eBay and Trackables

[+winwin56]

I am a geocacher and an eBay'er. I've noticed several trackable items are on sale on eBay, but I really feel like I see the downfall of this practice. Although I consider GC'ers to be the most scruplulous people on the planet, I still think the human element (and the stinky economy) could entice some cachers or muggles to find and sell trackables on eBay and break the "essence" of what they are there for.

 

I guess I see a Catch 22 in this : I would like to purchase GC's, TB's and PT's and get them back into circulation as they SHOULD be, however, I don't want to contribute to the successful practice of those who take trackables from caches and make money off of their sale on eBay.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Team WinWin56

[Keystone]

My understanding is that this is a bigger problem for Geocoins, so I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Geocoin Discussions forum. The moderators there may choose to move the thread again to the Travel Bug forum if they feel it's more appropriate there. BUT... they have to log their retrieval and movement of the thread. They cannot keep the thread, and they cannot sell the thread on eBay.

[+GrnXnham]

I am a geocacher and an eBay'er. I've noticed several trackable items are on sale on eBay, but I really feel like I see the downfall of this practice. Although I consider GC'ers to be the most scruplulous people on the planet, I still think the human element (and the stinky economy) could entice some cachers or muggles to find and sell trackables on eBay and break the "essence" of what they are there for.

 

I guess I see a Catch 22 in this : I would like to purchase GC's, TB's and PT's and get them back into circulation as they SHOULD be, however, I don't want to contribute to the successful practice of those who take trackables from caches and make money off of their sale on eBay.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Team WinWin56

 

Are you talking about activated coins or unactivated coins? The selling of unactivated coins has been going on since geocoins first started. A lot of people use ebay to buy new unactivated coins. If you are talking about activated coins, I'm not sure there is much of a market for them. I wouldn't want one. Are they selling activated coins on ebay?

[+Sparticus06]

I have never known someone or anyone to take a activated coin from a cache and sell it on ebay. All the coins that are sold are either trackable and unactivated, or non-trackable.

IF the coins are unactivated, I dont see a problem with them being sold. I have picked up many coins that I can no longer get from the original site off ebay. All my coins get activated and then either released or put into my collection.

[+MustangJoni]

I think for the most part, the coin on ebay are unactivated. Generally, if they have been activated, they are sold by the owner of the coin. They then will adopt it to the buyer. There have been a few cases where activated coins have been sold. I know of one case, where it was purely accidental. I think for the most part, the coins are unactivated.

[+winwin56]

I am a geocacher and an eBay'er. I've noticed several trackable items are on sale on eBay, but I really feel like I see the downfall of this practice. Although I consider GC'ers to be the most scruplulous people on the planet, I still think the human element (and the stinky economy) could entice some cachers or muggles to find and sell trackables on eBay and break the "essence" of what they are there for.

 

I guess I see a Catch 22 in this : I would like to purchase GC's, TB's and PT's and get them back into circulation as they SHOULD be, however, I don't want to contribute to the successful practice of those who take trackables from caches and make money off of their sale on eBay.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Team WinWin56

 

Are you talking about activated coins or unactivated coins? The selling of unactivated coins has been going on since geocoins first started. A lot of people use ebay to buy new unactivated coins. If you are talking about activated coins, I'm not sure there is much of a market for them. I wouldn't want one. Are they selling activated coins on ebay?

Most of the ads say that you can activate them, but I guess if that's the wording I need to really watch for, that is good to know. I will read the ads very carefully.

[YemonYime]

Heya Winwin56,

 

As you can see from the above responses, the large majority of trackable geocoin auctions are explained and understood pretty easily by potential buyers. Not much funny stuff happening.

 

Although there's plenty of people outside of this forum who purchase and sell geocoins, there's a solid notion of "self-policing" right here that would discover and expose such a practice for the benefit of geocoin collectors everywhere.

[+rsfish1]

Hi winwin56,

 

As a seller on that place and avid collector myself, I just wanted to give you a couple pieces of advise. Like any purchase you make on Ebay, check out the person's history and see what people have to say about them. Their past is always a good indication of their future. Make sure the auction states whether the coin is unactivated or not. Don't be afrraid to ask them before buying. And last, but not least. when you recieve the coin, try to retrieve the activation code and/or see if it is unactivated on gc.com. If it is activated and should not be, contact the buyer. If they do not offer to make it right, then file a claim through Paypal. But there are times when a seller does accidentally send the wrong coin, although it is very rare from what I have seen.

 

Hope this helps! Now lock your wallet before it gets out of hand...

[+jbhodj & Drake]

I have purchased both GC's and TB's on Ebay and have no issues with it so far.

[+joranda]

I think of only one time that I have heard of someones coin taken from a cache and sold on ebay. I'm sure it don't happen much at all.

[+joranda]

I think of only one time that I have heard of someones coin taken from a cache and sold on ebay. I'm sure it don't happen much at all.

