Coin Capsule

Week 4.1 Coin Capsule

If you collecting silver and intend to dispose it off sometime in the future, it is better to source some air-tite or coin capsule now while the shipping cost still low and still reliable. Just keep it somewhere. Later when silver is USD50 or USD100/oz it is difficult to find a tube buyer. You may have to sell oz by oz. These few ringgits extra are worth the expenses. It’s helps in selling your product. It also helps in protecting and slowing down the oxidation process of the coin. My experience told me that people prefer to buy new coins rather than old coin. Little bit dirty or tarnishing also they won’t want it.

Coin capsules are quite bulky to ship, thus shipping may be expensive. There are few sources where you can source your coin and bar air-tites from.

a. http://www.air-tites.com/

b. http://www.coingallery.co.uk/

c. http://www.lighthouse.us/epages/lighthouse.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/leuchtturm_us/Categories/US/US_2281/US_2395

d. Others

Evaluation

1. http://www.air-tites.com/

If you want the best quality product at low price then you should choose this one. Air-tites coin capsules is quite tight once you put the coin inside it, it’s quite difficult for you to open it. It comes in two versions, one with ring and another one without any ring. Those air-tite capsules with ring enable additional protection from external air. The problem is the ring is quite expensive because it is just plastic foam and the ring size is fix. If you have special cutter you can also make your own ring. I have spent 1 whole day in various hardware shops, yet I still unable to find the suitable cutter. Let me know if you can find one. FYI, only www.air-tites.com is selling the air-tite capsule for silver bars. 

Here is the air-tite photo

Normally, they have a policy of not sending you the tracking number until you disputed or query them after some time. Then only they will send you the tracking no. They will send via USPS priority services with online tracking number.

Problem

It is quick bulky thus shipping is very expensive. Try to order just 250 pcs USD80/- + shipping USD45/- then it is just below RM500/-. The extra shipping is more worthwhile compared to going to KLIA to clear the item and paying the additional tax. The tax for coin capsules is 20%.

2. http://www.coingallery.co.uk/

Andy is a nice person to deal with. If you want the cheapest coin capsule in 20pcs or few hundred pieces, you can get it from him. The coin capsule is from lighthouse. The shipping is quite reasonable. The lighthouse airtight is quite loose and not as good as www.air-tites.com. It is very easy to open and close. Good for storing coins which is constantly open.  You may want to use a selifon tape (loytape) to seal the coin capsule to prevent air from going inside the coin. Payment via paypal. The coin capsules comes in boxes of 10 capsules, thus it is 50%-75% less bulky then air-tites.com. The coin capsule is packed in closed form.

here is the light house capsule photo

3. http://www.lighthouse.us/epages/lighthouse.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/leuchtturm_us/Categories/US/US_2281/US_2395

It is the same product as http://www.coingallery.co.uk/ . I never ordered from them before. You can give it a try.

4. There is a product I brought from Numis Coin Shop at Maju Junction, KL. The coin capsule ring is programmable. Thus, these coin capsules can fit many different sizes of coin on a single capsule. It the best coin capsule I have seen. The price is RM3.50/per capsule. Nevertheless, you can nego with the shop owner.

5. Factory

There are a lot of factories in Malaysia and China dealing with plastic product. You can ask them to do the coin capsule for you.  A minimum order of 10,000 pcs for Malaysian factory, not sure about factory in China. The problem is the cost of the plastic mould and also product quality problem which you may need to follow up. I visited one factory, I was told the plastic cost may be around 20cents or even less. The main cost is in the mould. If you can solved the mould problem + the cutter problem then probably you can be in the coin capsule air-tite business. I’ve given up on these. I have given you the first hint. If you are in plastic industry (workers, engineer, technician does not have to be the owner) why not give it a try on ebay. Ask your factory to manufacture the product which you can sell. You can sell international wow! We have a relatively cheap postal service. It cost USD5-6 to ship a registered postal world wide.