Another DS Failure

[amcnj]

Well I tried. I got to my local Disney Store a little after 10 am. Of course the two pins were gone by then. I refused to buy any of the rest, as I don't want to be stuck paying outrageous prices for the missing two on ebay. I saw two people with Disney Store bags full of pins in the mall common areas, and talking on cell phones to probably other co-conspirators that raided other Disney Stores. It seems an odd way to do business to me. I was willing to buy the whole set and now feel like boycotting any Disney Store purchase instead. What was the aim in limiting the numbers so much so that people interested can't get them? Disney seems to be doing a lot of things lately to turn off loyal customers.

 

[LynniethePooh]

Although I was able to get 2 of each pin (one for me and one to trade with my fellow Dis pinpals) , there was one gentleman (I use that term loosely) buying handfuls. I have always said that FREINDSHIP is what pin collecting is all about. Obviously, this man has other plans. I would never begrudge someone making a living......but I think TDS could have EASILY controlled this type of buying behavior in limiting purchase to 2-3 of each type per guest. It is a delicate subject, I suppose. Disney cannot make a statement against online auctions (they are deeply involved with Ebay), yet there must be a way to keep loyal guests and conduct a lucrative business on their part.

When the Cabbage Patch doll craze was on....there were limits to the amount of dolls one could purchase. So it can work. (and if any of you YOUNG dis'ers dare say what is the Cabbage Patch craze.......I am NOT THAT old..lol)

We can only hope that someone at Disney with some clout will read about our dismay....and do something constructive...

of course.....just my 2 cents worth!

 

[goofymom/pop]

plus my store still has all but the Walt and Mic....which I also have an extra of......wanna trade for #1 and I can buy you the rest and you can pay me......lmk...

cindy

 

[RweTHEREyet]

most of the CM's that I know feel that there should be a limit too. We feel it is unfair to have received such small quantities in each store. Unfortunately, the CM's are the ones that receive the brunt of the anger from the Guests that come in our stores. I am sorry for all those that did not get the pins they wanted. We CM's don't like to see this happen any more than the Guests do.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I was SO elated when we heard TDS would sell pins again. And was SO disappointed when I heard they were basically LE's.
Disney does so many good things, but seems they just purposely create a frenzy buying.
I am SO disappointed to see a pin I paid less than $4 for on Saturday now selling for $40-$60! It brings out the worse.

 

[JamesD]

I sympathize in your disappointment in not getting the complete first set of Disney Store 100 Years of Magic pins. I purchased an extra set of pins if you would like to buy them from me at cost plus shipping.
Don't give up on these pins. I believe that the subsequent weeks will not be as bad as the first. If these people that are scarfing up all of the pins see that they do not go up in value like they hope, they will just return the pins to the stores. There is essentially no restriction on returns.
Not all Disney Stores handled the pin sales the same. Our local store was very organized and did not allow anyone to purchase large quantities of pins. I went to another store in our area (Southeast VA) and there was not a single person in line at 10 am! If possible, try to go to a different store in your area and maybe you will have better luck. If all else fails, then ask one of us on the board to purchase the pins for you
Let me know if you still want a set of pins

 

[amcnj]

Thanks JamesD. I sent you an e-mail.

I hope this was just a first week phenomenon. I can't recall if during the last pin sale others ran out later on, but I seem to feel some of the later ones did. Anyone else recall?

 

[Dom13]

I think 2 factors affected the sell out of pin #1. One - the fact that the Walt & Mickey pin from the Millenium series sold out and is the most collectible pin from that series. Two - alot of people thought this was an error pin and bought them in speculation that Disney might pull them and they would become scarce.

I do think the frenzy will die out. I'd speculate there are around 10,000 of each out there. Right now alot of people are panicking thinking this pin will be very hard to find. In a month alot of these greedy sellers are going to be selling these for cost and maybe less. You just have to be patient.

 

[Humpbacks1962]

I think an estimate of 10,000 could be very low. All DS stores around the world are selling the same pins, so the number may be much higher.

I have said it before, beat the hogs at their game. DO NOT BID, or buy them from private websites charging a fortune!! Do not pay over cost for those pins! Save your money for more limited editions instead. I know it could be hard to wait, but I promise you, it will pay off in the end!


Wanda

 

[eeyore0062]

Last time they did the pins at our store, the only one that you couldn't get after the 1st day or 2 was the #1 pin of Walt and Mickey. After that, the craze died down. We had lots of pins that were pulled after the selling time was done. The other one that we ran out of was the Davy Crockett pin with the wrong date on it. In fact, I just finished my collection of those pins this past summer, when another CM traded with me. Thank goodness for these boards!

 

[SGKoss]

I, too, was disappointed in TDS and the fact that they didn't limit the number of pins per purchase. Pin amounts are limited in all of the parks and even carts outside the parks. Why not the stores too?

I was in Las Vegas over the weekend and my sister-in-law and I went to the Caeser's Mall DS. I had decided I was going to buy a set for me and an extra to trade. There were two women there before us (we got there about 9:30) and were on cell phones with others at other malls. Thought it was amusing until they opened the gates, we walked in and they proceeded to pull ALL of the Walt/Mickey pins off the rack. I asked if they were going to take them all (being the naive and HONEST person, I thought maybe they were going to look at all of them closely to make sure they didn't get A scratched one or something to that effect). They laughed and said no. My sister-in-law asked if she could have one in that case and they handed her one. They asked me too but I very proudly got to say, No thanks, got one for free at the convention. (Hee hee)

Well, to my surprise (though nothing should surprise me when it comes to this addiction), the women walked up to the counter to check out with all of those pins. Not only that, but she paid with some sort of store credit and her bill came to about $400. My brother and my friend who were with us were scoffing and just couldn't believe this whole disease.

