Traded pins with Disney Cast Member and it is not an official pin!?!

[amsps]

We just got back and pin trading was a big hit with our kids. We only traded with disney cast members, and after coming home and examining all of our pins, one of the pins does not have the official pin trading logo on the back.

I thought disney cast members were only supposed to carry official pins?

I'm guessing someone gave the cast member the non-offical pin and they just put it on their lanyard without checking. But still...

 

[t_catt11]

Does it have Disney stamped on the back? The "official pin trading" logo is a newer addition - the pin could still be legit, just older.

If not, meh. In my experience, cast members are usually very good about checking pins, but sometimes, they may miss one here or there. If you traded for the pin and like the pin, is it really, truly an issue?

 

[amsps]

It has a picture of mickey on the front, but no disney logo or anything on the back. This was our first time pin trading. I knew there were fakes out there but I guess I thought disney cast members would be pretty safe.

Our son picked it out - he likes it and is happy, and after all, it is just a pin, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. But you know, it is just disappointing that it isn't "official."

 

[t_catt11]

Sorry about that. We have several older pins that lack the official pin trading logo... but again, they are older. All pins should have the copyright symbol and "Disney" on the back.

I can sympathize with it being disappointing, but at least he likes it.

Cast Members *are* safe - you can be sure that if you get a fake from them, it is not due to malicious intent (which you can see from pin sharks). Cast members also stick to the simple 1 for 1 trades, whereas unsavory traders may try to get you to give them 2 for 1, or perhaps get you to go and buy a more expensive pin, then trade you something cheap in return.

All that being said, remember that the point of pin trading for most folks is simply to have fun. If you aren't looking at it as an investment (in which case, you need to keep your receipts and pin cards, and insist on getting these in trade), don't sweat it too much.

My own DD made a wonderful collection of "Pooh around the world" pins on our first trip to WDW - different Pooh pins featuring him in costimes from other countries. When we returnd to WDW three years later, she traded these all away. Guess whether you can find them now?

But you know what? She got a lot of cool villains that she enjoyed at that age. This winter, who knows? Maybe she'll trade those away, too. Big deal, she's having fun, and can't wait to pin trade (one of the few things a 13 year old is visibly excited about).

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We trade with Cast Members on each trip. The problem is that many of them just accept any pin the guest offers. It could be a bootleg, a counterfeit, a factory "second" that was supposed to be melted down...you get the picture.
The Cast Members are too busy to scrutinize each and every pin, so it is kind of a "buyer beware" sort of thing.

We have come home with TONS of fakes. It infuriates me because we buy pins from the Disney Store or Disney Shopping for our traders, and we end up with eBay counterfeits in return. But trading is fun if you can get past that part of it.

 

[Otter49]

We have come home with TONS of fakes. It infuriates me because we buy pins from the Disney Store or Disney Shopping for our traders, and we end up with eBay counterfeits in return. But trading is fun if you can get past that part of it.

Just curious, since I'm not a pin person - if you become aware when you get home that you have "TONS" of fakes, how come you weren't able to ascertain at the time of the trade that at least some of them were fake?

 

[Brian_WDW74]

The absence of a Disney stamp on the back is not really a good indication of whether a pin is official or not. There are many older pins that have no backstamp at all. Your best bet is to visit pinpics.com and try to find your pin there. It will tell you if the pin is official or not.

 

[Tinkerbelle92306]

I'm not in to pin trading myself and I really never thought about unofficial pins until I read this thread.

 

[Tomh]

The big problem you'll find is that even looking at pinpics.com, it can be difficult, if not impossible to distinguish the real thing from a second, or knock off. Sometimes it's obvious, like a limited edition of 1/3, 2/3, 3/3, but the particular pin design has the wrong number on it, or the colors are all wrong. Other times, it is very hard to tell, and the differences are very subtle like the shine of the enamel, or the weight of the pin.

