Budget pins

[ratcatshell]

OK, I checked out the Collectors board but most of the info was really out of date. I am going to Disney in May and want to buy trading pins. I know my friends here on the Budget Board will know right where to go. Any suggestions. The Collectors board is full of post about scrappers and bad pins from Ebay so I don't really know where to look. Thanks!

 

[pixiewings71]

Well that's where everyone here will tell you to look...and that thread isn't out of date at all, we post on it very regularly. If you read the first page and the last 5 or so you'll find what you need to know about buying on eBay. It's the thread that's linked in my signature.
If you don't want to deal with eBay and scrappers my best advice is to go to disneyshopping.com and check out the sale items, many times they will have pin sets on sale there, these make great traders. Another place to check is mousepinsonline.com, but they sometimes have scrappers in their lots.

 

[ratcatshell]

I will look at the good/bad internet traders thread again but it looked really out-of-date. Thanks for your quick response.

 

[pixiewings71]

No, it's been posted on within the past few days.....the first few pages are old but they are edited and kept as up to date as possible. Like I said, the "new" stuff is on the last 5 pages or so, but the first page is still very helpful as well. Good luck, I hope you find some good traders from good sellers.

 

[princesslily]

I always buy on ebay! Never had any problems

 

[Andrea_loves_Disney]

We always go shopping on the day we arrive in Orlando...a trip to the Disney Outlet is a must! The last 2 times we went we got tons of pins in the $2-4 range...and you know they are real because you are buying them at a Disney Store!! Good luck!!!

 

[starry_solo]

1. Where is the collector's board?
2. I am selling pins, in case anyone is interested. I have to go through which ones I actually want to give up though.

 

[sritter78]

My DD5 wants to trade pins in June so I have been checking out ebay so that she has some to trade when we get there. I am so nervous to buy from the sellers and not have them be official. I really want to purchase a lot.

 

[pixiewings71]

1. Where is the collector's board?
2. I am selling pins, in case anyone is interested. I have to go through which ones I actually want to give up though.

the Collector's Board is towards the bottom of the main page, it's under the Community Board, I think it's 3 or 4 pages up from the bottom. Just scroll down, you'll find it.

My DD5 wants to trade pins in June so I have been checking out ebay so that she has some to trade when we get there. I am so nervous to buy from the sellers and not have them be official. I really want to purchase a lot.

IME most seller's who have lots are selling scrappers. Now that's not set in stone, I've been able to get good lots at times, but in general lots are scrappers. retiredreadingspecialist sells lots of 40 pins, I've bought from her twice, both times I've received scrappers but only 2-5 each lot so for ME, that's acceptable.

 

[momof2intx]

I purchased all of my starter pins on Ebay and all of them were perfect....and very low priced. I would just check out their feedback before bidding but you should be able to get great deals on them.

 

[starry_solo]

I used to purchase on eBay until I read about scrappers. The majority of the pins I received were scrappers and it sucked. Fortunately, there is a period with which to do a chargeback through PayPal (shouldn't do this often).

Even if you limit your search to located in the US only, many sellers will say they are in the US but when you get your package, you get it from overseas.

There used to be a board (not disboards) that explained scrappers VERY well. I don't know if we can advertise other boards, but there is also a trading board as well.

So, now I go to this outlet which sells trader pins near Anaheim and examine the pins very carefully. I can get pins for $1.50 - 2.50 each and be assured that they are real, authentic, official Disney pins.

But I have pins for sale for $2 each (primarily starter sets) so the set usually runs around $14-16 because most starter sets have 7-8 pins. You can send me a message if you'd like, through Yahoo (same user id with the underscore) at yahoo dot com. Shipping is free if you order more than $60 worth of pins.

One common scrapper is the Pirates of the Caribbean mini characters set. The scrapper Minnie as Elizabeth Swann is missing her eyebrows/eyelashes! There was an ebay seller that sold in lots of 50, but told you that you would be getting 5 sets of 10 pins (duplicates). A friend got them, they looked fine, and then we went to the store and saw the difference (colors are different, etc.)

Usually, you have to find a seller who only has 1-3 of those sets/lots and they aren't the same types of pins. And scrappers aren't always noticeable. Some have dips in paint, but many do not (like the POTC set).

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Ebay sellers often have good feedback because buyers have no idea that the pins are counterfeit. I have read so many comments saying "The pins have the Disney stamp on the back so they are real." NO, they AREN'T. The POINT of counterfeiting is to make the items look authentic. If you look at the completed auctions on eBay you can see where the sellers have sold the same identical pin lots over and over again. How on earth would they end up with that many of the same pins? Simple. They order in bulk from overseas counterfeiters, break the pins into lots, sell them on eBay to clueless buyers, rake in the positive feedback.

When we first started pin collecting we ordered a TON of pins from eBay. I had NO CLUE what a scrapper was. That was probably 2006. As we learned more about the problem we realized a bunch of our pins were fakes. After trading on our trips we were coming home with even more fakes. It got so bad we stopped trading. We were trading pins we bought at our Disney Store or ordered from disneystore.com and we were coming back with fakes. Not cool.

The fact is authentic pins are not cheap. They don't cost $1 each. The Disney liquidators typically come to town once a year, and their pins are about $3 each. I have managed to get them to discount the pins a bit more for me by purchasing large quantities, but that means I paid like $2.75 each.

 

[starry_solo]

When we first started pin collecting we ordered a TON of pins from eBay. I had NO CLUE what a scrapper was. That was probably 2006. As we learned more about the problem we realized a bunch of our pins were fakes. After trading on our trips we were coming home with even more fakes. It got so bad we stopped trading. We were trading pins we bought at our Disney Store or ordered from disneystore.com and we were coming back with fakes. Not cool.

The fact is authentic pins are not cheap. They don't cost $1 each. The Disney liquidators typically come to town once a year, and their pins are about $3 each. I have managed to get them to discount the pins a bit more for me by purchasing large quantities, but that means I paid like $2.75 each.

Yes, be careful about trading for fakes. I always ask to examine the pin for flaws, etc. before deciding whether to trade with a cast member. Vinylmations - the easiest way to tell about the fakes is that there is a border on the back.

Again, there is a different board that specializes in discussing scrappers, etc. If you do a search on Yahoo, google, etc., you should be able to find it.

Good luck finding pins for sale. I think, perhaps because I am in California, that the Disney liquidators here sell the pins cheaper (again $1.50-$2.50 if you buy in bulk). There's a Disney outlet store too, that gets pins from the parks, and they sell between $2-4 per pin.