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Cheaper TBs and geocoins


Geelvink

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$5 is prohibitively expensive for you? Then how did you afford the PM and a GPSr? :blink:

 

Anyway... I don't think $5 is too much to ask for what you are getting. Your getting a pair of tags. One to send out and one to keep. You also get a life time web page with those tags.

 

The only alternative is not supported by this site and get treated like swag and olmost never travel.

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Edited by Eartha
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I would like to place TBs and Geocoins in circulation, but I find the TB tags and Geocoins prohibitively expensive. Does anyone have ideas and suggestions to find cheaper alternatives for TB tags and Geocoins?.

TB tags prohibitively expensive? Considering that somebody created the tags, provides the tracking system/methods, etc. I would say that they are fairly reasonable.

 

Geocoins? Pricing depends a lot on quality. Plus, the people that (have) them created have made a fair investment and deserve a fair and reasonable profit from their venture, wouldn't you say?

 

 

Outside of that, many have tried things to track their own creations, those attempts have met with mixed (usually) poor results.

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Does anyone have ideas and suggestions to find cheaper alternatives for TB tags and Geocoins?.

There are free tracking web sites, but they come and go. One simple inexpensive option is to make an item, and attach a handmade tag that requests to be moved, and that people email you when they find it.

 

If you google "cheap trackable Geocoins", you can find Geocoins for just under $4, which also work as tags. If you can't afford that, you can select "Watch This Trackable Item" on any TB or Geocoin page, and watch it travel, for free.

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>> $5 is prohibitively expensive for you?

 

well, Geelvink is in South Africa and maybe over there they are a lot more expensive than USD 5. In the US everything is (relative) cheap - I know, Norway here! Have to check the exact amount here but could be around 20 USD or more for TB.

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I would like to place TBs and Geocoins in circulation, but I find the TB tags and Geocoins prohibitively expensive. Does anyone have ideas and suggestions to find cheaper alternatives for TB tags and Geocoins?.

 

There are other sites that provide hitchhikers (the term for non-gc.com travelers) that cost as much as free. The thing is that you cannot log them into caches and not everyone is willing to log them on the other site especially if it requires them to sign-up to do the update.

 

It's okay if you choose not to spend the money (yes, $5+ bucks can be a investment) but you are trading cost effectiveness with service and participation.

 

If you do ever decide to purchase a gc.com traveler, know that travel bugs are far easier to replace than coins.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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Spend the $5.00 or so for the trackable but find something you already own to attach to it. It is easy to place a small hole in an old toy or item that is just sitting in a box at your home. Check with your children or relatives for an attachment that they think would be fun to see travel along. That way your are not out very much money at all. B)

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those of you commenting that $5 is not expensive, look at where the OP is from and don't assume everyone pays the same price

 

those of you that live in the US and buy from Groundspeak directly pay $5 per tag and as low as $4.25 if you buy 8...the rest of the world pay anywhere from $7 up to $8 per tag

Edited by t4e
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I would like to place TBs and Geocoins in circulation, but I find the TB tags and Geocoins prohibitively expensive.

Geelvink,

 

How many did you intend to place?

 

The reason I ask is, I have a a new TB ready to place into a cache. If I set it to a goal of going to South Africa, could you find it? Once you retrieve it from a cache in RSA, I'll adopt it over to you (is it OK to discuss this here in this forum?). Is this something you'd be interested in doing? What would be a suitable goal cache or goal city?

 

Here's the adoption form, just for future reference:

http://www.geocaching.com/adopt/

Edited by kunarion
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those of you commenting that $5 is not expensive, look at where the OP is from and don't assume everyone pays the same price

 

those of you that live in the US and buy from Groundspeak directly pay $5 per tag and as low as $4.25 if you buy 8...the rest of the world pay anywhere from $7 up to $8 per tag

 

As a fellow South African, I can sympathize with Geelvink's position.

 

Once you buy something from the US, pay in Rands (which has depreciated a lot in the last few weeks with the global economic position), and add international postage and customs etc. it can cost a lot more than $5.