I didn't know a whole lot about pins last year, and thought my kids might get into pin trading, so I purchased a quantity from a web store that was suggested here on the DIS. After receiving the pins, and doing a bit of research, I found at least a few that I could positively identify as fake. It really upset me for a while, but then I started reading here about it, and realized that if the fakes are so common, and so hard to distinguish from the real thing that CM's often wind up with them, then you just accept that it happens.

Anyone who is really serious about not dealing with fakes needs to keep receipts and pin cards, and require them with any trade. Anyone who is trading without requiring them is taking a chance on getting fake pins. In the end, the only real difference between the fakes and the real deal is whether Disney is making money on them or not. If that doesn't concern Disney enough to bring an end to the fakes, then I'm not going to worry about it. If my kids trade, and get fakes, who cares, as long as they like the pin that is all that matters.

When we actually got to the parks, the only one who carried any pins was DS4, and he had no interest in trading them, just wanted to wear the lanyard with a couple of the pins on it. None of the kids traded any of the pins that they had, though the did get a couple of new Disney pins while at the parks, to remember the trip by.

 

[Capt. Barbosa]

I have a Disney pin I purchased in WDW in 1986 its Mickey in a members only jacket with sunglasses on looking very 80's lol. It doesn't have an official stamp on it, but its one of my favorite pins.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

The absence of a Disney stamp on the back is not really a good indication of whether a pin is official or not. There are many older pins that have no backstamp at all. Your best bet is to visit pinpics.com and try to find your pin there. It will tell you if the pin is official or not.

That's a great point because one of the pins in my collection is a Mouse Gear 1999 opening pin and it has no pin trading stamp on the back, plus it's also listed on Pin Pics so I know it's real.

 

[CLR4321]

If it doesn't have the Disney stamp on the back, then it is not an official Disney pin. The Pin Trading stamp is not on all pins....I beleieve that is a newer stamp being put on them. I collected Disney pins about 8-10 years ago and they did not have the Pin Trading stamp.
I understand you aren't happy about getting an unofficial Disney pin, but if your son likes it, that's what matters. CM's just take any trade they are asked for, they don't check to see if the pins are official. If you are only interested in officials, I would check for the Disney stamp before accepting the trade with a CM. If you run across any that aren't official, just tell the CM you only want official Disney pins and ask to trade it back.

 

[Stinkerbell317]

I am wondering abt the more "plasticky" feeling pins that I have run across on my last couple trips. My DD6 was trading with CMs and ended up with a Briar Rabbit pin and a Jane (from Tarzan) pin that don't feel metallic. They feel like plastic. Of course she loves them and is happy, but I have to wonder if they are official since all the other Disney pins I have seen are metal. Can anyone comment?

 

[Tomh]

We've got a couple of those plastic pins as well, and also suspect that they are not official, but that's the way it goes. The kids like them, and that is all that matters.

 

[idofabric]

In the last year and 1/2 I have gotten several "fake" Disney Pins.. never thought anything of it since I liked what I got. Some were from CMs and some from little kids( I ALLWAYS trade with a kid that asks, if possible. If I don't want to trade a pin I perma back it..)
Any way last summer'08, we were in the big Wally world off site and they had a giant Disney PIN area! I was kinda shocked, no idea why.. and then I found that several of the pins that had been traded to me were from there. And they were very, very cheap. Like $2 to $4 each.
Live and learn... still like them. But if someone wants one I tell them they are not "real" Disney pin traders. If they want it anyway then fine! If it is a kid I make sure the parent/adult knows it is not "offical".
And it is hard to tell with some of them. If I am not sure I let them know that also!

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I am wondering abt the more "plasticky" feeling pins that I have run across on my last couple trips. My DD6 was trading with CMs and ended up with a Briar Rabbit pin and a Jane (from Tarzan) pin that don't feel metallic. They feel like plastic. Of course she loves them and is happy, but I have to wonder if they are official since all the other Disney pins I have seen are metal. Can anyone comment?

