Trading Pin Question

[Princess Jenny]

Hello...We are going to Disney in Sept. and I have been looking on ebay to purchase some pins for my kids to trade. I just wanted to know if there is something I should be looking out for? Actually my DD10 just started to get into trading the last time we were there. All of her pins are from Disney, but they can be pretty expensive, and I was looking for some cheaper ones for her to trade, since all of hers are really nice. A couple of times kids came up to her to trade and she wanted to trade but didn't want to give them up because they didn't have the same quality of pins. I was hoping to score a few pins for her to trade with out her sweating it out...

I just want to be careful, because I know how ebay can be. Any advice will be appreciated

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

You just want to make sure they are official Disney pins, which can be hard to know from eBay. A lot of the China fakes say Disney on the back too. Sometimes disneyshopping.com has good deals on pins.

 

[wilde_oscar]

I have had good luck with pinseller.com

they have grab bags that are pins that are good for trading.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Hi fellow Rhodie-
The Easter bunny got pins for my kids for our trip next month.
I have it on good authority that he chose to get some starter sets from ebay- with the lanyard. They are meant for trading! Good luck!

 

[BillZ]

I purchased on Ebay last month before we left and the pins we received were definately Disney pins and not knockoffs. The key is to look for reputable sellers with lots of sales and ratings of 99% or more. There are several sellers on ebay who meet this criteria.

My DD5 was allowed to buy 1 pin a day with the money she had saved and to make sure she did not trade it we put that pin in a pinbook at night. She also gave me any pins she received via trade and did not want to give up.

 

[punkin1763]

I look on the disney pin trading web site http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/index or the DizPins website: http://www.dizpins.com/ and see what the official pins look like and then shop ebay. Like GraceLuvsWDW said - be careful of the fake pins from China.

 

[BillZ]

Also, the pins we bought on ebay were less than $2 a pin. Far less than the $7+ you pay in the parks.

 

[mike_r]

My girlfriend and I use mousepinsonline.com they have pin grabbags for $1.65 per pin. We have used them about 5 or 6 times and never a problem trading.

 

[Princess Jenny]

This is such great information! I never knew there were so many trading pin websites. I know exactly what you mean. Most of the pins we bought were well over $8 a pin. We allowed her to buy 1 a day also. This time I want to go prepared for trading and still allow her to get a few nices ones for herself

 

[Brian_WDW74]

Since this thread isn't about pin trading at the parks, I've moved it to the Collectors board.

 

[DaveStroem]

Most of the lot sellers on Ebay and other places are selling scrappers and counterfeit pins. Think about it, where is someone going to get thousands of pins to sell each week for $1.50-$2 when Disney sells the cheapest ones for $5 as part of a starter set. Even when they discount them they are still more then what the lot dealers sell them for and if you figure that they are doing this to make a profit you come to a clear picture of what they are selling.

Just like your father told ya, if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't.

 

[pixiewings71]

Be wary of sellers on eBay, many people don't know they are getting bad pins from sellers there so they leave positive feedback, later they find out they bought fake pins. I myself had that happen a lot so I know what I am talking about. If you want to purchase on eBay I have had great luck with the following sellers.

gyantzpod
sleepys_emporium
happydiztrader

The pins I have received from the above sellers all look authentic to me. Of course they are resale pins so it's really hard to tell. Just be aware that if you have scrappers individuals in the park will not trade with you and CMs are not supposed to. If they can recognize a scrapper they will refuse your trade.

 

[Princess Jenny]

Be wary of sellers on eBay, many people don't know they are getting bad pins from sellers there so they leave positive feedback, later they find out they bought fake pins. I myself had that happen a lot so I know what I am talking about. If you want to purchase on eBay I have had great luck with the following sellers.

gyantzpod
sleepys_emporium
happydiztrader

The pins I have received from the above sellers all look authentic to me. Of course they are resale pins so it's really hard to tell. Just be aware that if you have scrappers individuals in the park will not trade with you and CMs are not supposed to. If they can recognize a scrapper they will refuse your trade.

Im sorry if this sounds stupid, but what exactly is a scrapper? and how can I tell if one is a scrapper? Also thanks for the seller names. Im looking them up now

 

[pixiewings71]

A scrapper is a pin that is an overrun, wasn't passed by quality control or had any type of issue to make it a scrapper. They are pins that Disney did not approve so they are sold on the secondary market to individuals and many of them then sell on eBay. You can tell because the colors may be slightly off (altho colors may also be off due to dye lots being slightly different), they may have "dimples" in the paint, missing pieces of paint, have missing Mickey heads if they are cast lanyard pins or have rough edges. It really is hard to tell by looking at eBay as many of the sellers there use photos from pinpics.com.

And no, you do not sound stupid!