+Cacherintheattic Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I originally fell in love with Geocaching because it didn't cost me loads of money to do it, bar buying the app for my iPhone, it was completely free. I then started to place my own and was pretty happy paying a couple of pounds (I live in the UK) to place a cache here and there. One thing that does annoy me though is the price of travel bugs here. £5 for a normal set of dog-tags. Please, that's a bit of metal stamped out with some text on. I could get a machine to do it for less than that at the local pet store. What I was wondering was if there was a way to get the codes for cheaper or even for free and make our own personalised unique travel bugs? I see a lot of the same ones floating around and it would be nice to be able to engrave codes into different objects (such as a rubix cube) but obviously I'm not going to pay out £5 just to get a code when the dog-tags would be unnecessary. Quote Link to comment
+Panther&Pine Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 At this time there is no way to purchase just the codes. You're right, it would be handy to just buy the codes, but that isn't how GS wants to do it right now. Also you aren't just paying for the TB code, you are paying for them to track all activity on that code (once activated). Quote Link to comment
+Cacherintheattic Posted January 30, 2013 Author Share Posted January 30, 2013 I can understand a small fee for the code, they are a business after all. But I think it would be a good idea for them to sell the codes too, they must sell them to businesses for them to make batches of travelbugs and geocoins. So why not us? Quote Link to comment
+Panther&Pine Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I can understand a small fee for the code, they are a business after all. But I think it would be a good idea for them to sell the codes too, they must sell them to businesses for them to make batches of travelbugs and geocoins. So why not us? You can approach them about massive numbers and they'll let you know what sort of discount they'll do. (My mom wanted to buy 100 of them last year for an event... but hasn't done that yet). Quote Link to comment
+T.D.M.22 Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 you can buy just the code-there are a couple buts. You have am minimum number to buy, and have to have designs approved. Plus some others things. When you buy a TB you are paying about $6-$7 or £5. That's money going for the tracking code, software to track the TB's. Groundspeak has to make money to pay their staff. They have to pay for 2 dogtags, chains, Printing, and engraving the number on each tag. Also if you don't buy from Groundspeak, then the retailer has to make money and make their shipping costs back as well. SO even if you got the codes foe free, if you as an individual where to copy the dogtags, you would be paying 2-4 times more. Now it would be nice to be bale to buy the codes in small batches, how much? to me less than $10 is a good price, so I might as well just buy the TB. Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 See also the Help Center article Tracking Code Policy. Quote Link to comment
+JKMonkey Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 just buy the TB and put the code on the custom TB that you make. It might cost the same but it'll make it a bit more unique Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 just buy the TB and put the code on the custom TB that you make. It might cost the same but it'll make it a bit more unique But I think the point the OP is making is that £5 (that's almost $8 at the moment) is a lot to pay just for a number. As you say having just bought a TB (which includes 2 dog tags and a chain) you can then just paint/engrave that number onto another item, so I would have thought there was scope for GC supplying individual TB codes without the physical tags at a reduced rate. Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 just buy the TB and put the code on the custom TB that you make. It might cost the same but it'll make it a bit more unique But I think the point the OP is making is that £5 (that's almost $8 at the moment) is a lot to pay just for a number. As you say having just bought a TB (which includes 2 dog tags and a chain) you can then just paint/engrave that number onto another item, so I would have thought there was scope for GC supplying individual TB codes without the physical tags at a reduced rate. There is - see the help center link above. Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 There is - see the help center link above. But that requires a minimum order of 50 (unless I read it wrong), so it's not "individual TB codes". Quote Link to comment
+Cacherintheattic Posted January 30, 2013 Author Share Posted January 30, 2013 I've just done a bit of researching in the help centre (thanks for the link). It is possible to buy the codes, but you have to buy 50 of them minimum. At $1.50 or just under £1 per code this still makes it expensive. And I don't want 50 codes. I was looking more for one or two, I guess for now the only option is to buy the travel bug tags as said and just use the code, creating more waste, as the dog tags then, in a way, become useless. Guess beggars can't be choosers. Hopefully GS will come up with a way of providing us single codes, or even lowering the minimum (I wouldn't object to ten *hint hint*). Thanks for all your replies Quote Link to comment
+murrayegger Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I've just done a bit of researching in the help centre (thanks for the link). It is possible to buy the codes, but you have to buy 50 of them minimum. At $1.50 or just under £1 per code this still makes it expensive. And I don't want 50 codes. I was looking more for one or two, I guess for now the only option is to buy the travel bug tags as said and just use the code, creating more waste, as the dog tags then, in a way, become useless. Guess beggars can't be choosers. Hopefully GS will come up with a way of providing us single codes, or even lowering the minimum (I wouldn't object to ten *hint hint*). Thanks for all your replies Why don't you buy 50 and resell the other 40? Quote Link to comment
