Fake Pins in Authentic Packaging?

Hi Folks,

I've noticed a lot of pin sets available on eBay that come in "original packaging" and sell for really cheap. So I decided to buy two from different sellers as an experiment, knowing that they might be fakes and that I would then have to just throw them away. Well, the first set were the Pirate Cutie pins- I got the complete set for about 10.00 (including shipping). They came in a polybag, not a box, but inside was a thick cardboard insert that was printed to look like the original piece that the pins were affixed to when they came in a box. The package had an authentic looking price tag, with sku 400109736334, and it says, "Disney Parks." The insert card looks to be good quality printing, and even has "P389-7448-2-11190" printed on the back. The pins themselves are not magnetic, and seem to be generally higher quality than the fakes I am used to seeing. That being said, the edges aren't perfectly smooth, even though they are close, some of the pins have slight dents in the paint, even though it isn't often or bad, and the luster is kind of shiny, but slightly dull. On these, I can't make up my mind- it seems like if they were fake that's an awful lot of detail in the packaging, and yet the price was so cheap and you could argue either way on the quality of the pins themselves. I asked the seller if they got the pins from Disney and they said, "not personally, but they are authentic." What do you think- do these sound like really good fakes, or poor quality authentics?

The second set I got were the toddler princesses. These came in a box, that again looked well made and authentic. They had the price tag, with the correct sku, and "P389-7448-2-09233" printed inside. These pins seemed to be better quality. Interestingly, some of them were slightly magnetic, and one of Snow White's eyes were the wrong shade of brown. I feel like these are authentic, but the fact that I paid only a little over 1.50 for each pin worries me. I am encouraged by the fact that this seller doesn't have dozens of sets up for sale, she just had this one.

I have heard claims that fakes and scrappers are now coming in packaging or on backer cards- Can anyone confirm this, and is there any way to tell anymore?

Magnetic/Black Light/Etc doesn't really work on pins, we ran an experiment with legit rack pins at the park as well as with DA pins that peopel had won themselves from disney auctions and had different reactions, some magnetic, some not, some glowed, some not. Magnetic/Black light is never a 100% perfect way to tell if your pins are authentic, that was my first hard pin lesson. Traded for a scrapper, hard, based on that logic.

That said, sometimes quality checks just miss some pins, I've handed over pins at the parks that were scrappers- not counterfeits, mind you- to the CMs because the color was badly off- a Tiana Sparkle princess was like this last trip. So it could just be a bad batch. Faking a backing card is impressive, I have never seen that, let alone faking a SKU. Normally they just take the original card and swap out the real ones for the fakes. You might just have gotten actual pin errors- they happen a ton- from sellers who got something cheap in a trade.

The only way to be 100% sure is to buy them from the park, sadly.

Constance said:

Magnetic/Black Light/Etc doesn't really work on pins, we ran an experiment with legit rack pins at the park as well as with DA pins that peopel had won themselves from disney auctions and had different reactions, some magnetic, some not, some glowed, some not. Magnetic/Black light is never a 100% perfect way to tell if your pins are authentic.

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+1

This is very true. My wife and I have also conducted this experiment. Magnetism means nothing. We drug a magnet across the pin racks in the park. Half the pins in Westward Ho were magnetic, half were not. This old cast member perpetuated myth needs to end.

Constance said:

Faking a backing card is impressive, I have never seen that, let alone faking a SKU.

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Again, very good. There are those that think there are fake cards out there, and that pins can come in faked packaging. These people need to take a basic business class. This would be completely cost-ineffective. Chinese companies making fake pins make them in bulk for the absolute cheapest price they can. As long as Americans (and others) buy them in the 100,000's, just gigantic boxes of loose fake pins in bags of 1000's (quite a few of us have gotten offers straight from China), and sell them on eBay, they will keep making them that way. It comes down to the fact that it would cost them more to make the box and packaging than it would the actual pins.

If you are curious as to how people can offer real pins so cheaply, again look towards Disney employees and cast members. Not only do they get an appreciable discount on Disney merchandise, but often times stuff we see in the park for sale can be found in cast member exclusive stores such as Mickey's of Glendale discounted to clearance prices. I just got done buying WDI pins on clearance for $3 each and Vinyls on clearance for $3 as well at a "family and friends" event. Had I been a cast member, I would have gotten anywhere from (correct me if I'm wrong) 35%-50% off THAT price. They look down on cast members that make large purchases just to resell, but it happens all the time.

yeah quality control doenst seem to be what it used to ! Sadness

Yes ahh quality control.. not what it used to be!.. most likely real pins.. i hgave seen this alot!

:soapbox: