Challenge Coins Spread to Civilian Companies
Posted on April 13, 2008
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It’s been happening for a while but no one has put the effort to commend the practice of companies figuring out that challenge coins do bring morale up through the awarding of coins. Dixon Ticonderoga, the makers of those pencils we have come to know through the years of schooling made their first challenge coin ever. U.S. Challenge Coins picked up this challenge coin and ran with it. This great pencil producer has been around since the 1800’s and it took them over 200 years to get into the coin arena. They wanted traditional and thats what they got. Read more
Graduating from New Challenge Coin Collector
Posted on April 9, 2008
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Receiving your first coin is something special because it’s your entry in the blooming and vast hobby that many others are currently enjoying. You either decide to either pursue your new found collection in buying, trading, or earning more and more coins or you forget about it all and move on. If you are the one that wants more, you are in for a great ride. Every new coin will bring you new things in owning coins that represent places, jobs, people, and a whole lot more. However, one thing you will learn over time is that certain coins hold certain values. Read more
Connecting With Challenge Coin Euthusiasts
Posted on March 30, 2008
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It’s not everyday collector’s get together with each other and when you live states away it’s even harder. Once in a while though meeting people face to face spawns great ideas that stand the test of time. U.S. Challenge Coins .com has it’s doors open to anyone. Since we have started only a few people have treaded over to our office to relax. Today we had a very special guest at our place that enjoyed a whole day of going through coins, eating a feast of a lunch and relaxing with the shoes off in an office most collector’s can only dream of. In fact if they think Google is good to work for then you haven’t seen this place.
First Tri-Plated Challenge Coin is Introduced
Posted on March 23, 2008
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Once in a while new ideas are released on the market that stir new inovations and ideas in a hobby. In 2008 another one of those happened early on in the year. A new Special Forces coin was released through U.S. Challenge Coins .com in Febuary 2008. This tri-plated coin shows how black nickel, high polish nickel, and gold plating can bring beauty unmatched by other coins into one package. This 2″ challenge coin reflects so many things to include a flashes from 10 of the Special Forces Groups, the badges they wear and some of the best detail work on a coin. This coin will be a sure fire hit into an award in 2008. Read more
Challenge Coin Collecting and Trading Site
Posted on March 23, 2008
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One of the best site for challenge coins that was introduce in 2007 was Challenge Coin Trading. This site still remains one of the hidden treasures on the net for the hobby. Without very much exposure it sits awaiting a flood of collector’s that want to hit it big without having to spend major cash to build their collections. This site is one of the biggest in features and functionality anyone has built to date. If you’re looking to get into something that will be making headlines over the next year then you need to head on over and sign up. We strongly encourage any collector to get into this site and start exploring the possibilities. Read more
Google Alert Challenge Coins
Posted on March 22, 2008
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Sometimes information can take months to find you through different search variations and it’s difficult to keep up to speed with the new stuff. Google Alerts helps make the search so much easier. Challenge coins is a huge facet that people have difficult tracking. In fact we write on a consistent basis on all our websites and we wait sometimes months before people find what we have written. Not anymore! All you have to do is get your Google Alerts and anything that has challenge coins in the title of the article is now on your radar faster than any other way possible.
You can log in and see what is new each day for challenge coins (or really anything). This will makes everything easier to find those special news releases or articles that you might be interested in. This isn’t just for the competition to track their opponent’s work. No this is also for you the hobby enthusiast in getting opinions NOW! We highly encourage our readers to use this tool to find our new articles across the net. No one writes more than us on a whole basis and we try to bring tons of great stuff to your eyes. Now you don’t even have to hunt for us.
If you are checking us through this tool as competition then we say thanks to care enough to think of us like that!
Selling Challenge Coins on eBay
Posted on March 22, 2008
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As an ex-seller on eBay I have the know-how to give advice on selling on eBay. Challenge coins have not gone away from the giant auction house in the least. You will see the same familiar faces selling on the venue that you have for years past with new faces popping up only once in a while. There is no secret really in this process. You need great coins that people desire. However, there are some behind the scenes you may not know. Let’s look at where the coins you see on eBay come from:
- Drop shippers are one of the most common avenue for sellers. This allows them to take a cut from the manufacturer and not have to hold the actual coin. You will see this in extended shipping times or the same coins from multiple sellers. If you have bought this type of coin you have received something more than likely less valuable since it would be mass produced 9 out of 10 times. You will sell coins if you choose this route but you will be splitting serious profit between the actual maker and eBay.