+Redfist Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I've just done a bit of researching in the help centre (thanks for the link). It is possible to buy the codes, but you have to buy 50 of them minimum. At $1.50 or just under £1 per code this still makes it expensive. And I don't want 50 codes. I was looking more for one or two, I guess for now the only option is to buy the travel bug tags as said and just use the code, creating more waste, as the dog tags then, in a way, become useless. Guess beggars can't be choosers. Hopefully GS will come up with a way of providing us single codes, or even lowering the minimum (I wouldn't object to ten *hint hint*). Thanks for all your replies Why don't you buy 50 and resell the other 40? That would quite likely work. I had to buy a dog tag just for the code that I had printed onto a trackable T-Shirt. I'm sure others would want cheaper codes for similar purposes. Quote Link to comment
+Sharks-N-Beans Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 What am I missing here. A basic TB is $4.99 USD or £3.16 GBP. Where are these $8.00 numbers coming from?...shipping? Now that is an option that GS could look into. You pay £3.16 for a bug and check "code only" and they e-mail the code instead of shipping a bug. GS is not out anything. Quote Link to comment
+Ms.Scrabbler Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Just be aware that no matter what you spend you need to be prepared for it to disappear. Quote Link to comment
+T.D.M.22 Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 What am I missing here. A basic TB is $4.99 USD or £3.16 GBP. Where are these $8.00 numbers coming from?...shipping? Shipping. And just like in real life you can pay different prices at different stores. If store A orders 200 TB's they may get a discount and sell them cheaper then store B that only buys 20 at a time. Why don't you buy 50 and resell the other 40? Still-with the current rules each item has to be approved by Groundspeak. You could get the TB and put the number on anything or buy the codes and possibly be denied what you want. Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Travel Bug forum. Quote Link to comment
+Eartha Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 You can buy the codes. In batches. Here is Groundspeak's current tracking policy. Quote Link to comment
+murrayegger Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Still-with the current rules each item has to be approved by Groundspeak. You could get the TB and put the number on anything or buy the codes and possibly be denied what you want. True, though I imagine this is to prevent non-family friendly items and copyright violations that could come back on geocaching.com since they require the website to be printed on the trackable. I imagine you could contact those responsible with your idea to be sure it will be approved. Quote Link to comment
+Anonymike7 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I've actually bought a set of codes directly from Groundspeak. The USD$75 cost for 50 codes is really not much when you consider how much mileage (no pun intended) you can get from a set. I made geocoins out of polymer clay and have released about 25-30 and given out another 10-15 as prizes and gifts. Getting design approval is really as simple as sending a picture to the appropriate lackey (Annie, last I checked). As long as your design isn't offensive, you should be fine with whatever you come up with. If you don't want to spend that much, well, s others have said, sell your surplus codes to locals Good luck! Quote Link to comment
+Ambient_Skater Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I've purchased custom dog tags before and a pair was about $8. Those were just regular dog tags with my custom text printed on them. Groundspeak's Travel Bugs cost around the same and include a tracking number and use of the tracking system. Quote Link to comment
+Eartha Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I've just done a bit of researching in the help centre (thanks for the link). It is possible to buy the codes, but you have to buy 50 of them minimum. At $1.50 or just under £1 per code this still makes it expensive. And I don't want 50 codes. I was looking more for one or two, I guess for now the only option is to buy the travel bug tags as said and just use the code, creating more waste, as the dog tags then, in a way, become useless. Guess beggars can't be choosers. Hopefully GS will come up with a way of providing us single codes, or even lowering the minimum (I wouldn't object to ten *hint hint*). Thanks for all your replies The dog tag never becomes useless. If your original trackable goes missing, you can re-release the dog tag after a period of mourning and keep it in action. If the first one shows back up though, you have to call one of them home. There can only be one item per tracking number. Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 What am I missing here. A basic TB is $4.99 USD or £3.16 GBP. Where are these $8.00 numbers coming from?...shipping? Now that is an option that GS could look into. You pay £3.16 for a bug and check "code only" and they e-mail the code instead of shipping a bug. GS is not out anything. If you buy them in the States they're $4.99, but GC.com don't ship abroad as they have international resellers. If you buy them in the UK they're £4.99, that's nearly 8 bucks. Quote Link to comment
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