Good/Bad Internet and eBay Pin Sellers

[Disney On A Dime!]

Here's two thumbs up for olivejuiceyou21! I just received three great looking genuine Disney vinylmation pins! And the mickeys on the back go all the way to the edge!!!


BTW...I received my refund from the seller that I mentioned a few posts above...keep in mind that I purchased 11 vinylmation pins from him and all were knock-offs (IMO.) 24fanpac

 

[fmimom]

Hello, we have been collecting and trading pins since 2002, but it is just for fun for our us to do at the park, not a really serious hobby. However, last year, we decided to buy some on e-bay prior to a trip to Disneyland. We bought from Shells7Pak, then while we were waiting to get our pins, we did a little more research and discovered the concept of "scrappers." Sure enough, when we received our order, we noticed that there were tons of LE and Hidden Mickey's and they were thinner and missing some of the features that were on some pins that we already had that we had bought at the park. We contacted her and she issued a refund after denying that none of her pins were scrappers. We are determined to never trade scrappers if at all possible (meaning if we know they are scrappers) because it is truly unfair to everyone that has spent the money to buy legitimate pins. After that experience, we had decided to totally write off the possibility of buying pins on e-bay. However, we are going to DW this month and I just found this site. I was very relieved to see that Shells7Pak is on the red list. But, how do you know that the sellers listed in green are truly reliable and reputable? It would be great to have more to trade on this upcoming trip because the kids are pretty attached to their pins. Also, how do you know if the ones on the CM lanyards are scrappers or not? The ones that we got off of e-bay were obvious, but are they all that obvious? I understand that if you are doing it because you love the pin it shouldn't matter. But, I have an issue with trading a pin that we spent $5+ on for a scrapper that really just needs to be thrown away. I hope I'm not being too cheap, but it just is so frustrating! I want my kids to be able to trade without worrying that the pins they or us bought for quite a bit of money are being traded for trash! Any ideas?? Thanks!!

 

[Tammylynn]

This thread was started because many of us were in the same boat as you: We ordered before we even realized that fake pins existed!
We had to learn that positive feedback does not mean that the pins aren't scrappers, since many people don't know (or don't care) about scrappers.

As pinpics tells us, the only way we can verify with 100% certaintly that a pin is a legitimate Disney pin is to purchase directly from the parks.

That being said, the sellers that have been marked in green are ones who Disboards members have had positive experiences with and not recieved any known scrappers... or if a scrapper came through, the sellers have sent a replacement pin and we in good faith trust that it was an accident--after all, there are many scrappers on Cast Member lanyards.

I would bid with confidence from those green sellers, but I still stay away from LARGE lots or small lots with 'generic' pictures. I like to see what they will send me.

 

[pixiewings71]

The sellers on this thread are red, yellow or green based on our personal experiences with them. So if skipwick is listed as green it is because one of us personally purchased from him and was happy with what we received, if mikeandnancy are red it's because one of us personally had a terrible experience or received known scrappers. Of course many of the sellers on eBay don't know what scrappers are so they could be selling them without knowing....but this thread is based on our personal experiences so following that it's usually safe to say that most of our green sellers are selling good pins. Of course we can't say for sure, and I've received scrappers from sellers that I've used previously, when I mention it they usually refund my money without question.
Good luck, enjoy trading!

 

[MountNittany]

does anyone have experience with vipblast?

 

[MountNittany]

Real quick...I wanted to mention what has occurred with a recent pin purchase...again on ebay. I know I wrote some time ago about not collecting anymore vinylmation pins...well...I just had to get a few more! Anyhow...I just received a few pins in from a seller that was not mentioned here at all, but looked to be very reputable and only selling a few pins...not a huge amount of pins or lots...plus a bunch of other non-disney items. Well...I should have known...the pins are knock-offs of the geniune Disney holiday vinylmation pins. The mickey's do not go all the way to the edge on the back, they are thinner and they are lighter.


So...I write to the seller and explain very nicely my recent knowledge about the vinylmation pins and that I believed the ones that they sold me were not geniune Disney pins. I also gave them the benefit of doubt and suggested that they might not even be aware of the knock-offs.


The seller replied very nicely and said that he would give me full refund and pay for shipping back...and then he said, "Are any of them real?"


After my next correspondence with him...he wrote back that he had talked with his supplier and that I needed to check out pinpics.com pin number 72748...where it was clearly evident that some people had purchased these holiday vinylmation pins directly from Disney and that half of them were not having the mickey ears go all the way to the edge on the back.


Now I am getting pretty upset about this entire pin thing...because I knew exactly what post he was talking about on pinpics.com. If you go and look at pin 72748...there are several people writing in comments about this pin.


One of the first posts states something about Beijing having a hard time reproducing the mickey heads on the back of the pins...mainly that it is a dead give away that Disney did not sell this pin.


A few posts down there are two people who verify with each other that they did buy pins at Disney that some had the mickey heads all the way to the edge and that some did not.


The worst part about this entire situation is that one of the posters claiming Disney sold them pins with the mickeys not touching the edges is the same user name as a person I purchased knock-off vinylmation pins from in the past off of ebay!