 

I have discovered some cachers in Pretoria and Johannesburg who import large orders which spreads the postage costs out a lot, and then sell them at events, there are also some online South African shops listed on the Groundspeak store that are worth getting in contact with. We have a variety of coins and travel tags from various sources around South Africa, and if you look around can get some reasonable value.

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those of you commenting that $5 is not expensive, look at where the OP is from and don't assume everyone pays the same price

 

those of you that live in the US and buy from Groundspeak directly pay $5 per tag and as low as $4.25 if you buy 8...the rest of the world pay anywhere from $7 up to $8 per tag

 

As a fellow South African, I can sympathize with Geelvink's position.

 

Once you buy something from the US, pay in Rands (which has depreciated a lot in the last few weeks with the global economic position), and add international postage and customs etc. it can cost a lot more than $5.

 

I have discovered some cachers in Pretoria and Johannesburg who import large orders which spreads the postage costs out a lot, and then sell them at events, there are also some online South African shops listed on the Groundspeak store that are worth getting in contact with. We have a variety of coins and travel tags from various sources around South Africa, and if you look around can get some reasonable value.

 

i take it you agree with me

 

if you are outside of US you can't even buy from Groundspeak unless you are an approved store

 

i am just next door to US and i can't find a tag cheaper than $7

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Still $10 US isn't all that bad either. But i like the idea of sending some TBs out with the mission to reach those who can't get or afford a TB and would like to have one travel.

 

It sucks but some times money does prevent people from doing many things they would like to do. But not everyone is able to participate in every aspect of the game. Some people really want the PM only caches but can't afford a membership.

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I would like to place TBs and Geocoins in circulation, but I find the TB tags and Geocoins prohibitively expensive.

Geelvink,

 

How many did you intend to place?

 

The reason I ask is, I have a a new TB ready to place into a cache. If I set it to a goal of going to South Africa, could you find it? Once you retrieve it from a cache in RSA, I'll adopt it over to you (is it OK to discuss this here in this forum?). Is this something you'd be interested in doing? What would be a suitable goal cache or goal city?

 

Here's the adoption form, just for future reference:

http://www.geocaching.com/adopt/

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Thank you for your reply and offer. The Idea is certainly not to spunge on other cachers.

 

Just to answer you question, I have +- 8 items ready to be tagged.

It will be interesting to watch how and how quick your tag can reach South Africa and in particular Pretoria or GC349FF. If you agree we can certainly put this to the test.

 

Meanwhile I will followup on the suggestions made by others, But the official TBs and Geocoins site and service just make more sence than the unofficial route that is not even an option for me.

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Thank you for the overwhelming response. Cachers are welcome to post more replies which is enlightning.

I note some cachers share my sentiments. One does not always realize the cost and service that goes with the TB tag, and the alternative option maybe interesting but not an option in my mind.

 

For me, one of the highlights in caching is finding a TB or Geocoin ( unfortunately I find too few), but if one want to spread this joy, then one also have to place TBs and Geocoins in circulation. That is in essence the reason for my post in this forum.

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It will be interesting to watch how and how quick your tag can reach South Africa and in particular Pretoria or GC349FF. If you agree we can certainly put this to the test.

The bug is ready to fly. I'm going to an event this weekend, which will have lots of attendees, including some reviewers. Maybe that will be a boost to get this TB on its way. When it arrives in RSA and you retrieve it, I'll adopt it to you. You may then change anything you wish about the TB except the existing logs.

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an aluminum tag with engraving and a chain costs mere cents in production.

And that extremely high-quality chain is a magor cause of the loss of Travel Bugs.

 

Wait a minute! You get TWO tags for the price. The equation is "mere cents times two". :P

Edited by kunarion
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Still $10 US isn't all that bad either.

 

The part that puts most people off is probably the fact that an aluminum tag with engraving and a chain costs mere cents in production....

 

Yeah, but they fail to take into consideration that the tag isn't the only thing they are buying; the main part of the purchase is the NUMBER and its life-time tracking service.

