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Newbie; I need some advice

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Newbie; I need some advice
aleciadesu

aleciadesu

New DPF Member
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Hey everyone!
I just started pin trading at the beginning of the year because my boyfriend introduced it to me on our trip to Disneyland. I was immediately hooked and loved my first time trading. What we did was we bought a bunch of those lanyards that were on sale for $15 when you made a purchase of $40 or more I think, and we used those to trade with the cast members. After our trip I was further looking at our pins and noticed that some were different than others and some used looked weird. After doing further research I found out about the scrappers and fake pins. I clearly can tell the difference between them and I realize some are official and the fake ones are not. We naturally felt cheated as I'm sure everyone will feel that way once they realize what they got. I bought some lots off of ebay just because I wanted to see what was going on and why the lots were too good to be true. I noticed that one seller had really good pins, about 90 percent were scrappers but had very small flaws and another seller I just could not tell which is where I need some help. These pins did not have the border around the back of the pin and had the official stamp and everything on the back. Although the pins feel very cheap, and much lighter than a normal pin. The pins also smelled horrible. I talked to my friend about it and she said that maybe they smell because its not real metal and they are just pained to look like metal. That got me thinking, and I was wondering if I should just throw those pins out. They look real but feel and smell otherwise. I would very much appreciate your guidance. Thank you. :wavey:
 
Aloha and Welcome! :wavey:

While it's difficult to say for sure whether your pins are legitimate or scrappers/counterfeits without seeing them, it's entirely possible that they might be not be legitimate ... especially going by the principle that if something seems too good to be true, it likely is. I just want to make one point, if I may, before I make my suggestion: you are aware that there is a difference between scrappers and counterfeits, correct?

That being said, since you are considering throwing your pins away because you don't consider them legitimate and (understandably and commendably) don't want to trade them, have you considered donating them instead? I know that a member here, CMR626, accepts donations of scrapped/counterfeit pins that she uses for small gifts for children who are just thrilled at seeing their favorite characters on a shiny piece of metal. If interested, send her a PM and I'm sure she'll give you the details on how to donate these pins. You will still be out the money you paid for them, but by donating them, at least you'll accomplish two things:

1. These scrappers/counterfeits will end up out of trade circulation - permanently
2. These pins still will end up in a situation where they will bring people joy - and isn't that what pins should be about?

I hope this helps and, again, welcome! :)
 
Hi Alicia and welcome to the forum. Counterfeit pins might put a damper on actual collecting, but once sorted they can be utilized for other things like thumb-tacks for a corkboard or decorating a scrapper art board for inexpensive projects. Whatever your choice, it'll take those pins away from the trading scene.
 
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Yet another noob question :)

So I have a question about trading with others on the website. I see that members trade with other members here. So do these people meet up in person or do you guys ship the pins and just pay for shipping or do you meet a the parks or is it all of the above? I want to start trading but unfortunately I need to build up my collection again because I found out about a month ago my entire collection is almost all scrappers haha. I'm getting rid of the scrappers and I will soon start building it up again. So can someone tell me how this trading thing works? Haha. Thanks! ;)
 
It really is a combination of the two, at least for those who either live within driving distance to the parks or plan to be there on vacation. For the most part, if you live near the parks/will be visiting from out of the area, there probably will be pin trading going on in certain areas inside the park (mostly outside the stores where pins are sold). You tend to find this more often on days when there is a major pin release. However, if you know that you're coming into town, you can post on the boards and make arrangements to meet up with people specifically to trade pins. Most of the 'locals' (people who live near the parks) won't do that because Disney occasionally hosts Pin trading Nights in one of their hotels and they tend to just meet up and trade there.

I think the majority of people do most of their trading through the mail, either with the assistance of Pin Pics or through the trade forum here. Once the trades are negotiated and agreed to (remember you do NOT have to accept every trade offer that comes your way and NEVER accept one unless you are 100% comfortable with it), addresses are exchanged, the pins are packaged (bubble wrap and place in an LBE, please), and mailed off in a timely manner. Once the pins have been received, feedback (preferably appropriate, depending upon how smoothly the trade went and how the pin was received) is left for the sender.
 
Oh ok. Thanks for all the help. I live in Sacramento so it's a bit of a drive for me actually. So it sounds like I'll do most of my trading through the mail. Haha.
 
We're from Maryland so its through the mail. Just check references, a lot of us have Dizpinz references as well as DPF references and one Great rule to trading-always do Delivery Confirmation so you can track your pin and the other side may do it, but you will have piece of mind that your pins arrived safely. For some reason I live in a vortex where mail and time stand still when I ship pins, but is fine when people ship to me. I give them the tracking number so they can follow the pins journey to California back to Florida to Utah and final destination New York-go figure (yes, I am serious and thank you to the trader who was so patient with me). >^..^<
 
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