Gift Certificates/Coins?

[Erich Weidner]

Hello all,

I'm a weekend woodworker, but ever since I dug around the creek looking for what one of the woodworker's signature lines meant by "60W Epilog", and references to being a "laser guy", I stumbled upon the engravers forum, and found the subject interesting. :)

I'm about to be a co-owner in a small retail store (hobby store) and one of the things we have been looking for are something better than printed paper gift certificates. Specifically we were interested in something more like a coin with a store credit value printed on it.

The idea was to have something:

That looked unique to the store
Was reusable and durable
Didn't require special record keeping on a per certificate basis (for small denominations)
Not easily reproducible by unethical "customers"


Is this something that laser engravers can do (and look good)? Or is this something I'd have to approach a metal caster for?they would have to be serialized and possibly used only once (which is probably why most places just use paper gift certificates).

[Dee Gallo]

Hi Erich,

I think you'd be happy with anodized aluminum either round or rectangular shapes. They come in lots of colors if you wanted to color code by month, occasion or dollar amount. They laser easily and look sharp, but are hard to duplicate. I buy mine from Chewbarka (they have both a website and an ebay store) and in my experience they are reliable, fast and have great prices. The only thing you might not like is that they are thin, unlike cast coins. But for the money, you can't beat them!

Nice to have you cruising the laser forum, and if you want to contact someone by Friends of the Creek listing or PM, I'm sure someone nearby will help you out!

cheers, dee

[Martin Boekers]

Many Bars in my area have similar "Trade Tokens" there are lots of varieties out there.
Things can be laser etched and cut to a shape or size, plastic, acrylic or wood. There are Dye
sublimated tokens similar to a poker chip. (you may want to search custom poker chips as there
are pretty cheap cost wise.) Metal Challenge coins are a bit more expensive, but if they don't
use them you make money on the difference and if the they do you use them over and over again.
These would be the nicest. Just do a quick search under custom coins, tokens, wooden nickles
etc. I think you'll be amazed at what is out there.

[Erich Weidner]

I buy mine from Chewbarka (they have both a website and an ebay store) and in my experience they are reliable, fast and have great prices.

I just cruised their site, I didn't see anything coin shaped. What do they usually call this (so I know what to ask for when I start looking to order something if I go that way).

[Erich Weidner]

Metal Challenge coins are a bit more expensive, but if they don't
use them you make money on the difference and if the they do you use them over and over again.


Those look very nice. Thanks for the tip. (Easy to find, once one knows what to search for!) Thanks again.

[Mike vonBuelow]

Why not engrave the coupon on a piece of veneer?

cardsofwood (dot) com has some good ideas

[Mark Sipes]

I was going to mention a token wooden nickel.......your design.. two sided.....numbered or dated.......just need a unique design and or shape. 6/8 sided 1 3/4" coin with text........

[Thomas Baranowski]

About a year ago I played around making Acrylic Krugerrand coins just to play around. They actually were pretty easy and you could create you own artwork to be etched on the front or mirrored on the back in 3D so it would be difficult to reproduce. Using Acrylic would also give you a choice of using some of the edge-light colors ( maybe color denomination coded) and they would be rugged if you use the 1/4" stock221932221933

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Erich,
I make mine out of our Baltic Birch plywood and they have made it through the laundry, both washer and dryer cycles, unharmed. So like the the old Timex watch ad... "They take a licking an keep on ticking" and I have personal knowledge of this R & D project.:D

Everybody loves them and no one forgets who they get them from. I also make some out of our one side faced 1/8" MDF but I don't have to do any R & D on them to know weather they will make it through the laundry cycle.

If CDR does not do the serialization to your liking, then try Name it Number it
http://www.laserjumpstart.com/nameit-suite/

[Erich Weidner]

For the acrylic or wooden coins are the edges rolled (smooth).

[Erich Weidner]

Why not engrave the coupon on a piece of veneer?

I do like look of the wood cards to be sure (but then, I love woodworking, so go figure). :)
If we go with gift certificates I think laser etched serialized wooden cards are a great idea.

There is just something about the coins which appeals to me though for low denominations and more "give away" type items.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Here's one I did a few years back. You can see the edge fairly well. It has a very clean edge and NO CHARRING on our 3mm Baltic Birch.
Hard to stay focused and get that close without a macro. Have done some in acrylic for key chains but they do scratch easier and can look dull after a little while. If they are going to be put on a shelf for display, that's OK but if they are going to be put in pockets or in purses with change :eek:

[Charity Newland]

I had a customer ask about doing some coins a few hundred. Any idea for pricing?

Thanks

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hi Charity,
Are you asking us to do these for you and quote them? Or just a general price? Either way, could you be more specific as to what you are requesting? So many variables like what text, size and font and/or is there a graphic, how deep or dark you want it, if wooden will they be raw or clear coated, what diameter, what material or species, how thick, 1 or 2 sided, will there be a key chain hole, and the real important one is how many?

Thank you and ...

[Mike vonBuelow]

I charged 50 cents a coin (per set of 100) - 1.5" double sided, 1/8" birch (purchased from ^^^ )

But I'm just a beginner, and it's a part time gig, he is a co-worker, so it may be more for others

[Mike vonBuelow]

back on topic, regarding my veneer comment, you can also customize the shape - per your business (gears/cogs, woodworking tools, logo outline, etc...)

something to get people showing their friends, and talking about

[Bill Cunningham]

Circles or any shapes engraved into, and cut from ordinary romark type engraving plastic work and wear well. The plastic is 1/16", and you can join two, back to back with a single drop of acetone, for a coin or token 1/8"thick of any colour they stock. You can also cut a hole in them for keychains. Cheap, and high enough engraving res. for any application.