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Still $10 US isn't all that bad either.

 

The part that puts most people off is probably the fact that an aluminum tag with engraving and a chain costs mere cents in production....

 

Yeah, but they fail to take into consideration that the tag isn't the only thing they are buying; the main part of the purchase is the NUMBER and its life-time tracking service.

 

Which also costs mere cents...

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Still $10 US isn't all that bad either.

 

The part that puts most people off is probably the fact that an aluminum tag with engraving and a chain costs mere cents in production....

 

Yeah, but they fail to take into consideration that the tag isn't the only thing they are buying; the main part of the purchase is the NUMBER and its life-time tracking service.

Agreed, if i'm buying the tags i'm doing so for the number and the page. The tags are great for attaching to other items that you want to travel.

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It will be interesting to watch how and how quick your tag can reach South Africa and in particular Pretoria or GC349FF. If you agree we can certainly put this to the test.

The bug is ready to fly. I'm going to an event this weekend, which will have lots of attendees, including some reviewers. Maybe that will be a boost to get this TB on its way. When it arrives in RSA and you retrieve it, I'll adopt it to you. You may then change anything you wish about the TB except the existing logs.

Here's an update. The "Quacker Box" TB has gone into limbo, having logged no miles, no discovers. He and another brand new TB both have kind of vanished from the Event. So that's not very promising news at the moment. I'll mark them both missing soon, just to get them out of the event listing.

Edited by kunarion
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It will be interesting to watch how and how quick your tag can reach South Africa and in particular Pretoria or GC349FF. If you agree we can certainly put this to the test.

The bug is ready to fly. I'm going to an event this weekend, which will have lots of attendees, including some reviewers. Maybe that will be a boost to get this TB on its way. When it arrives in RSA and you retrieve it, I'll adopt it to you. You may then change anything you wish about the TB except the existing logs.

Here's an update. The "Quacker Box" TB has gone into limbo, having logged no miles, no discovers. He and another brand new TB both have kind of vanished from the Event. So that's not very promising news at the moment. I'll mark them both missing soon, just to get them out of the event listing.

Aaaaaaannnd... he's back. The "Quacker Box" TB is back in play! Now he's in Belgium.

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I think that this is an excellent opportunity to 'recycle' idle tracking numbers.

 

A geocoin doesn't come with a 'duplicate' coin to replace the origional if it becomes lost or stolen.

So......wouldn't it be cool for us to offer idle tracking numbers to our overseas friends that find it too expensive to buy their own coins?

 

The #s could easily be written on a piece of paper and then mailed over.

just think of the HUGE number of trackables we could putback into the game. :)

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I think that this is an excellent opportunity to 'recycle' idle tracking numbers.

 

A geocoin doesn't come with a 'duplicate' coin to replace the origional if it becomes lost or stolen.

So......wouldn't it be cool for us to offer idle tracking numbers to our overseas friends that find it too expensive to buy their own coins?

 

The #s could easily be written on a piece of paper and then mailed over.

just think of the HUGE number of trackables we could putback into the game. :)

There's a problem with "recycling" Geocoins, for many cachers: they require the actual coin in hand that matches its icon, otherwise they "didn't find the coin". I'm not saying that's right or wrong and I don't know why it isn't exactly the same issue with a "recycled" Travel Bug, but that's the way it is. I'm expounding on this in the Proxy topic.

Edited by kunarion
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i know that it's a problem to a few cachers, but i think the vast majority of us would love to move these trackables around.

And i'm not sure, but maybe this is only a U.S.A. issue.

 

and lastly, it's possible that our overseas friends may be willing to take the risk of the proxy not being accepted by some cachers.

It can always be sent out again and again.

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i know that it's a problem to a few cachers, but i think the vast majority of us would love to move these trackables around.

And i'm not sure, but maybe this is only a U.S.A. issue.

 

and lastly, it's possible that our overseas friends may be willing to take the risk of the proxy not being accepted by some cachers.

It can always be sent out again and again.

 

You can adopt your own trackables to whomever you wish.

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