I know that this post has been long and I started with "real quick!" But I just thought that I would put it out there that the sellers of these knock-off/scrapper/Beijing pins are being able to refer buyers to this pinpics site in order to say..."Yes! That pin is a real, genuine Disney bought pin" when in fact the source of the post on pinpics is a seller of knock-off/scrapper/Beijing pins!


At this point I am not a registered user of pinpics...I just go there every now and then and check out pins...so I am not sure about their posting control...or if they even have that???


As far as my ebay purchase...I will post this persons user name here once I have received my refund. I did have to explain to him that regardless of the mickey heads on the back not being correct...the pins were thinner and lighter than my Disney purchased vinylmation pins. I am going to send him a vinylmation pin that I purchased from Disney so that he can see what I was talking about. I believe that I blind-sided him with the information about his pins. I really don't think that this person knew that they were selling these knock-offs...I do think that the supplier knew!


I will keep you posted!

You know, every pin I've purchased that has the Mickey heads on the back, they go all the way to the edges and OFF, they do not have the "edge", they do not stop before the edges of the pin, they go all the way off....and scrappers I've traded for have not had the Mickey heads going off the edge. I do not believe your seller, and what exactly does he mean by "his supplier?" Disney pins are not available for purchase outside the parks......

Hi MountNittany! I see that you are updating the list on the first page...thanks! I do need to add though that I just received a knock-off from someone who had previously sent me a genuine pin! This seller has nothing to do with the previous issue that I have going on...but nonetheless...I can't totally recommend them. I don't know where they should be placed on the list...so far I'm 50/50 with them??? The ebay user name is kather99.



I have got to find a new hobby or find a way to get down to WDW more or go on DCL more...I need to buy my own pins!!!

Here's two thumbs up for olivejuiceyou21! I just received three great looking genuine Disney vinylmation pins! And the mickeys on the back go all the way to the edge!!!


BTW...I received my refund from the seller that I mentioned a few posts above...keep in mind that I purchased 11 vinylmation pins from him and all were knock-offs (IMO.) 24fanpac

Quoting these for the update later... I'll add kather to the orange

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Hi fmimom! And welcome to the DISboards!


Two thumbs up! I agree with what pixiewings71 and Tammylynn said about this discussion thread and pin trading in general. I will say that before I purchase from ebay I now look at this list..and I also have been sending a question to the seller asking about the pin/pins. All have been honest...so far!


To all: I wanted to add disneyrequest to the list of green sellers...she sent me three great vinylmation pins!


To MountNittany: I, too, would like to know if anyone has purchased from vipblast. They have a good selection of vinylmation pins...anyone???


Lastly...I needed to add that on pinpics number 72748 (the one I referenced in a previous post) funmamas edited her response. She no longer verifies that she purchased vinylmation pins directly from Disney that did not have the mickey heads going all the way to the edge...kind of interesting...

 

[Tink415]

I've purchased pins from Vipblast and been pleased with the pins and service.

 

[pixiewings71]

I purchased from vipblast over a year ago, the pins I received were scrappers BUT when I told them they told me to keep the pins and they refunded my $$. I have not purchased from them since, but I keep meaning to....

 

[pixiewings71]

I just wanted to update that Paypal refunded my purchase from MikeandNancy. The name on his Paypal acct is/was Carlos Neito so I don't know where the mikeandnancy came from but I did get my refund.

I also won some pins from a new seller, I will post after I get my pins from them.

 

[fmimom]

Thanks so much for the warm welcome and helpful information. I will check out the sellers in green. It is so nice to know that you have had good experiences with them in the past. I'm very happy that not everyone on e-bay sells scrappers!!

 

[Malouff]

I just wanted to update that Paypal refunded my purchase from MikeandNancy.

I also finally got my money refunded.

The order where MikeandNancy printed a shipping label was a harder case as PayPal wanted me to wait until the packaged arrived at first.

I did however contact PayPal a few times to explain the case and got my refund.

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

It's great to hear that you all received your refunds!


Also, I am sorry that I didn't notice it before, but welcome to the DISboards Malouff!

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Just a thought, but how do we report sellers that either refund money for scrappers or send you the genuine pin in return for a scrapper? I am in the process of dealing with the latter...I purchased from a "green" seller and received three genuine pins and two scrappers. They were very willing to work with me and are sending replacements for the two scrappers (hopefully genuine pins!) I will keep you posted...any thoughts?

 

[asianway]

anyone have any experience with ebay user wonwon901 ?

he seems to have good feedback but it says his items are located in hong kong and he seems to be below retail.

He has sold the LE 300 Bay Lake Tower(which sold out by 10am), Kidani Village, and Treehouse pins multiples times, with no cards. Im pretty sure he got them factory direct.

 

[asianway]

can I ask why anyone would think a pin sold for under $2.00 would be anything but a scrapper?....just a question....but if Disney is selling pins in the $10 range each and even the "Starter sets" are approx $5 each how is anyone really getting pins that much cheaper?????....they are selling them for $1.79 plus making a profit and they are not scrappers????? ( that is except for our friend nannub who brings his scrappers to the park to trade for real pins and then sells them in huge lots).....