[Erich Weidner]

I received a quote back for a double sided 1.5" die stamped "challenge coin". For low denominations such as $2, the cost of the coin exceeds its "value" and hence if someone doesn't actually turn it back in, that would not be so good. Though they do look nice.
Custom ceramic poker chips seem to be in the sub dollar range and the wooden nickels even more so.

I'm now pondering how easy it would be for an unscrupulous customer to send a product like a wooden nickel one off to be copied. Any suggestions on how to come up with a design which would make this difficult? Serialize them?

[Martin Boekers]

I received a quote back for a double sided 1.5" die stamped "challenge coin". For low denominations such as $2, the cost of the coin exceeds its "value" and hence if someone doesn't actually turn it back in, that would not be so good. Though they do look nice.



Most gift certificates start at $10 and go up from there. So even at the $10
value you should be ok. Die struck coins are more expensive. Find one that
makes cast they still are nice but a bit cheaper.

You may want to search for gaming tokens (for arcade games they may be cheaper)


On the wooden nickels you could put a space for you too initial it, that would help.

I think a nice poker chip may be the way to go, something printed on the chip and not
an insert one as those are easily duplicated. Poker chops can be in full color also.

[Otto Hermansson]

You could stamp a pattern with blacklight ink on the tokens. That would provide just a little more security that is fairly easy to check.

And I released that this is my first post. Hi, everybody. :)

[Martin Boekers]

You could stamp a pattern with blacklight ink on the tokens. That would provide just a little more security that is fairly easy to check.

And I released that this is my first post. Hi, everybody. :)


Welcome aboard!

If you have been lurking you know this is a great forum, if new you'll find
out it is a great forum.

One thing you may want to do is to list equipment you have in your signature
block. That way when you ask a question we know how to reference our input
so it fits the equipment you have.

Time to start posting away!

[Martin Boekers]

Eric, since you own a hobby shop you may consider buying a laser for the shop. I can imagine that
you would have quite a base that could use lasering. Once you get one you'll find a lot of uses for
it.

[Joe Hillmann]

I think you are a little too worried about people counterfitting your gift certificates. Just making them out of something other than paper reduces counterfitting to nearly nothing and if you don't think that is enough, design a small "mistake" into them that would most likely be missed by someone trying to copy them.

[Mark Sipes]

Positive Spin




Not easily reproducible by unethical "customers"



I would honor a coin from an "unethical customer" that would spend the time and effort (money) to create a say $2 wooden nickle since I would only allow 1 to be used per purchase and I have very little in my shop that can be purchased for less than $10........ if they pass them out to others...... hey that is free advertising........... and when you get tired of beating the customers back, change the design or use a "Valid in 201X Only" and make it a collectible....... like on e-bay... LOL

[Dee Gallo]

I only have certificates for rare occasions, and so I make them with the people's name right on them... and they are numbered... something you can do if you have the printing equipment yourself.

Do you anticipate selling a lot of these things or just using them for self- promotion? It seems like a small coin is in line with a small amount of money, but a larger gift amount might warrant a more elaborate certificate. So you might consider two levels.

Regardless, I also think you are worrying too much about counterfeiting, since most people are too lazy or not knowledgeable enough to copy something like that. If, on the other hand, you are planning to GIVE them away in large quantities, you should think hard about the amount of money they will bring in vs. the amount of money you are giving away. Either way, they will not likely cover the entire cost of anything, so maybe it's irrelevant whether they are real or fake... you'll be getting business anyway. An expiration date is a smart addition too.

BTW- to answer your question: the anodized round shapes that Chewbarka sells are listed as "Round ID Tags" and they come in several sizes. I have seen "Golfball Markers" also, which don't have holes in them. They also have GI tags which are really nice too, and lots of different shapes which you might use for different months or denominations.

That's just my two cents, dee

[Mark Sipes]

I would think a punch card would be perfect for a Hobby Shop $20 value after the card is filled... minimum purchase ??

Now you just need unique stamps/punches. good for a month and then change.......

[Erich Weidner]

Eric, since you own a hobby shop you may consider buying a laser for the shop. I can imagine that
you would have quite a base that could use lasering. Once you get one you'll find a lot of uses for
it.

I thought that for a few minutes until I saw that a basic Epilog starts in the neighborhood of $7K. :)
No, I shall provide you fine folks with business for this endeavor. :)

The hobbies in question are, puzzles, boardgames, miniature wargames, role-playing games, models, etc. I'm not sure what I'd ever engrave beyond prizes and the store credit "coins". :) But if you have ideas I'm interested. (And still will most likely hire it out. I think engraving is very cool, but I need another hobby/money pit like I need another rancor beast). :)

[Erich Weidner]

Do you anticipate selling a lot of these things or just using them for self- promotion? It seems like a small coin is in line with a small amount of money, but a larger gift amount might warrant a more elaborate certificate. So you might consider two levels.


I don't yet have a good feel for how many of the higher denomination (>$10) coins we would sell. But I see it as a good birthday/Christmas kind of item. However, we will be running regular events which have an entry fee, and are considering handling this as the fee gets you a "coin" which is good for store credit. That sort of thing. So for those low denominations, I think we will have quite a bit of activity. (Events being run every week). This would be for $2 and $5 "coins".