grab bag risky for a newbie???

[nonzerosum]

I'm just getting into collecting pins, so I'm a total newbie. On a last trip a few months ago I bought 5 pins on our last day; pins that I thought really captured the highlights of our amazing trip. I only bought the pins because my original idea for a really memorable souvie didn't pan out. It turns out I LOVE my pins and so do my kids. I think about these 5 little gems all the time, look at them, love them, you get the picture right? You probably also see the dangerous territory that I'm headed for. Anyways, I would really like to buy a grab bag online (25-50 pins) to start the trading aspect of what while likely become my new obsession. Are there sellers you would recommend for such a thing, or would you avoid a grab bag all together? Since I'm new, I like the "I'll just see what I get" aspect to a grab bag, but I don't want to get burned with junk I can't trade. I think this hobby would also be great to help my shy and sensitive kids--who's nicer than a CM, right? Any recommedations would really be helpful.

P.S. In your experience, is the Blue Fairy hard to come by? She would be really meaningful.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Yes, grab bags are risky! Especially because you DON'T see what you are getting. The seller can send you whatever, and you can't really gripe.

It is best to stick to auctions where you see the ACTUAL item. If it is a frequently counterfeited item then you need clear photos of the front AND back of the pin.

Pin Pics is a great website, as is the official Disney pin site www.odpt.com for seeing what pins are supposed to look like. It is very tricky to spot a "fake" if you aren't quite sure what to look for, so read as much as you can about the pins you are interested in. The best places to buy pins are your local Disney Store or Disney Shopping so you know they are legitimate pins. Disney shopping has a sale of some sort almost every day, so just watch and buy pins when you can get a good deal.

I had a bunch of Blue Fairy pins from the Disney Store that I traded, so they are out there somewhere! I bought them for $1.99 each on clearance, so keep that in mind if you bid on any.

 

[meandtheguys2]

I think I have a blue fairy. Will check, and get back to you! You don't mean Merriweather, do you?

Also, there are plenty of people selling pins on ebay that you can see the actual pics, and have money back guarantees. You should be able to pick up pins inexpensively. I sold some awhile back, and quit, because they always went for that $2 ish price. And I like my pins better tahn $2ish!

 

[meandtheguys2]

FTR, I wasn't trying to sell you the blue fairy. I figured we could make a trade.

 

[Nicole721]

I just got my shipment of a choose-your-own size lot off of eBay. I got 20 pins for less than $43, including shipping.

I was able to verify all but two of the pins from ODPT, and it's possible I missed those two, as I was searching through thousands of pins and I'm on cold meds right now and can barely see in front of me LOL. One is from DLP, but it is so nice that I wasn't planning on trading it anyways.

Most of the pins are cast member pins. Many of them have hidden Mickey's. The problem I'm having now is that I bought these so I could trade them, and there are so many I want to keep that now I have to buy more so I can have more tradeable ones LOL.

Always make sure to check seller reputation. The seller I bought from had more than 2,000 positive feedbacks (and only two negative ones that were so far back that it took forever to find them), so I felt comfortable ordering from them.

Also, make sure you read the description correctly. Make sure it says authentic, no Sedsema, no ProPins, etc.

It worked out well for me!