Just another Newbie... Slow learner!
Hello (new) friends!
My name is Nick, and I live in Arizona. My wife and I decided this was going to be our Disney year, and since we have been collecting Vinylmation since March 2011, we thought it would be fun to go to the Reflections of Evil trade event in Florida. We had never been to a trade event before.
It WAS a lot of fun, and we met internet friends in person, and made new friends. Then a horrible thing happened. On Friday, September 13, 2013, my wife saw a cast member lanyard that had a "really cute" pin, so we had to learn the rules of pin trading with cast members, and I bought a lanyard and a set of pins for her to use so she could trade for the "really cute" pin, and MAYBE one or two others, if she saw something she just had to have. Oh what a tragic mistake! Soon, she needed a small pin book, and seeing what the future held, I bought a large pin book as well. Before leaving WDW, we had the large pin book, the small pin book, five lanyards, a few lanyard medallions, and more pins than I care to admit. I also spent a few sleepless nights, learning about pins, traders, fakes, scrappers, and counterfeits (I lump those last three together and call them "garbage" pins), and sorting our collection into pins we bought (keepers and extras), pins we traded for and got lucky enough they are real (all keepers, because in the first place, we wanted them, and in the second place, I didn't BUY them and so can't guarantee their authenticity), and "garbage" pins. It SHOCKED me, how many people were "trading" garbage pins! I had the most fun EARLY in the mornings, trading with cast members (and especially managers) because their lanyards hadn't gotten filled up with garbage brought into the park by the people who buy 100's of "eligible for trading, but don't put them in your own collection" pins online. Unfortunately, the pin books at most of the concierge desks were about 30-40% real, and the rest, garbage. I even spent a few hours (split up throughout my stay) sharing tips I had learned from forums such as this one with a few CMs who asked, "How do you know? How can you tell if they are fake so quickly?"
Now, I did mention this was going to be our Disney year... We took our children and grandchildren to DLR for a week in early October. The plan was to get each of the grandchildren a lanyard and some pins, so they could start trading too. That kind of happened... We got them lanyards, but THEY weren't so interested in trading... THEY wanted to keep all their pins! We came home from DLR with another smallish box of pins (a little smaller than, say, a tray of vinylmations...), and another large pin book, and that does not count the pins and lanyards we sent home with the kids and grands.
So, two and a half months in to our new obsession... I mean HOBBY, our new hobby... I look forward to trading with others, and have made the commitment that I will NEVER send out a pin I did not personally buy from an authorized and legitimate Disney retailer.
Recently, some new friends asked me to trade pins and wanted to know why I wouldn't take some of their offerings. They asked me to show them how to identify fakes, and I explained my personal philosophy to them, and told them how important is it to me that I not have garbage in my collection. I spent about two hours sorting through pins they had for trade, and showing them the authentic pins I had purchased, and the differences. A couple of weeks later, one of my new friends wanted to trade a pin she knew I was looking for in exchange for a vinylmation figure. I was in a hurry when we met to make the trade, but trusted her to only trade legitimate pins, especially since I had explained how particular I am about integrity. A few hours later (when I got into some light, and wanted to look at my new pin) I saw the pin she gave me is a fake. I feel she stole from me, because she took a $14 vinyl in trade for a piece of garbage, and it has all the signs I had told her fake pins have. It's got bad back stamping, the edges are rough, and the enamel is not "clean". That night, I changed my signature.
I refuse to let that experience color my entire world view, though. I am looking forward to trading with new friends here in DPF, and growing our collection of pins. My wife really likes that pins take up much less space than vinyls! We have some fun plans for making display pin boards for our Disney themed room, and using them as cabinet doors... ;-)
My name is Nick, and I live in Arizona. My wife and I decided this was going to be our Disney year, and since we have been collecting Vinylmation since March 2011, we thought it would be fun to go to the Reflections of Evil trade event in Florida. We had never been to a trade event before.
It WAS a lot of fun, and we met internet friends in person, and made new friends. Then a horrible thing happened. On Friday, September 13, 2013, my wife saw a cast member lanyard that had a "really cute" pin, so we had to learn the rules of pin trading with cast members, and I bought a lanyard and a set of pins for her to use so she could trade for the "really cute" pin, and MAYBE one or two others, if she saw something she just had to have. Oh what a tragic mistake! Soon, she needed a small pin book, and seeing what the future held, I bought a large pin book as well. Before leaving WDW, we had the large pin book, the small pin book, five lanyards, a few lanyard medallions, and more pins than I care to admit. I also spent a few sleepless nights, learning about pins, traders, fakes, scrappers, and counterfeits (I lump those last three together and call them "garbage" pins), and sorting our collection into pins we bought (keepers and extras), pins we traded for and got lucky enough they are real (all keepers, because in the first place, we wanted them, and in the second place, I didn't BUY them and so can't guarantee their authenticity), and "garbage" pins. It SHOCKED me, how many people were "trading" garbage pins! I had the most fun EARLY in the mornings, trading with cast members (and especially managers) because their lanyards hadn't gotten filled up with garbage brought into the park by the people who buy 100's of "eligible for trading, but don't put them in your own collection" pins online. Unfortunately, the pin books at most of the concierge desks were about 30-40% real, and the rest, garbage. I even spent a few hours (split up throughout my stay) sharing tips I had learned from forums such as this one with a few CMs who asked, "How do you know? How can you tell if they are fake so quickly?"
Now, I did mention this was going to be our Disney year... We took our children and grandchildren to DLR for a week in early October. The plan was to get each of the grandchildren a lanyard and some pins, so they could start trading too. That kind of happened... We got them lanyards, but THEY weren't so interested in trading... THEY wanted to keep all their pins! We came home from DLR with another smallish box of pins (a little smaller than, say, a tray of vinylmations...), and another large pin book, and that does not count the pins and lanyards we sent home with the kids and grands.
So, two and a half months in to our new obsession... I mean HOBBY, our new hobby... I look forward to trading with others, and have made the commitment that I will NEVER send out a pin I did not personally buy from an authorized and legitimate Disney retailer.
Recently, some new friends asked me to trade pins and wanted to know why I wouldn't take some of their offerings. They asked me to show them how to identify fakes, and I explained my personal philosophy to them, and told them how important is it to me that I not have garbage in my collection. I spent about two hours sorting through pins they had for trade, and showing them the authentic pins I had purchased, and the differences. A couple of weeks later, one of my new friends wanted to trade a pin she knew I was looking for in exchange for a vinylmation figure. I was in a hurry when we met to make the trade, but trusted her to only trade legitimate pins, especially since I had explained how particular I am about integrity. A few hours later (when I got into some light, and wanted to look at my new pin) I saw the pin she gave me is a fake. I feel she stole from me, because she took a $14 vinyl in trade for a piece of garbage, and it has all the signs I had told her fake pins have. It's got bad back stamping, the edges are rough, and the enamel is not "clean". That night, I changed my signature.
I refuse to let that experience color my entire world view, though. I am looking forward to trading with new friends here in DPF, and growing our collection of pins. My wife really likes that pins take up much less space than vinyls! We have some fun plans for making display pin boards for our Disney themed room, and using them as cabinet doors... ;-)
