A Pin Trading Question

[dananbethany]

Firstly, we're rather new to the pin trading. My daughter (she was 12 at the time) bought a starter kit the last time we were at Disney and traded a few while we were there. She wanted to do more this time (she's now 16) so I've researched it a bit, bought a pack of 10 from a reputable dealer, and found out the etiquette rules.

She has 20 of them. Last night I went online and checked them all, just out of curiosity, to see if any might be valuable (of course none of them were!). One of them is not authentic! I'm not sure where she might have picked it up, either trading a few years ago or in the pack I bought a few weeks ago. It is, however, one of my daughter's favorites that she doesn't want to trade.

My question is: What should I do with that one? Since she wants to keep it and not trade it, I think it's fine, but should she wear it on her lanyard? I don't want to pass along one that isn't legit!

 

[MaterializedHaunt]

Unfortunatly your always going to run into these 'scrapper' pins, even on CM! Its very sad how people do this. What I would do is possibly try to replace it with a real one from eBay and junk the other (if she likes it THAT much).

Most scapper sellers on eBay typically sell their pins in bulk. Very rarely do they go single by single. Also, if you do search on eBay, 99 out of a 100 times, if there is a backcard attached to the pin then its the real deal. Scrappers are looking for a quick buck and wont put the money towards faking a backcard (that I've noticed).

I hope this helps and I hope you and your daughter have read over how to spot a scrapper, cause they exist on most CM's lanyards sadly.

- MaterializedHaunt

 

[pixiewings71]

Go to pinpics.com and do a search for scrappers, that will bring up some scrapper pins that will have descriptions of the problems found that will help you guys learn more about scrappers.

As for the pin you know is a scrapper, if she wants to wear it let her, if anyone asks about it she can simply say "sorry it's not for trade" and if they won't take no for an answer she can say "it's a scrapper but it's one I like very much so I wear it but I won't trade it". That's what I do. I have a couple that I just love but they are scrappers, I wear them on my lanyard anyway because I love the pin. I've had "professional" traders tell me it's a scrapper when they are looking at my lanyard and I say "thanks, I'm aware, it's not for trade" and I show them it's on with a locking back (hard to take off lol). That usually shuts them up pretty quickly. LOL
MH is very right, most scrapper sellers are selling in bulk for less than $1 per pin, you will probably find more scrappers on CM lanyards, unfortunately it's become a hazard of the hobby so I do suggest going to pinpics and looking at scrappers there to see what you can learn. That's how I educated myself in regards to scrappers and trading. Good luck, enjoy your trades!

 

[dananbethany]

Thank you both for your advice!