I think he means keeping track of what he has in his collection. Made it sounds like shipping tracking though.
This is pretty funny, didn't realize it. I meant after I receive the coin, I want to track what I paid for each. Maybe even the ability to add a note who I purchased it from.
There's an app I use called US Coins. However, it is for Mac, and i don't know if there's a version for Windows.
I have seen a few Coin collecting software programs on eBay for sale. I have an old program called Pro-Coin 2012 , but the company went out of business so there is no updates for it.
I use an Excel spreadsheet for tracking. It seems to work for me. I record the coin price, the shipping cost and, for foreign money purchases, the currency exchange rate at the time along with the dealer, date purchased and date received. The only danger of tracking purchases is the gradual realization of how much you actually spend on this hobby. But it can keep you honest, as well... or at least economically sober...
I consider Excel (or other spreadsheets) the best method. You can tailor it to contain exactly what you want. I would suggest take the "overkill" approach and include everything. Later you can delete columns that you find not necessary. But it's VERY hard (if not impossible) to add data at a later date; you may not be able to find the info you want. An alternative would be database software such as MS Access. Problem is there's a steep learning curve.
Heritage has a nice one that I've been meaning to look into once I get time to photograph and catalog my collection
I've used Access quite a bit in the past and, unless you already know the application or have some burning desire to learn it, I agree that Excel represents a much better starting point for tracking. Access is a tiny relational database system wrapped in a series of forms. It's not impossible to learn, but it would require time for anyone who has never worked with database technologies before.
US Coins has a very logical interface and you can save a copy as Excel. There may be better programs -- this is the only one I've tried -- but I'm quite happy with it.
Those looking for a low cost solution can try Open Office Calc, which is essentially an open-source Excel spreadsheet application, but free: https://www.openoffice.org/product/calc.html I personally haven't used it, but it looks like it has the functionality anyone would need to track coin purchases.
Even though I still prefer Lotus, Excel is very workable. And you can set it to what you want to keep as your records
I have a Mac computer and over the years I've used a couple of programs specific for collecting. Unfortunately there wasn't a big enough market to keep the software going. So this means that I was left with software that eventually I couldn't use. I ended up moving all my info to Excel. I think that'll be around for a while
