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What Would you do..or have done?

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What Would you do..or have done?
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chumlee

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So with all the talk of sharks around here...I wanted to throw my 2 cents in about what I think is a "Shark" and what I have done in the past, and what you all think we should do as fellow pin traders.


To ME...this is an example of a "shark".

At the last DSF pin release I myself and several others including Carline witness what I call sharking. Early in the morning they announced that there was a surprise UP pin. Immediatly the pin went on ebay and sold withing minutes for 180$ and 200$. Several people noticed this on ebay and began trying to shark unknowing people out of their pin. Several people had showed up early in the morning wanting the Wall E and Carl pins. Two girls started going up and down the line telling people they would trade them the pin they wanted if they would give them the UP pin. Trading poor people a 20 $ pin for a 180$ dollar one. THAT IS SHARKING!!!

Both myself and Carline stopped at least 2 of these trades, but unfortunatly the two girls got a few people to do it, they were inside bragging to their friends about it. This is the kind of thing that gives pin traders a bad name and ruins the hobby. As a communtiy we need to stand up for people that are new and dont know much. Everyone has witnessed this at some time...what do you do....watch and stay quit...or stand up for people?

STAND UP PEOPLE!!!!

Chumlee
 
+1 !!
 
It always happens. At the Up release for Valentine's day there were traders inside the 150 asking every person if they were buying all 4 and offering to pay double for the ones they didn't want. All they did was screw over the people outside the 150 that waited overnight for the pins. If they keep doing this new thing of the limiting 1 per person for the super desirable it will benefit anyone to make friends close to DSF in Hollywood to come buy extras. And it just feeds the shark habits of paying tourists to go stand in line.

I saw one guy, that comes everytime, and I know for a fact presells on eBay with seller name im...b...... that was trying to sneak through the line again for another Up pin and a few extras of whatever was left. I don't know if he made it through or not, I was too busy trading at the 1 for 1 LE barrel and with the DLRP people to care at that point. My advice to people is if you're going to presell, make sure your face isn't in the reflection of the glass of the DSF preview shadow box. I wont be trading with that person now that I know they are one of the earliest presellers and causing much of the drama and hype.

Honestly I don't care if people sell pins, I sell pins often too. But to presell pins early, before you have them and cheat the system for more gain is just too much and just hypes up a release even more. Preselling for a fairly low amount isn't bad as long as you deliver. But preselling low and then just refunding money to resell 3 times is dishonest too. We see the aftermath of that on here a lot when someone buys a set and then the seller doesn't come through just to resell later on higher. Boo! on those people!
 
Although I've heard the term "shark" used a lot on this forum, I wasn't entirely sure what one was, except that it was a negative thing... so I appreciate you posting this thread. I'm getting educated here. e

So, a shark = any person who tries to take advantage of traders (by jacking up prices, making unfair trades, etc.)?
 


You pretty much hit the nail on the head. That is a shark and the water is full of them. So carry your can of shark repellant at all times.
I wear mine
 
[e
o, a shark = any person who tries to take advantage of traders (by jacking up prices, making unfair trades, etc.)?[/QUOTE]

This is a little slippery...it is hard for you to determine what is jacking up prices...the market is what the market is. If people are willing to pay a set amount regardless of what it is then that is not sharking...that is entrepenuring..(.not sure how to spell or if its a word)hehe. But now when two people get together and make ebay prices go up by bidding crazy amounts on certain pins...than sure that would be sharking.


This whole thing of ripping off kids or people that dont know about pins is dear to me. My very first trade I was sharked by a guy at DLR. When I found out I almost quit pin trading. Anyone that knows me, knows that I don't stand for this kind of thing. I always try to offer people more than what they ask for when they have something good and don't know it.

Chumlee
 
yeah...super lucky that is awesome for you.

Also another kind of shark is the one the trades scappers for good pins to tourist...or makes them buy pins. Also someone that trades Hidden Mickeys for LE pins 1 for 1, or makes someone buy something because they claim this one is hard!

Chumlee
 
yeah who was it that told the story of the older lady who would shark outside at Epcot or somewhere? She would have her big board of scrappers and get others to go in and buy her a legit pin for it?