[ELTADA]

Wouldn't also a coin winding up on ebay that has already been activated and taken from a cache be easy to damage a seller's rating? Afterall, one quick visit to the website and you can pull up the trackable's history and see that it's owned by someone else. In essence...it's selling stolen goods.

[paganfrog]

im probably rattling the can of worms here, but as i am fairly new to geo coins, i havent bought any yet but that wont stay that way for long.

i will probably prefer to deal from the direct sales on here and other legit forums.

but if i was to see a coin on ebay that i felt i really gotta have thats where im clueless.

can someone let me know (either on here on via pm) what coin sellers on ebay are legit and trusted?

i dont want to end up being cheated with a copy or a stolen coin.

[+dhenninger]

99%+ of coins sold on ebay are legit sales. There have been one or two issues in the past, but it i usually due to a mis-understanding. Check people's ebay feedback, as with any other purchase.

[+Lazer]

I think they're 98% unactivated, or if they are activated then they say so in the listing and say they will be adopted to the winning bidder.

 

However, I will say that I've seen quite a few of the fallen heroes geocoins on there, which I consider quite distasteful since those coins do not come unactivated in the first place and they are not adoptable.

[+Team LaLonde]

I would like to purchase GC's, TB's and PT's and get them back into circulation as they SHOULD be, however, I don't want to contribute to the successful practice of those who take trackables from caches and make money off of their sale on eBay.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Team WinWin56

 

I'm confused - are you saying that you would pay good money to rescue activated travel bugs from dishonest Ebayers? Very noble, if that's the case. A waste of money, but very noble. Even more noble is letting the owner of the TB know you've located it and let them address the situation.

 

If you are on a mission to liberate the unactivated TBs from Ebay, then you will have a great mission ahead of you. There are also a lot of TBs that need to 'freed' from the Groundspeak store.

[+nashuan]

I have heard of one seller who said he accidently sold an activated coin on Ebay as one that was not activated. I don't remember how he resolved the situation, but I remember him posting his story here and that he felt awfull about it. I, myself have purchased one activated coin from Ebay, which was prominently advertized as such, and adopted the coin without problem. The only issue I can really see in pirating is if the seller steals from caches, sells activated coins as being non-activated and the buyer never checks to see if in fact they are unactivated. In this case, an unscrupulous seller might get away with it until the negative feedback eventually starts to catch up with him.

[avroair]

I think of only one time that I have heard of someones coin taken from a cache and sold on ebay. I'm sure it don't happen much at all.

 

Make that two, I sold a coin once that was activated and found in a cache, I put it on the counter and a week later thought it was something from my own collection. The winner bidder told me about the problem, so I told them to release it into the wild and sent them a replacement coin (that was unactivated ) ~ haven't done that again!

[+winwin56]

I would like to purchase GC's, TB's and PT's and get them back into circulation as they SHOULD be, however, I don't want to contribute to the successful practice of those who take trackables from caches and make money off of their sale on eBay.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Team WinWin56

 

I'm confused - are you saying that you would pay good money to rescue activated travel bugs from dishonest Ebayers? Very noble, if that's the case. A waste of money, but very noble. Even more noble is letting the owner of the TB know you've located it and let them address the situation.

 

If you are on a mission to liberate the unactivated TBs from Ebay, then you will have a great mission ahead of you. There are also a lot of TBs that need to 'freed' from the Groundspeak store.

 

I WOULD resue a coin and put it back into circulation (as long as the price wasn't outrageous). I don't collect GC's and am very conscientious about getting them moving on with their missions. I cache with my kids, and we have placed a few travel bugs and love watching their journey. I just can't imagine spending the big bucks for a GC of our own only to have it muggled, and put up for randsom on ebay. It sends a good message to my kids about doing what's right...even if it costs you a few bucks.

 

The other comment that other repsonses have mentioned are the tracking numbers. Some ebay ads have the tracking numbers "blacked out", so to check the status of that coin, other than the fact that the seller is claiming it's not activated is your only avenue of checking its true status.

 

Good advice here overall! I am a conscientious ebayer (and geocacher) and will look closely at the item and the seller before buying coins!

Thanks

[+BisonWoman]

I'm actually selling some of my geocoins now so I can have my own BisonWoman/BisonGirl geocoin made.

[+LadyBee4T]

 

The other comment that other repsonses have mentioned are the tracking numbers. Some ebay ads have the tracking numbers "blacked out", so to check the status of that coin, other than the fact that the seller is claiming it's not activated is your only avenue of checking its true status.

 

Good advice here overall! I am a conscientious ebayer (and geocacher) and will look closely at the item and the seller before buying coins!

Thanks

 

I sell and buy coins on ebay also. When I list ones for sale I ALWAYS blur out the tracking numbers. That prevents someone else from pulling the activation code and activating it themselves. That's also why here in the forums too when you see pictures of coins the tracking numbers will be blurred.