Pins on a Budget

[DizFan101]

Hello!
If you are interested in buying pins and trading i am not sure if you are aware or not that you can buy Lots of ?? Disney Pins on Ebay. I ordered 50 pins for $30.00 (w/ free shipping) from china. Most of them are small but hey you trade them at the parks for the ones you like.

we have been doing this on many occasions and sometimes we even give them away as holiday gifts for those who go to Disney or if we special pins like "Mrs" or a teacher one i give them to those who were just married or teachers.

most of the lots come from china on ebay so you might want to order them well before your trip so they get there in tme. Who knows you might even get a few pins you want.

Also:

What do you do w/ your pin collection? mine is on my wall on quark boards

 

[MickeyP]

Those pins are not always tradeable with CMs. They are illegally produced and should not bear the Disney name.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I would hate to be counterfeit pins and have my children heartbroken when they were told they couldn't trade them.

I was lucky to find some pins at the Salvation Army store here last year. I'm thinking yard sales, Craigslist, and thrift stores might be a better option. You are far more likely to find real Disney pins there.

I'm pretty sure with the price you paid, you purchased fake pins, OP. You won't be able to trade them. If you do trade them, it would be a shame for another child to trade a CM and get a fake pin. It happened once to my son before. I was very upset, but luckily, my son actually likes the fake pin, so its a keeper.

 

[WantToGoNow]

Those pins are tradeable. They may be fake/illegally but the CM's will allow you/your children to trade with them. I have a board full of pins that I've gotten from CM's - and I'm sure I've gotten quite a few scrappers. But I don't trade for the value of the pins, I trade for pins that I like.

 

[steves1bear]

Is there a way to tell the fake/illegal ones from the real ones? I would like to get some for my DD for Christmas since she just started getting into pin trading at our last trip. Just wondering if there is something I should be looking for to tell the legit and fake ones apart.

Thanks.

 

[stitchlovestink]

FYI.....Even the authentic pins are made in China. I just picked up one that I paid $16.95 for, low and behold both the tag and pin both bear the phrase 'made in China'. I think the biggest issue is that the inexpensive pins are the overruns Disney did not authorize or they are scrappers. But just so you know even legit disney pins are from china too.

 

[Mama Who]

I would hate to be counterfeit pins and have my children heartbroken when they were told they couldn't trade them.

I was lucky to find some pins at the Salvation Army store here last year. I'm thinking yard sales, Craigslist, and thrift stores might be a better option. You are far more likely to find real Disney pins there.

I'm pretty sure with the price you paid, you purchased fake pins, OP. You won't be able to trade them. If you do trade them, it would be a shame for another child to trade a CM and get a fake pin. It happened once to my son before. I was very upset, but luckily, my son actually likes the fake pin, so its a keeper.

I was told by a CM that they are not supposed to trade for fakes but that sometimes they do in order to keep a child happy. That said, when they get a scrapper they are definitely not supposed to let it continue to recirculate.

 

[pixiewings71]

OP your pins are very likely scrappers, please do not buy from that seller again. I myself bought many scrappers before knowing about them and the CM's did trade with me but most of them put my pins aside and not back on their lanyard. Imagine my embarrassment and surprise when I asked why and was told my pin was FAKE and was not tradeable!! I was mortified!! I in turn educated myself on scrappers and how to avoid them, I have a link in my signature that is helpful for buying on eBay, there are quite a few legit, great sellers on eBay but at $30 for 50 pins (that's not even a dollar a pin) you definitely got fakes.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

Those pins are tradeable. They may be fake/illegally but the CM's will allow you/your children to trade with them. I have a board full of pins that I've gotten from CM's - and I'm sure I've gotten quite a few scrappers. But I don't trade for the value of the pins, I trade for pins that I like.

You are really doing a disservice to everyone by saying the pins are tradeable. You may be able to trade them. But, then again, you might not be able to. It depends upon the CM. It also depends upon Disney's policy enforcement.

I would hate to see someone read this thread and think they can get away with it. The potential for heartbroken kids is just too great.

If anyone wants to trade, I would suggest just purchasing the trader kits they sell in all the stores at WDW. Start small...trading can be expensive...

 

[mrseace711]

we bought pins on e-bay 50 for $34.99 from a Florida seller. I got the tip from another Disney site. My kids had 10 each and they only traded with CMs. Saved us lots of money and our kids traded out all of there pins =)

 

[Aliceacc]

I buy from www.mousepinsonline.com I like the grab bags-- any pins we don't like are prime trading pins.

The quality is good, the prices are reasonable, and they're a pleasure to deal with.

 

[Mom23Disneybelievers]

This will be our first trip trading pins. To get the kids going, I went to the Disney Outlet Store in the Woodbury Commons Outlet Store. I purchased a large number of pins and they were all less than $2 each. Many ended up being close to $1.

I did search ebay for them... but was a little bit wary of sellers that multiple lots of 50 pins. It told me that they were probably not legit, and did not want to buy pins that were not tradable.

