sale of this coin...I dont want to miss this one. It would break my heart!

 

And I do so know the feeling of missing out and I'll try my best to not klutz up and forget anyone ! I guess I'd better open up the pre pre sale numbers thread now or I will make the wrong number.

ps do I ask the mod to lock this thread off so none gets lost please?

Edited by forthferalz
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Do the pre-sales open for your closest neighbours at the same time as the rest of the world? :rolleyes:

 

EEK! :anibad:

 

A sock puppet from NZ is after OUR coins.

 

Nice try. :ph34r:

 

BTW what has happened to the *real* NZ coin (not the Kiwi one)? B)

Well it would appear you can't rush these things :rolleyes: Last thing I heard is that they now had to change the year on the coin :P

 

Hey what ever happened in the cricket :P oh that's right, 3 nil! B)

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Here is what I get from Forthferalz Website: (Simply copied from his/her website)

 

Quote:

 

Australia 2007 Geocoin

  • Based on the original Adacache 2006 design with permission and minted in China.
  • 1.75” 45mm x 3mm coin in Gold plate (Shiny) and bimetallic gold on silver or black nickel
  • raised metal outer ring front and back
  • Centre recessed metal + foggy painting
  • Front images 3D Shiny gold
    Back 5 colours imitation hard enamel, custom etching at mint
  • trackable on GC.com with icon
    projected approx. cost US$7
  • aus07_gold_front.jpgaus07_gold_back.jpg
  • aus07_silver_front.jpg
  • aus07_silver_back.jpg
  • aus-geocoin_black_back.jpg
  • aus-geocoin-black_back.jpg

End Quote.

 

Hope this helps.

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thanks for your support guys but I'm going to lose track of your orders real easy this way! I'll have to get FSM to lock this thread please - I can't deal with searching through here for email adresses and so on - it will have to come through the preorder webpage proper. Just putting it up now at feralcaching.wordpress.com

lok in the right menu for the "australia geocoin 2007 international presale". Thanks again for your interest in this coin! please do not post any more 'pre orders' here!

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So frustrating...I dont see a

 

australia geocoin 2007 international presale

Working on it! hang ten guys ;) the gold is a free run - no limit to mint numbers now or for remainder of 2007.

I made the game to give you something to play with in the meantime ;)

Nice coin prize too, have fun!

http://feralcaching.wordpress.com/australian-odyssey/

Edited by forthferalz
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As we all know Adacache has done it all before and made a stunning Australian coin. So with help from the Aussie forums and abroad I am ready to take international presale orders for 2007 coin.

The coin closely follows the "runner up" design from 2006. It reverts to the original styling of foggy centre/ raised shiny rim which for some unknown reason was not minted, and inlcudes two LE bi metallic versions.

The back of the coin is not identical although this was possible. I wanted very much to overcome some of the 2007 issues by minting the coin with personalised engraving and in track/release pairs (one tracking number on two coins so you have a spare ) like travel bug tags. For aussies these are about the same cost.

 

Scoot over to feralcaching.wordpress.com to preorder -presale

NB aussies: you have your own order page in the right menu

kiwis: you are rest of world as you prefer it <_<

Tasmanians: we are still part of Australia

 

the personalizing is engraving included at the time of minting on the top of the back of the coin where it says "custom etching".

For example I could engrave a coin with my favourite cache's name and leave it in there for posterity to view, one for fun to travel and another for FTF prize viz:

1. FTF!

2. Coin-Cat-O-Log

3. Geocaishing

 

I tried using my home engraver to etch our travelling bandit geocoin but it just bounced off! Not a scratch! Gee that stuff is bullet proof ( well done oakcoins!). The local jeweller charges AU$10 for this service! The bootmaker charges $3, the other coin makers charge between US$1 and US$9 for the enormous administrative and shipping pain it creates. I've included it as an offer because the mint charges a few cents and it helps travelling coins to be identified. And it's a nice touch for prize coins, and I have the time and the helpers who will sort the coins individually, and I'm crazy!

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As we all know Adacache has done it all before and made a stunning Australian coin. So with help from the Aussie forums and abroad I am ready to take international presale orders for 2007 coin.

The coin closely follows the "runner up" design from 2006. It reverts to the original styling of foggy centre/ raised shiny rim which for some unknown reason was not minted, and inlcudes two LE bi metallic versions.

The back of the coin is not identical although this was possible. I wanted very much to overcome some of the 2007 issues by minting the coin with personalised engraving and in track/release pairs (one tracking number on two coins so you have a spare ) like travel bug tags. For aussies these are about the same cost.

 

Scoot over to feralcaching.wordpress.com to preorder -presale

NB aussies: you have your own order page in the right menu

kiwis: you are rest of world as you prefer it <_<

Tasmanians: we are still part of Australia

 

the personalizing is engraving included at the time of minting on the top of the back of the coin where it says "custom etching".

For example I could engrave a coin with my favourite cache's name and leave it in there for posterity to view, one for fun to travel and another for FTF prize viz:

1. FTF!

2. Coin-Cat-O-Log

3. Geocaishing

 

I tried using my home engraver to etch our travelling bandit geocoin but it just bounced off! Not a scratch! Gee that stuff is bullet proof ( well done oakcoins!). The local jeweller charges AU$10 for this service! The bootmaker charges $3, the other coin makers charge between US$1 and US$9 for the enormous administrative and shipping pain it creates. I've included it as an offer because the mint charges a few cents and it helps travelling coins to be identified. And it's a nice touch for prize coins, and I have the time and the helpers who will sort the coins individually, and I'm crazy!

 

Those are sharp looking. I guess I'm a little lost, how am I suppose to note my intention for pre-ordering? Here or on that forum?

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yes but its so far dooooown the page it's impossible to find! which is why I have everything on the BLOG in teh first place I suppose - i really get teh impression this place could be more practical and less stick in the mud* - eartha has a thread about a Travel BUG for goodness sakes in thiis coin forum

edit:

*link to here in Aussie thread broken by the mods merging the thread - good thing the german link is to the blog!

see - a simple couurtesy email first to the OP would be nice! and a chance to have left the PRESALE info as a thread in it's own right which is how it was intended - see top of thread to be useful to others- if you could have changed the title to better reflect this and locked htis htread off earlier as per my requests it would have been HELPFUL to a newb. I've been pushed to a presale before I was ready.

Edited by forthferalz
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yes but its so far dooooown the page it's impossible to find! which is why I have everything on the BLOG in teh first place I suppose - i really get teh impression this place could be more practical and less stick in the mud - eartha has a thread about a Travel BUG for goodness sakes in thiis coin forum

 

It's not wise to argue with FSM! <_<

 

You may be turned into a meatball . . . s-l-o-w-l-y :blink:

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yes but its so far dooooown the page it's impossible to find! which is why I have everything on the BLOG in teh first place I suppose - i really get teh impression this place could be more practical and less stick in the mud - eartha has a thread about a Travel BUG for goodness sakes in thiis coin forum

 

It's not wise to argue with FSM! <_<

 

You may be turned into a meatball . . . s-l-o-w-l-y :(

I am doing that anyway sitting here instead of hiking :blink: I hope my argument is to appeal to her commonsense and not just follow the rules like a robot. Anyway plan B is always ready :huh:

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