coppercoins.com - new site - need some input for 'My Coppercoins'.

[coppercoins]

I'm out for the weekend. No more posts from me for a couple of days. Keep the ideas coming, though! Enjoy your Independence day!

[Antiquity]

Chuck I think we all agree that coppercoins is something we are willing to pay for. No one faults you for wanting to make a return on your investment. And we all appreciate the time you and Bob and put into the site.

People are just expressing their opinions, You seem set on your price point and thats fine, your site, your time, etc.

I want you to make as much money as possible, I really do. I am just afraid your price point will scare away some collectors. And instead of getting $60 from him/her you wont get anything.

I have been here long enough to know your a no bull**** kinda guy. So let me have it.

[coppercoins]

My price point will likely scare away some collectors - true. But the focus of the website will be a broader spectrum of ALL Lincoln cent collectors - not just the roll hunters. What I have planned should attract PLENTY of collectors who probably won't even care about the die variety listing system.

It is what it is...I hate saying that, but it applies here. I'm not getting into nickel and dime fees for this and that, and multiple levels of membership which would only serve to cause more programming headaches and more data to store. I could see it if I were charging more like $50 a month for full access, but I think $5-$8 monthly is virtually giving it away. What's there now is worth more than $5 a month. I've seen many sites in other collectible areas that offer less than what I'm offering already and their fees are $15-$30 monthly.

You're right. I don't mince words. My market is far broader than the members of LCR because of the features I am focusing on that are not mentioned in this thread and that I don't plan to get into until I have them hammered out in clearer detail. In basic terms, if someone doesn't think the fee associated with the website has merit, they can try to get their information elsewhere for a lower price. Oh...wait...they won't. It's not out there.

If there are people out there who cannot afford the fee but really wants to use all parts of the site - I will take their special needs on a case by case basis.

This thread isn't here and wasn't started to argue about fees. I am not changing my mind on the subject. I will be going through a great deal of expense to finish this project and even with the best turnout I could expect, I STILL won't profit for years to come. I am offering it at the lowest possible price to try climbing out of the hole it's already in.

My fee will be about the same as a subscription to Coin World, yet will offer more information (and no ads) than Coin World can fit into ten years worth of magazines.

My fee will be less monthly than many smokers spend daily on their bad habit. (Don't get started on this statement, I'm a smoker)

In fact, my fee will be by far less per month than almost any semi-serious coin roll hunter blows in gas alone to exchange their coins at the bank.

I'm done arguing about the fees. Let's move on or close the thread.

[coppercoins]

Okay...NOW I am off for the weekend. I have a sailboat rented in Key West calling my name, and it's a six hour drive to get there. Up at five, gone at six. Good night all.

[BadThad]

I will restate - IMPORTANT - there will still be a number of useful parts of the site that will ALWAYS remain FREE to the public.

That's good to hear. A lot of the reason we have more die variety collectors today is due to website. I believe it draws in a lot of people new to the hobby.

[mustbebob]

I have been relatively quiet for this entire thread. Chuck has handled it just fine.
We can not expect everyone to agree to everything. Hence, the choice all of us have. If we want it, and feel it meets our needs, then you can become a subscriber.
We also know that people can choose which filing system to use for their Lincoln Cent research. Whether it is CONECA, Wexler or Coppercoins, you decide...not us. It is also your money. You decide, not us. It is a business.
But, I have to be honest folks. I never hear complaints with everything being free. Nope...not one complaint. Just think about everything in life you have to pay for. How long do you really expect us to foot the bill and continue to work on this very large database? We are not asking anyone to mortgage the house to gain access to the site. We are only asking for a few dollars a month to continue to bring you the information that you have been getting for free for almost 15 years. We have sacrificed thousands of hours and dollars to give you this information. Don't you think we should get something for that time/effort? In addition, you will be getting a lot more. At what point does it look like some folks are just too cheap?

[eaxtellcoin]

Am I cheap yes... I'm not the only person who feels this way. What is the old saying.... You can attract more bees to the honey if the honey is sweet. $2.50 a month. = 50 people you have your fee's for the internet. Remember this does not include the attribution fee of $4 a coin. Bob has been very gracious over the years and looked at stuff that had merit for free to probably most members - granted.

I may be the only person who will say.. It's all about the $$$$. On both sides of the coin. We all will have our breaking point of what we will pull out of our budget to pay for a HOBBY! that is what this is.

[Justafarmer]

To be honest $5.00 a month is peanut money but what about us folks who refuse to pay for anything over the internet using a credit card?

Yes people do use different filing systems but CC has crossed referenced many of these dies. If My Coppercoins allowed an individual to enter their coins using the other's reference numbers and it automatically made the link to the Coppercoins Reference, when available, would be a nice feature.

[eaxtellcoin]

But un fortunately not realistic. The legal issue of if the coin was listed wrong would be the problem.

[Justafarmer]

No more of a legal issue than exist now, being that information is already included in the die listing.

[eaxtellcoin]

The difference is that in this case you are PAYING for the info to be correct. If it is not, it's a legal issue.

Were off topic. Back to the point at hand.

[mustbebob]

The difference is that in this case you are PAYING for the info to be correct. If it is not, it's a legal issue.

Not quite understanding the legal issue here Eric. Legal to who and what system? These are coppercoins numbers we will be dealing with. If I assign a number to a certain coin, that is the legal description of that coin. Plain and simple with no issues.
As far as getting back on topic, then this is where you have made a good point whether you intended it or not. If you are talking about cross references being accurate, then that is an issue that has to be addressed during the upgrade and can be easily taken care of. You have helped me out a lot in correcting incorrect cross references, and I am very grateful to you and others who have done so. However, I can delete all cross references and that will not be a problem, or I can have a caveat that says something to the effect that cross references may or may not be accurate. We do the cross reference thing as a courtesy anyway. I can save a lot of attribution and update time by not attempting any cross references. If folks are using coppercoins ONLY to get a cross reference, then they are missing out on what we have to offer. NO ONE is going to look only for a cross reference and not look at the photos.
As I said, we are not going to please every one. You don't like the fact that there will be a fee, and we can respect that. Once again, that choice is up to you, but I appreciate your point of view.

[ray_parkhurst]

To be honest $5.00 a month is peanut money but what about us folks who refuse to pay for anything over the internet using a credit card?

Yes people do use different filing systems but CC has crossed referenced many of these dies. If My Coppercoins allowed an individual to enter their coins using the other's reference numbers and it automatically made the link to the Coppercoins Reference, when available, would be a nice feature.

I have a separate credit card that I use for all my online, phone, automatic, etc payments. It has minimum $ limit and as long as I don't let the balance rise on it they don't raise the limit on me.

I like the auto-cross-reference idea, since I still use ALL the systems, including CC, to describe my coins. I find it useful to know what coins are recognized by which groups since that information is a factor in valuation, desirability, etc.

Ray

[Maineman750]

what about us folks who refuse to pay for anything over the internet using a credit card?

Just find somebody like me. I buy lots of stuff for folks with that mindset...I earn free fishing tackle (BassProBucks) and they don't have to worry about the risk.

[hasfam]

I stopped reading several posts ago, but I will say this. Coppercoins is already the best, no discussion there. Any improvements coming will only make it that much more irresistible and "mandatory" for the serious collector and dealer of Lincoln Cents. Just sign me up and tell me how much it is. Without CC I would have to go back to merchandising, which I hated. Besides, It would be a legitimate tax right off as a business expense, but that's another discussion somewhere else. Lastly, I wish I had the computer skills or photography skills or the Lincoln cent variety attribution skills to somehow help, but since I don't, I will happily contribute the small fee asked for each month.