Starting a Disney Pin Collection

[BrennaRN]

Okay, my son will be 2 Thursday. He's fascinated with my husband's pin collection and thought about starting him his own. Don't want to spend a lot of money. Does anyone have any suggestions for starting this collection fairly cheap? I see several sites on Ebay where you pick your own for a lot of pins. is this a good deal or a scam? thanks for any help!

 

[BigRedDad]

We always buy our trading pins from eBay. #1 rule is to buy them from someone in the US and not Hong Kong, China, etc. You can get 50 pins for about $40 now. Trade those for the pins you want.

No Europins, Sadesma, or the other ones they talk about.

 

[jlevis]

All to often the bulk pins you see on ebay, or other such sites, are what pin collectors call scrappers. They are in very poor condition or counterfit. You can find starter sets that include a lanyard and - 8 to 10 pins for a reasonable price. You can add pins as you see fit, birthdays or Christmas and you can develop a collection based on his interest.

 

[devoy1701]

All to often the bulk pins you see on ebay, or other such sites, are what pin collectors call scrappers. They are in very poor condition or counterfit. You can find starter sets that include a lanyard and - 8 to 10 pins for a reasonable price. You can add pins as you see fit, birthdays or Christmas and you can develop a collection based on his interest.

definitely not true.

We only buy our pins on eBay (with the exception of some LE pins in the park) and have done so in lots of 100 about 5 times. It usually works out to be about $1 a pin so we've literally saved about $1500 versus buying pins at the parks. All of the pins are official with mickey backs and Disney Copyright and years on the back. We've gotten everything from Cast Member Lanyard pins, LE Pins, Hidden Mickey Pins, and pins that they are currently selling in the parks and they have always been in great condition. We usually end up liking about 25 or 30 of the ones we order which leaves us with about 70 to trade in the parks...gets us through about 6 months of trading and we have NEVER had a problem trading a single pin and it works on better IMO because you didn't pay an arm and a leg for them so you don't feel bad trading them and you didn't hand pick them anyway so many of them you don't care about giving them up for some you actually like.

 

[The Disney Kid]

I bought pins on ebay last month from a person in China. The pins were in great shape and, overall I ended up keeping about 20. The rest will make great traders in the parks. 100 pins cost me $62.50, shipping included.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

definitely not true.

We only buy our pins on eBay (with the exception of some LE pins in the park) and have done so in lots of 100 about 5 times. It usually works out to be about $1 a pin so we've literally saved about $1500 versus buying pins at the parks. All of the pins are official with mickey backs and Disney Copyright and years on the back. We've gotten everything from Cast Member Lanyard pins, LE Pins, Hidden Mickey Pins, and pins that they are currently selling in the parks and they have always been in great condition. We usually end up liking about 25 or 30 of the ones we order which leaves us with about 70 to trade in the parks...gets us through about 6 months of trading and we have NEVER had a problem trading a single pin and it works on better IMO because you didn't pay an arm and a leg for them so you don't feel bad trading them and you didn't hand pick them anyway so many of them you don't care about giving them up for some you actually like.

My experiences exactly. I have purchased from a reputable american seller on Ebay and all my pins have been fine. Like yourself, I have gotten some keepers in there as well and then taken the rest to trade with cast members. You can't go wrong at $1 a pin.

 

[xoJuicyyStarr71]

I always buy trader pins from eBay, and have never had a problem with them being counterfit or in bad condition! You can usually find them for pretty cheap, just make sure the seller has a good rating score! But eBay is definetely the way to go, it's so much cheaper than buying pins in the parks!

 

[jlevis]

definitely not true.

We only buy our pins on eBay (with the exception of some LE pins in the park) and have done so in lots of 100 about 5 times. It usually works out to be about $1 a pin so we've literally saved about $1500 versus buying pins at the parks. All of the pins are official with mickey backs and Disney Copyright and years on the back. We've gotten everything from Cast Member Lanyard pins, LE Pins, Hidden Mickey Pins, and pins that they are currently selling in the parks and they have always been in great condition. We usually end up liking about 25 or 30 of the ones we order which leaves us with about 70 to trade in the parks...gets us through about 6 months of trading and we have NEVER had a problem trading a single pin and it works on better IMO because you didn't pay an arm and a leg for them so you don't feel bad trading them and you didn't hand pick them anyway so many of them you don't care about giving them up for some you actually like.

I bet that Gucci bag or Rolex, complete with copyright, you bought for $10 in Times Square is legit too. Spend some time on the Disney Pin Trader Forum to see what the folks there think of ebay pins. Ebay is one of the biggest sources of scrappers that end up on CM lanyards because people buy them there to trade in the Parks for legit pins. Sure you can find some good pins there but, seriously, where do you think these guys get the 100's of pins they sell?

 

[tigsmom]

I have bought many pins from ebay BUT I did my research first. Check out the feedback for the seller and do some research on the pins. Since there are specific rules for trading pins (you can find them on the net quickly) become familiar with the types of pins that are tradeable (is that even a word? :lookaroun ) and pick wisely. I have gotten many beautiful retired pins quite cheaply and have been able to complete sets for my kids. Our Disney outlet has some pins from time to time and I usually buy a few of those for trading as well.

