Value of a geocoin - activated vs unactivated?

[+funkymunkyzone]

Let me start off by saying I'm well aware a great many people consider that an activated coin is less valuable than an unactivated one.

 

Just for fun, I'd like to hear some views on this as I'm presently a fence-sitter (who has never bought or sold an activated geocoin/trackable, but own approx 150).

 

Is a geocoin like a car? New cars are certainly worth more than used examples of the same models. However, a car is a machine with increasing cost of ownership as it gets older, hence lower value... And I would wager a used 1955 Gullwing Mercedes is considerably more valuable now than when it was new.... but then again, probably not more valuable than if you could still find one brand new, never used...

 

So the car example doesn't completely work.

 

How about a painting? The value of a painting, depending of course on the artist, typically increases with time, no matter how many times (to use a geocoin analogy) the painting is photographed, appears in books or is 'discovered' on display at an art museum... But then again, each (original) painting is a one-off, so there is no brand new alternative to which each can painting be compared.

 

So the painting example doesn't completely stack up either.

 

How about a girlfriend? Ok, ok, no one is going to want to dip their toe in that particular ocean, but I would wager no sane person thinks of their partner as being devalued because they had past relationships...

 

Personally I think deteriorated condition might devalue a coin, but coin activation (or even any logs on it), I don't know. I'm interested to hear what others have to say, and also for the inevitable dissection of my silly examples above!

Edited April 18, 2013 by funkymunkyzone

[+kunarion]

I'm presently a fence-sitter (who has never bought or sold an activated geocoin/trackable, but own approx 150).

Are you sure you haven't figured it out?

 

If it's coming by mail, I'd much prefer the listing say "unactivated". If it's activated, questions arise. Who's listed as the owner (was it found somewhere, kept, and now for sale)? Who has logged it?

 

If you're famous and popular as me, you'd activate it first, so the buyer has the prestige of showing off who previously owned it.

 

Otherwise, unactivated allows the most flexibility. I could place it, gift it, or sell it, without having to worry about if or when it will be "adopted" to me.

[+Twitch Hugs Trees]

If it's activated, questions arise. Who's listed as the owner (was it found somewhere, kept, and now for sale)? Who has logged it?

 

I don't own many coins, and my only two travelers were both stolen by muggles immediately after being placed, but that is the only real concern that I would perceive as making an activated coin/bug less valuable. Otherwise, I would think it interesting to see the previous logs--like provenance on a historical artefact. But maybe that's just me being a history/archaeology geek.

 

 

[+JackHoe]

For me, the price of a coin I want to pay depends on how much I want to have it, whether it is activated or not. I activated the coins I want to keep in my collection, so others can discover them. That way the tracking number has use even when the coin is not really traveling (only with me). I also like collecting icons, so I give others the possibility to collect them also from my collection. I hope when I decide to sell my activated coins to find coin lovers who think the same way .

[+imoutnabout]

The only difference (to my mind) between an UNactivated coin and an activated coin, so long as it has never traveled in the wild cache to cache, is the extra step of having it adopted to my account. And the only reason the traveling makes a difference is that it's more likely to have damage/flaws from that activity as opposed to staying with the previous owner/owners.

 

I've never understood why we pay extra for that little icon, when to use it makes your coin less valuable to most buyers.

[+Droo]

New is always more valuable than used. Unactivated implies that it's unused, even though we know it's not as it's been sitting in a box or pocket just like one in the field but it hasn't really gone anywhere but the occasional meet-n-greet. But that's human perception for you. As for things reaching the collectible value... that always depends on the number of collectors out there willing to bid up the value due to scarcity and demand. There are a lot of old coins out there that no longer have the cache' they once had; they are more readily available from dismantled collections, not as interesting to newer collectors etc. So before we start considering killing off coin makers to make their coins more valuable posthumously in our collections we may want to consider just how valuable they can reasonably get.

[+funkymunkyzone]

If it's activated, questions arise. Who's listed as the owner (was it found somewhere, kept, and now for sale)?

 

To be clear, when I compare activated vs unactivated, particularly in terms of selling or trading coins, I am specifically referring to the rightful owner of the coin. Stealing coins to collect or sell is abhorrent.

[+funkymunkyzone]

New is always more valuable than used. Unactivated implies that it's unused...

