Eeyore's Pal
Trading pins since before there were rubber backs
- Joined
- Nov 14, 1999
- Messages
- 3,779
I received this email just a few minutes ago:
<i>Hello and welcome to the 3,000+ members of the CheapPins.com mail-list.
When I first opened-up CheapPins.com in November, 1999, I was only
looking for a way to make a few extra bucks to help support my Olympic pin
hobby. I had no idea that within two years I would be resigning my job
to run the business full-time. I would have never dreamed that in just
four years, I would have a 3,000 square-foot warehouse/office with
eight employees.
This business has been primarily built on the sale of pins to
collectors of Disney and Hard Rock pins. Without their support, I would not be
where I am today.
So, I'm sure it will come as a great shock to many of you that I have
decided to severely curtail the future sales of Disney and Hard Rock
pins at CheapPins.com.
For the past year or so, my passion has been in building-up the custom
pin business at PinPros.com and soon, JerseyPins.com. The income from
CheapPins.com has allowed me to hire artists, spend money on
advertising and build-up a client base of customers that need custom lapel pins.
We now make tens-of-thousands of custom lapel pins every month. Pin
Pros and JerseyPins is now taking the majority of my time each day and I
find I have less time than in the past to spend sourcing for Disney and
HRC pins to sell at CheapPins.com.
While it's not an easy decision to abandon the future sale of Disney
and Hard Rock pins, the fact that the market is now getting flooded with
knock-offs and other forms of unlicensed products does make it easier
to walk-away from this business.
I have been able to build my business by spending hundreds of hours
looking for sources for Disney and HRC pins from all around the world. I
have always tried to ensure the products I acquired were authentic.
When I found product in my warehouse that was not authentic, I stopped
selling it. Sadly, that is almost impossible today. Unethical factories
and dealers are now willing to make and sell just about anything and
pass it off as authentic.
I simply do not want to be a reseller of Disney and HRC pins in the
current state of the hobby.
This decision is totally mine. Nobody or no company is encouraging me
to exit the business. I haven't been threatened by anybody to stop
selling anything.
It just seems like it's time to move-on.
In the future, the HRC and Disney categories will eventually disappear
as inventories become empty. I can't predict when this will be. It
could be very quickly. If you believe you need traders for a park visit
in the Spring or summer, I encourage you to buy now. I'm not trying to
pump-up sales. I'm just trying to avoid your disappointment later when
the pins are all gone.
CheapPins.com is not going away. We will continue to sell sports pins,
Olympic pins and other pins that we make or acquire. We hope to have a
line of Christian pins. We'll have other pins that appeal to the
general retail market. We'll still have pin-bags and pin-locks.
However, for most of you it will be only a fraction of what it used to
be before we stopped selling HRC and Disney pins.
NBCpins.com will continue and will only get better over the next few
months as we add show and Olympic pins.
I thank all of you Disney and HRC pin collectors for your business in
the past and I hope if you ever need a custom lapel pin, you'll contact
us at Pin Pros.
Best regards,
Bob McKeon
</i>
<i>Hello and welcome to the 3,000+ members of the CheapPins.com mail-list.
When I first opened-up CheapPins.com in November, 1999, I was only
looking for a way to make a few extra bucks to help support my Olympic pin
hobby. I had no idea that within two years I would be resigning my job
to run the business full-time. I would have never dreamed that in just
four years, I would have a 3,000 square-foot warehouse/office with
eight employees.
This business has been primarily built on the sale of pins to
collectors of Disney and Hard Rock pins. Without their support, I would not be
where I am today.
So, I'm sure it will come as a great shock to many of you that I have
decided to severely curtail the future sales of Disney and Hard Rock
pins at CheapPins.com.
For the past year or so, my passion has been in building-up the custom
pin business at PinPros.com and soon, JerseyPins.com. The income from
CheapPins.com has allowed me to hire artists, spend money on
advertising and build-up a client base of customers that need custom lapel pins.
We now make tens-of-thousands of custom lapel pins every month. Pin
Pros and JerseyPins is now taking the majority of my time each day and I
find I have less time than in the past to spend sourcing for Disney and
HRC pins to sell at CheapPins.com.
While it's not an easy decision to abandon the future sale of Disney
and Hard Rock pins, the fact that the market is now getting flooded with
knock-offs and other forms of unlicensed products does make it easier
to walk-away from this business.
I have been able to build my business by spending hundreds of hours
looking for sources for Disney and HRC pins from all around the world. I
have always tried to ensure the products I acquired were authentic.
When I found product in my warehouse that was not authentic, I stopped
selling it. Sadly, that is almost impossible today. Unethical factories
and dealers are now willing to make and sell just about anything and
pass it off as authentic.
I simply do not want to be a reseller of Disney and HRC pins in the
current state of the hobby.
This decision is totally mine. Nobody or no company is encouraging me
to exit the business. I haven't been threatened by anybody to stop
selling anything.
It just seems like it's time to move-on.
In the future, the HRC and Disney categories will eventually disappear
as inventories become empty. I can't predict when this will be. It
could be very quickly. If you believe you need traders for a park visit
in the Spring or summer, I encourage you to buy now. I'm not trying to
pump-up sales. I'm just trying to avoid your disappointment later when
the pins are all gone.
CheapPins.com is not going away. We will continue to sell sports pins,
Olympic pins and other pins that we make or acquire. We hope to have a
line of Christian pins. We'll have other pins that appeal to the
general retail market. We'll still have pin-bags and pin-locks.
However, for most of you it will be only a fraction of what it used to
be before we stopped selling HRC and Disney pins.
NBCpins.com will continue and will only get better over the next few
months as we add show and Olympic pins.
I thank all of you Disney and HRC pin collectors for your business in
the past and I hope if you ever need a custom lapel pin, you'll contact
us at Pin Pros.
Best regards,
Bob McKeon
</i>
!
