Condition of a pin.

So I frequently buy pins on ebay, and it always irks me when a seller lists an item as BRAND NEW and the pin comes dented or slightly scratched. IMO, BRAND NEW is mint, never used, and kept on the original card and packaging.

So my questions are:
1) Does this happen often to anyone else, where you buy a supposedly mint-conditioned pin and it comes flawed?
2) Does it matter to you if you trade/purchase a pin and it comes flawed?
3) Are most of your pins in your collection mint, used, flawed... I ask this because pictures always seem to cover up flaws in the pin. Everyones pins always look PERFECT when they post them in the showroom or maildays thread.

As you can see, I am a bit anal retentive with my pins and love them to be in perfect condition. Thanks for your time and hope to get some responses

Snoudel said:

As to your first question, it happens to me quite a bit! More than it should. As to number 3, I take my pictures straight up, and the supposedly flawed pins just naturally look great!

Click to expand...

Copied this over from the comparison thread I accidently started

Thanks for the response Snoudel! I have personally sold a lot of pins on this forum, and I always mention any flaws on the pins so that the buyer knows what they are expecting. It just really bothers me that I overpay for mint pins, get myself all excited for them to arrive, and am let down when I find flaws. Then I need to repackage the pins, send them back, pay for postaged, and its just a hastle I wish I didn't have to deal with.

Yea, I can see where you are coming from. However, in my own case that is, the pins I buy are usually HTF low edition pins, so I have to deal with the flaws so I can have the pin!

Snoudel said:

Yea, I can see where you are coming from. However, in my own case that is, the pins I buy are usually HTF low edition pins, so I have to deal with the flaws so I can have the pin!

Click to expand...

Aww, that sucks. I'm sorry. Yeah, I've been lucky enough where all of my grails were brand new and mint when they came. But it sucks that you have to deal with that... its not like you can be very picky with an LE 100 pin. You kinda have to get what you can. Thats the main thing I hate about being a newbie in this hobby. It seems like all of the really awesome pins came out several years ago, and since the real collectors hold onto those pins, only a few of them trickle onto ebay and pinpics for trade. It would have been awesome starting when DA was popular. I can't imagine getting the chance to purchase all of my stitch pins at original prices.

This has also happened to me. I've received bent or loose posts and scratches or residue on pins. It is too much of a hassle for me to return because most of the time, the trader does not give me the option of covering for my return shipping. I didn't think to ask the trader/seller if the pins were free from residue or loose posts because I would think this information should have been disclosed if that was the case. Mint or New to me means the same thing as it does to you. As for my own traders, I keep my pins mint on original backer/packaging. For the ones that were not mint, I do not re trade those, I keep them in my collection.

Pin perfection is very difficult to achieve. I have received brand new pins from Disneystore.com and have purchased pins at the park. Some of the time there is a flaw. I guess it happens from production. But just because a pin is new does not mean it is perfect.

karkura said:

Pin perfection is very difficult to achieve. I have received brand new pins from Disneystore.com and have purchased pins at the park. Some of the time there is a flaw. I guess it happens from production. But just because a pin is new does not mean it is perfect.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I definitely can understand that. I have bought a few pins from Disney that were imperfect. However, I've never received a scratched or dented one? Has anyone else... I just hate that sellers withhold important details about the pin to make a quick sale.

mybabykelly said:

Yeah, I definitely can understand that. I have bought a few pins from Disney that were imperfect. However, I've never received a scratched or dented one? Has anyone else... I just hate that sellers withhold important details about the pin to make a quick sale.

Click to expand...

I have received scratched pins, pins with posts bent so severely that they were flat to the back, and pins with residue on them directly from DS.com. Several times I have been able to exchange, but once was on the UP 3 pin LE100 set and another time was with a Stitch LE100 set- both of which sold out within minutes and could not be exchanged. So I had the choice to either take them as they were or return them and pay eBay prices...guess what, I kept them.