This is the crux of the matter that is lost through the hundreds of posts. No one has some magic source of "cheap traders" that they can continue to conjure up. The cheapest you can get pins legitimately is around $1.25-1.50 through liquidation. Anyone selling them for less is losing money. This is for true, legit pins.

Many other sellers have legit pins for less. How? Exactly as described above, buying thousands of scrappers and laundering them on CM lanyards. I see it every weekend, many different people. I have no idea of their ebay names, but this is how it happens. And buying from these "green" sellers only helps to perpetuate the junk you will find on lanyards when you visit.

Yes, some people do sell their collections and just want to take any amount to get rid of them, but that is the minority. Dizpins is probably the best source of people legitimately getting rid of traders cheaply, anyone doing it on ebay, is a red flag.

 

[pixiewings71]

Just a thought, but how do we report sellers that either refund money for scrappers or send you the genuine pin in return for a scrapper? I am in the process of dealing with the latter...I purchased from a "green" seller and received three genuine pins and two scrappers. They were very willing to work with me and are sending replacements for the two scrappers (hopefully genuine pins!) I will keep you posted...any thoughts?

You just report that in the thread thru subsuquent posts. Much like I did with my MikeandNancy debacle. I simply came back and reposted as things happened, Malouf did the same thing.

This is the crux of the matter that is lost through the hundreds of posts. No one has some magic source of "cheap traders" that they can continue to conjure up. The cheapest you can get pins legitimately is around $1.25-1.50 through liquidation. Anyone selling them for less is losing money. This is for true, legit pins.

Many other sellers have legit pins for less. How? Exactly as described above, buying thousands of scrappers and laundering them on CM lanyards. I see it every weekend, many different people. I have no idea of their ebay names, but this is how it happens. And buying from these "green" sellers only helps to perpetuate the junk you will find on lanyards when you visit.

Yes, some people do sell their collections and just want to take any amount to get rid of them, but that is the minority. Dizpins is probably the best source of people legitimately getting rid of traders cheaply, anyone doing it on ebay, is a red flag.

I don't agree with this. Not EVERYone selling on eBay is selling scrappers. I've got some nice pins that I traded for, not scrappers at all and I will be listing them on eBay. Yes, my prices will be higher because I know my pins are NOT scrappers (as much as any educated trader can know at least) and I know my pins have some value. Why sell on eBay? Why not? Where else can I list them and have so many people see them? Also, I know of many sellers who I bought great pins from in the past 2 years who are done selling, why? Because they sold what they wanted to from their collections, they all sold for anywhere from $3 and up. Do I have scrappers in my collection? You bet I do, will I be selling those on eBay, NO, those will stay in my collection. The difference is sellers like me care about the hobby, sellers like nannub are in for the profit, sellers like shells7pak could care less, they too are in it for the profit.

 

[pixiewings71]

Oh and for the record, I've got a lot of reallllllllllllllly nice pins I bought from eBay for pennies......a fraction of what they are worth. I have 2 Lefcort Tinks that I got for less then retail, only because I got lucky and the seller listed for less hoping she'd get more hits, she didn't and I won them very lowball. They are super nice pins and I got lucky like that a few times with different sellers.

I also received some pins today from koolstuff2005, it looks like a lot of half and half to be honest, some are obvious scrappers (Mickey heads not going off the edges, color issues, paint fill issues) but some are nice and compared to my purchased pins look the same. I would list them at least as a yellow. I did let them know that I suspect some are scrappers and I have not yet left feedback, I will wait and see if they reply. I am fine keeping the ones I feel are scrappers, the vinylmations I got for my own collection.

 

[asianway]

I don't agree with this. Not EVERYone selling on eBay is selling scrappers. I've got some nice pins that I traded for, not scrappers at all and I will be listing them on eBay. Yes, my prices will be higher [/QUOTE]

Reread my post. I didnt say everyone is, in fact, most people dont. My point is, which you agree, the prices will be higher for legit pins. Anyone selling trader pins for under $2 is either selling scrappers, or is laundering scrappers for legit traders. If having someone else do the dirty work makes the folks here sleep better, great, but lets not kid ourselves on what is actually happening.

 

[pixiewings71]

Reread my post. I didnt say everyone is, in fact, most people dont. My point is, which you agree, the prices will be higher for legit pins. Anyone selling trader pins for under $2 is either selling scrappers, or is laundering scrappers for legit traders. If having someone else do the dirty work makes the folks here sleep better, great, but lets not kid ourselves on what is actually happening.

Reread what I highlighted. That's what I was addressing in my reply, you said "anyone doing it on eBay is a red flag", to that I disagree. Not just anyone raises red flags, the auctions themselves raise red flags, you have to be careful, you have to watch prices, you have to watch what pins they are selling over and over and over and over again. Sellers who have multiples of the same pins, that's a huge red flag for me.

And yes, I do tend to pay more for my traders, when I buy the pins for $1-2 I'm "testing" the seller so to speak. Of course that is likely to stop soon since we will not be renewing our APs next year. I will be using my trusted sellers to get any of the sets we want for the next 12 months.