Just backl from 12 days @ WDW..my view of pin trading

[thelionqueen]

Hi all,
For those who know my background, and those that don't, I am a long time pin trader, almost from the very 1st day (started pin trading within 2 months of the launch). My family of 4 has been pin trading every trip (2-3 trips for year) since that time.

I believe I was one of the first posters about scrappers on the DIS (close to 3 years ago now). I felt like I was the only person trying to educate people who bought scrapped pins on ebay. It seemed to me everyone was OK with the practice, I was the only one verbal in my opposition (although I'm certain there were others, it FELT like I was the only one).

I have contributed to several threads over the years regarding scrappers, ebay sellers, etc. and tried to educate new traders as best I could...background complete

The last 2 years of pin trading has DEFINITELY been the most trying and "unmagical" that I have ever seen. The HUGE amount of scrappers on CM's lanyards, truly made the hobby more like a chore than enjoyable. We spent more time avoiding scrappers (which were easily 50% of each CM lanyard) than trading.

I am EXTREMELY happy to report, that the scrappers on CM's lanyards (at WDW anyway) was down INCREDIBLY from our last trip!!!!
In fact, the volume of quality and current "rack pins" was more than I have seen in several years! I noticed the change by about the 3rd day as I realized I wasn't looking for scrappers anymore, because there weren't any!! As I look back on the entire trip, I can say that I only saw a handful of scrappers (I'm guessing fewer than 10) our ENTIRE TRIP!!!!

I traded for limited releases, CM ONLY (not cast lanyards), AP's (artist proofs) and more that I haven't seen before on previous trips.

The hidden mickey's I traded for were current (last 2 months) and definitely not scrappers.

I just wanted to pass on some GOOD NEWS for a change!! I don't know what Disney is doing, but they are moving in the right direction and it shows!!!!!

 

[Spiffie]

Hi all,
For those who know my background, and those that don't, I am a long time pin trader, almost from the very 1st day (started pin trading within 2 months of the launch). My family of 4 has been pin trading every trip (2-3 trips for year) since that time.

I believe I was one of the first posters about scrappers on the DIS (close to 3 years ago now). I felt like I was the only person trying to educate people who bought scrapped pins on ebay. It seemed to me everyone was OK with the practice, I was the only one verbal in my opposition (although I'm certain there were others, it FELT like I was the only one).

I have contributed to several threads over the years regarding scrappers, ebay sellers, etc. and tried to educate new traders as best I could...background complete

The last 2 years of pin trading has DEFINITELY been the most trying and "unmagical" that I have ever seen. The HUGE amount of scrappers on CM's lanyards, truly made the hobby more like a chore than enjoyable. We spent more time avoiding scrappers (which were easily 50% of each CM lanyard) than trading.

I am EXTREMELY happy to report, that the scrappers on CM's lanyards (at WDW anyway) was down INCREDIBLY from our last trip!!!!
In fact, the volume of quality and current "rack pins" was more than I have seen in several years! I noticed the change by about the 3rd day as I realized I wasn't looking for scrappers anymore, because there weren't any!! As I look back on the entire trip, I can say that I only saw a handful of scrappers (I'm guessing fewer than 10) our ENTIRE TRIP!!!!

I traded for limited releases, CM ONLY (not cast lanyards), AP's (artist proofs) and more that I haven't seen before on previous trips.

The hidden mickey's I traded for were current (last 2 months) and definitely not scrappers.

I just wanted to pass on some GOOD NEWS for a change!! I don't know what Disney is doing, but they are moving in the right direction and it shows!!!!!

I am so glad to hear this! My family and I have only been trading for 1.5 years and not long after we started trading I found this board with tons of information. So, we were aware early on in our trading.. We did find a few scrappers in our pins, but it helped to make us aware of what NOT to trade for. So, we considered it a lesson to learn from.

Another lesson I learned was that even eBay sellers that are listed as good sellers can slip at any time into the wrong practice of selling scrappers. So, even if someone has had a positive experience with a seller, check your pins!! From the same seller I received 10 fakes pins in one transaction and in a totally different transaction, I received all legitimate pins. It was very disheartening.

I hope that when we go in August, the evidence of fake/scrapper/bootleg pins will continue to decrease! It makes me excited again to see what we can find!

Thanks again for something to look forward to!

 

[BebopBaloo]

Fantastic news!

 

[NHMickey]

Great news! Thanks for the update!

 

[chaoscent]

That's good to know, but wasn't my experience when I went the first week of July. I ended up with about 25 scrappers (and I was looking hard to avoid them). Now my nieces are happy as they get my scrappers, but I wasn't very happy Hopefully I just hit a bad week and when I get there in August there won't be any scrappers. Penny