Discovery Coins (Podex) versus Gloebit Coins
I’m a merchant and I own a region in Discovery Grid. Which currency system should I use?
Let’s look at the structure of each of the currency systems before looking at the more complex stuff.
Podex, a registered business in England, runs Discovery Coins on behalf of the grid. What that means is by using a Podex terminal you can buy and sell coins usable in Discovery Grid. If you want to send coins from grid to grid, simple use the orange ATM in your current grid which will take you to a Podex webpage. Once there, simply type in the name of the avatar you want to send coins to. The exchange rate for Podex into DC’s (Discovery Coins) is US$1:100DCs.
Gloebit, registered in the USA, is another currency option available on Discovery Grid. To purchase Gloebits you go to the Gloebit website and register. Once your registration is confirmed you will be asked what grid or grids you want to have your Gloebit currency available in. That is the most obvious main difference between the currencies. Your Gloebit balance is available on any Gloebit enabled grid, so you don’t have to transfer and wait for funds to be processed. In addition to having your Gloebits available to any avatar you want in other grids, if you have multiple avatars on Discovery Grid, you can also have your single Gloebit balance available to all of them they just need to use the same email address to link them. The exchange rate for Gloebits is more complicated but basically a merchant would assume an exchange of US$1.99:400 Gloebits.
What does all this mean for a merchant?
The basic question here is, does the merchant want to sell to the hypergrid community or just sell within the grid? If the answer is ‘Just within the grid’ then Podex works well for your needs. It’s simple to use and because of the way the coins are structured it’s easy to cost your products.
BUT
Do you want to limit your customer options to just one currency type? Well this is where some technical stuff comes in. A region within the grid can only run ONE currency type – so you have to choose which currency to use, you can’t have both!
However, there are some ways to help with this dilemma. You could consider staying with a Podex enabled region and also have a store on the Gloebits Island Mall, where you are entitled as a region owner to a free store. This means you could have both types of currency options available to your customers.
Then there is the merchant that wants to sell for export to the hypergrid community. Consider how you feel when you go to a grid, find something you would like to buy and then have to work out how to purchase currency in order to purchase it. That’s where Gloebit coins come into their own. With Gloebit coins you purchase once on the website and then when you go to a new hypergrid location that is Gloebit enabled you get the message asking if you want to add that grid to your available currency list. So basically your money goes with you, no matter which grid you are on. It is important however to note as a merchant that for every item you sell on a gloebits enabled sim you will lose .2% to Gloebits.
But I’m a club owner, which currency works best for me?
This is much more complicated as you need to consider who are the main clients coming to your club and how they might want to tip your musicians. If they are locals, they are from within Discovery Grid, then most likely the Podex coins works well. If they are hyper-griders then you might want to consider how they are going want to tip, what works easiest for them.
For more information on both of these systems, visit the Podex website at: http://www.podex.info/ and the Gloebit website at: https://www.gloebit.com/about-gloebit
Disclaimer: Discovery Grid does not recommend one currency system over the other. Both work well, have great support and are easy to use. And now that Podex has implemented a simple coin transfer between grids, that helps overcome some of the issues users faced having their coins available.
