Bulk trading pins buying

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

Well, it would stop any shenanigans on the part of a factory owner (not due to innate honesty, but to the desire not to be prosecuted). What it wouldn't stop is the fakes coming out of China, where it seems to be open season on trademarks. You should see some of the fake "Tiffany" that's out there (the sellers of which will claim that they're seconds or overruns, which is frankly false).

My wife worked at a patent/trademark law firm. I've heard tonnes of stories.

 

[persimmondeb]

My kid was picking in a thrift shop and spotted a cast member pin. Because he's awesome, he helpfully bought it for me (it was cheap, fortunately). Guess what? Fake.

He got a couple of other pins too, which seem to be fine, but there are obviously a LOT of them out there.

And it's subtle. I thought the cast member one didn't seem/feel right, but my sister said she really couldn't tell what I was picking up on because the other ones seemed similar to her.

 

[bpesch]

If you're buying them on ebay at a dollar a piece or less, YOU are the problem. 100% guaranteed fakes.

That's true, but it's also pretty apparent that they are also being traded and can be obtained from others without realizing it.

 

[Momee]

These pins are all made in China where it is common for the factories to make the legitimate pins in the quantities that Disney orders and then to make overruns for themselves. That is why so many "scrappers" (please, not "scrapers") are difficult to impossible to distinguish from the true Disney pins.


Praise be... thank you for the correction. I was seriously laughing every time I read "scraper". I kept thinking with as many people that said it, maybe they ARE called scrapers. Hahahaha!

 

[JustFel]

Disney most definitely does understand the problem in regards to counterfeit pins -- at least when it comes to trading in the parks, anyway. When I worked there, we were allowed to trade in a certain number of pins from our lanyard once a day with a cast member offstage. Early morning was always the best time to do this, as you'd usually get the best pins available in exchange for the fakes/duds that we didn't want to trade with guests. After the morning though, as we were only allowed to refresh our pins once a day, most of the new pins we'd just swapped out for were gone -- replaced, oftentimes, by the fakes again. When you must trade with everyone (with very few limitations) and most people end up with fakes anyway, it's a very tough thing to avoid. Still, my coworkers and I liked to have fun with it, and the interaction with the kids was always special -- especially when you had a pin they were looking for!

Now, all that being said, our little tip for figuring out if a pin was legitimate or not (when it was hard to tell) was seeing if the pin was magnetic. Most true Disney pins are not, and so we always traded away the ones that were magnetic! I hope that helps some of you who are looking for more ways to spot scrappers. Happy trading!

 

[Dispinatic]

my wife luvs Disney pins and my dds and I luv trading with cm. She wants to buy pins n bulk but doesn't want eBay scraps etc. any place u can recommend to buy good Disney pins n bulk?

Ty aaron

Not sure if you are still interested in Disney pins for your wife, but I inherited a large collection from my brother and want to sell them to someone who would really appreciate them as much as he did. They are definitely legitimate as he made annual trips to Disney to purchase in large quantities to buy and sell. I believe there are many Star War pins as well.

 

[dreiwhit]

My daughter will buy lots of 50 pins from a seller on EBay from Winter Haven.

She has found a few fakes, but not that many. But to be honest, she collects them for their looks, not their originality, so they're ok with her.

 

[nkmorgan87]

I am relatively new to pin trading (about 3 years or so) but I was very frustrated when I learned about scrappers. It really took the fun out of the hobby. Buying and trading with CMs was a lot of fun. Now I very rarely will trade. I would go as far to say that MOST of the pins on CM lanyards and pin boards are fakes. I was in the world last April and was absolutly shocked at how common they were. Duplicates of the same pin on one board that were totally different!

some of the newer pins have serial numbers stamped on them. I think those are ok so I will trade for them, also if you get lucky to find a event specific (halloween party) pin I will trade for those.

I hope people will stop buying the Ebay Lots... It's not fair to those who buy authentic pins. I have a few scrappers, I won't bring them to the parks to trade.

PLEASE STOP TRADING FAKES IN THE PARKS!!

 

[jimmykitefan]

We look at it as long as we are trading for pins we like, it doesn't really matter to us if they are real or fake.

 

[here757]

We look at it as long as we are trading for pins we like, it doesn't really matter to us if they are real or fake.