The current Official Pin Trading Guidelines state:

• The main criteria to judge whether a pin is tradable or not is that it must be a metal pin bearing a “©Disney”mark on the back that represents a Disney Event, Place or Location, Character or Icon.
• Pins from other business units of The Walt Disney Company (i.e.ABC, ESPN) are accepted for trade.
• Operating participant pins that show a Disney, Disneyland®Resort, or Walt Disney World®Resort affiliation are accepted for trading.
• Plastic pins, rubber pins or other non-metal pins are not accepted for trading.
• “Personalized Name”pins are not accepted for trade.
• “Broche style”or “clasp pins”are not accepted for trade.
• Disney Service Award pins, Spirit of Disneyland®Resort pins, Partners in Excellence pins or Cast Member costume pins (i.e. Host/Hostess Badges, Disney Trainer) are not tradable.

If the pins you received were plastic, and not metallic, then CMs really shouldn't have traded them.

 

[Nikisha421]

Does it have Disney stamped on the back? The "official pin trading" logo is a newer addition - the pin could still be legit, just older.

If not, meh. In my experience, cast members are usually very good about checking pins, but sometimes, they may miss one here or there. If you traded for the pin and like the pin, is it really, truly an issue?

apparently i am so unsavy about pin trading...my dd started on our last trip...and i never realized that there were fake pins...i purchase her five lovely pins...and then let her trade with cm...but i never knew there was a method to check

 

[princessmom29]

If the above posted guidelins are the onse followed by CM's in trading pins then a lot of "fake" pins meet the trading guidelines. I don't think there is a lot that can be done unless the guidelines are changed because th guidelines say that as long s it says disney on the back and carries a disney image it is legal. I bought a grab bag of pins from ebay for my 5 year old to trade with, and I know that some of them are not the "real" pins, but all bear the disney copyright on the back and according to these rules that makes them legal for trading. I tried to only trade pins I thought were the real thing, but I am no expert.

 

[ilovecoasters]

Ds10 has gotten pretty savvy about pin trading. After getting many fake ones, he now asks to see the pin's back before accepting it. We've never come across a castmember that has minded and DS10 is extremely polite.

 

[FigNewton]

If the above posted guidelins are the onse followed by CM's in trading pins then a lot of "fake" pins meet the trading guidelines. I don't think there is a lot that can be done unless the guidelines are changed because th guidelines say that as long s it says disney on the back and carries a disney image it is legal. I bought a grab bag of pins from ebay for my 5 year old to trade with, and I know that some of them are not the "real" pins, but all bear the disney copyright on the back and according to these rules that makes them legal for trading. I tried to only trade pins I thought were the real thing, but I am no expert.

Unfortunately the only alternative is for every pin trading CM to be an absolute expert on pins, which is impossible. Most "fakes" aren't fakes so much as they are pins which had slight defects or errors which would be normally scrapped (these are usually referred to as scrappers), many are simply second run pins from the same molds but were not ordered by Disney (and likewise bear little to no differences at all). Many scrappers are INCREDIBLY difficult to distinguish from a non-scrapper, often requiring side by side comparison.

We had a new lanyard pin we'd traded for a couple years ago, and a cast member that is HUGE into pins wanted to see if we'd gotten the real thing, because apparently a number of scrappers were floating around of that one in particular. After examining it a few minutes, the best she could say was "I THINK it's the real one."

I've driven myself crazy in the past trying to figure out if pins I've traded for are authentic or not. In the end, the level of scrutiny I was giving the pins was taking all the fun out of pin trading. The difference was so small it just wasn't worth worrying over. Now days, I don't bother worrying about it too much.

The sad truth of the matter is that fakes are always gonna be out there, and it's a risk you run, no matter what guidelines Disney creates. The only new guideline I'd like to see is one barring Sedesma pins, which are actually officially licenses Disney pins from Spain (I think), but are terrible pins and are easily distinguishable by the Sedesma stamp on the back. But as for fakes? No guideline is ever going to get rid of them.