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People selling Disney pins on Ebay.

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People selling Disney pins on Ebay.
Hi KTO7,

Thank you for trying to help me lose the fear of trading again at the parks.

Here is the scenario that I face when trading at WDW. I will go up to a CM and ask to see their pin. Then I will choose a pin and trade quickly, because there are people behind me, or the CM has other work to do. I then put my pin away until I get back to the hotel where I now have the time to study them. It is here where I sometimes need to use a magnifying glass to be able to tell which ones are fakes. By now, I have traded away my good trading pin and am stuck with the scrapper.

Don't get me wrong, if I am aware of the coloring some pins should be exactly, I will not ask for that pin. Or if I see that the quality is obviously bad, I run as fast as I can, but it is the pins that are too close to call that end up getting me.

As for LE counterfeit pins, even though Laura says she is no fool and knows what scrappers and counterfeits look like, I think no one can be 100% sure of the authenticity of a pin unless they have the original next to them. When I traded at the Dolphin Disney Outlet, we used to examine certain pins as a group trying to decide if it was a fake or not. And I am talking about experienced traders and sellers alike. I have been trading for 6 years and have been shocked by how good some of the counterfeit pins look. Example: Stitch Costumed Series where he is a Dalmatian. It is an LE 100 and has sold on ebay over 50 times by now as a counterfeit. I have seen them both side by side and it is only then that you can spot the difference. Not all fakes have one thing that is a tell tale sign. So I think we need to be more sympathetic to those that get scammed. It is not as easy as it may appear to differentiate fakes and legits.

Laura, it is true that a seller can have 100% feedback and not be trusted. I mentioned this in one of the earlier posts on this thread. And it is also true that there are some great legit sellers out there too. Knowledge is everything, so the more you know, the better it will be for you sor sure.
 
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I carry a marnifying glass with me when I trade so I can inspect the pin closely. I'm getting older and my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be (enter bifocals). It may take longer but it's worth it to avoid getting scrappers. I keep a few scrappers, Sedesmas and Propins in my pin books so I can show people what they look like. The differences in some are very obvious. In others, you have to look closely. They are "teaching pins". I intentionally bought a small lot on eBay, knowing I would likely get some fakes for the purpose of doing that.

I should have a t-shirt made that says "Pin Trader Trainer". However, I don't think Disney would care for that. The sharks would hate it. :)
 
Hi Laura,

I think my other half would die if I had to inspect pins with a magnifying glass when trading with cast members. It takes a lot of time out of our day just to do it the way I described above. I definitely think it is a good idea though to use a magnifying glass when trading high end pins with other traders, because these pins are the expensive ones you definitely don't want to make mistakes with.

Now it looks like the Disney Auction pins that have been scrappered, or are counterfeits, are coming with glued on holograms. A magnifying glass would certainly help with those.
 
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Maria,

If I am ever in doubt that a pin is a fake, I simply don't trade and walk away. Yes, it is getting harder to spot the scrappers. However, I'm really picky about the pins I collect and I tend to go for older pins. There are much fewer fakes of those than the newer ones. I will buy pins at the parks if I see one I like or one that has special meaning to me. I trust my gut. I also let people look closely at my pins. Since I have so many, it doesn't surprise me that some traders might be suspect. That's perfectly okay. My "trainer" pins are scrappers and a few of them are so good, it is hard to tell the difference. Sharks will get impatient and say they don't have time for close looks. That's the first signal to bail out.

Laura
 
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