Except for little Timmy that spends $14.99 of his own money.. he gets ripped off huh?

 

[Isaiah4113]

In most cases you can't.

That is not correct.

 

[etta119]

We trade for the fun of it. If a child (or adult) is happy, what difference does it make. It is the experience and fun of trading that memories are made of -- not the whether the pin is a fake or real. Enjoy the experience. Life is too short to worry about the authenticity of the pin.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

We trade for the fun of it. If a child (or adult) is happy, what difference does it make. It is the experience and fun of trading that memories are made of -- not the whether the pin is a fake or real. Enjoy the experience. Life is too short to worry about the authenticity of the pin.

Here's an idea. I'll photocopy a bunch of $20 bills for your kids to play with, and trade you for real ones. Enjoy the experience. Life is too short to worry about the authenticity.

 

[etta119]

Here's an idea. I'll photocopy a bunch of $20 bills for your kids to play with, and trade you for real ones. Enjoy the experience. Life is too short to worry about the authenticity.

Here's an idea. I'll photocopy a bunch of $20 bills for your kids to play with, and trade you for real ones. Enjoy the experience. Life is too short to worry about the authenticity.

No need for sarcasm. Obviously, you do not do this for fun. If you are a collector and that is what you enjoy doing, then trade with collectors. I will keep trading with cast members. FYI, my daughter would not trade the original $20.00. She would buy more pins.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

No need for sarcasm. Obviously, you do not do this for fun. If you are a collector and that is what you enjoy doing, then trade with collectors. I will keep trading with cast members. FYI, my daughter would not trade the original $20.00. She would buy more pins.

It's the exact same principle. if you are knowingly purchasing illegal products, whatever they may be, you are part of the problem.http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...lling-200000-in-fake-disney-collectibles.html

You are not only stealing from whomever you are trading with but Disney as well as all other pin traders who buy authentic product.

You are helping to ruin pin trading.

 

[Tandy]

Calm down Mr Sunshine. The OP asked for help not a lecture..

OP, just go to the outlets down there beside the parks. Go into the Disney Character Warehouse and buy a bunch of pins there for $1-$3 (most are Star Wars and Shanghai Disney).

Use those to trade in the park.

Have fun. The last thing a little kid cares about is turning the pin over and seeing if it is a fake or not. Let them trade. The joy they get is worth more than the $2 or $3 you paid for a pin and got a scrap in exchange. The % of people that care if they are real or not and collect for value is way less then the % that trade for fun. Most kids will have fun there and forget about it when they go home and only pull the pins out next disney trip. Yes scrappers are scamming but a 5 year old doesn't care.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

Yea, I don't want people buying and trading illegal goods, and I'M the bad guy.

It doesn't matter if a 5 year old doesn't care. If you buy pins in bulk on ebay you are contributing to illegal activity, bringing down the entire pin trading community.

 

[Tandy]

I didn't say you were a bad guy, just every response is condescending.

Too may of these boards when a person asks for help turns into an ethics debate or a lesson / lecture.
The guy asked for help, give him help.

Plus all your answers come across that you have 100% proof that ALL ebay pins are fake and ALL people are trading scrappers when multiple people have said they bought them on ebay and they were able to sort out real ones.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

Sorry, but if you see people selling bulk pins at $1 a pin on ebay, they ARE scrappers. No ifs, might be, kinda sorta, they are. Especially if you see multiple posts from the same people.

There are web sites, posts here even, that list names on ebay that you should not buy from because they are known to sell illegal pins, but it's a moving target.

http://mousepintrading.com/index.php/2016/01/01/list-of-known-scrapper-sellers-on-ebay/

Unless it's someone posting once and selling their old collection, it's 100% certainty that $1/pin sales are fake. You may try and convince yourself that some are genuine disney pins, but they are just better looking fakes than the others.

 

[Melissa Perez]

Just some food for thought...

I have bought starter sets, mystery packs, you name it, ripped open the packaging and immediately traded with a CM for hidden mickey pins (my weakness). There's a really good chance these are fake, but I feel like I'm upgrading because I'm going from that ugly round stitch starter pack pin to something I want. I've attached a value that places a fake scrapper pin higher than what I currently hold.

Am I getting ripped off then? Secondly, if I never intend to sell these pins, how do I dare say I've been "ripped off"?