Coin Software - need beta testers

Hello,
Ill try and sum this up:
I am a casual coin collector now. My dad has been giving me boxes and boxes of coins and mint sets etc..
So, I decided the best place to start for me was to try and finish complete runs of coins that my dad was collecting. You know, filling in the blanks in all the books he had been using etc..
I quickly ammased a pretty large collection! (thousands of coins) The biggest problem I had however was keeping track of what I had, what I need, and values of the coins and sets. Whether it be silver, gold or numismatic collecting value.
So when I go to coin shows locally, I have to look through the books and write down what I am missing. What a pain.
I searched and tried various free coin database software, but liked none of them.
By profession, I am a business software developer. So I immediately started to write my own software (web based) to manage my coins(U.S. only).
My goal is to offer a free website with the following capabilities (just a few examples, there are many more options):

• database all of your coins, mint sets, proof sets, and commemorative coins with images and other notes (where you got it, what you paid, etc..)
• create 'coin albums' to group your coins
• view reports showing which coins you are missing in runs
• view reports on metal values for the 'coin albums' or any coin etc
• allow peers to give grades on coins of your choice (using high resolution uploads and a zoom feature for viewing) I would average out all of the grades .

So, I have done this (about 90%).

I am now looking for people interested in helping me with testing and offering up suggestions and functions. My way is not always the right way.

The goal is to make the site easy to use for even a beginner, but robust enough the you seasoned coin collectors would enjoy using it also.
I do not need any development help, just advice and testing.

I would like to get up stable version before it gets too nice out and golfing takes over!

Anyone interested? Please let me know your thoughts.
-greg

 

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I'm interested. Please PM me if you'd like to discuss further.

And if you've gotten far enough with your development, perhaps you could create a 'guest' login and 'password', and provide the URL so that folks could demo it?

Curious, what is the back-end database that you're using?

 

The site is written in php and uses a mysql database. The interaction with the coin images is in flash.

**The ultimate goal is to port it all into Adobe Flash Builder (previously known as Flex)

I will create logins for beta testers. I think 10 testers will suffice for the first round of testing.

I will wrap up the last 10% I wanted to do, and start the beta testing. So I should be ready to give out logins and url's later tonight.

 

Did you test out CoinManage 2009?

 

I would be interested in seeing this product. I currently use coinmanage and not real happy with it. I also know a little about software, do beta testing for Microsoft on a regualr basis. ( I am in the IT field )

 

Small world Jim. Part of what I do also involves the IT world; I PM several enterprise projects that involve programmers and developers.

 

Jim - What is it about CoinManage that you're not happy about? Considering what's out there, I think it's the best that's available...

 

Coinmanage is not web based and doesn't interact with other coin collectors. What i am trying to accomplish is create an online community in addition to just managing your personal collection. Giving users the ability to also sell there coins through the site. Or simply show off!

One of the features i am most excited about is allowing other users to grade your coin. Why? because people like me (more casual collectors) simply cannot send coins to PCGS or other grading service for coins that are not rare, old, or not worth getting slabbed.
Why is that useful? Users who want to sell there coins on ebay (on my site in the future) or anywhere else can confidently say "my coin was graded a vf20 by 100 other coin collectors on ....com".
In addition, users can link to the coin images with the zoom features so potential buyers can truly examine it close up. The images ebay uses simply aren't reliable to guess a grade, in my opinion.

Some other side notes:
*there will be incentives for beta testers. TBD
*there will be incentives for users to grade coins. TBD
*raffles for high value coins, etc.
*Phone app so you can see what you need while at a show or wherever.

I will be accepting 10-20 testers. So if you are truly interested in testing and actually contributing to make it better, please PM me.

 

I realize that CoinManage is not web-based. However, some of the functionality and features could be reverse engineered.

 

Excellent point. I will check it out.

 

Count me in for sure. If you need more testers.

 

Sounds like a good idea. I would also be willing to help test it out.

 

I would be very interested please let me know if I can try it out!

 

sounds great.

 

Other than the fact it keeps scrambling data, losing pictures, locking up, Not being able to add Items in the order you like, No Support, Yearly updates overwrite any additions you make... The list goes on.. NA, I purchased it back in 05, upgraded twice, using 07 now and will NEVER upgrade it again. I have tried emailing the owner a few times and gave up on the support side. I have recently been in contact with Carlisle and they are willing to convert the data into their program. No, I do NOT want to re-enter the data. The data base I have in Coinmanage is rather large, perhaps larger than it can handle. BUT I can not confirm that with anyone at their no help what so ever forum. OK Rant over.. but you did ask.. : )

 

Hi Jim -

I've heard several people in various forums express their unhappiness with the software, and until now, no one had explained why....

Knock on wood, I haven't encountered any of those issues [yet]. I started with the 2009 version. I have updated it once so far with 2009 Nov updates, and no 'overwrites' - though I did worry about it prior to applying the update. I back-up the data in it fairly frequently, but yet have had to revert to backed-up data.

I did go to their support forum a few times out of curiosity, and did also notice that the only posts there were from folks requesting help - none seemed to be from technical support. That indeed was an ominous sign!

For the price tho (thus far!), I have been happy. I was using spreadsheets before, and that was a nightmare.

 

I received some good response from people regarding testing. So thanks! If anyone else is interested, just PM me.

I will email everyone who PM'ed me with their email addresses. I will be wrapping up some things on it over the weekend, and testing will start next week.

Thanks again!

ps: I checked out CoinManage2009... It does have some nice features that I definetly overlooked as a novice coin collector.

 

Id love to give this a shot...I love testing/define requirements for applications at work.

 

If this is a web based program, will be like a Windows Program (as an example) where Windows will do automatic updates or will this be more like a website?
If it is more like a website then:
what are the chances that others will know what you own or what kind of securities will be implemented in the event that a person hacks the site? With the associated costs running a site, will there be a monthly/yearly fees?
How often will there be updates to the sites to keep up with all new and important informing and what will/can be done to reduce the downtime of the site?

I think this can be a great idea and something I would partake however I don't want to devulge what I own and next thing I know is that my house was broken into?

My 2 cents


-Shrek

 

Great questions Shrek.

This will be a website.
It will not store or ask for any personal information, especially addresses.
It will not store any ip addresses. So if any hacking did occur, there wouldn't be any information that would allow someone to locate the user. This means, the only information they could get is the coin types and images associated with a username.

As far as downtime, this will not be an issue. The site is hosted with a very large hosting provider. I haven't had any downtime on any of the business apps I host with them in 5 years.

As far as fees associated with the website, this will be determined in the future. Since I am doing all of the development, there are no costs associated there, except my time. Hosting and bandwidth charges are also not an issue. As a long time developer, I have a great working partnership with the hosting company.
I do know, there will not be ANY advertising on the site.

This is not to say there would not be fees for certain services on the website in the future (selling coins, etc..). I simply started this to manage my own collection, not as a business venture.

The coin community has been very friendly and helpful, so this is my opportunity to give something back to the hobby.