- Another trick of the trade is buying lots either at great prices or in lots slotted in the wrong categories. Sellers that get these deals generally do really good on reselling them. People that retire, separate, or just don’t want to collect anymore just want to ditch the coins. This is a perfect opportunity to rack up on cheap coins that sell. Most of your big time power sellers choose this route to add to their stock and you can also. Make sure you are hunting through the odd categories someone might think of listing coins in.
- Another rare way to get started is financing your own coins to sell. This by far is the most lucrative if you pick the right coins to make. You get full profit and new coins on the market that no one else has brings mega sales the first few times out. This excites buyers and enhancing the collections of many. This is in presumption you can actually make a great coin. There have been many times sellers often have the wrong company make them, or just suck on design. Usually you will see the remains of a coin gone wrong as masses of them are packed in lots on eBay.
- Trading challenge coins with other wholesalers or dealers is a nice way to go. However you are trading for their duplicates which means you now become their competition. This is not a smart way to go usually, however, you will find some sales through this. Sellers love to trade off their dead coins that don’t sell. This is one area you could easily get screwed. Read more
A View From the Society on Challenge Coins
Posted on March 19, 2008
Filed Under Collecting Thoughts | Leave a CommentFrom time to time we like to take a spin around what’s going on in the challenge coin hobby. So many things change so rapidly. The hobby is a live an well for many collectors as 2008 rolls in. Some great coins have already hit the market. Even with the economic down turn the U.S. is feeling right now everything seems to be going well. Challenge coins seem to be getting away from interaction from collector’s and is mostly pure commercial as the new year opens way.
We have found that most groups of challenge coin collectors are purely marketing for companies of coins. This is hobby wide it seems. It’s funny when you look through the last few years and see a huge collaboration and mega amounts of information coming out in 2006. People were coming out talking about coins. In 2007 it was starting to fall apart as some seen great riches in the hobby and less information has come to life. Major companies have come to life in the wake of quiteness which is great but we seem to be losing the collector base as a hobby and now it has become a store base.
Military Collectibles: EBay Losing Niche Markets?
Posted on February 11, 2008
Filed Under Cool News | Leave a CommentChallenge coins, pins, patches and other great niche markets may be in for a little change of pace as eBay opens fissures in the collectible markets when it comes to low priced items. How many times in the last couple years has eBay bent the forever forgiving sellers of niche markets as they drove store and core auctions to record high fees in? The answer is every year since its inception. Many sellers call this “Nickel and Diming” and that’s what it amount to when you sell $10 and under.
2008 posses many new changes from the inability of sellers giving honest feedback through neutral and negative feedback, lowered insertion fee but raised final value fees, and tighter Paypal restrictions on a 21 day hold of funds for certain transactions. When it comes to $10 or less eBay is not interested in helping out the little guy that might want to sell a pin or a military patch. We will use this niche market as an example of the overall scheme since this is what we know from our angle. We did a comparison on our forum not to long ago and we broke information down as:
100 listings on eBay using 2007 rates
100 listings like the attached screen shot: $85.00 upfront
This is all I pay if I don’t sell anything…If I sell:
100: $85.00 upfront
25% sold: $13.00 total final value fees
Paypal Fees: $16.25
Shipping: $1.48 FC 2oz through paypal: $37
Federal Tax: 15%-28% (we will leave this out for now)
Cost of Coin Avg: $3 (assuming you sell a decent coin): $75Total Cost: $226.25
25% Coins sold at $9.99: $299.75
Shipping you Charge: $2.00 (because this is the right cost any seller should charge according to eBay): $50Your Profit: $73.50
You can see by the above example how some sellers are starting to say why when they know there is such a massive change coming. In the event of the major changes many new alternative auction sites are popping up everywhere with better deals, better community, and more options. Challenge Coin Auctions .com is no different in the grand scheme of things. Offering a feeless atmosphere and support in this niche has become a #1 concern that sellers are truly taking to heart.
Sellers and buyers will benefit from new grounds not only in military collectibles but in many other areas too. The kings and queens of the eBay flea market sales will be driven out as the cost does not outweigh the benefit in 2008 and beyond.
Hitting the Ground Running
Posted on January 29, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a CommentAre you thinking about selling for the first time or thinking about getting your feet wet? Well here is some advice on how to grow and become somebody out there in the market. Most people go the eBay route because all the work is done and you get to make some money but you play with a lot of other people that have that market cornered. Others take the challenge of building an online store and website to peddle their coins. Who knows, maybe you will do both and learn how to drag your eBay customers to your site and not pay fees on your sales. The latter obviously being the best advice to give. So let’s look at a few areas. Read more
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