Good/Bad Internet and eBay Pin Sellers

[WDWCatMom]

I saw several on The WDW Store.... Is this a safe place to purchase pins?

[MountNittany]

Sorry, update will come soon, but school has gotten in the way of the dis

[dbeuley]

I would not buy from Mikeandnancy1020, I ordered pins from them in mid september and still not have received them and am getting the run around from Mike on getting the pins or a credit to my account.

[jenmclong]

I am going to WDW in a few weeks and want to order pins for my 3 boys to trade. I am not looking to be a collector, just want them to be able to have a little extra adventure while we are at the parks. I found Disneypinqueen on ebay and the price is around 1.10 a pin in a grab bag format. My big question is, if the pin is a scrapper or not real, what does a CM do? I don't want to spend a lot more money than what I have found on ebay but I also don't want to be told that we can't trade.

[earthfaries]

Originally Posted by jenmclong

I am going to WDW in a few weeks and want to order pins for my 3 boys to trade. I am not looking to be a collector, just want them to be able to have a little extra adventure while we are at the parks. I found Disneypinqueen on ebay and the price is around 1.10 a pin in a grab bag format. My big question is, if the pin is a scrapper or not real, what does a CM do? I don't want to spend a lot more money than what I have found on ebay but I also don't want to be told that we can't trade.

The lanyards are full of scrappers ~ you will actually have a hard time finding real pins unfortunaltely. It's very sad that these fake pins have overtaken the lanyards and pin boards at Disney
We love to pin trade now that we live close to the parks, and have been pin trading for years, but it's just not the same with all the fakes.
We go to the pin trading events and have talked to Steven, the head pin guy ~ he says there are no such thing as fake pins...I guess they can't admit to it while they are filling their lanyards with them every morning
Anyway, they can't and don't and won't say anything to you ~ because they are all over the place. No one knows anymore what's real or not ~ and CM's don't have the time or knowledge to inspect every pin. If you want to purchase those pins that's your choice ~ a lot of people would not as they think they are supporting the scrapper trade by doing it, but it's a personal choice.
I personally have purchased pins from Travelinwynns for the past 3 years and have been recommending him to others for years. I used to pay about 2.60 a pin, and I truly thought they were authentic pins until I learned about all this. They were nice and completely tradable
I have also purchased from mikebitesme and honestly was embarrassed to trade his pins as they were such bad quality and obvious scrappers. Now we buy our pins from the Disney outlets ~ you can find them for 2.99 ea and they are real and a few months ago they had all their holiday pins for 75% off so they were 1.00 a pc. and we bought thousands!!!
Good luck and have fun!!

[princess sparkle p]

Does anyone have any experience with zoom_time ?

[pixiewings71]

Originally Posted by dbeuley

I would not buy from Mikeandnancy1020, I ordered pins from them in mid september and still not have received them and am getting the run around from Mike on getting the pins or a credit to my account.

I find it interesting that you say this, I purchased from them about 2 weeks ago and have heard nothing from them....the auction did say shipments can take up to 2 weeks (which is unheard of really, but I didn't notice that until I won) so I was planning on following up this week. Did you pay via credit card? If so I would dispute the charge with paypal and if paypal doesn't resolve the issue file with your cc company.

[Broncobilly83]

I am looking at an auction from seller: TradePinsForYou "Official Disney Pin Trading Lot of 100 w/ Hidden Mickey". Am I looking at scrappers, or legit pins? Is this a trustworthy seller, as I looked him up on the thread and no one seems to have a comment about him?

[pixiewings71]

Originally Posted by jenmclong

I am going to WDW in a few weeks and want to order pins for my 3 boys to trade. I am not looking to be a collector, just want them to be able to have a little extra adventure while we are at the parks. I found Disneypinqueen on ebay and the price is around 1.10 a pin in a grab bag format. My big question is, if the pin is a scrapper or not real, what does a CM do? I don't want to spend a lot more money than what I have found on ebay but I also don't want to be told that we can't trade.

The CMs will take your trade, most won't even know they are scrappers and they will put the scrapper on their lanyard and trade it to someone else. Even if they are educated about scrappers they will still take your trade and then pocket your pin. These have been experiences at DLR/DCA. They will absolutely NOT tell you you can't trade, even if you have Sedesma pins they will trade, I have about 5 Sedesmas in my collection that came from CM's....

