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7 of my 18 Pins are fake :(

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7 of my 18 Pins are fake :(
B

BAM

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I'm not even kidding. I am seriously at a loss for words over this. I did a lot of trading with cast members at the park last weekend BEFORE I had read anything on pin trading.

I hate that Im out a decent chunk of money but I wouldn't be nearly as disappointed except for the fact that I spent TWO days hunting for a Bambi pin for my daughter and it's one of the fakes.

My favorite fake says "Made in Ching".
Left fake, right real.

 
I first got into pin trading in about 2002, when I was around 5. I didn't even know what a scrapper was until I joined this forum and found out that over half of my pins were fakes - and by that time I had done a lot of trading and had accumulated a lot of pins. (We would go to our local disney store and buy the pins on clearance - some of which are actually worth a lot today.) It drove me up a wall, and I was so mad at myself and mad at all the people who put those fake pins on the lanyards. It still irks me a little to this day, but I've come to realize two things 1) You can't blame yourself for not knowing and falling subject to another person's greed and 2) You're already on the right path to educating yourself and hopefully teaching others about this problem.

You'll find that there's a lot of greed in the pin trading world, as there is in many collectible hobbies. But there's also a lot of goodness and kindness, which is what makes this community so special. All we can do is keep moving forward and go on to the next trade. I'm very sorry that this happened to you, but with awareness in the community rising hopefully we can make your future trading experiences better. :hug:

(Also I apologize for not saying hi until now. I'm a bit of a lurker these days. Welcome to the forums! :wavey
 
Part of me wants to piss and moan. Why don't I just save them and trade them at the parks later? No harm no foul since it seems to be a big issue anyways. Well, because I know better now. I was doing a fair bit of reading and it was pretty disappointing reading comments from parents who would buy mass lots from eBay, knowing they weren't genuine pins, just to save a few bucks. That just adds to the problem.

Honestly, it's just been a rough day and that was just the icing on the cake. It could have been much worse. I just HATE that it was the Bambi pin. ARRRGH!

And you're very right, there are just greedy people no matter what. I would prefer to be educated on what to look for in future pins and to not contribute to the problem myself.

I am glad I found this forum group. :wavey:
 
That sucks so much. I do my best to check out the cast member's pin thoroughly before I make the trade, but I still come home with some fakes. I'm getting better, though...I guess that's a positive. My fakes have become thumbtacks on my bulletin board.
 
Purplemandms said:
I do the same thing! You can also make them into magnets or charms.

Just keep on keeping on and try to spread the magic!
Click to expand...

That's EXACTLY what I did, turned a few into push pins. I threw away the princess ones, they were just not in good shape. I just thought when I traded they were worn. Who would have thought fake pins were prevalent, not me! They're Disney Pins, why bother with making fake ones?! But greedy greedy people. So now I know what to look for, at least a better idea. I still plan to trade with Cast Members but I will be much more careful.

I'm just glad this happened to me now, instead of the babies when they get older.
 
As people have already noted, half the game is learning how to spot them, the other half is making lemonade (because you're still gonna find scrappers...always...). The pushpin idea is really cute. And I'll keep my eye out for a real Bambi pin! I'm in the parks at least once a week, so who knows what I may find. :3 Keep your chin up! I find that positive energy is like a good pin magnet. ;P

But still, shucks that the one you wanted was scrapped. :/

Also, some of the scrapped pins are still hilarious. I have an Evil Queen "Q" pin where her eyes are crossed and I keep it because it makes me laugh so much every time I see it. XD

~Merlin
 
I have been trading for over 12 years and I still end up with fakes. It happens to everybody and I get pissed at the people who know better and do it anyway.
 
I've been wondering what to do with scrappers- love the idea of using them as charms or pushpins! I might drill holes in them and add them to the light catcher/wind chimes I like to make.
 
I, like doc, have been trading since 2000 and I still come across fakes. My friend in FL, buys the lots of fakes and I have a hissy fit. He doesn't believe me that he is buying scrapper pins.
 
MerlinEmrys said:
Also, some of the scrapped pins are still hilarious. I have an Evil Queen "Q" pin where her eyes are crossed and I keep it because it makes me laugh so much every time I see it. XD

~Merlin
Click to expand...

I can't get over the one that said Made in Ching. It's at least funny when you think about it.

I know it could have been a lot worse, it was really only a handful when you think about it. But thanks everyone for sharing, I feel a little bit better about it.
 
pinbum said:
How can you tell the pins on the right are real?
Click to expand...

Most were bought off the rack. Tomorrowland was a gift to me right out of the original package it was shipped from. The others I double checked over pretty well, I think, against guides I found online.
 
So they're fakes. Unless you truly believe that your pins will one day be worth thousands of dollars, just put them in you collection and consider them a lesson learned. If you really want the genuine pin trade a little more carefully and keep them both. I have a complete set of 2009 orange birds that are fakes (they're brown) I keep them in my book on the same page as the genuine ones. Just a little uh uh moment when I look at my pins.
 
