Trading items

[EcoCacher3]

How do you guage the value of a trade item? And is it "acceptable" to take a few low value items and trade in a more valuble item?

[+bafl01]

I usually treat it as if I am a young child. "ooooh shiney ... ill trade it for ... ummmm this". for the most part I put in more than i take value wise. I have a large store of discounted toys and dollar store items and for the most part thats what i encounter in caches.

[+ThePachecos]

The dollar store rocks for nice low cost trade items or the local hobby store..

[+DiamondDaveG]

Personally, I have no problem with that and have done it and it opposite (many small for 1 big) a few times. I always make sure the cache ends up with the better part of the 'deal' though so that it has a decent number of quality items. For example, I remember one where my son took the used Hot Wheels car and left 2 new bouncy balls, a new key chain and a new flag pin. That way he was happy and the cache had more in it when we left.

[EcoCacher3]

Thanks for all the good ideas!

[+briansnat]

There is no need to sit there and appraise the value of every item you want to exchange. Few will complain if you take something worth $3 and leave something worth $2. Just don't go taking that Mini Mag Lite and leaving a marble or broken McDonalds toy.

 

I guess it would be acceptable to take a few low value items in exchange for a higher value one. What I see more often is someone leaving a few low value items in exchange for one higher value one. It's part of the reason that nicely stocked caches are full of nothing but junk after a dozen or so visits.

 

Just remember that the end goal is to leave the cache at least as well stocked as it was when you found it and you'll be fine.

[Fat_Rich]

I will only trade trackable items (Geocoins and Travelbugs) for other trackable items. They're a major part of geocaching for me, so I assume that they are for other people.

 

I recently placed my first hide, putting in a GC and a TB, plus a geocaching badge, and within a day the contents had gone down to one GC and a pebble. Somebody considered a coin and a d*mn pebble a fair trade for two coins and a badge. With that sort of trade by the end of the weekend there could just be an old lolly stick in the cache...

 

Sorry for ranting! As for the other sorts of items, dollar store items, corporate freebies are the sorts of things I swap. If something's useful, I'll try and put something useful back in- eg I have a nice lanyard which I swapped for a small knife.

[+GIDEON-X]

How do you guage the value of a trade item? And is it "acceptable" to take a few low value items and trade in a more valuble item?

 

Well as for my self, I Take-One....Leave-One (Trade Up or Even)...But as the Sport / Game has been evolving in this area (Yuma, AZ) the cache placers (Winter-Visitors) are not putting out caches with any swag.....(Pill Bottles) a scrap of paper...not even a golf Pencil......even the old line caches with good / nice swag the don't trade (TNLNSL)

[+obxnomad]

We try to find something that represents our area to leave and generally take nothing. The objective for us is to find the cache. Now if the grandkids are with us that's a different matter.

[+Seeker_Knight]

The whole swap swag idea is like the movie "Pay it forward". At some point, there is always going to be some weak links that cause the chain to break down, and the caches suffer. I expect it in the caches I am just now putting out. I have four to start.

My goal is to keep enough nice stuff in the caches, so the kids get a bit of fun out of it. Everything I buy is great treasure to kids, not so much for adults. As time goes on, and I get some more experience, I may place different stuff in the caches. But for now I just want to keep mine family friendly.

The main exception to this rule is my FTF momentos. I put a real nice brand new, LED light in each cache. I even ordered some new LE FTF trackable coins. Won't say when I'm going to use them. If it looks like too much time between finds, I may just restock with a few really nice items. That is half the fun. You never know what you might find. And you get a really great feeling knowing that you made some little kid real happy for a few minutes.

I think the main thrill for adults is the conquest of the find. That in itself is why I do this. There is nothing like finding a real sneaky cache. One that sits right in front of your face, mocking you while you search. It feels great when you emerge the victor over such a quarry!

For me, the swag is secondary. I just try to keep it as even as possible. If I skimp on one cache, I add a bit more to the next. It all evens out in the long run. I just use the old rule of the mirror. If I look in the mirror, and I like the guy staring back, I made a fair trade.

 

How do you guage the value of a trade item? And is it "acceptable" to take a few low value items and trade in a more valuble item?

[+deb3day]

I very rarely take anything except for TB's or geocoins. But I do have a bag full of unique little doodads that I leave behind in caches. The few times I have taken something (usually it's my son that finds something he'd like to take), I haven't really pondered on the value for value thing. I just make sure I'm leaving a thing or two to replace what I'm taking. I buy up unique items at yard sales to leave behind. I recently got a whole bag full of foreign coins and some cute little carved Buddhas. I also have some vintage wooden nickels from 1962 that I leave in the smaller caches. Most of what I see as swag is junk. I try to leave something that is at least worth looking at.

[+Cryptid]

I make these little Cruisers out of resin in a mold. I can make 30 in an hour. I leave them in caches I like.

[+flask]

your little voice of conscience will let you know if you have traded properly.

 

ideally, someone will be as pleased to see what you left as you are at what you took. the cash value needn't be matched.

 

there is also the well-known but much less common phenomenon of the Extremely Generous Trade: a person might leave a little trinket in a cache that was very expensive. say, maybe, a little something from the smithsonian catalog. or a nice piece of silver jewelry. sure, at one time it was worth $70. nobody carries around $70 trade items and nobody expects you to trade even for something extremely generous. these things may be traded for the nicest thing you have and the added value is considered a gift.

[+tooiake]

I will only trade trackable items (Geocoins and Travelbugs) for other trackable items. They're a major part of geocaching for me, so I assume that they are for other people.