Originally Posted by Broncobilly83

I am looking at an auction from seller: TradePinsForYou "Official Disney Pin Trading Lot of 100 w/ Hidden Mickey". Am I looking at scrappers, or legit pins? Is this a trustworthy seller, as I looked him up on the thread and no one seems to have a comment about him?

In general people selling large lots are seller scrappers. I know I looked at their page a few times and ultimately decided they were probably scrappers and did not buy from them. But, I can't say for sure of course because I have had no direct experience with them.

[Broncobilly83]

Originally Posted by pixiewings71

In general people selling large lots are seller scrappers. I know I looked at their page a few times and ultimately decided they were probably scrappers and did not buy from them. But, I can't say for sure of course because I have had no direct experience with them.

That gets to the point about my confusion. If someone is selling pins like that in bulk, and if they are scrappers, how do they have such great ratings, including here on the board as some of the ones in green on the OP show the same time of auctions?

[thelionqueen]

Originally Posted by jenmclong

I am going to WDW in a few weeks and want to order pins for my 3 boys to trade. I am not looking to be a collector, just want them to be able to have a little extra adventure while we are at the parks. I found Disneypinqueen on ebay and the price is around 1.10 a pin in a grab bag format. My big question is, if the pin is a scrapper or not real, what does a CM do? I don't want to spend a lot more money than what I have found on ebay but I also don't want to be told that we can't trade.

Although CM's may (and probably will) accept pins they know are scrappers, that is not what the point of this thread is.

I know you are "new" at pin trading, and buying for 3 kids is NOT cheap! The reality is this..pin trading is NOT CHEAP..period! Disney sells the pins for $8-20 EACH.

The reason the CM's lanyards are completely LOADED with scrappers is because of people (many fully unknowing) buying scrappers from ebay for $1 or so per pin.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't become part of the group that buys them from ebay and trades them @ WDW! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be one of those that thinks..."it's just for the kids to have fun," "we're not serious collectors," "we don't care if they're scrappers" so it doesn't matter. IT MATTERS!!! By buying scrappers on ebay and trading them at the parks, you are becoming part of the problem that is absolutely RAMPANT in regards to pin trading.

The reality is that pin trading IS NOT CHEAP!! The reality is that you can get GREAT information from this thread about REPUTABLE ebay sellers to keep your costs as low as possible.

Please look at the entire situation and the impact it can have on every other pin trader at the park BEFORE you make an uninformed and harmful decision, just to save money.

Believe me, I am NOT rich..not even close! But I LOVE pin trading..and I absolutely DETEST having the hobby I ADORE infiltrated with all this scrapped mess, and I DETEST even more having to examine every pin that I trade.

For those who have not pin traded for very long, there used to be a time..not long ago (2 years or so) where EVERY SINGLE PIN on a CM's lanyard was AUTHENTIC!! These were CURRENT, AUTHENTIC and GENUINE Disney pins! It was TRULY a treasure hunt, and it was a BLAST!!

Fast forward to today..nothing but crummy pins, mass produced in an overseas company with absolutely no quality whatsoever. Every trade takes several minutes to determine if it's "legit" This is not the way pin trading was intended at all!

I don't mean to badger anyone in particular, it is just that I am SO passionate about ending this problem, that when new traders ask for advice I tend to be more direct than maybe I should

Bottom line is..THINK BEFORE YOU ACT!! and...What would Walt think?
Rant over

[pixiewings71]

Originally Posted by Broncobilly83

That gets to the point about my confusion. If someone is selling pins like that in bulk, and if they are scrappers, how do they have such great ratings, including here on the board as some of the ones in green on the OP show the same time of auctions?

The sellers listed in green on the OP are sellers that people like me have made purchases from and reported on. I'm sure that some of the sellers have scrappers but most of the sellers listed in green do not sell in large lots. Some will sell in lots of 10-25 but most sell individual pins and most sell for slightly higher prices. That said none of us on this thread are experts, we are self educated traders who try to make sure the pins they trade are legit, so it's very possible that even the listed green sellers are selling scrappers. It's also possible that they don't even know what scrappers are. I know one of the yellow sellers sent me a small lot of pins and almost all of them were bad, after letting him know why I wasn't happy with my purchase he had me return them and he refunded me but he didn't know anything about scrappers, he just assumed that every pin was good. Pin buying on eBay is a crap shoot, you never know what you're going to get......also I've ordered from some green sellers and received scrappers, retiredreadingspecialist is highly recommended on this thread, I purchased 20 or 25 pins from her and there were some scrappers in my order.