So sorry! I remember that feeling ... We discovered pin trading on a trip only to get home and learn that half of what we traded for was junk. I was very discouraged but then I found this forum right away and got better at telling the difference. I hold onto my old fakes so I can show people what to look for. I have one that says "Hidden Miokey" instead of "Hidden Mickey." :lol: It makes me sad when I hear about people knowingly buying and trading ebay fakes, but sadly it happens a lot. I'm a travel agent and I give booster packs as client gifts to hopefully get people into trading and start their collection off right. I have considered giving them a little brochure about how to spot the scrappers and counterfeits too, but so far I haven't put anything together. I wish Disney would find a way to stop allowing fakes to be traded or shut down the people who sell them, but I doubt that will ever happen.

I have a Bambi and Thumper Best Friends pin (#90197 on Pin Pics) I can send you for your daughter if you PM me your address.
 

You're very right, lesson learned. And I do think you have a very good point as far as the monetary value goes. I won't ever own one worth thousands. I did keep the ones that looked good for push pins.


I know I saw a post that had a "pamphlet" on it that someone was working on. It was an old post but I found it helpful. And Miokey, lol. That one's too funny too!
 
I also am new to trading and have recieved some scrappers in the past.
At the end of the day I chock it up to lessons learned and put them in my binder.
Although I would knowingly never pass along a scrapper, unfortunately I probably have.

I would add that in my opinion, quality control, especially on HM and series pins has really gone down hill.
I purchased several pins on property with obvious issues including a Figaro collar series where an entire black portion of his body was white.
I dont believe that a single quality issue on a pin makes it a scrapper...
The ones that I really think are terrible are the very poor attempts to replicate valuable LE.
For example, I have spotted a large amount of DLP Pin Trading Event pins on the popular used pin venue site.

Anyhow, knowledge and awareness are very important if you are buying / trading valuable merchandise.
 
I hate that! I've been trading for 6 years and it's getting so bad that I'm considering giving up trading with cast members. They are supposed to not trade fakes, but most of them can't identify the fakes from the reals. 75% of the pins I see on cast lanyards are fakes. Trading with other pin traders in the park has been the best way to go now.
 
I heard that you can approach a CM again and say you were traded a fake or a scrapper and they will let you pick another pin and toss the fake so that no one else gets it. Maybe worth trying? You shouldn't have to put up with fakes or scrappers, especially if you've spent so much money on authentic pins to trade.
 
caroline23 said:
I hate that! I've been trading for 6 years and it's getting so bad that I'm considering giving up trading with cast members.
Click to expand...

Despite all the fakes, there are still some real treasures to be found on Cast Member lanyards. If the OP had simply avoided ALL Hidden Mickeys, that alone would have reduced the "fake count" to one pin! And I DO know that there are fakes of non-HM's out there. (I've found fake Limited Edition pins on CM lanyards!)

Almost any day I spend at Disneyland, I'll end up with a handful of pretty nice, authentic pins from CM lanyards. I find old pins, pins from mystery sets, pins from lanyard starter sets and other rack sets, and even occasional individual rack pins!

I especially love finding the older, vintage pins (prior to the Pin Trading logo days). I'm slowly increasing my collection of these older pins (and as a bonus, they are less likely to be faked. There are fakes of older pins, though, but not as common as the newer ones).

I trade with far fewer CM's now, but I look at every lanyard I see. I'm more picky about the pins these days, but I'm finding some real nice pins in doing so!
 
Hi, I am new to 'official' pin trading, though I have been collecting for a few years. But only recently have I discovered about fake pins or scrappers. Ugh....there is no honesty anywhere anymore, not even in pin trading! I guess we have to look over our shoulders no matter what we do these days. Anyway, I wanted to post this in case it helps. I found out that official Disney pins will not stick to a magnet (at least, most should not). So, I decided to test all my official Disney pins (by official I mean pins I got directly from Disney, D23, Disney Movie Rewards, etc., or personally in the park stores). NONE stuck to my magnet. I even tested official pins from the 2001 series 100 Years of Dreams, wondering of the older pins would stick to the magnet, but nope, they did not. On the other hand, a few years ago I bought a small lot from eBay (before I knew better). Luckily, most were fine, but a few did stick to a magnet even before I could get right on the pin. Those things just rushed to the magnet like there was no tomorrow. After that, I then checked those pins closely to other standards I learned about on-line (such as rough edges, misspelling, etc.) and, lo and behold, they were fake. So, whether this helps or not, and whether all official Disney pins will not stick to a magnet is true or not, all i can say is NONE of my Disney pins stuck to the magnet while a couple of the other dubious ones did. Gleam from this what you may.....
 
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