Unfortunately, this store only had 4 of the 8 pins so we had to walk over to the next mall where they had plenty of all pins except for the #1.

Gee. What a surprise.

 

[sgtslovak]

All went very smoothly at the Disney Store in one of New York City's outer boroughs(I selfishly won't say which one). I arrived at about 10:07 AM. There was no line but there was a small group of pin afficianados off to the side who had already purchased their pins. Of course, most turned out to be DIS members! I was able to purchase one of each pin plus the binder. The DW yelled at me when I got back because I didn't by the pin bag, but after Disneyana, I'm lucky to afford lunch. I look forward to seeing everyone again this Saturday.

 

[Jaypd]

Well at the DS by me not only was there no limit. But the manager had a bag behind the counter of #1 and #7's and was holding it for other cast members. How do I know this because while she was ringing me up She said hi to the Woman behind me and said I have something for you. She then went to a bag and pulled out the pins no shame what so ever. The woman behind me said I wish our store was not being redone then I would not have to drive over here. Well hmmm seems kinda wrong to me to do stuff like this. So now I am out of pin 1 and 7

 

[MeanLaureen]

Hey Jay.. we've got you covered!!

 

[SharonS]

I too am very disappointed in how Disney handled this. These pins are not a limited edition and supposedly Disney is not treating them as a collectible, thus, the no limits. If this is true, why did stores get so few? Our stores got 24 of #1 and were sold out within an hour. As mentioned before, some folks saw fit to purchase as many of #1 as possible.

I feel as amcnj does...I will now NOT purchase the entire set. I don't think they are that nice, but was going to get the whole set. The mgr at our Disney store even suggested going to EBAY to get #1. I told her that I refused to pay inflated prices for something that Disney artificially limited to create demand. As a result, I will now not get that set. In addition, I also do not feel like patronizing the Disney store.

Since they are marketing these pins as a 'set', I feel there should be a pre-purchase option for the entire set only. This would ensure that folks wanting the whole set would be able to get it with a limited amount of grief and frustration. I addition, it would help cut down on the sharks. Sure, they would purchase the entire set for themselves which is fine. Disney could then put additional pins beyond the prepurchased ones up for sale at the store. The sharks could then fight over these.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I too this was poorly handled by Disney. There is no reason they could not have produced these in mass quantities.
Yes, I know they got stuck with too many 101 pins. But there are more collectors now. And now they went to the other extreme- way under what was needed!
With mystery pins and situations like last week, I can't help but wonder why Disney purposely creates problems. I suppose that is their way of keeping interest alive.
I bought the first 8, and the binder, and have bought as much as I can for others. But it is discouraging.
If something happened I didn't get a pin from this set, I would seriously consider chucking what I had of this collection on auction and move on to easier to obtain pins (that I like just as well--if not better).
I was one of the very lucky ones, and even I feel discouraged! This is suppose to be enjoyable--not stressful!

 

[Sorcerer]

I know I'm about to really step in it by saying this, but here goes:

Do you all really think that Disney intentionally didn't meet the expected demand? That they would underproduce something so that others could profit by selling extras on ebay? Yes, Disney is a business, they are here to make money. For THEMSELVES, not for others.

Disney based their shipments of the pins on prior sales records. Meaning, they looked at how many pins sold on the first day of the Millennium pin collection and shipped according to those numbers.

Subsequent shipments can be expected to be larger or smaller depending on how well a store performed last week.

During the Millennium collection, people complained that they could only buy 2 of each pin the first day. Disney listened - there are no limits on the pins in this collection.

It doesn't matter how things are done, someone somewhere will find a reason to complain.

I know everyone here is just venting. I'm glad you're venting here instead of taking it out on the CMs in the stores. Goodness knows the CMs have no control over the situation!

And regarding the post from the person who said pins were held at the register for a CM from another store - all I can say is if that was true and I had been standing there I would have asked for the store manager. CMs are not allowed to have anything put on hold for them, whether they are from a different store or not. The rule about pins not being held the first day of release came in so late (Friday night and in some cases not until Saturday morning before the store opened) that some stores opted to allow holds since they had already promised so many people that they would. I'm hoping that what that person witnessed was just a miscommunication and the pins were simply held for someone who normally goes to a different store (so when she said "I wish our store was not being redone then I would not have to drive over here" perhaps she was just referring to the store she normally shops at. I'm being optimistic )

At any rate - please don't let the new pin set become such a negative experience. We all campaigned for pins in the store. They're here! Let's make the best of it...trade for the pins we need and hope for the best. Just because we've been told the pins will not be replenished doesn't mean it's true. The pins are not LE and not considered collectibles. That means that at any time Disney can release more to the stores, or even to the parks!

I know I'm being "Positive Polly", but for crying out loud...can't we be happy that the pins are back?! And Disney didn't raise the prices!

 

[~Kathie]

Gee.......I like that "Positive Polly".......I think you ought to change your screen name.

Now everybody play nice!!!!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Sorcerer --
Now our problem can't be because we are OBSESSIVE about pins.

 

[NHMickey]

Ya what she said.... Thanks Jonie you are right. If I ever saw a pin release where everyone was happy I think I would need a doctor. I have been mad at some and pleased at others. I'm just glad to see pins close to home...