I am leaving tomorrow at 6pm to go to WDW and I honestly can not guarantee that I will keep my mouth shut if I see this going on...I have no patience for anyone KNOWINGLY trying to rip anyone off.
 

+1
 
When it comes to people that do not know something I tend to tell them "in my opinion" X, Y and Z. So I very much state what my opinion is but tell them it's your money, your pins do what you want with them. I would say 90% of the time they take my advice and the other 10% don't and a few months later maybe 2% come around again and tell me thank you for that one time, I didn't listen. I wished I would have. I mean it's hard cause you don't want to seem like the person "blocking" a trade or something but... If it's someone who may not know I may bring it up not directly to them but i'll talk about how hot a pin may be to where they can hear what I am saying. So... idk. Hard to really say what is or isn't the right way to do it. But... That is how I tend to handle the situation.
 
When we deal with those traders at EPCOT, my kids and I pull out some of our LE pins. When the sharks ask what we want for it, we ask them to go and buy us a specific pin, roflmao! The looks they give us could kill!!!

 

I know is long, but read it, is good, believe me, is not boring!!!

Just FYI, i put in red my side stories, and in black the main story. just thought i would share a little bit of my experience at epcot and my point of view with you guys.

i completely agree with you, the key words you are using is "in my opinion" because people need to UNDERSTAND that what to someone might not be a fair trade, to other people it might be.

the only thing i do not ever agree with, is... if you know you buying scrappers and you payed $1 for them and the you trade it for a $4, $5 or $50 pin, i think that is just plain wrong, because YOU ARE TAKING SOMETHING REAL AND YOU ARE GIVING OUT A FAKE PIN!

there is an extreme when it comes to finding something fair or not, and the extreme is something like asking a LE250 for a new or common hidden mickey pin(but again, that could be fair to the person giving the LE 250 because that person could had bought it for 4.99 on ebay, and it can be a real pin, but just nobody bid on it), i don't think a hidden mickey which you could find everywhere or many people have for trade should be traded for a le 250, but again, that is up to the traders.

perfect example!!! i went to WDW last week(finally i had not gone for over a month) and i went to epcot tables, this gentlement ask me to pick something from inside the store for a pin he wanted(the pin he wanted was Pin 58128) he said he likes pirate pins, and i said i will like to see what he has for trade before getting something from the store(everybody that has traded with me a epcot knows i try to trade instead of asking for things inside the pin trading stores since most of the time there is nothing i want in there and if there someething i want, i will just buy it myself, not to brag, but i got no bills and i make good money, so all my money goes to pins and disney). he said he had nothing exciting and i say what i always said, one man's trash is another man's treasure and they reason why i say this is because many people think of core open edition lion king pins are no much, but if i don't have it and i like it i got to have it. anyways, so he had some of last years hidden mickeys(real, shiny ones not fakes scrapper looking ones) and a few disney cruise line pins and a few others, and in those others he had this pin(Pin 90622) and i thought... well i don't have my haunted mansion pins and that pirate pin is like the only one pirate i have laying around so i figure i would trade it, so i traded it and he said thank you very much and that makes me smile, the fact that i was able to help someone out and that he will remember me as a nice trader that helped him(the sad truth is that most people at the epcot tables will only trade for things they need or for a rare pin le pin when they are getting the upper hand of the trade, but oh well, i try to make a difference and most of time trade to help people out as long as i get a decent pin back and as long as it is a real pin).

