Beware ebay and name brands!

[woodkins]

Hmm, that's interesting. How do you decide if it is legit or "gray market"? And how do these people get the materials to make these things and package them?

The AG items on Ebay are not usually gray market. American Girl holds a huge sale yearly when they sell irregulars, overstocks etc and that is where the Ebay items come from. If you know when the sale is, you will notice that in the weeks following it Ebay will be flooded with items (so as a buyer you can get better deals!).

And remember, just because something has the "label" doesn't make it authentic (they knock off labels too!).

 

[dkostel]

Most of the Disney Pin auctions are fakes as well.

I don't know that "most" is accurate. I don't sell Disney pins but am a small time collector of specific pins and have never gotten a fake when purchasing single pins. The only fakes I've gotten were in the one instance where a purchased a lot of 25 pins to give my niece for trading. To be honest, at the price they charged I wasn't surprised that most were fake.

 

[lori123]

I don't know that "most" is accurate. I don't sell Disney pins but am a small time collector of specific pins and have never gotten a fake when purchasing single pins. The only fakes I've gotten were in the one instance where a purchased a lot of 25 pins to give my niece for trading. To be honest, at the price they charged I wasn't surprised that most were fake.

Yes - sorry - I should have been more specific. Most of the pin "lots" are fakes.