Not new to collecting, but new to trading...
Just posted in another thread and wanted to come introduce myself. I'm Nikki. I've collected pins since 2008, though I've bought pins for others who were collectors as gifts much much longer than that. I recently decided that my upcoming non park trip would be my first foray into actually trading pins, and boy have I been informed.
I have bought sets on ebay- and inspected them super carefully using these tips and info from dizpins/pinpics (which I'm reading here is now defunct?) and it has resulted in some pleasant surprises. When I emailed one person back, they sent me a LONG email stating that they buy only from authorized factories that make the pins yada yada. That person actually thought that they had done no wrong as they "bought them from the source". HA! After politely telling them a piece of my mind, the accepted the offer to return the pins- but I notice that all this person's auctions after that day now say something to the effect of the pins are 100% tradeable (took out wording about authenticity) and now they will not allow refunds/returns.
I have no intention on trading this inferior pins back into the community though- but feel bad knowing that if I send them back- they'll go to some other unsuspecting or unscrupulous person and probably end up in the community anyway.
At any rate, I have a smallish collection, only buying in the past what caught my eye. But now, I've started collecting odd ball things, like monorail/bus pins, resort pins, etc. I'm not a specific character, theme, holiday, etc collector. Just whatever seems witty to me.
So hello to everyone!
Nikki
I have bought sets on ebay- and inspected them super carefully using these tips and info from dizpins/pinpics (which I'm reading here is now defunct?) and it has resulted in some pleasant surprises. When I emailed one person back, they sent me a LONG email stating that they buy only from authorized factories that make the pins yada yada. That person actually thought that they had done no wrong as they "bought them from the source". HA! After politely telling them a piece of my mind, the accepted the offer to return the pins- but I notice that all this person's auctions after that day now say something to the effect of the pins are 100% tradeable (took out wording about authenticity) and now they will not allow refunds/returns.
I have no intention on trading this inferior pins back into the community though- but feel bad knowing that if I send them back- they'll go to some other unsuspecting or unscrupulous person and probably end up in the community anyway.
At any rate, I have a smallish collection, only buying in the past what caught my eye. But now, I've started collecting odd ball things, like monorail/bus pins, resort pins, etc. I'm not a specific character, theme, holiday, etc collector. Just whatever seems witty to me.
So hello to everyone!
Nikki
