new to used pins. should I be concerned?

me and my wife got our lanyards and first pins a year or two ago (i am really bad with time frames) my wife got into it more than I did. but we were just doing it as a sort of "Side-note" to give us a little something extra to do at Disney. not really collectors per-se. but, I have a couple star wars pins I missed out on from some of the star wars weekends I want, and a couple that I have lost (learned the hard way not to truck the little rubber backs :-/ ) and my wife fell in love with the Wonderfully wicked series and wants to finish getting those ( she currently only has 3 of them).

I found one of the pins I lost on The Bay. the 2014 Star wars Weekends pin. before I purchase it, as I have never purchased a Pin anywhere other than Disney, should I be concerned about fakes for what me and my wife are looking for? the seller for this pin only has 1 of this pin listed. and 7 pins total. 22 feedbacks in the last 12 months. and 200+ feedbacks total. all 100%. I manually check all the feedback, and didn't see any negative or neutral comments. I did see were some of the feedback left was for this pin also, over a year ago. but it was only a handful and this was limited release, not limited edition. so there were probably tons of them made.

I have read different articles and blogs on what to look for. but I'm still nervous. I have pins that I purchased brand new, at the park that are flawed ( my 2105 star wars weekends pin has the Star wars logo on it crooked, for example). so I don't want to dismiss every little blemish or marking as a fake.

As far as I'm aware there are no scrapper (fake) warnings attached to any of those pins you mentioned . You're right to be cautious where you buy from but in this case I think you're OK .

Thank you! are there certain pins that are worse then others for fakes and scrappers? It seems every article I read that had a photo for example were almost always older hidden mickey pins. but those articles never specifically stated one way or the other.

Pinpics.com usually has info as to whether or not a pin has common scrappers, so it's a good place to check out.

Gibson125t said:

Thank you! are there certain pins that are worse then others for fakes and scrappers? It seems every article I read that had a photo for example were almost always older hidden mickey pins. but those articles never specifically stated one way or the other.

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Sent you a PM
As for which ones , I'm afraid the vast majority of hidden mickey pins have been faked .
Short of getting them in the first few days or buying them direct from Disney in the pouches there's very few ways to guarantee their authenticity .
With Limited Edition pins I usually check PinPics but it's not a perfect system so I try and get them from someone I trust (Either here on DPF or from Ebay so sellers I've had good experiences with in the past) fairly close to their release .

I'll be honest: I think one of the worst mistakes you can make is to fret so much about scrappers while you're trading at the parks that you cease to enjoy the process and the wonder of the thing. Take precautions, but don't worry so much about it that it becomes a shadow to your trip. Ask to see the pins so you can look at the backs, and if you're fairly confident, trade for it. If not, then kindly say, no thank you. This is especially true if you're not planning to sell or trade them later on. Even if I'm not 100% sure a pin is real, I'll often trade for it if I like it and am not planning on passing it on.

Just my .02, and I know not everyone actually agrees with me on this. I actually made a game of trying to collect a full set of some of the most obvious fakes I've ever seen, and even though I didn't get them, it was a lot of fun!

Tokaji said:

Pinpics.com usually has info as to whether or not a pin has common scrappers, so it's a good place to check out.

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Since PinPics alienated a lot of their longtime contributors a few years back they actually have a lot of missing or incorrect information, so don't go by that as your only source, especially for the past few years of pins in the database (or not in the database as the case may be).

You'll determine more simply looking at the multiplicity of listings on eBay or if you're near a park by seeing what gets regularly dumped onto the lanyards.

Jabberwocky said:

Since PinPics alienated a lot of their longtime contributors a few years back they actually have a lot of missing or incorrect information, so don't go by that as your only source, especially for the past few years of pins in the database (or not in the database as the case may be).

You'll determine more simply looking at the multiplicity of listings on eBay or if you're near a park by seeing what gets regularly dumped onto the lanyards.

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While pinpics did make some mistakes in the past on how things were handled, you have 2 choices, you can either complain about it or do something to help make it better. It is still the largest database of Disney pins available. I personally prefer to make things better. That being said I am also the one that has to approve scrapper notes now. I want full disclosure. :lol:

Just so people know, there is a procedure on what determines what gets approved and what does not. Comments about paint dips and brush marks as well as borders on the back of pins does not mean that they are scrappers. If you have a chance when you are in a park take a look at the quality of the pins on the racks, it is not what it used to be. If the same pins keep showing up on known counterfeit sellers then it is an easy approval.

If you have any questions please feel free to pm me. I have been around a very long time. If I don't know an answer, I usually know somebody who does.

docfish2u said:

While pinpics did make some mistakes in the past on how things were handled, you have 2 choices, you can either complain about it or do something to help make it better. It is still the largest database of Disney pins available.

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I'm not complaining, I'm just making an observation. It's a sad loss for the pin community but there's no way to fix years of misinformation and missing contributions to the database. It's left now as what it is rather than what it had once been.

docfish2u said:

you have 2 choices, you can either complain about it or do something to help make it better. It is still the largest database of Disney pins available. I personally prefer to make things better.

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Indeed!

At risk of highjacking this thread, one way PinPics might improve its utility vis a vis non-authentic pins, is to allow multiple photos of individual pins. I would like to see photos of the front of pins, AND the backs of pins, AND photographs of known "fake" pins. I'm just beginning to build a page in my pin bag devoted entirely to fakes. In many cases I also have a specimen of the real pin, so the comparison is obvious.

At Disneyland last month, I struck up several conversations with new collectors at pin trading boards. The subject of fakes came up, and I was able to show these folks some fakes, and some features to look for. It would be nice to have good photos in PinPics of such features.