30 DVC Flag Pins on E-Bay

[DebbieB]

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewItem&item=1021288707

How did someone get 30?

[Doctor P]

I could see how someone could legitimately have 20 or more pins. Buy one contract resale for each of the four earlier DVC resorts, buy VWL from Disney, and buy an add-on resale for each of the five resorts. One would then have 10 separate DVC contracts, the potential for 10 separate mailings of two pins apiece, and thus a total of 20 pins. Carry this to the extreme, and someone could indeed have thirty pins legitimately. I doubt that this explanation is the one in this case, but it could be. It is more likely that someone acquired them, legitimately or illegitimately, for the purpose of selling them.

[TnRobin]

I didn't think they were sending a set of pins for each contract you own. I have two contracts and have always only received one "prize". I got one license plate and one set of VWL pins. I only expect to receive one set of these pins as well.

[Towncrier]

We have two contracts but only receive one mailing/license plate/set of pins at our house. I would love to know how someone got their hands on 30 pins to sell on eBay. The auction ended with each pin going for $25. I have to think that someone "liberated" the pins and sold them on the open market. That's taking quite a big risk for such a small reward.

[Donna]

I have 4 contracts with DVC and have only ever rec'd the "one" gift when gifts were sent. Also, i know people with 10 or more contracts that have only ever rec'd the one gift (per family).

[WebmasterDoc]

4 contracts, 6 add-ons, 1 set of pins!

[Lesley]

Postal theft would not surprise me at all....

I think mine might be there...lol...they're not here anyway.

[DVCJman]

I just could not resist...From Doc's Post.......4 contracts, 6 add-ons, 1 set of pins!

and a Partridge in a pear tree!!!!!

[TnRobin]

ROFL DVCJman:D :D :D :D

[Granny]

DVCJman.....

I'd be laughing too if I weren't so darn jealous of all of Doc's contracts! :eek: :D

[CarolMN]

If I understand correctly, it looks like the most the seller got for a single pin was $45.00, but most went for significantly less than that. Wonder how the person who paid $112 a few days ago feels now?

[Towncrier]

It was a dutch auction. This means that everyone paid the lowest winning bid which, I believe, was $25. So that has to make the person who paid $112 feel might bad.

[trishy]

I was so stunned & honored to receive the pins in the mail yesterday - what a surprise! Like others have posted, we have 4 contracts also (2 are add-ons) and received the 2 pins, but aren't they fabulous? No way I'd think of selling them - they'd have to pry them from my cold, dead body. :D

[Doctor P]

Well......I tried to find a legitimate reason!:D ;) ;)

[NJDVCmember]

First time I saw the pin. I love it.
Where is mine? Hope the rumor about it not be mailed out anymore isn't true. And how did someone get 30...............hey are one of those mine!!!!

[Dean]

I know part of this thread is tongue in cheek but there were a couple of points I thought might be worth making. First is that add ons are not separate contracts in DCV's eyes. You have one membership number with an add on identifier. The only ones that will have truly separate contracts are those that bought resale and have more than one ownership. The other point is that DVC will purge duplicates for mailing. I've gone around with them on this in the past (I'll explain in a moment) and it appears the criteria is mailing address not name. So if you have say parents, children, etc that buy and have the information sent to your house, you will likely only get one mailing. The only way to get separate mailings is for those with truly separate contracts to have different addresses for the contracts.

Here's the explanation of why I know about this for anyone who cares. When we bought originally, we did so resale. We didn't know to make sure both my wife's info and mine was on the deed so it ended up with only mine. The Lawyer would not fix it without me paying for the paperwork all over again so we just added her as an associate member. She got everything except a deed with her name and a card. She could call and do account activities, ask questions, etc. Well you know how those DVC members can be about their ownership. She was not happy and let me know about it. She would have been willing to pay the extra $100 or so to get the deed changed, I was not. Well, when we had the oportunity to buy a second contract, resale again, we made sure her name was placed as the principal contact with mine second. Since she sees this as her contract, she wants to get her own mailings, freebies, etc. Did I mention those DVC members can be down right fanatical about these things! I worked with administration on this who was very helpful. It took about 6-8 months of trying to finally get it. They tried listing her name on one and mine on the other but it didn't work. They gave us the option of calling each time to get the additional paperwork sent out. We tried that for a while but everything doesn't come through MS so we were still missing out on that and had to call admin about the WL pins and car tags. The final solution was to have mine sent to my work and that has worked great. Since I work for a company of about 400 I didn't want to do it this way but it was the only address I felt I could use as an alternative. And then they ended up sending us 2 cards for each memberhip, one each with her and my name. One of the things that bothered her for so long (3 years or so) and DVC would not fix became no issue once it was no longer important. I suppose even DVC can fall into the old way of customer service. If you want it and even need it you can't have it, but if you don't need it and don't want it, no problem.

[Bennet]

4 contracts, 6 add-ons, 1 set of pins!

Great! Doc gets my vote for Mayor of DVC!

[Dean]

Originally posted by Bennet


Great! Doc gets my vote for Mayor of DVC! Your just trying to suck up hoping he'll take you with him on vacation, LOL. Doc does do a great job doesn't he. Great knowledge, level headed, ok I'll vote for him also.

[Mickbee]

I can appreciate Dean's comments. I recently placed a call to MS, then Admin regarding a similar subject. Without getting too deep into it, they basically told me too bad.