 

We're used to "new" being more valuable than "used", but it's not a universal law of physics

 

We're just used to buying appliances, clothes, cars, and "used" then equates to "worn", "partially used up" or "closer to eventual failure/end of life".

 

But does that apply to something durable and collectable like a geocoin? So long as it is not damaged at all, does it matter that it has visited some events, or even a few caches? Do the logs an activated coin has actually serve to make it more original?

[+kunarion]

If it's activated, questions arise. Who's listed as the owner (was it found somewhere, kept, and now for sale)?

 

To be clear, when I compare activated vs unactivated, particularly in terms of selling or trading coins, I am specifically referring to the rightful owner of the coin. Stealing coins to collect or sell is abhorrent.

If it's on Ebay, and the description says "It's activated, but the owner will transfer ownership to you", I'd be suspicious and wouldn't even bid on it, without clear ownership info. It's worthless to me, too risky.

 

It won't matter so much if you sell it in person.

[+kunarion]

I would think it interesting to see the previous logs--like provenance on a historical artefact. But maybe that's just me being a history/archaeology geek.

Good point. I sent one of my coins through a "Stargate Cache" to Germany to travel Europe, and in a couple of weeks, it was back home through the same Stargate. So it's got some travel, I got it back (the only one ever, most have been stolen/lost). It's very valuable.

[+bjmccacher]

I don't plan on ever selling my collection, everything is activated so people can log them at events. To me the value of the coin is null, all that matters to me is I like it

[+AyJayBeeGee]

If it's activated, questions arise. Who's listed as the owner (was it found somewhere, kept, and now for sale)?

 

To be clear, when I compare activated vs unactivated, particularly in terms of selling or trading coins, I am specifically referring to the rightful owner of the coin. Stealing coins to collect or sell is abhorrent.

If it's on Ebay, and the description says "It's activated, but the owner will transfer ownership to you", I'd be suspicious and wouldn't even bid on it, without clear ownership info. It's worthless to me, too risky.

 

It won't matter so much if you sell it in person.

[+AyJayBeeGee]

Hi... How can I transfer ownership of a FTF geocoin to the person who found it? I activated it, because I didn't realize I was supposed to let the FTF cacher activate it. Oops.

[+NOSNOW]

Hi... How can I transfer ownership of a FTF geocoin to the person who found it? I activated it, because I didn't realize I was supposed to let the FTF cacher activate it. Oops.

 

You can adpot it over to them. Here is the link to the adption help

[+nevadanick]

Hi... How can I transfer ownership of a FTF geocoin to the person who found it? I activated it, because I didn't realize I was supposed to let the FTF cacher activate it. Oops.

 

The process is for you to initiate the adoption process.

 

All GC trackables can be adopted to a new 'owner' by following the procedure shown at the pinned topic at the top of this geocoin section >> http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=116800

[+AyJayBeeGee]

Hi... How can I transfer ownership of a FTF geocoin to the person who found it? I activated it, because I didn't realize I was supposed to let the FTF cacher activate it. Oops.

 

The process is for you to initiate the adoption process.

 

All GC trackables can be adopted to a new 'owner' by following the procedure shown at the pinned topic at the top of this geocoin section >> http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=116800

[+AyJayBeeGee]

Thanks so much, nevadanick...that's the answer I was looking for.

[+ElliPirelli]

I don't plan on ever selling my collection, everything is activated so people can log them at events. To me the value of the coin is null, all that matters to me is I like it

I guess, noone really 'plans' to sell their collection. Collections are sold, because interests or circumstances evolve and change.

 

My first purchases were activated straight out of the envelope. I got them for myself and I activated them.

It was later, as more and more coins found their way into my house, that I got tired of the activations.

Years went by and I looked through my collection and was surprised, how many coins didn't catch my fancy anymore.

That was a point, where I sent part of my collection out into the wild and released them in caches. Now at least I get some nice logs for them...

 

For me an unactivated coins is more valuable than an activated. But on the other hand, for some coins of my seeking list, I wouldn't even care, if it was activated or not. As long, as I get the adoption.

One coin in my collection was never adopted to me, even though I got it in a coins sale from an experienced coiner. This one seems to me like a mill stone, cause I can't show it off at events, it would look like I stole it. But I also can't put it into the collection of unactivated coins, as it is activated.

 

So activated is okay, if I plan to keep it in my collection.

But unactivated is more attractive, cause I can easily gift, trade or sell it, without any trouble. It's just more convinient.