Buying pins in bulk

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

I hate to ask a lame question but how do you know if a pin is a fake?

DD is getting into this and I don't want to get stuck with pins she can't trade.

 

[jessrose18]

I have ordered off of ebay once I am sure they were some fakes, and other times success. I also recomend the collector board thread on good/bad sellers. Search "disney pin lots" on ebay. I think 10 a day is sufficient for trading any more takes up too much time.

 

[pixiewings71]

I hate to ask a lame question but how do you know if a pin is a fake?

DD is getting into this and I don't want to get stuck with pins she can't trade.

You need to do some research, pinpics is a good place, just search scrappers and see what you can find. Also dizpins is a good forum for pin trading.

For those saying they paid $1 per pin and got authentic pins I highly doubt it. IME every time I've paid that little for a pin it's been a scrapper.

For everyone else who suggested reading the CB thread, thank YOU! that's why we started it.

 

[surfergirl602]

Also have bought several times for from TradePinsForYou. Super fast shipping and I've NEVER received a fake pin from them. We've also never received duplicates. And this last order I won for less than $1/pin including shipping

tradepinsforyou is on the do not buy list!!

95% of his stuff is completely fake and all scrappers!

If you order more than 100 pins from him, in each bag, you will receive the exact same pins in each of the bags, and the flaws are very obvious for those that trade a lot. (painted on eyes, metal leakage from the cast it was counterfeited from, different weight from real pins, and wrong stamps on back, to name a few)

Warning: stay away from this seller!!! they are cheap because they are scrappers. I've bought from him, and just had an all out war with paypal and ebay to get my money back from this seller.

 

[surfergirl602]

You need to do some research, pinpics is a good place, just search scrappers and see what you can find. Also dizpins is a good forum for pin trading.

For those saying they paid $1 per pin and got authentic pins I highly doubt it. IME every time I've paid that little for a pin it's been a scrapper.

For everyone else who suggested reading the CB thread, thank YOU! that's why we started it.

Yes, please read the thread!!!

 

[surfergirl602]

I was going to say the same. I have never gotten bad pins, but I watch lots and lots of auctions and read lots and lots of feedback everytime I go to buy pins. We get lots of LE and Hidden Mickeys each time. ONe time my girls were upset because there were so many keepers and not traders..

feedback for these people selling fake pins is not reliable though, to base your purchase off of. Just because they have good feedback, doesn't mean they aren't selling scrappers. MOST of these sellers will pretty much do whatever it takes to keep you from posting negative feedback on them, right down to blocking you.

it kind of makes me sad that so many people are mistaking scrappers for authentic pins and are trading them in the parks.

 

[samefay]

I've purchased pins on the cheap before I found out about the board with the traders. I must admit most of the pins look very REAL but most of the ones I got could possibly be scrappers according to pinpics - Can someone please tell me how to tell the difference - my pins have the same markings as the official Disney pins - I've heard that the "fakes" are supposed to be lighter weight and the color is off - are there any other ways to tell? Thanks!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

tradepinsforyou is on the do not buy list!!

95% of his stuff is completely fake and all scrappers!

If you order more than 100 pins from him, in each bag, you will receive the exact same pins in each of the bags, and the flaws are very obvious for those that trade a lot. (painted on eyes, metal leakage from the cast it was counterfeited from, different weight from real pins, and wrong stamps on back, to name a few)

Warning: stay away from this seller!!! they are cheap because they are scrappers. I've bought from him, and just had an all out war with paypal and ebay to get my money back from this seller.

Uggghh... Thank you for that information. Unfortunately, to someone who is just having a young child trade, there is no way to know if there is a wrong date on the back, etc. I don't have any with very obvious issues (paint, metal leakage issues, missing stamps on the back) But if it has a the wrong date- a little kid is NEVER going to know this. And I'm sure they are circulating freely around the park given that CMs don't even get to chose what pin you are giving them

 

[surfergirl602]

Uggghh... Thank you for that information. Unfortunately, to someone who is just having a young child trade, there is no way to know if there is a wrong date on the back, etc. I don't have any with very obvious issues (paint, metal leakage issues, missing stamps on the back) But if it has a the wrong date- a little kid is NEVER going to know this. And I'm sure they are circulating freely around the park given that CMs don't even get to chose what pin you are giving them

I just had to file a big complaint against this seller, and finally got my money back. We ordered 300 pins. They came in 3 sets of 100. Each and every pin in the bags were the exact same pins, right down to the last one. He says in his auctions, that they have all come from the parks, etc, so how can all the pins be the same in each bag? Some of the pins were so bad... like the baby heroes... all had painted on eyes. I could scrape it off with my nail. Horrible. When I asked him about the pins, he would only tell me to return them and wouldn't answer my questions. And then, after I returned them he claimed that he never got them! I had the signature confirmation and delivery conf. and the proof was emailed to me, and I had to file a claim, call paypal, email them the proof, to get my money back. What a hassle!

And the kicker, he has near perfect feedback! I plan on leaving him negative feedback now that my claim is over stating the above.

ETA: Oh, have fun trading! My kids love it - its the highlight of their trips most of the time!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

And the kicker, he has near perfect feedback! I plan on leaving him negative feedback now that my claim is over stating the above.

