ACME pins?

Hi guys!

Can anyone tell me what the story is on the ACME pins? Where are they from, what are the best ways to get them, etc?

I've had a bit of a crazy year, so i have been away from collecting pins since about January. I'm trying to get back in and get caught up now, but catching up on some of the earlier ones from this year is proving to be a lot more difficult than i thought - the ACME "I'm Late" Alice in Wonderland one in particular.

I was hoping to entice someone into trading one (i have several old DA LE100s for trade!) but so far, no takers. And i've only seen one on eBay (and i did not win it, obviously).

And i now see that there is another ACME AiW pin coming out... the Cheshire Cat, in August. I'm hoping that maybe being organized and trying for it right away might help? But i have no idea where to start!

Any info would be appreciated

Thanks!

They're released in China. Hong Kong, I think. Made by ACME/licensed by Disney in conjunction with the PinPics people. Very expensive retail cost. Think they're jumbos in very large boxes. Still haven't seen one in person so couldn't tell you about the quality of them.

What?! So... They're not even made by Disney? Are they basically fantasy pins, or have they received licensing?? Are they tradeable at the parks (not that I would)?
I have seen some very nice fantasy pins lately. I'm not against them entirely, I'm open to considering them - in my mind, a nice pin is a nice pin (although I would probably display them separately from the legitimate Disney pins). BUT - I do draw the line at what I pay for them. I will not pay the same for a fantasy pin (regardless of LE size) that I would for a proper Disney pin.
Thanks for the info, jj! Sorry to have it lead to more questions

Sorry, just re-read your reply. So they ARE licensed... Hmm...
$145 Hong Kong dollars is about $25 Canadian dollars. That's not too bad if it is a jumbo... It's not great, but could be worse, I suppose...

Do people order them through Pinpics, then? I don't know what to think about this.

I believe you order them through their own website www.hotart.hk , however I think it's a subscription service (like Park Pack releases) and the list is unsurprisingly full , I think you can request to join a waiting list but I'm guessing that's long too
Unfortunately each one sells for $200+ so I'll likely never own one , unless the hype dies down of course .

Retail for subscribers is about US$125 plus shipping although Acme has just increased the prices for non-subscribers to $250 a pin.
subscribers have to buy every single pin that is released so you usually see the less popular ones for sale at retail price, no one is selling for less though.
They have closed the wait list for subscribers I believe as it is too long and I don't really see anyone giving up their subscription.

There are several Acme pin Facebook groups that sell and trade the pins

The he pins are lovely and huge, I own one that I got at retail price. I would like the other Rapunzel pins that have been released but will just have to save my money to buy them later on.

Oh, and if you're not a subscriber, you need an address in China/Japan etc to send the pin to if you manage to order one online as they don't ship anywhere else.
The pins usually sell out in seconds if they're released online, as subscribers get their allotment first

Yes what katelouise said. It's $125 USD (OR WAS til today's price increase) plus shipping.

Also, although "released", the pins actually take several months from order date to be shipped.

Wow. This all seems very strange to me. Doesn't seem like a very "Disney" thing? The pin pics listing for the Alice one says $129 Hong Kong dollar, so i thought these were cheap (around $25). I was obviously very wrong!
(Just checked again - it says 975HKD - $129... i didn't notice the 975 before, so i thought it was saying HKD - $129!)
My mistake. Still, the whole thing seems very strange. I wonder what the reasoning is for this type of sale? Why make them SO hard to come by? I understand LEs, but this seems excessive. It's like the whole point is to drive up the price like crazy on the secondary market, but to what end? It's not like the company making/selling them gets any of those extra profits on the secondary market.

They're almost classed as art pieces. A lot of the newer ones have multiple layers and lots of screen print details so there is a lot of work and cost that goes into them. They are very well made and beautiful pins.
The price is a bit ridiculous but they do have to pay the licensing fees for each artwork so it's understandable.

So so far the secondary market prices haven't differed A LOT from the retail prices but it's all dependent on what the buyer is prepared to pay. People are paying $3-400 for some of these pins so that's what they'll sell for.

I I think they were more meant for the Aisan market/art collector market which is why they're hard to get

kmeakin said:

Wow. This all seems very strange to me. Doesn't seem like a very "Disney" thing? The pin pics listing for the Alice one says $129 Hong Kong dollar, so i thought these were cheap (around $25). I was obviously very wrong!
(Just checked again - it says 975HKD - $129... i didn't notice the 975 before, so i thought it was saying HKD - $129!)
My mistake. Still, the whole thing seems very strange. I wonder what the reasoning is for this type of sale? Why make them SO hard to come by? I understand LEs, but this seems excessive. It's like the whole point is to drive up the price like crazy on the secondary market, but to what end? It's not like the company making/selling them gets any of those extra profits on the secondary market.

Click to expand...

My understanding is the Pinpics ownership wanted to recreate pins like Disney Auctions pins of the past. However, once into the licensing arrangements, Disney, production, money etc. the only people who were willing to accept the terms were the Hot Art people in Hong Kong. I'm not sure they intended it to be so hard for US collectors, but that is what happened. I guess that they were successful enough that they are able to sell some of these pins at the Shanghai Disney Resort, and it appears that in some cases like the Pin Con pins Pinpics can sell an entire run themselves.

I'm not sure it's the greatest thing for expanding the collector base, as it further separates the Haves from the Have Nots. But it is what it is.

I think, originally, they were only allowed to sell them outside the U.S. If you go to the Hot Art website, there is no way to put a U.S. address as a shipping address.

Then subscriptions opened up (not sure how they got around the no shipping to US but may be thru renegotiating?) and there were U.S. subscriptions (as well as Europe).

Only a limited number of pins actually seems to be available on the website.

As far as why the high prices, I saw it explained somewhere on FB.

While I agree that licensing costs are high, I don't think it's that much - it's all Disney. It's not as if they have to get an agreement with the artist too, just Disney.