Disney Pins and such!!

[Mommy2cooper]

Two things I've been thinking about lately. My son wants to trade some Disney Pins while we're there. I've seen everyone saying watch where you buy them from for various reasons. Where do you buy yours?

Second thing is--a friend of mine sent her daughter to Disney with her sister and they had a drawing of the little girl made to be like a cartoon character. Where are these and any idea how much it costs?

 

[Dwarful]

I bought my girls a bag of 50 for about $35 on ebay. I searched and watched and looked at ratings and had no problems. No repeats and my girls went through the bag before hand and set aside any that they wanted to keep. Still had more than enough to trade and MUCH cheaper than buying pins to trade at WDW. If he loves it I'm sure you'll end up buying some anyway but those will most likely be keepers.

 

[Mommy2cooper]

Thank you!

 

[Dwarful]

Just make sure the seller lists them as official Disney pins as those are the only ones that can be traded w/cast members.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

While I've cashed in on a few sales at the Disney Store (sometimes you can get pins for under $3/each), I have also bid on lots on ebay from sellers with decent ratings. The reality is that most serious pin traders aren't doing the kind of trading you see kids do. i.e. they're trading very valuable pins with other serious collectors. You hear a lot of stories about scrappers coming from ebay sellers, but my kids have never had any issues trading their pins in the parks...well, except for one well meaning cast member who wanted to teach my older child that some pins shouldn't be traded. Basically, she had a few good ones and he didn't want her to trade for an inferior pin just for the sake of making a trade.

 

[3Caballeros]

Pins.... eBay is the best option. And when you go to gift shops to trade, look to see if they have a pin board behind the counter or ask if they have a pin board. A lot of shops have pin boards out of sight but gladly get them out upon request.

The character drawings.... we have gotten those done at the lobby of All Star Movies. I see the artists at other resorts and at Downtown Disney, so you will easily find them. Or ask a cast member.

 

[Mommy2cooper]

Awesome!! You rock! Do you guys have any favorite ebay sellers to suggest?

 

[NiarrNDisney]

1) You can find Pin lots on ebay starting as low as $.50 per pin and if you need a lanyard to display them on you may want to consider going to your local Party City where I have found many different colors and theme's (Even Disney and Pixar) for $.99.

2) As for where to get a caricature around the World I believe all parks have them as well as most resort lobbies plus you can also find them on the Boardwalk and in the Market Place in DTD.

 

[Mommy2cooper]

Thank you! I'm going to go look tonight and i'll def check feedback first!

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

i second or third or fourth or whatever the ebay idea. i've worked extensively with numerous sellers on ebay. i collected and sold limited edition pins, but i also used to buy trader sets in order to trade in park for the pins i really wanted. since you'll be using only for trading, you probably don't care about the card on the back but it may be the best way to ensure you have an authentic disney pin. i'd recommend looking for the following things:

-mickey shaped pin backs.
-photos of the disney copyright on the back of the pin, make sure it looks neat and not sloop
-verified sellers, preferably top rated sellers
-read the feedback!

there is a good article about this on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/gds/HOW-TO-SPOT...-TAKEN-ADVANTAGE-OF-/10000000178004390/g.html. a seller that i used to buy from regularly is gyantzpod. he was pleasant to deal with and made it easy to combine shipping. i'd often find a few pins ending within a week that i wanted, and when i won the first one, i'd email him and let him know there were more that i was looking at, giving him an end date. he'd then slap them all together in one package to save dramatically on shipping.

 

[JillC LI]

I bought my girls a bag of 50 for about $35 on ebay. I searched and watched and looked at ratings and had no problems. No repeats and my girls went through the bag before hand and set aside any that they wanted to keep. Still had more than enough to trade and MUCH cheaper than buying pins to trade at WDW. If he loves it I'm sure you'll end up buying some anyway but those will most likely be keepers.

This is exactly what we did. Got a big bunch on eBay, let the kids take turns picking which one they wanted. Then they decided which ones were keepers and which ones were traders. They had a blast in the parks (and resorts). Oh, OP, you will also have to buy a lanyard for each child, and you can get those on eBay too.

 

[dreamfinder]

Odds are, any pin you buy on eBay for under $3 or so, will be a scrapper/fake. Definitely those that are under a buck. If you see sellers advertising lots and lots of pin lots, using the same picture over and over again, stating that "the pins you receive may be different than the picture", "packaged individually for your protection", etc those are scrappers/fakes. You will most likely not have any issues trading these as most CMs don't know how to spot fakes, nor do they care. Not to mention, many of pins on regular lanyards will be scrappers as well, so you end up trading a like for a like. There have been situations where pins were handed to some of the design team, and the only way they could tell that the pin was fake is they had designed every pin in that series, and never made that design. (Often happens with some of the Vinylmations)

At that point, buying your cheap traders on eBay becomes a moral issue. Much like having your 3 year 2 month old say they are 2. Or trying to reuse a mug from a past trip. Not going to debate if it is right or wrong, but there are people who take objections to them.