As mentioned above, you can get some nice "starter sets" on a lanyard quite reasonably as well. My kids got started pin collecting/trading when we used to get a pin per person with the vacation packages Disney offered and then they would always get inexpensive ones at the resorts.

 

[BigRedDad]

"Scrappers" or whatever you want to call them are legal trading pins from Disney. I have no problem trading a $1 pin for something my daughter wants. If WDW wanted to discourage this, they should date stamp the pins and state that only current or previous year pins can be traded with CMs.

Every pin I have gotten from eBay is legit and in great condition. They are even in better condition than those on CMs. The pins from China are 100% counterfeit. However, they come out of the same shop WDW buys them from. Most people, even collectors would not be able to tell.

 

[MissM]

Pins for $1 on ebay are definitely not pins that Disney officially released. But, they are often made with the exact same molds and and at the exact same factories as the ones Disney authorized.

What happens is that Disney gives a factory an order for pins. Say, LE 3,500 pins. After the official run of 3,500 pins, the molds are supposed to be destroyed. They're not. Instead, the factory runs off another batch of them - maybe 1,000 more, maybe 10,000 more. Those are "scrappers." They have the same copyright, date stamp and all that because they're made from the same mold. But they're technically not official.

Literally the only way to know 100% that the pin you're getting is "authentic" is to buy it from Disney at full retail price. Everything else is subject to interpretation.

Is it "wrong" to buy the $1 pins since they're not technically from Disney? Well, that's up to you. I've bought some in the past for trading on lanyards because what's on lanyards (and thus what I'm getting back) is most likely not authentic anyway. To me, it's not a huge deal but for those wanting specific, limited edition pins it does degrade the value. But I don't have a pin collection for it's resale value.

Check their feedback to ensure you get your order - NOT to ensure they're "authentic." Because there is no way you can sell an item that has a minimum price of $8.95 for $1 and make money unless they're from overruns. Don't use the feedback as "proof" they're technically officially released.

 

[CaptainShortty]

Since he's so little he really won't need a lot of pins to start so I recommend you pick up one of the starter sets in the parks which come with a lanyard and a few pins. They have a lot of different themed ones so your son can pick which one he would like the best. Those pins generally wind up being like $5 a pin or so.

And as also said, you can buy them on eBay which will give you a bunch of pins for super cheap. Have fun. My parents have been collecting pins for me since I was little (the past 20 years) and now I have a fun collection and it's the only souvenir I need to get when I'm there!

 

[ZapperZ]

I think there are people who think that "scrappers" are poorly-designed, unauthorized copy of Disney pins. They are not. As Miss M has stated, these could easily be unauthorized 'extras' that the production factory made and sold without Disney approval. In other words, they could look exactly identical to the legitimate Disney pins! And while there ARE scrappers that could be spotted for various errors, others can't.

http://www.dizpins.com/pinventory/scrappers.htm

Now, you may argue that there's no difference between the legitimate pins and the scrappers. That's your choice. But you still have to be aware that, unless a pin is bought directly from Disney, you have no way to know that these are scrappers. So you have to assume the risk.

If you are into serious pin trading with other pin traders, be prepared to have the pin scrutinized. You WILL see someone looking closely at the front and back of a pin (especially those known to have lots of scrappers) and taking out his/her magnifying glass for a closer examination. Also note that news (especially bad news) travels fast among pin-trading community. If you are known to trade scrappers, it won't be long before serious pin traders will no longer trade with you.

Zz.

 

[draybook]

We buy our pins from Ebay as well. I'm not interested in what others think and I refuse to fall in line with the sheep that feel as though you have to pay $7 and up for a single pin because if you don't then you're cheating the system. If I can save a buck and get the pins I want, then so be it.

This trip we just came back from was our first time pin trading and it was only my kids doing the trading. We bought them both 25 pins to see how that would go. It didn't take long to run out of pins that they wanted to trade. I think I'm going to buy a 200 pin lot and each of us gets 50. That should be enough to start with.

The only "rule" I heard a CM say about pins was 2 pins traded per CM, so I don't know where these "rules" about scrappers come from.

 

[Monorail Lime]

Unauthorized pins are an inevitable consequence of Disney outsourcing production to a country that ignores intellectual property laws. Everyone with a pin collection probably has a few even if they only acquired pins through trading and reputable eBayers. I don't think it is worth being concerned about.

 

[draybook]

Are Disney made pins made of more valuable material?

 

[mike7904]

Have bought pins on Ebay prior to our trips the last few years. Buy about 50-75 pins. We keep some of them and the rest get traded. There was only one pin in any of the lots we bought which I could tell was an outright 'scrapper'. It was a limited edition of 25 pin so I had my doubts. Did an online search and found out about it. Beyond that the pins have all been in good quality and we have never had any problems trading them. Some of the pins we are getting from CMs have probably come from other guests who bought on Ebay as well.

 

[draybook]

Yeah, I just bought 200 pins for $169. From a reputable seller certified with Ebay and she said all pins have the stamping, if that matters. Good stuff.