anyways so the day goes on and this older lazy comes to me after trading with this lady who i don't think is very fair(the reason why i said this is because i remember back in the day i wanted a core open edition pin she had in her book and i was just starting to trade and she asked me for two of my wdw PTN pins i had just bought the night before(it was this pin Pin 80326), she said her core pin was old and very hard to find and i understood where she was coming from but i decided to pass on that offer and later on i found out that core pin was not HTF and sells for around $8, plus i have seen her countless time sending people in to the store to buy PIN BAGS and autograph books for 2 or 3 hidden mickey(and believe me guys, when i said these are scrapper, is because they are so obvious scrappers, the other day this lady came over to me after trading with the shark lady(blond shark lady) and ask me if she can swap her chip alphabet hidden mickey pin for mine(this was over a year ago) because the one she just got was not as shiny as mine and thiner, i said sorry but i can't do that). and the older lady said to me "omg, you have it, omg i need that pin" i was like, what? what? pin do i have? do i have a gold pin with dimmons? lol, and you guys are not going to believe what she wanted... pin 90622 which i had literally just got 1 hour ago, and she said she is leaving bcak to texas tomorrow and she been trading to complete that set and the only one she is missing is that Gus, but she said she didn't had her extras here, she left them in her hotel, so she said can i buy you a sealed box or anything inside, i will even buy you a few pins she said, i said, well do you have any pins with you at all, i like to see what you have first... and she said, "i only have a few of these i had totrade with cast members if i found something i like" and this is the pins she had left with her that were traders(everyrthing else was keepers), she had Pin 54264, Pin 67592 and Pin 70914, she said i could have 2 of them if i wanted to, i look at them, they look like real pins and didn't see any scrappers on her possesion so i figured it was safe, i told her, you know these are a LE250 and LE 500? and she said, i don't care that is all i have unless you want me to buy you something inside, and i was like, no is fine, i will take pin 54264 and when i look it up on pinpics i was like, wow, that was a nice trade for me, and i was happy i was able to help her, so over all, i feel like that was PIN KARMA, i helped the first guy and got something i didn't need and then i something wa became something another trader was dying for. True story people. and you guys have no idea how many times similar things like this happens to me, and if it doesn't happen to me i still have fun with just trading with people and having a good time at epcot looking at other people's books. so i don't think i scam the lady and if someone thinks that oh well; i inform the lady it was a LE and she said it was okay and she even offered more than one, but i only decided to take one pin from her. so as long as the person states the LE in the trade and both traders are aware of what they are trading i think it can always in one way be a fair trade...

also when i go to epcot, unlike most people i take ALL MY TRADERS with me, LE 100, LE 500 open edition, jumbo, PTN paris pins, anything i would take to a PTN or a pin event i take, a a hassel but i learned from an experience i had, this guyd the PTN paris eeyore pin and he was looking for LE stitch pins and at first i didn't take my LE books to epcot because most people have nothing worth trading for but i feel like i had a lot of nice le stitch pins and i could had traded for that eeyore pin(which is a grail pin for me) so i always take everything with me because you never know who will show up with your grail pin and i wnat to have evrything with me to increase my chances to get me that grail. most people only take hidden mickeys books(to the epcot tables) or common open edition pins because that is most people(turist at epcot) ask for, and that is how must people trading at epcot wanting pins or things from the store to re-sell online and make profit, they buy scrappers(which are most of the time core pins and hidden mickeys) for $1 and ask people to buy merchandize like autograph books and stuff, i mean come one, is called pin trading as least trade for pins not outfits and autograph books and other cloth, but all i can do is stand aside in my own table try to make a difference and just educate people when they trade with me.

this is an interesting Topic because for example, the people who were trading for the up beloved tales at DSF to sell them on ebay was obviously scamming people, but yet, somebody that got a up pin but really wanted the walle pin can find that to me a fair trade, because they were almost the same retail price and both le 300(i think). so it really depends on the people and their true intensions, and i don't think i would step in and interrupt the trade, because that is being rude and doesn't make you any better than the scarmmer rudily scamming these people, but i will out loud say, "well these Up beloved tales pin seem to be very good traders, i should keep it to trade for a few things i really like", that ways people will think twice before trading...

Bottom line for me... reselling for profit is wrong to my eyes, but who am i to point fingers.
and another thing people need to think about is: just becaus eit is wanted on pinpics doesn't mean anything in person, when you trade in person i don't look at pinpics stats, that is what onlinr trading is for. if i know a pin is supper wanted in pinpics i will just leave it at home or just try not to trade it unless i get a good offer in person, i don't bring up the "oh, that pin is like 100 wants, 3 trading" some people don't know about pinpics, we need to understand that much.

over all, lets just try to overcome the negativity some scammers bring to this hobby by making a difference and setting the example, not by criticizing others and pointing fingers, that doesn't make you better than them, setting the example and making a difference with your honest and friendly trading does makes you BETTER.

happy trading everybody and thanks for taking the time to read this!
 
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