What sort of backing do official trading pins have?

[ThwompChomp]

I'm thinking about buying a bundle of pins off eBay for my upcoming trip. One of the listings I'm looking at has pins that it says are "100% tradeable at any of the Disney Parks." What has me wondering, though, is that it says "The posts are protected with the black rubber Mickey ears." I could be wrong, but I thought I had read somewhere that official pins had metal post protectors, not rubber. Am I mistaken; are the rubber backs valid? I'd hate to get to the park and not be able to trade anything!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'm thinking about buying a bundle of pins off eBay for my upcoming trip. One of the listings I'm looking at has pins that it says are "100% tradeable at any of the Disney Parks." What has me wondering, though, is that it says "The posts are protected with the black rubber Mickey ears." I could be wrong, but I thought I had read somewhere that official pins had metal post protectors, not rubber. Am I mistaken; are the rubber backs valid? I'd hate to get to the park and not be able to trade anything!

You're asking two different questions.

1. Are rubber backs valid? Yes.

2. Are these eBay pin lots legitimate? Unlikely. Like counterfeit jerseys, these pin lots are made in the same factories as the real pins using the same equipment, but they use inferior materials.

 

[ThwompChomp]

Thanks for the info! Getting scrapper pins is definitely another worry of mine. The seller has an extremely high positive feedback rate, but since that's just based on the eBay transactions themselves, it doesn't tell me anything about the validity of the pins.

Maybe I'll just stick to my smashed pennies

 

[G8rchamps]

"100% tradeable at any of the Disney Parks."

Cast members will trade any pins as long as it looks legit. They can't all be trained to spot fakes. We bought some and you can sometimes tell by the weight or the sound they make when you drop them on the table. My kids were you and into trading - not collecting - so it didn't matter to us. I swore long ago I wouldn't get myself hooked as it can be an expensive hobby.

Have a good trip.

 

[dreamfinder]

Keep in mind this. Many of the pins on CM lanyards came from similar eBay purchases. Not all, but alot of them. If you watch, you will notice that the same pins appear over and over. And lots of them aren't even from the most recent CM series, which is a give away they came from eBay. For the most part, the only people who can quickly tell if a pin is a scrapper wouldn't want/need the pin you are offering in trade. Odds are, if the pricing being offered online is too good to be true, then it really is.

 

[thomas998]

The only metal backs you will find are the ones they sell that replace the rubber Mickeys and are made to insure your pin doesn't get lost because the rubber backs can sometimes come off and result in you losing the pin.

And don't worry about the pins you get from ebay, the bulk of them will be of identical quality as the ones you would get in the park. They don't have two types of metal that are used in those factories in China they are most likely made in the exact same factories as the mickey pin and of the exact same materials. I wouldn't really even call them counterfeit they are mostly just back door products. Same thing happens with some designer clothes, a manufacturer gets a contract to make 20,000 Ralph Lauren shirts so he makes them and then to increase his profits he might make 40,000 total and pass half of them on to others at the same price he charged Ralph Lauren. I had friends in college that had contacts in Asia that did this and could get you what a store was selling for $95 dollars for less than $3. Same thing is happening with the pins. If it were pins made by a company that wasn't already making those pins for Disney then it would be a counterfeit, but these are usually just pins that are made in the same factory and just don't leave the factory through the same channels.

Is it right? No... But then Disney is well aware of this and hasn't done anything to stop it just as they haven't done anything to stop line jumpers. If Disney was truly concerned with it they could shift the manufacturing to factories that had tighter control but they don't want the added expense of that, so engage in the activity as your conscious dictates... To me the whole idea of buying pins that are worth less than 50 cents for the often 15 or 20 dollars to then turn around and trade seems silly to begin with.

 

[Miceberg]

Is it right? No... But then Disney is well aware of this and hasn't done anything to stop it just as they haven't done anything to stop line jumpers.

Tell that to this guy serving 8 years in prison for importing those pins that are sold on Ebay:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pins-517132-smyrak-allred.html

 

[thomas998]

Tell that to this guy serving 8 years in prison for importing those pins that are sold on Ebay:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pins-517132-smyrak-allred.html

Congratulations you found one trader that pleaded guilty to trademark infringement... That was about 5 or 6 years ago... So I'm standing by what I said. I seriously doubt that this guy actually had pins copied, he most likely simply did what said and found the factory that made them for Disney... But you can bet that that company isn't going to admit they shoved tons of pins out the back door.

 

[asianway]

Thanks for the info! Getting scrapper pins is definitely another worry of mine. The seller has an extremely high positive feedback rate, but since that's just based on the eBay transactions themselves, it doesn't tell me anything about the validity of the pins.

Maybe I'll just stick to my smashed pennies

Because 99% of the buyers are clueless or morally bankrupt there is minimal negative feedback. Anyone who is educated and has scruples would not buy the cheap lots in the first place.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Thanks for the info! Getting scrapper pins is definitely another worry of mine. The seller has an extremely high positive feedback rate, but since that's just based on the eBay transactions themselves, it doesn't tell me anything about the validity of the pins.

Maybe I'll just stick to my smashed pennies

I did buy a small lot of pins on Ebay for my trip last month, the seller had great feedback so I took a chance. Upon getting my pins two right away looked fake. I watched some videos on youtube about how to spot fakes and was able to confirm that one really was fake. I took the rest to Disney with me and had Cm's look at them to help me figure out if they were legit. One CM said "if a pin sticks to a magnet it's fake", so she tested all of mine and said they're all real. I continued to ask other Cm's because I'm not sure if she is correct with that logic. Good Luck! It was my first time trading and I had a blast.

My small lot consisted of 8 pins. Lots of pins that are more than a couple dozen would have me extremely suspicious.

 

[raven]

Roommie bought a lot of about 100 of them on eBay and they were all fake as well.

 

[JIMINYCR]

So ultimately nothing will be done about this, as long as Disney doesnt act. Guests will continue buying pins on e-bay as a way of purchasing a lot of pins as cheaply as they can, saving themselves money The trades will take place in the parks. They will return home and put both real and fake pins in their pin books or wall displays. Not realizing the difference, they look good to them and they have a park souvenir. Trades with CM's will add more fake pins into the process, they dont get culled out of the lanyards being used. Throughout the day, guests continue the trades of real & fake pins.
As long as Disney doesnt address the problem of manufacturing and flooding the market with tons of knock off pins, it will go on and on. No reason for pin traders to worry about if their pins are legit or not. The only ones who really care are the pin traders who legitimately care about their collections being pure Disney pins.