Wants vs. Wants

Why does there seem to be a difference between what Numista says a person wants and what they seem to actually want.

I make a point of only offering to trade with people who supposedly want at least some of my coins, usually 100 or more, but then get answers back- "You don't have anything I want.".

Alan

Alan, it is because many members don't actually use section your wishes. And that's it. I know there is an option to change what shows as coins that you want.

I did it the right way (I hope at least) and therefore on my profile you should see the amount of coins I am really interested in.

Have a good day,
Marian

It's because many collect very specific coins. Don't let this experience to affect you too much, there are so many good people to swap here on Numista.

I have this problem too. I'm not 100% sure, but I think "coins that might interest him/her" does a couple things here...

1) If you have put eg 25 coins in your swap list of a single KM#, then it may show that he is interested in 25 coins from your swap list, when infact he is just interested in a single coin
2) Although his wish list and your swap list may overlap with certain coins, maybe these are not his/her priority collecting interest or finds that your coins are not interesting enough to swap with his own. So rather than tell you that, he/she will simply say there is nothing of interest
3) I wonder if the "coins that might interest him/her" counts just the coins in the "wish list" or does it also aggregate other coins eg "I have this KM#, but not this year"

So as you can see, it is a result of several things, but imo, its still the best way to go about it! You'll find more hits than misses this way

There may also be another reason, which is my decision.
Although I collect foreign coins by type, and I list them as such, I also collect UK coins by date, which I do not list, as I do not wish to add these to my collection total, as listed on Numista.
Therefore, where I receive requests from other collectors, there list shows that I need 90 coins from them, but when I check, I may only need 2 or 3, as the others may be UK coins.

I believe the number shown is the number of types that will display a green circle or a heart on the exchange page.

I've kept the default setting of "show all types that I don't have unless I specifically check the 'not wanted' box" but my focus is on pre-1950s coins, with some exceptions. It's not worth the time to go through and specifically mark types and wanted/unwanted (and what if my tastes change?). I do like to see what someone has available, and I will sometimes stretch my collecting criteria in order to make a swap work.

But it does mean that I do occasionally turn down swaps with people who only have modern coins on their list.

One thing I'm thinking is that the include with, and exclude from, wants is very hard to understand and use.

I was a computer programmer for many years and also wrote user manuals and it took me a while to figure it out AND I have no clue how I would make it better.

You would have to have many more options, like do this with this group of countries and do something else with these others. Or this type of coin...

Even then it would be very time consuming for us users.

It's just one of those things that is inherently complicated, like producing a Mid-East peace plan..lol.

Alan

Sometimes it is hard to narrow down your want list with the criteria provided. I only collect pre 1945 coins so I put in a criteria that my wish list should only show coins dated before 1945. However , it does not distinguish between different calendars, so someone with a lot of modern Arabic coins that are dated around 1400 in the Arabic calendar show up on my wish list but there really is nothing I want in their swap list because in the Gregorian calendar they are dated over 2000.

It's the same for coins that are minted both before and after 1945. For example, this coin from Switzerland was minted between 1879-now. Someone could have a 2016 coin in their swap list, but because there were coins in the date list before 1945 it would mark it as on my wish list.

The number of coins that interest you or the other represent only coin sheets/types.
When you aren't a very picky collector it's not that hard. The biggest problem is that most members have not really set up their wishes and use the standard options which might not at all correlate with their collection goals.

I think the standard is the 4th option that includes everything you don't have ... this inflates the false positives the most.
I personally use the 3rd ... I get false positives when someone has coin types I need but I already have the years but when I'd use the 2nd I would get 0 coins that interrest me when someone has some missing years of a coin type but also a year that I already own.

You can also refine your wishes or don't's with additional criterias and for the biggest portion of the user base this is sufficient. Not that additional or more comfortable options wouldn't be welcomed.

@Neil - You could get rid of at least the modern islamic stuff if you use a 'I don't wish'-critireon with "1946 - (current year)" in the Gregorian year box

Quote: "Idolenz"​@Neil - You could get rid of at least the modern islamic stuff if you use a 'I don't wish'-critireon with "1946 - (current year)" in the Gregorian year box

Thanks. ​I added an extra criteria of "silver" which took out all the modern stuff anyway

I just went back and looked at the want set-up page and it was much simpler than I remember it being when I first started using this site.

I was able to set up exactly what I want with 4 criteria.

The only thing I wish it had was a way to look at the complete list, rather than just one criteria at a time.

If there is and I am missing it, someone please let me know.

Alan