He has perfect feedback because unless there is a glaring paint issue (which clearly your's had) or a metal issue, the average trader won't know the difference

 

[surfergirl602]

He has perfect feedback because unless there is a glaring paint issue (which clearly your's had) or a metal issue, the average trader won't know the difference

Yes, I was trying to be sarcastic or whatever with that one.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Yes, I was trying to be sarcastic or whatever with that one.

IT just really annoys me that Ebay lets people get away with this.

 

[princessmom29]

disney rules say that as long as they have the offical disney logo and are made of metla they are tradable with cast members, and cast members are required to trade when asked. If you are just getting them for your kids to trade for fun, I don't see where it matters. If you are a serious collector you already know that most of what is to be found on cast lanyards either comes from the starter sets sold in the parks or is fake.

 

[surfergirl602]

IT just really annoys me that Ebay lets people get away with this.

Yep. People can't sell coupons of coke reward points, but they can sell fake disney products and no one cares. These would be like selling knock off bags or whatever, and those get booted, so why don't fake disney things?

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

disney rules say that as long as they have the offical disney logo and are made of metla they are tradable with cast members, and cast members are required to trade when asked. If you are just getting them for your kids to trade for fun, I don't see where it matters. If you are a serious collector you already know that most of what is to be found on cast lanyards either comes from the starter sets sold in the parks or is fake.

It matters because some people do buy good pins for trading, and they would rather their children not trade them for fakes. It also matters because by buying fakes you are supporting thieves and counterfeiters.

 

[kritter]

Can someone please PM the name of who they use for the pins? Thanks,, a BUNCH!!

 

[stacielee]

Can someone please PM the name of who they use for the pins? Thanks,, a BUNCH!!

Check out MousePinsOnline.com

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

I have bought grab bags from mousepins and about half of them were fakes.

I did use pinpics to check out what I had received, and was not very happy to see that half of them were scrappers.

I have been trading pins for years, and have become very sad about the state of pin trading in Disney. It used to be fun, but now there is so much fake stuff out there! We have become very selective on what we trade for, and yet we still managed to pick up some fake stuff on our last trip.

All I can say is do your research a head of time!

 

[pixiewings71]

I've purchased pins on the cheap before I found out about the board with the traders. I must admit most of the pins look very REAL but most of the ones I got could possibly be scrappers according to pinpics - Can someone please tell me how to tell the difference - my pins have the same markings as the official Disney pins - I've heard that the "fakes" are supposed to be lighter weight and the color is off - are there any other ways to tell? Thanks!

A couple other ways to tell is not having a shiny finish, if they are matte then they are probably scrapped, if there are a lot of divets in the new pins they are probably scrapped, some of the older pins have divets tho, it was more acceptable then I guess. Another way to tell is directional scratches, yes some pins do have natural scratching but if there are a lot of scratches it's likely it's scrapped. The scrappers do have the same markings on the backs, for the most part, but not all the time.

disney rules say that as long as they have the offical disney logo and are made of metla they are tradable with cast members, and cast members are required to trade when asked. If you are just getting them for your kids to trade for fun, I don't see where it matters. If you are a serious collector you already know that most of what is to be found on cast lanyards either comes from the starter sets sold in the parks or is fake.

See this is the attitude that is going to be the downfall of all pin trading. I'm NOT getting them "just for my kids to trade for fun", I'm getting them because I enjoy trading and collecting, DBF enjoys trading and yes, so do the kids. I've traded for a ton of really great pins from CM's so they aren't all starter sets or fakes. I really enjoy looking at my collection at home, it brings me joy and good memories. Yes, I have scrappers, I've even had pins so bad I've thrown them out but I spend more money to trade real pins so I do not want to get a scrapper from a CM, or even from an individual.......

Yep. People can't sell coupons of coke reward points, but they can sell fake disney products and no one cares. These would be like selling knock off bags or whatever, and those get booted, so why don't fake disney things?

It matters because some people do buy good pins for trading, and they would rather their children not trade them for fakes. It also matters because by buying fakes you are supporting thieves and counterfeiters.

Can someone please PM the name of who they use for the pins? Thanks,, a BUNCH!!

Here's a link to the Collector's Board thread. I've purchased from quite a few on the green list, some I've added personally. Give it a look over, the first page has a good list on it.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2213419

Please please please, if you want to trade on the cheap (and really who wouldn't?) check out our thread on the CB, it's really easy to find and it's very informative.

 

[justwinnie]

I buy real pins for trading so I get upset when we wind up with fakes. My daughter can't tell that it's a fake and my gentle prodding doesn't help when she's trading. Some just look bad. But other fakes are really good.

When we were trading at one of the stores, they brought out a pin board for us... I looked and noticed there a fake Professor Honyedew pin. There were three of these pins on the board and I placed them side by side. The fake was a different color and weight. Had I seen the pin on it's own, I probably wouldn't have known it was fake.

It kills me when I pay $4 - 6 for a pin and know that it's being traded for a $1 pin. My husband tells me to just let it go because my DD is happy, so I let it be.