 

[jlsHouston]

What about the pins at the Walmart on Vineland...are those real disney pins ?

 

[dreamfinder]

What about the pins at the Walmart on Vineland...are those real disney pins ?

Well, you can view a copy of the Disney Pin Trading guidelines here -> http://disney.go.com/eventservices/howtopintrade.pdf But basically if its a pin that depicts a Disney character, technically it is tradable. So if you do buy Disney pins at Walmart, they will almost definitely say Copyright Disney on the back. I'd imagine that Walmart does go through the proper channels to get things like that licensed. The souvenir shop on the corner however, there pins may be the same exact ones being sold in bulk lots on eBay.

 

[71dsp]

We had the moral dilemma as well with the eBay pins. We did buy a few eBay pins, but mostly specific pins (e.g. MSSHP 2013 pins because the stores were completely out when we went). The eBay pins we bought were from sellers that stated that the pins were genuine Disney, only had pictures of the actual pins in the auction listing, and had excellent feedback. All the pins we received had all the correct markings on the back. I know that's no guarantee. We also bought a bunch from the DisneyStore online when they were deeply discounted. We didn't really care which ones we bought as we knew we'd trade them. We don't do the trading as much anymore, but my wife does buy special pins at the parks for her shadow boxes.

 

[taz0162]

i second or third or fourth or whatever the ebay idea. i've worked extensively with numerous sellers on ebay. i collected and sold limited edition pins, but i also used to buy trader sets in order to trade in park for the pins i really wanted. since you'll be using only for trading, you probably don't care about the card on the back but it may be the best way to ensure you have an authentic disney pin. i'd recommend looking for the following things:

-mickey shaped pin backs.
-photos of the disney copyright on the back of the pin, make sure it looks neat and not sloop
-verified sellers, preferably top rated sellers
-read the feedback!

there is a good article about this on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/gds/HOW-TO-SPOT...-TAKEN-ADVANTAGE-OF-/10000000178004390/g.html. a seller that i used to buy from regularly is gyantzpod. he was pleasant to deal with and made it easy to combine shipping. i'd often find a few pins ending within a week that i wanted, and when i won the first one, i'd email him and let him know there were more that i was looking at, giving him an end date. he'd then slap them all together in one package to save dramatically on shipping.

The Mickey Shaped Rubber Pin Backs do get lost and I even have myself purchasing replacement ones in bulk on ebay or while at the parks. So if the trader is missing that it's not something that screams a fake.

 

[jlsHouston]

Well, you can view a copy of the Disney Pin Trading guidelines here -> http://disney.go.com/eventservices/howtopintrade.pdf But basically if its a pin that depicts a Disney character, technically it is tradable. So if you do buy Disney pins at Walmart, they will almost definitely say Copyright Disney on the back. I'd imagine that Walmart does go through the proper channels to get things like that licensed. The souvenir shop on the corner however, there pins may be the same exact ones being sold in bulk lots on eBay.

I was afraid to buy the Walmart ones....they did say authentic park merchandise but...even though we are novice collectors we want the "real" pins...
Sure are alot cheaper at Walmart though..

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

The Mickey Shaped Rubber Pin Backs do get lost and I even have myself purchasing replacement ones in bulk on ebay or while at the parks. So if the trader is missing that it's not something that screams a fake.

that's true, but most of the reputable ebay pin sellers i've dealt with in the past will not sell a pin without a mickey rubber back. also, i just like them a lot more than the replacement ones

I was afraid to buy the Walmart ones....they did say authentic park merchandise but...even though we are novice collectors we want the "real" pins...
Sure are alot cheaper at Walmart though..

many of the walmart stores in the area of disney sell A LOT of authentic disney merchandise. i would say if they are on a disney pin card and have the mickey rubber back, they would be worth a shot.

as others have said, most of the scrappers or fakes can still be traded in the parks if they look 'real'. it is a moral/ethical issue for most of us, unless you're a serious collector/trader - then it becomes a more serious issue.

 

[Dwarful]

I don't know what rock I've been under...but I had no idea the ones that said Disney license on the back could be fake. We haven't really been serious traders for quite a few years...however, we still buy those special pins at the parks.

 

[dreamfinder]

I don't know what rock I've been under...but I had no idea the ones that said Disney license on the back could be fake.

It's really no different than a fake Coach purse, faked software, fake anything really. If someone is already going to copy your design/intellectual property, they have absolutely no hesitation to fake a "Copyright" stamp. Keep in mind there are factories that make fake electronics that look/act identical to the real thing, just don't last as long, so faking a stamp is trivial. Also, alot of the scrappers/fakes are made in the same exact factories that the real ones were made in. Instead of just working 9-5, the factory manager has a second shift that works off the books, and makes pins from 7-3 using a cheaper metal/alloy and then sells them on eBay. Or Disney orders 10,000 pins, but the factory just makes 15,000. Or other things like that.