Tradeing for pathtags

[Andronicus]

OK, I encountered some pathtags the other day. I left them because I was a little unsure what to do. Apparently you are supposed to trade for them and keep them. How much are they worth. What kind of swag would be considered a even or up trade?

 

I normaly have cool PEZ despensers with me, but seems to me a pathtag is worth a bit more than a PEZ.

[hoosier guy]

I found my first one the other day, thought it was a tb at first.

[+Panther&Pine]

OK, I encountered some pathtags the other day. I left them because I was a little unsure what to do. Apparently you are supposed to trade for them and keep them. How much are they worth. What kind of swag would be considered a even or up trade?

 

I normaly have cool PEZ despensers with me, but seems to me a pathtag is worth a bit more than a PEZ.

They are about 1$, maybe 2$. I'm very excited to get my own made up.

You can trade them and keep them. They seem to be rather collectable, but rather uncommon.

 

Check out their webpage- some of those are awsome.

I'm thinking of them as training wheels for Geocoins (something that I'd also like to have made up when I've got more money).

[+cerberus1]

I frequently leave unactivated pathtags in smaller caches (CJ gets 'em free with some coin orders.)

As Pez dispensers are collected by quite a few also, sounds like a fair trade to me.

[+NatureGuy360]

I have come across a couple of path-tags, but it requires me to go to a separate website other than geocaching.com to track it.

 

What is the benefit, and purpose of a path-tag versus a standard geo-coin, or travel bug?

Edited July 13, 2010 by heyjonathan101

[+kunarion]

How much are they worth.

They're desirable, highly collectable, and rarely seen in a cache. Some people place the "trade value" at cost of manufacture, about one dollar, so they can justify trading a used McToy for it. Pathtags are much more valuable than that (or else they'd be commonly seen in caches along with other things worth a dollar). They are often considered to be "free", signature items, and taken without trading anything, which I think is really, really cheesy. To each his own. If I ran the world, you'd trade them for Pathtags.

 

For heyjonathan101: The benefit is that you can keep a Pathtag when you find it (not an activated TB or Geocoin). And you can have a metal & enamel Pathtag coin custom-made with "tracking" capabilities, at about $1 each. A drawback is they are designed to vanish, being highly collectable, and a bargain when traded for a broken McToy.

Edited July 13, 2010 by kunarion

[+kunarion]

training wheels for Geocoins

Yes. If I place some Pathtags into the wild, and they immediately go missing, it's not a big deal. I'd probably cry over losing a Geocoin. A little.

[+niraD]

Most pathtags are essentially signature items, to be treated as trackable trade items. They cost about $100 for the first batch of 50 in a given design, and $100 for each "refill" of another 100 in an existing design. So depending on how you think of it, they're either worth about $1 or $2 each (depending on whether they're the first batch of a design, or a "refill"), or they're worth about $1 each with a $50 setup fee.

 

I usually trade for them and add them to my signature item collection.

[+nativtxn]

I usually treat them as any other tradeable (is that a word?) SWAG. It's a signature item left by a previous cacher, sort of like a wooden nickel or other trinket. The difference is that you can "collect" them online as well and can even trade out with other cachers around the globe.

 

Geocoins and Travel Bugs are meant to travel from cache to cache. These can be taken from a cache and you don't necessarily have to replace them with something else. Just remember - ALWAYS log coins and tags OUT of one cache and IN to another cache when you drop it somewhere else.

[+Panther&Pine]

training wheels for Geocoins

Yes. If I place some Pathtags into the wild, and they immediately go missing, it's not a big deal. I'd probably cry over losing a Geocoin. A little.

I don't think I want to buy coins to send out, but collect- yes please!

 

I'm also really liking the pathtags- very pretty and I might try and figure out a way to wear them. Although I also may end up putting them on the wall or inside of a table or something. And they are smaller then geocoins, as well as more uniform.

[+Chokecherry]

I've tossed around designing my own path tag. But the cost and the lack of my artistic ability are big stopping points for me. However, I do trade swag for path tags when I find them as I like to collect them. Usually swag worth $1-2 is what I do.