[Malouff]

Originally Posted by pixiewings71

(dbeuley) I find it interesting that you say this, I purchased from them (mikeandnancy1020) about 2 weeks ago and have heard nothing from them....the auction did say shipments can take up to 2 weeks (which is unheard of really, but I didn't notice that until I won) so I was planning on following up this week. Did you pay via credit card? If so I would dispute the charge with paypal and if paypal doesn't resolve the issue file with your cc company.

Did you follow up with them?

I had two pin orders also with them
First order for 22 pins and eBay says
Estimated delivery: October 14 - October 19, 2009
Second order is for 50 pins with
Estimated delivery: October 16 - October 21, 2009

I did notice this reply left for someone else on their feedback
Reply by mikeandnancy1020 (Oct-10-09 18:51):
TO ALL OUR BUYERS -TRAGIC DEATH IN FAMILY THIS MONTH - YOU WILL RECEIVE ITEMS

But all of their recent negative feedback has me concerned but I may wait for the estimate then call them or also file a paypal dispute.

[Anjelica]

Originally Posted by thelionqueen

Although CM's may (and probably will) accept pins they know are scrappers, that is not what the point of this thread is.

I know you are "new" at pin trading, and buying for 3 kids is NOT cheap! The reality is this..pin trading is NOT CHEAP..period! Disney sells the pins for $8-20 EACH.

The reason the CM's lanyards are completely LOADED with scrappers is because of people (many fully unknowing) buying scrappers from ebay for $1 or so per pin.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't become part of the group that buys them from ebay and trades them @ WDW! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be one of those that thinks..."it's just for the kids to have fun," "we're not serious collectors," "we don't care if they're scrappers" so it doesn't matter. IT MATTERS!!! By buying scrappers on ebay and trading them at the parks, you are becoming part of the problem that is absolutely RAMPANT in regards to pin trading.

The reality is that pin trading IS NOT CHEAP!! The reality is that you can get GREAT information from this thread about REPUTABLE ebay sellers to keep your costs as low as possible.

Please look at the entire situation and the impact it can have on every other pin trader at the park BEFORE you make an uninformed and harmful decision, just to save money.

Believe me, I am NOT rich..not even close! But I LOVE pin trading..and I absolutely DETEST having the hobby I ADORE infiltrated with all this scrapped mess, and I DETEST even more having to examine every pin that I trade.

For those who have not pin traded for very long, there used to be a time..not long ago (2 years or so) where EVERY SINGLE PIN on a CM's lanyard was AUTHENTIC!! These were CURRENT, AUTHENTIC and GENUINE Disney pins! It was TRULY a treasure hunt, and it was a BLAST!!

Fast forward to today..nothing but crummy pins, mass produced in an overseas company with absolutely no quality whatsoever. Every trade takes several minutes to determine if it's "legit" This is not the way pin trading was intended at all!

I don't mean to badger anyone in particular, it is just that I am SO passionate about ending this problem, that when new traders ask for advice I tend to be more direct than maybe I should

Bottom line is..THINK BEFORE YOU ACT!! and...What would Walt think?
Rant over

Great write up!!!! I think you hit the nail on the head. Pin collecting/trading is NOT a cheap hobby. If you can't afford to buy legitimate pins - even on ebay hence the reason for the list at the beginning of the thread - then don't take up the hobby.

My daughter uses her own allowance to buy legitimate pins and there is nothing more frustrating for me, as a parent, to see a hobby that she works hard to save up to afford to do simply cheapened by scrappers. It's gotten to a point where I don't even know if our next trip we will allow her to trade.

[Anjelica]

What has everyone seen lately on the CM's lanyards - more scrappers than not?

My daughter didn't do a ton of trading at Christmas this past year but it seemed we had pretty good luck with getting real pins - especially when we did the cruise portion and traded with the Ship's Officer's/Crew Members - one even told us if we were sure we wanted to trade a pin my daughter had - it was a authenticate LE pin my husband bought from Disney last year on a sale. He actually bought several packs of this same LE group - one for my collection, one for my daughters and one to trade with. I wonder if the DCL CM's know better which ones are good vs. bad because maybe they spend more time with the pins?

We are going to DL in a little over a month and I'm not sure we want her to trade as the more I read about whats out on the CM's lanyard the more nervous I get about her doing so. Instead she just may end up buying keepers for her collection (I do that for mine instead of trading).