Newbie Question about coins

[+flcop400]

Ok if this is answered elsewhere I apologize but I have looked around and don't have an answer. If I find a geocoin in a cache that does not have instructions to pass it on, may I keep it? Can I keep it if it has a tracking number, as long as I log it and add it to my collectibles on geocaching.com? Thanks for the help, we just started and don't want to do it wrong! Thanks again!

[+GeocoinGuy]

Ok if this is answered elsewhere I apologize but I have looked around and don't have an answer. If I find a geocoin in a cache that does not have instructions to pass it on, may I keep it? Can I keep it if it has a tracking number, as long as I log it and add it to my collectibles on geocaching.com? Thanks for the help, we just started and don't want to do it wrong! Thanks again!

If you find a trackable coin in a geocache, look up the tracking number. If the coin is active and owned by someone else, it probably has a goal, and that goal should be followed if at all possible. If it doesn't have a goal, it still must be moved to another cache anyway. If you find that the coin is UNACTIVATED, it was left as swag, and is yours to keep.

 

In the Geocoin world, we practice 'Trade even or trade up'. Geocoins range in price range, but usually run $6-$12 - so if the coin you find is unactivated upon checking the tracking number - its up to you to either activate it or not... but all in all, trade fairly for it.

 

If the coin is not trackable, its left as swag (somebody's signature coin). But the trade even trade up rule still applies.

 

~J

[+Jackalgirl]

Just to add: when you're checking to see that the coin is activated, be careful with the numbers. You'll find that 1s look a lot like Is, 0s like Os, 8s like Bs. I'm always careful to actually label the unactivated swag geocoins as unactivated so that the finder is sure, but I don't know if that's a common practice. So just try the serial number as many ways as you can and if you can't determine that it's activated, congrats! : )

 

Jim is totally right about the trade even or trade up thing. Please consider trading up! : )

[+Droo]

First of all I want to say thank you for asking. The whole game is based on integrity .... that you'll replace the cache at least as well as you found it, that you'll trade for swag with swag of comparable worth if not better and that you'll move and log travelers and hitchhikers along as soon as possible. Collections and collectibles are confusing to newbies who must find the whole supply chain of geocoins to be rather mysterious and magical.... it was to me. It's shocking to me to find so many asking if collections are built on coins taken from caches.... imagine how many don't ask and just act on the assumption. Again thank you for asking.

 

Beside what GCG said I'll add that if you can't find the tracking page to a geocoin make sure you copied the tracking number correctly.... it's so easy to misread an O for a 0, or a 0 for a D or even a Q for either an O or a 0. Then there's the 1s, the Is, the 2s and the Zs, the 5s and the Ss not to mention the 8s and the Bs. With all the different ways to misread a tracking number you'd think designers, makers and mints would not be so shortsighted as to use minuscule fonts but they do ... alas, they do.

 

Happy hunting...

[+ElliPirelli]

It is very unusual to find unactivated coins in a cache. At least here in my area...

 

Sometimes I leave one as a First To Find prize, but that is clearly labeled as such.

 

Activated coins are no swag and there is no need to trade fairly for them. Travellers can be taken out of a cache anytime without leaving something in it's place. As long as you help their goal. Even if that is 'travelling' it is helping to move the trackable, usually no traveller wants to stay put in a cache... but there might be exemptions, so please read the goal.

 

Most trackables with a certain goal have laminated sheets with the goal attached to them. This helps a lot to learn about the goal while at the cache site...

 

Coins for your collection on the other hand can be bought at various shops, just check out the forums here...

[+flcop400]

Thanks all, I think I understand now. I appreciate the quick replies too!

[+AtlantaGal]

It's okay to keep when:

 

1. The coin is not trackable (it's swag) and you trade fairly for it.

 

2. The coin is unactivated and you trade fairly for it.

 

3. The coin is activated, but on the travellers page it says you may keep/trade or move along.

 

4. The coin is traded/sold to you by the owner and you adopt it.

 

If none of the above, keep it moving to another cache.

Edited July 21, 2010 by AtlantaGal

[Brownie Charles]

If you find a trackable coin in a geocache, look up the tracking number. If the coin is active and owned by someone else, it probably has a goal, and that goal should be followed if at all possible. [...] If you find that the coin is UNACTIVATED, it was left as swag, and is yours to keep.

~J

 

That's perfectly clear. But how can someone decide in the field if an unmarked coin is activated or not, so he has to move it without trading, or can trade to keep it? If finder leaves nothing and takes nothing but the coin to travel, and later finds that it is unactivated, he cannot keep it since he didn't trade for it. Imagine, if you found a really gorgeous coin you really craved for, only to find out later that it was swag, but at that point there's no way you can keep it. Maddening.

On the other way, if finder trades for it evenly to find out later that it's not swag and has to release it, he traded maybe more than 10 bucks for absolutely nothing.

Either way, if finder does not guess right in the field, and later wants to keep the rules, he will be "robbed", of his trade items, or of his right of trading.

Clearly marking unactivated coin as swag should be mandatory.

 

I can only think of one way to resolve this. If an unmarked coin _later_ proves to be unactivated swag, can you leave its "price" in the _next_ cache you visit? Not a perfect solution, but still you do not steal from the community as a whole. What do you think about it? Would be acceptable?

 

regards

B.C.

[+forthferalz]

yes the problem in the field is you should treat the gecoins you find as Tb's as a swag coin which is trackable is just so unusual so i find it acceptable. Many of my activated coins are 'hot swapable' so if the finder wants to keep it there is an invitation on the webpage to ask; then for another to be activated and adopted to me or some suitable swag placed into the next cache.