They said it didn't matter if two siblings, two friends or Hubby and wife own two different contracts. They will send one set of everything to ONE address.

Here was my thoughts on the whole subject:

If two separate contracts have to adhere to the banking borrowing and transfer rules as if they were owned by two separate members, why should the mailings/perks be any different?

I also asked if there was a reduced in dues for the separate contracts in the same household because of the reduced administration and mailings. I received a firm "NO".

My intent was not to try to split hairs or to get an extra pin, rather to understand why there are separate standards. They are separate contracts, therefore they should be treated separately regardless of where one might live. If the member chooses not to receive the duplicate mailings because it is ONE person, then it should be up to the member to reduce their bennies. After all, these things are not free. We all pay for them through our dues.

Just another thought: It would be nice as families expand their ownership in DVC, they could share these little perks to their kids. A family of four with two contracts would all be able to proudly wear their pins...

We cannot combine/pool our points from contract A and contract B as we see fit without being restricted to the rules of a one transfer per year etc.

I'll step off of the soapbox now. It's just MHO...

Dean your idea works well until one of your co-workers does the same thing. Then who gets the mailings? ;)

[DebbieB]

One problem is all contracts are not equal in points. One person could have one 300 point contract and another could have two 150 point contracts. They have the same number of total points, why should the second person get 2 of everything?

[CarolMN]

After all, these things are not free. We all pay for them through our dues.

It is my understanding that the pins and other gifts are paid for by the sales/ marketing arm of DVC, NOT coming out of our dues. (As nice as the gifts are, I certainly would not support paying more in dues for them). Since the sales/marketing group is paying for these "perks", I see nothing at all wrong with sending them out by mailing address, rather than by contract. JMHO.

[Mickbee]

To clarify...

My point was simply: they should evaluate contracts by owner, not address. I see Debbie's point about why does it matter if I own one contract of 300 or two of 150. It should be all the same because it is one person. However, if two people that reside under one roof own two separate contracts, they should be treated as two separate people in the DVC's system.

Why should Dean have to change his mailing address to his place of work in order to receive his mailing which he pays for (setting aside the pins)? It's a bit silly. Again, separate contracts. They have very specific rules being separate, therefore all aspects of the contracts should be separate.

Using Debbie's example, the two contracts of 150 are more restricted with usage and combining than the single 300 contract.

Example: If I want to combine 150 + 75 for a trip, it would require a transfer. If I want to transfer the rest of my points to my friend, I cannot because I would have used my transfers for the year. This isn't even addressing the point if the contracts are for two separate properties.

Enough from me: This is straying off the topic of this post.

[bschool]

We received two about a week and a half ago. I guess I'm
a bit righteous sometimes, but I think it's wrong to try to sell these pins that commemorate such a painful event. If the monies went to a charity then that would be a different story.

[trishy]

Right On BSCHOOL, I totally agree. I'm so thrilled to have 2 of these pins, but like others here, we are a family of 5 (3 kids here) and we have 4 contracts of 225 each - I only wish they might have made more so each family member could have one. Making more would have taken the "monetary value" off of the pin making it more sentimental instead of valuable. Our pins didn't even come with the card people have talked about - they were on a blank white card. Not complaining because I am positively thrilled (I had no idea they were coming!!!) to even have 2. Just another thought on the subject.:D

[DreamingofDisney]

I received mine too and would never part with them. I was watching e-bay's Auction for America last night and 1 single DVC pin went for $90. Wow!! I guess it's going to a great cause!

[Dean]

Originally posted by Mickbee
If two separate contracts have to adhere to the banking borrowing and transfer rules as if they were owned by two separate members, why should the mailings/perks be any different?

We cannot combine/pool our points from contract A and contract B as we see fit without being restricted to the rules of a one transfer per year etc.

Dean your idea works well until one of your co-workers does the same thing. Then who gets the mailings? ;) Actually the transfer rules are not treated equally when a single member owns separate contracts. In MS words, "there is significant latitude" when dealing with one owner and multiple contracts. That doesn't mean they throw out all the rules just that when the only reasonable way is to use points from one contract to complete a transaction, they will. Two examples, first, DVC can anly make CC, Cruise, etc from one contract or when they can use 2 contracts, there might be an additional fee. The other is if you don't have enough points in one contract to make that last night of reservation. They will do what it takes to complete these issues without putting the member in a bind.

As for the mailings, I'm not worried about getting them. I just hated to do personal things at work. It's not against the rules, just not they way I wanted to proceed. I guess our situation is fairly unique where I own two contracts but my wife only one and it's important to her.

[Mickbee]

Dean, The MS person I spoke with did not know about the latitude. I had to borrow one point from next year to complete a night stay. I asked if I could use that one point from my other contract, which had several hundred points for the current year. She told me no unless I transferred the one point. They then proceeded to inform me how they can't do it, yadda yadda...

Thanks for the info. It is certainly nice to know for future reservations.

Back to the topic:

I took a look at Ebay to see the auctions to see for myself. I can't get over the money they are getting for these pins. I certainly wouldn't part with mine.

Our son has many pins in his collection. Every pin has a special meaning and memory associated with it. This one is certainly special, but in a very different way. When the pins first arrived, we were thrilled to receive them. We immediately put them on. It wasn't until later that evening when I was closely studying it that I realized the inscription on the back. Talk about a sinking feeling...

Some things you just don't sell for any price...