DLR Question regarding 65th Alice pin merchandise release at DLR.....

[Guy the Ghoul]

On Saturday I went to DLR to buy the Alice pins, and was able to purchase everything but the fold out box set for $70.00. A CM told me they had to pull the remainder of those because of packaging issues, so I resorted to Ebay (got the last one this morning) Does anyone know exactly what the problem was with this set? Just curious. At least if the one I just bought on Ebay isn't up to snuff, I can return it. Thanks for any info!

 

[Addicted to Alice Pins]

It's an issue to do with how the package is set up. The pins are attached to little plastic tag-like things that stick out from the wall of the box. It's designed to look like Alice is falling through the air when you open up the box. But gravity / weight / perhaps poor design conspire to make the tabs start to pull away from the box. Some boxes were OK but show "stress lines" around the tabs; others were actually torn where the tab pulled away and ripped the background image.

From everything I've seen, the PINS were always fine. It was the packaging/display that was damaged. Although there's no telling what could happen to "perfect" box when it is subjected to the stress of transit (ie, the USPS, ha). In some cases, the damage is repairable (Hopemax recommended a particular crafter's glue-stick in one of the other threads). But it depends on how bad it is and how much you care about the overall appearance. Anyone who deboxes has less to be concerned about, although obviously you want to get what you paid for!

 

[Guy the Ghoul]

Thanks for the info! Hopefully I'll get a decent one from the Ebay seller! We'll see!

 

[Addicted to Alice Pins]

Thanks for the info! Hopefully I'll get a decent one from the Ebay seller! We'll see!

If they didn't disclose any damage, you'll definitely want to follow up. But you may want to consider keeping the set regardless (maybe request a partial refund if it IS damaged and this was not disclosed in the listing)--there were only 500 available and no one knows for sure how many were left when DLR stopped selling them. So the "circulating" edition size might be substantially lower, increasing the rarity and value of the pins!

 

[Guy the Ghoul]

Thanks for the advice! The CM told me that they tried to weed out the damaged sets, but it turned out to be a bit daunting, so they decided to pull all those that remained. It would be interesting to know exactly how many got sold before the "recall".

 

[MerlinEmrys]

As Alice said, the damage is just for the background packaging. From what I've seen, and what a CM told me when she sold me the boxes, all (and she stressed "all") were like that. I'm imagining that they pulled the boxes shortly after I bought mine since they had already discovered the damage. I haven't seen a perfect one--and honestly, considering that the problem is with the weight of the pin being too much on the "floating" mechanism, I doubt any perfect one will remain perfect if fully displayed. So just be aware. If you'd like, send me a PM and I can send you some pictures of the ones I have that are damaged and you can see.

~Merlin

 

[Jabberwocky]

I'm not sure if or when they were pulled in Florida, but I was there from the opening of Pin Traders in DTD at DLR that morning and I'd say at least 100 or so were sold in the 1 1/2 hours or so I stood in line before I got up to the counter guesstimating by the amount of people ahead of me (and I supposedly got the last one or one of the last before the rest were pulled).

 

[Guy the Ghoul]

Well, my Ebay order arrived this morning with the Alice boxed set and I'm very happy with it! First of all, the outside of the fold out box is PRISTINE! And there are only a couple of MINOR tears beginning on the wall of the 2nd pin (ballooning open dress pin) and one on the 3rd pin down I believe, but overall, it's probably one of the better copies of this set! And the pins themselves are again in pristine condition! And each pin is perfectly attached to it's holder. Considering most if not all were probably damaged on the wall of the box, this one is very satisfactory to me!

 

[Guy the Ghoul]

WOW! I just checked Ebay and there is one more damaged set going for nearly 3 times what I paid for mine! I'm glad I shopped earlier!

 

[Addicted to Alice Pins]

Well, my Ebay order arrived this morning with the Alice boxed set and I'm very happy with it! First of all, the outside of the fold out box is PRISTINE! And there are only a couple of MINOR tears beginning on the wall of the 2nd pin (ballooning open dress pin) and one on the 3rd pin down I believe, but overall, it's probably one of the better copies of this set! And the pins themselves are again in pristine condition! And each pin is perfectly attached to it's holder. Considering most if not all were probably damaged on the wall of the box, this one is very satisfactory to me!

Great news! It's a really cute set. Enjoy it!

 

[Guy the Ghoul]

Thank you and thanks again for sending me the photos of what a damaged set looks like.