[+Quossum]

I think of my Pathtags like a signature item; I leave them in caches I like, or in one of a series I'm finding. If I take something from the cache, including another Pathtag, I'll leave some swag, and I'll leave a Pathtag of my own sometimes whether I leave other swag or not. I typically leave a dollar or two worth of swag.

 

The "advantage" of Pathtags is that they cost less to produce than Geocoins and are not meant to travel from cache to cache (though some people do take them and move them to another cache); they don't "go missing" like Geocoins or Travel Bugs--they're meant to disappear from caches! But at the same time they are loggable, the "disadvantage" being that you have to go to another site to do so.

 

They have their own website, www.pathtags.com

 

--Q

[+_dxd_]

 

I'm also really liking the pathtags- very pretty and I might try and figure out a way to wear them. Although I also may end up putting them on the wall or inside of a table or something. And they are smaller then geocoins, as well as more uniform.

 

A few different ways to wear them. One of my recent tags I've been wearing as a necklace, I just used a length of silk cord in a matching color, but you could use jump rings and chain. I know some people have even gotten wire earring "posts" to wear as a pair of earrings.

 

The store where you can purchase pathtags from (not sure if I'm allowed to mention names) has also just started carrying something to use to hang them on hats, bags, lanyards, etc. It's a notched post with a round ball on top, put that through the hole in the pathtag, and then there is a clip to attach it - same sort of clip that comes on geopins from Oakcoins or Disney trading pins or whatever.

[+all Wright]

I love them and would definitely go out of my way to get to a cache to get one! I trade really well for them, but I don't have pathtags to trade, just a bag full of (new) toys and my sig. item which is a wooden nickel keychain. I would love to design a pathtag, and maybe get some for our family for Christmas or something, but I have no good ideas! Any one have a good idea for me? and where do you get the art done up first? I would want something really meaningful and personal to me - I think that's the point!

[+Chrysalides]

I frequently leave unactivated pathtags in smaller caches

There's nothing to activate for pathtags. All the tags with the same design have the same ID.

 

I usually trade a tag with my tag. I don't think I've found more than 10 in the wild.

 

I print a little note with my tag, telling people what it is, and to let them know they can trade for it and keep it just like any other swag. I also tell them that they don't have to log my tag if they don't feel like it, since it involves creating another account on another site.

[+_dxd_]

Any one have a good idea for me? and where do you get the art done up first? I would want something really meaningful and personal to me - I think that's the point!

 

If you go to the website, on the left side of the page, there is a box labeled All About Tags. If you click on Get Design Help, that will take you to a page where it lists several different artist websites. You can get custom made or ready to use designs for a fee.

 

If you join the forum, there are sometimes designs offered in exchange for a few of the tags when produced.

Some people have just done quick sketches, posted them to the forum, and members have helped to refine the idea until it's just right.

Some people have scanned a drawing that their very young child has done, and had that created as a tag.

[+SgtSue]

I treat them as my signature item. Often leave a note for others to feel free to take with or without a trade as often I will leave them in a micro. Personally I love seeing them pop up on the pathtag map, sometimes where I left them and sometimes somewhere else. At $2 each for the first 50 then about $1 a piece afterwards the price is in my range. Those who have found them, whether familiar with the product or not, have written so many nice words about them I think it is well worth the little bit of money spent. I will often give them away to kind muggles encountered while geocaching. Bottom line for me they are fun and bring joy.

[+Fianccetto]

I paid about $5 + p&p ($8 ish altogether) from USA to UK on ebay for a pathtag (I glimpsed that it said it was 'trackable' and thought it was a mini geocoin.) Man, was I miffed when I looked it up to find that I didn't own it, it still officially belonged to the people who made it and I could keep it in a collection, or not, but not track it the way you can on geocaching.com.

 

I put it in our own cache and it was traded for something of equal value by someone who does collect them, so I'm happy with that, it helped our cache be an even better experience for somebody.