 

I recently placed my first hide, putting in a GC and a TB, plus a geocaching badge, and within a day the contents had gone down to one GC and a pebble. Somebody considered a coin and a d*mn pebble a fair trade for two coins and a badge. With that sort of trade by the end of the weekend there could just be an old lolly stick in the cache...

 

Sorry for ranting! As for the other sorts of items, dollar store items, corporate freebies are the sorts of things I swap. If something's useful, I'll try and put something useful back in- eg I have a nice lanyard which I swapped for a small knife.

 

Geocoins and travel bugs aren't trade items. You don't need to leave anything when you take one of them, assuming they are activated. Of course, a pebble doesn't sound like a fair trade for a badge and whose idea was it to put a knife in a cache?

[+flask]

and whose idea was it to put a knife in a cache?

 

you say that as if it's unusual or in some way difficult to understand.

 

knives and multi-tools are natural cache items, except that by convention we rule them out in the interests of cooperation with land managers.

 

an awful lot of people don't know the convention, and need it explained.

[+Lassendograiser]

I make these little Cruisers out of resin in a mold. I can make 30 in an hour. I leave them in caches I like.

 

Cool little tags cruiser. I guess I haven't been out caching enough to find one yet. I wll eventually! Seriously, great signature item. Lassen

[+Renegade Knight]

your little voice of conscience will let you know if you have traded properly...

 

Very nice.

[+loge18]

I will only trade trackable items (Geocoins and Travelbugs) for other trackable items. They're a major part of geocaching for me, so I assume that they are for other people.

 

I recently placed my first hide, putting in a GC and a TB, plus a geocaching badge, and within a day the contents had gone down to one GC and a pebble. Somebody considered a coin and a d*mn pebble a fair trade for two coins and a badge. With that sort of trade by the end of the weekend there could just be an old lolly stick in the cache...

 

Sorry for ranting! As for the other sorts of items, dollar store items, corporate freebies are the sorts of things I swap. If something's useful, I'll try and put something useful back in- eg I have a nice lanyard which I swapped for a small knife.

 

Geocoins and travel bugs aren't trade items. You don't need to leave anything when you take one of them, assuming they are activated. Of course, a pebble doesn't sound like a fair trade for a badge and whose idea was it to put a knife in a cache?

 

Thanks for writing that! After reading the other post I was worried that I hadn't been following the spirit of the rules by simply moving along TBs!

[Golfxzq]

I am VERY new to this... my daughter found a reference to Geocaching in a magazine and asked me if my GPS showed coordinates. Got me intrigued and I have been reading a lot about this sport, so there is a lot I do not understand. I take it that this is not just a "teen" activity? I am a grandpa. I have not been on any searches but probably will try it with my two grandsons and their dog as soon as I get an appropriate GPS. I was concerned about what to take along to exchange... didn't want to be a cheapo! It seems like most anything works but I like the idea of leaving something hand-made, is that acceptable? Here are a couple of questions, what are "GC and a TB"?

 

OK.. I'll keep reading, maybe I will be prepared when the time comes.

 

Thanks,

 

Pops

Edited February 18, 2009 by Golfxzq

[+Chi-Town Cacher]

I am VERY new to this... my daughter found a reference to Geocaching in a magazine and asked me if my GPS showed coordinates. Got me intrigued and I have been reading a lot about this sport, so there is a lot I do not understand. I take it that this is not just a "teen" activity? I am a grandpa. I have not been on any searches but probably will try it with my two grandsons and their dog as soon as I get an appropriate GPS. I was concerned about what to take along to exchange... didn't want to be a cheapo! It seems like most anything works but I like the idea of leaving something hand-made, is that acceptable? Here are a couple of questions, what are "GC and a TB"?

 

OK.. I'll keep reading, maybe I will be prepared when the time comes.

 

Thanks,

 

Pops

Hi Pops! Welcome to the game!!! No it's not a teen game. From my limited experience it's mainly an adult game/sport/obsession. I'd encourage you to not only give it a try, but to also get your grandchildren involved. I really enjoy it when I'm caching by myself, but when I'm caching with my nephews (they range in age from about 12 to 16) the "fun factor" is multiplied many times over. There's nothing like watching a younger person dig throgh the swag ("treasure" items) in a cache to make it seem like the greatest activity in the world.

 

To answer your question TBs (travel bugs) and GCs (geocoins) are trackable items that have a unique trackable number on them (you buy the tracking number from vendors listed here on gc.com) and release into the wild. Then when others find it and move it they log their movements. The people moving a trackable item can also write logs in it's web logs and post pictures of your TB or GC in interesting places. CLICK HERE if you would like to see what I'm talking about. It's the web page for my first TB that I released. It's an awesome part of the game that is really pretty darnded reasonably priced if you decide you want to get into it.

 

Good luck and hopefully when you try out the game you'll find it as fun as all of people do who are now somewhat addicted to it. If you have questions feel free to check out the thread pinned near the top of the Getting Started Forum a lot of the FAQ are answered there. Also, asking questions here in the Forum is another way to get expert advice. I'm not an expert by any means, but there are lots of very knowledgeable and friendly people here. Again welcome and happy caching!!!

[+perky2000]

We like to leave something even if we do not take anything.

 

Especially if the cache is low on swag. I consider it a "thank you" to the cache owner

for placing the cache.

 

But if we run across something that we would like to take, then we just try to trade even or up.

 

I've found Hallmark's clearance aisle usually has a lot of quality swag items marked up to 70% off retail. Stock up on trade items when you find a good deal.