Question about etiquette when someone has a bag of fakes at park?

[Rvaya]

I was recently at the PTN event at DLP last friday and a woman wanted to do a trade. I was good to trade her until she pulled out a huge handful of pins that were all individually wrapped. I knew they were fakes. I told her I really wasn't interested in Hidden Mickey pins (mainly cause they are all fakes but I didn't say that to her.) She then pulled out a few reals that I ended up doing the trade with her for but I just wondered what other people have done. The people around me all gave me the eye like, "You know those are fakes" waiting to see what I'd do.

I don't trade in person very often so I was rather unsure how to react to the situation. She seemed like a newer trader and also she was french. My french is not the best even though I live here and certainly didn't want to get into an argument.

Another strange thing was an older man who was trying to sell off his collection. I thought at PTN's it was still not "legal" to sell pins on Disney grounds. I didn't have any cash on me so I couldn't get the pins I really wanted but I just was so stunned by this. Here was all the staff around, maybe he was an older trader known in the community but still it seemed strange to me. Does this happen at official Disney events too in other countries?

Any experience with this in person with other traders? What's your worst or best story?

 

[moorhunhe]

When I went to a PTN last year, it was my first time, so I didn't know.
I saw someone I knew at the tables, and just asked the question, if they'd also sell, and an immediate NO came out of 3 peoples at the same time.

Said they can also take your annual pass away?

 

[Rvaya]

Oh wow, I've not heard of the consequences before.
I knew it was forbidden and have had people go and guy a pin once cause they wanted to buy a pin off me in the park and I told them it wasn't possible to do that so we went and I picked a pin off the rack that they paid for.

I didn't turn the old guy in, I mean he had like 5 huge full pin bags all out. Since it was m first PTN it didn't seem right to tell on him but I was very surprised by it.

 

[moorhunhe]

It happens at Pueblo's. When traders are there, and they don't want anything you have, they sometimes ask to buy a certain pin from the shop and then make the trade.

 

[markheardjr]

I let them know, or else they will just walk around the park and trade them all for real ones and then trade you real ones. It comes down to the persons moral compass and if they have enough backbone to actually stop buying fakes. But the problem is never going away. There will always be people that are new or people that simply don't care. I at least let them know so they can make the decision for themselves.

 

[docfish2u]

This is always a tough situation. I have told people in the past that I won't trade for pins out of baggies and told them why. I just won't trade with them. It is tough when it is a kid though. I generally try to talk to the parents and let them know why I won't trade with their kid. I don't want continue on the trading of fake pins.

As for selling on Disney property, that is not allowed. I have been told that is why they took the tables out of Tomorrowland at Disneyland in California. People were using the little to go card readers and selling pins. Typical Disney, instead of dealing with the people causing the problem, they just stop it all together.

 

[LuvSimba]

Very recently, while at DAK, a man, older than myself, asked if he could trade for my Maleficent clapboard and I said sure, it was for trade, what do you have? We proceeded to walk over to a closed ice cream cart, so he could open his soft sided cooler and pull out his 'traders'. He tried to keep me from seeing inside his cooler, but on top of his 'better pins' was a huge zip lock bag (at least the half gallon size) FULL of fakes (which I had watched him trade said fakes to the CM I was just talking to). Once I saw that, I was done. He proceeded to tug out some corkboard with booster, pwp, ect pins on them. The only thing even close to the same 'value' was an oe passholder pin, which he quickly deemed worth more than my pin...lol I thought dude, you're a cheat, I don't trade with cheats. All his 'better pins' were gotten with fake junk. UGH!!!

 

[xdattax]

I know someone who specifically orders scrapper pins on eBay to trade like that. I pointed out they were fake and the response was, "I don't care and the kids I trade with don't care," uh, yeah, not cool. If I saw that person in the park with their bad of scrappers, I'd call them out. I spend a lot of money on authentic pins, I don't like cheap people who want to game the system. You don't want to spend the money, go find another hobby.

It's also why I don't trade much in the parks and why it annoys me that my boyfriend uses my good pins to trade when he can't tell the difference between junk and the real deal.

 

[frozenlanterns]

I've struggled with this before, too. Since I'm only 16, I don't want an adult to find me rude or disrespectful by addressing the situation. I always try to give them a polite heads-up if I see them trading scrappers to others, and while they try to trade with me, I basically tell them the same thing and that I won't trade for fakes. Of course, I always get that one adult that doesn't like their poor trading ethics to be acknowledged by a child.

As for trading with other children younger than myself, I can't bring myself to tell them that their pins are fake. I usually only trade HMs or other pins of low rarity or value, so long as they like them. I accept their scrappers, break the pin backs off of them, and throw them away to take them out of circulation.

In short, I would say it's always best to try to warn or prevent others from trading scrappers and fakes. If they listen, great. If not, at least you tried.

 

[Tds]

I got into pin trading several months ago at WDW. Bought starter lanyards for the kids to have them trade with CM. They had a blast. Was very disappointed to eventually learn that we had traded mostly for scrappers. On the other hand, both girls have really enjoyed collecting and we have learned a lot since then. The next time we go back to the parks, we will still trade with CMs, but will be a lot more careful. My feeling is that fakes/scrappers are a reality of the hobby. For some, it will serve as an entryway into more serious collecting. For others (I suspect for most), it's just another thing to do while at the parks.

 

[liveinnightcity]

This is always a tough situation. I have told people in the past that I won't trade for pins out of baggies and told them why. I just won't trade with them. It is tough when it is a kid though. I generally try to talk to the parents and let them know why I won't trade with their kid. I don't want continue on the trading of fake pins.

Exactly what you said. Park trading is and always has been a major part of our involvement with the hobby, and there's just no other way to go about it. A couple summers ago at WDW a kid's grandfather threatened to call security on me and sue me because I wouldn't trade with his kid, because all his pins were the dreaded individual-ziploc-bags. So it goes.

 

[docfish2u]

Exactly what you said. Park trading is and always has been a major part of our involvement with the hobby, and there's just no other way to go about it. A couple summers ago at WDW a kid's grandfather threatened to call security on me and sue me because I wouldn't trade with his kid, because all his pins were the dreaded individual-ziploc-bags. So it goes.

That tells me he knew what kind of crud he was trying to pawn off. I have had a couple of those people also and I just tell them that as a guest I can choose who I want to trade with and who I don't.