Trackables you get to keep

[+nericksx]

I unknowingly committed a major faux pas yesterday. I started a thread about pathtags using the term generically, not realizing that it is a brand name (the way everyone uses Kleenex for "facial tissues")and got my post deleted. (The moderator prolly thought I was a shill for the company or something ). However, I really am just out for some general research:

 

1) What is the generic name for trackable sig items that you get to keep if you find one?

2) Are there any Groundspeak authorized dealers that make something like p-tags?

3) Do people log them if they find them? Are they worth the money to have made up?

 

This is my favorite trade item to find, hands down, and since I like trading nice SWAG I am thinking about doing this type of thing too. Any suggestions/tips/advice?

 

Thanks in advance!

[+Panther&Pine]

Still pathtags, I think they are really the only ones who do that sort of thing.

Have you made an account on their site?

You can make micro geocoins.

I like pathtags and will probably have one made soonish. I've also had wooden nickels made (no tracking number).

[+keewee]

<-- my GeoTag

 

Hi nericksx

 

The generic name is just signature items - there are a lot of different ones out there, everything from handmade items, to things that have been repurposed, to crushed pennies, and trackable tags.

 

GeoTags was something that a lot of people got made some years ago, and I assume a few still are - if you search the forums for them you'll find some info. They had a generic backside with the tracking number on, and a customised side that you design. (See the image to the left - that is my GeoTag)

 

I see there are all sorts of trackable travel tags out there these days - so again something you could design and have made. Just ask around any of the coin vendors.

 

Otherwise, the work is your oyster for non-trackable signature items.

 

The issue with trackable ones that you need to get made by a coin vendor is going to be cost, because every element to it costs money and everyone makes money on that element.

 

The non-trackable ones will cost as much as you want to spend on them, but the biggest cost could end up being just your time

 

Good luck.

Edited May 29, 2014 by keewee

[+Droo]

The type of geocoins that fall in the SWAG category are the non trackable ones. That is you have to trade for them as you would with normal swag - with something of equal or greater value.

 

Only geocoins trackable on Geocaching.com are not considered swag and need not be traded for but must be moved to another cache within a 2 week period, max.

 

So personal coins, wooden nickels, poker chips all fall into the swag category (as well as those geocoins trackable on sites other than Geocaching.com). To know if they are trackable on Geocaching.com it must say so somewhere on the coin.

 

Good luck.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Droo

[+kunarion]

This is my favorite trade item to find, hands down, and since I like trading nice SWAG I am thinking about doing this type of thing too. Any suggestions/tips/advice?

Moun10bike Geocoins seem pretty close to what you're asking: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=29

 

Produce a Geocoin in any style, specify that this kind is an item that may be kept by the finder, and Viola! ...a trackable swag item. Sort of.

 

Probably the least expensive way to make Trackable items is to craft your own and buy tracking numbers. There are companies that make some rather inexpensive official Geocoins or "tags".

 

As for items that have all the same number as some other companies' coins do, look around for Topics about that. I was given a "trackable pen" by the TO at an Event. All the pens have the same number. They're more or less "Swag".

Edited May 29, 2014 by kunarion

[+nericksx]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I didn't know you could buy tracking numbers, I might do that. I'm fairly handy/creative so there are lots of handmade items I've thought about leaving, but I really like somehow hearing from the person who picked it up. <reference to an unapproved, not trackable on Geocaching.com item removed by moderator> Hmmm... I'll have to ponder further!

Edited May 30, 2014 by Eartha

[+keewee]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I didn't know you could buy tracking numbers, I might do that. I'm fairly handy/creative so there are lots of handmade items I've thought about leaving, but I really like somehow hearing from the person who picked it up. <reference to an unapproved, not trackable on Geocaching.com item removed by moderator> Hmmm... I'll have to ponder further!

 

To buy tracking numbers from Groundspeak you have to submit a coin/travel tag design for their approval first, and then you buy blocks of numbers from Groundspeak. There is a minimum number you have to buy, it might be 50 (but I could be wrong).

 

That is why kunarion suggested the rather inexpensive official Geocoins or "tags" - people in the past have purchased these cheap items and then reused the tracking ID's from these for their own items. You could also try to pick up cheap geocoins from eBay for this purpose. The only drawback in your item will be listed as being an XXX type of geocoin, the that geocoins icon.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Eartha

[+keewee]

And if you are dropping items in to caches as a gift, leave a note with them clearing explaing that. Or if you are expecting people to trade for it like a swag item, again a note clearing explaining that.

 

Where a lot of people get into difficulty is they grab something from a cache, and later find out they were meant to trade. Or they trade something and then later find out it was meant as a gift. So it pays to leave a note with the item so as to be clear from the onset what you intent is for it.

[+nericksx]

That is why kunarion suggested the rather inexpensive official Geocoins or "tags" - people in the past have purchased these cheap items and then reused the tracking ID's from these for their own items.

 

OhhHHHhhhh! I wondered what the intended suggestion was there, thank you for clarifying. Also a good idea!

[+Eartha]

If anyone wishes to discuss those items that are not Groundspeak authorized trackables, please do so on that website. This forum is for discussions about geocoins. Posts have been edited.

Thank you,

Eartha

Volunteer Groundspeak Forum Moderator

[+Eartha]

Closing this thread, as it is not about geocoins.