If my choice is to have a flawed pin or no pin at all, I'll take the flaw. With older DA pins, you have to take what you can get as they are not exactly all readily available.

^Wow, thats horrible. I can't believe Disney would let something like that slide. Thanks for letting me know, I never realized quality control was that bad.

mybabykelly said:

^Wow, thats horrible. I can't believe Disney would let something like that slide. Thanks for letting me know, I never realized quality control was that bad.

Click to expand...

The sad part is: I was grateful that at least I got the pins. Sometimes they do not ship what you ordered and then you're really SOL.

MaeBlum08 said:

I have received scratched pins, pins with posts bent so severely that they were flat to the back, and pins with residue on them directly from DS.com. Several times I have been able to exchange, but once was on the UP 3 pin LE100 set and another time was with a Stitch LE100 set- both of which sold out within minutes and could not be exchanged. So I had the choice to either take them as they were or return them and pay eBay prices...guess what, I kept them.

If my choice is to have a flawed pin or no pin at all, I'll take the flaw. With older DA pins, you have to take what you can get as they are not exactly all readily available.

Click to expand...

This is my thought process here as well! Disney sends out some pretty bad pins brand new so I know they can come direct from them with flaws. A lot of times those pins were sold out afterward so it was either keep it flawed or not have it all. I wanted to keep them so there may have been some flaws here or there on some of my pins from my collection. I wish they were better about quality control but sadly they are not. With older pins I am the same way. If you come across one chance to get a very rare pin but it may have production flaws then sometimes you have to decide if you want it bad enough to accept the flaw.

Not saying that I am happy with a flawed pin, they are frustrating for sure but as I said, sadly, Disney puts out a lot of them so they do come brand new that way at times.

...and yes it is hard to photograph a flaw in a pin. I have been able to photograph some of them if you turn them just right to the light but even then it can be hard to get them to show up.

So sorry you have had some bad luck lately with bad pins.

Thanks so much for your insight Amanda. It really puts everything into perspective for me! I now understand my expectations were wayyy too high when it came to quality. I always assumed that obvious flaws came from the way the pins were stored/displayed/handled. I purchased two pins from the Happily Ever After set (Belle and Ariel). The seller listed them as brand new, and they arrived new on backing card and original packaging. While Ariel was mint, there was a dip in the paint on Belle that I was a bit disappointed with. I left the seller positive feedback for both (the packaging was amazing and both pins were great quality besides the dip), but I am assuming the dip was a manufacturing flaw. So in theory, both were "brand new" from Disney but Belle was bought with that flaw.

Wow, I am really happy about the responses I've received. I've only been collecting for a couple of years now, so its so nice getting insight from the veteran collectors. You guys are great!

I agree with all of the great posts above. Everything mentioned has happened to me also, and I have settled many times, for fear of never being able to get the pin I got at the time. What I do is to try and replace the imperfect pin with a better one, if I ever have a chance to, and use the other one as a trader. (I always tell someone if there is something on a pin that they may not like before trading anyhow.) And if I never get the chance to get another one to replace my not so great HTG pin, I will be happy I kept the flawed one.

However, being a perfectionist, I will do what it takes to get a nearly perfect pin. When I am at WDW, I often have to spend 30 minutes trying to get a good quality pin for myself and one for trade. So quality control has been and is a problem for Disney in every single place they sell pins. Not long ago, A Stitch pin was sent back at the Disney Soda Fountain because the quality of the pin was so bad. Yet, it managed to make it to the store to be sold. Luckily, someone noticed the problem before the release date. Even the old Disney Auction pins had manufacturing defects.

So it is up to you to decide the limit as to how flawed a pin can be in order to not make you unhappy, because there is no perfection out there, but there are some pretty beautiful pins with tiny imperfections, so you do have a choice.

It seems pins are not made the way they used to be.. bad quality but more high price (go figure)
DA pins would be the only ones i would accept that way