I noticed a few posters called the pins "scrappers"... what does that mean? Were they made for Disney, but not up to Disney standards so they were trashed? (Like second quality merch?) Or were they created by someone to mimmick Disney pins?

Thanks for any info in advance!

 

[ksloane]

I buy all of our trading pins from ebay each year...There are some good sellers out there that are selling good pins...you just have to do your research and go through a lot of them before you buy.

We love trading pins. We store ours in big 3 inch notebooks. I designed Disney covers to slide in the plastic all around (front, back, edge) and we bought the sheets at Disney that they use for their notebooks.

 

[kimsuenew]

Hello!
If you are interested in buying pins and trading i am not sure if you are aware or not that you can buy Lots of ?? Disney Pins on Ebay. I ordered 50 pins for $30.00 (w/ free shipping) from china. Most of them are small but hey you trade them at the parks for the ones you like.

we have been doing this on many occasions and sometimes we even give them away as holiday gifts for those who go to Disney or if we special pins like "Mrs" or a teacher one i give them to those who were just married or teachers.

most of the lots come from china on ebay so you might want to order them well before your trip so they get there in tme. Who knows you might even get a few pins you want.

Also:

What do you do w/ your pin collection? mine is on my wall on quark boards

As a person who has spent a fortune on "real" pins to trade (both in park and through Disneyshopping online) I cringe at this post. Pin trading (done correctly) is expensive but fun. It is to bad that people sell (and knowingly trade) scrappers and junk, it ruins the "Disney Magic".

 

[herewego1]

..... The potential for heartbroken kids is just too great.

Heartbroken kids? We buy real pins in the parks for our daughters to trade. If they get a "scrapper" for a real one they traded, they get a scrapper, but the point is THEY like the pin. They are FAR from heartbroken as they don't even know what a scrapper is.

To avoid this sea of "heartbroken kids", why doesn't Disney monitor this illegal, underground, mean spirited scrapper trading? Being facetious here, but I'm seriously asking.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

Heartbroken kids? We buy real pins in the parks for our daughters to trade. If they get a "scrapper" for a real one they traded, they get a scrapper, but the point is THEY like the pin. They are FAR from heartbroken as they don't even know what a scrapper is.

To avoid this sea of "heartbroken kids", why doesn't Disney monitor this illegal, underground, mean spirited scrapper trading? Being facetious here, but I'm seriously asking.

I was referring more to the children being heartbroken when a CM says "I can't trade with you; your pin is fake"

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

Thinking more upon this topic here...

You people who knowingly buy fake pins and trade them anyway make me angry...

I chose to follow the rules and purchase real, sanctioned pins with my hard earned money. My child trades these pins and gets new pins.

He chooses a fake pin from a CM who didn't know/ wasn't paying attention.

He takes some of his pins back every trip to be traded when he decides he no longer wants them. He brings back the fake pin one year and a CM says, this is fake, you can't trade it.

So I am out the money because YOU decided it was OK to cheat the system.

Yeah...I wonder what else you decide to cheat on...taxes? shoplifting? take a penny but never leave one?

I am not trying to direct this at anyone who unknowingly purchased pins from Ebay. I'm talking about those of us who have been around here...we know better. And just because they will trade for fakes now, doesn't mean they will continue to do so in the future.

 

[herewego1]

I was referring more to the children being heartbroken when a CM says "I can't trade with you; your pin is fake"

Do they really do that? Has anyone had this happen? This is why I asked why Disney doesn't crack down more on the scrapper problem.

 

[bearloch]

I really like the pins Im a small time trader andI have pins that I bought at the park. some from disney store and some on e-bay, garage sales etc and to be honest I can not tell them apart if there is a way to tell I wish I knew it!! and as a adult if any child came up to me and wanted to trade a pin for one of mine at disney I WOULD DO IT no matter if it was a fake or not!!! its about the moral of being a good honest person and making memories for that child! I would if I knew for sure that his/her pins are fake take the adult aside and explain this so that they could plan better!! BUT any ADULT who hurts a childs feelings on DIsney Property is WRONG !! just my 2 cents! and We have trader all these assortments and no one has every said anything to us. not cast members or other traders!! If eveyone is so worried about fake pins DONT trade em!! KEEP em at home in your books never to be enjoyed by anyone...

 

[erincon23]

Not all pin traders on ebay sell scrappers (fake pins). I have been a pin collector for many years, and for financial reasons, have decided to get rid of most of my pins. I've sold quite a few on ebay, and think my prices are competitive (about $1.75/pin), but I'm having trouble competing with the scrapper traders who can sell for much cheaper. I've bought from pin sellers on ebay -- look for people who post pictures of the actual pins you're buying, who don't say "you may get duplicates," who don't have hundreds of posts selling grab bags of 50 pins. Where are they getting all those pins? Look for smaller sellers with excellent feedback. There's a whole thread on this board about good/bad sellers and how to spot fakes -- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2213419. (I don't have anything for sale right now, because I've gotten pretty burned out on posting them on ebay and not making any sales.)