Scrappers ... what to do?

[Mr.Balloonatic]

I just purchased some pins from a seller on e-bay, and having checked on pinpics.com I believe that about 4 out of 10 are scrappers, based on the notes and comments.

The seller is trying to justify it, by telling me they buy the pins from the factory that produces the pins for Disney and although disney might order a run of 1000 the factory will make 1100, and they get some of the overrun.

I have tried explaining to them that the reason a lot of these pins are not taken by Disney is because they do not meet the rigorous quality control testing done by Disney.

So I guess it really is buyer be ware out there.

But I digress from why I was posting to begin with...

As scrappers and sub standard pins seem to be so common, I am wondering what other people do with their scrappers, do you bin them? do you pass them on to other traders and let them worry about it? what do you do?

Also any suggestions about what to do with ebay sellers who are just mean?

Is there a name and shame forum where there is a master list of who to avoid trading with?

Thanks!

 

[KT07]

i can only say what i do or how i feel. i trow fakes in the trash. Even a over run to me is a fake. Or as i have said b4..its Not a Real Pin. the only pins that are real are pins made for and sold by disney. all other pins...over run...nock off..what ever you call it...they are "not the real pin" I hate how sum ppl will act as if its ok to get fakes..as long as they are over run or from the ppl that make pins for disney. Nothing can b more wrong. The trouble with our hobby and all colection hobbys is that ppl want the easy way out. Even if its ball cards. ppl want to buy them cheep and trade for good stuff. As a card shop co-owner i can tell you this never works. If you want to b in a hobby and help it not hurt it. just take your time and do it right. I am new to the pins thing and i have got 2 lots when i 1st started. i never traded them and will never buy another lot. They always will have fakes..even if scrapper or mixed with real. you will get "not the real pin" As for ebay... report the seller and than dont buy lots agian. sorry for long rant

ps. if you want a good deal on pins to use as traders....look here on DPF... there are members that will help and will have "the real pins" oh and at a good deal also.

 

[kriscar]

I trash them.
Only way to get them out of the cycle.

 

[breagirl]

If I were in your shoes, I would start out by leaving negative feedback for him so that potentially you are warning future buyers to beware!

Every trip to WDW, we always end up with scrappers so I just kept collecting mine and finally someone posted on here that they were using them as gifts for kids games at an event. I sent her my entire box. I personally hated to throw them away so I made many magnets out of them, but then just sent her the rest.

 

[Mr.Balloonatic]

okay so I have had an update from the aforementioned seller ...

I made them the offer that I would return the pins that were substandard so that they could be refunded or replaced,

their response was that if I would kindly send him photos and highlight all the pins and defects that makes them substandard, he will get in touch with the factory and arrange to have replacements of these pins sent out to me.

so I have two issues now ...

(1) I need to spend my time going through the pins to document what is wrong with them all, for which they will reward me with 1 extra pin for free
(2) I am not to think that the bit about passing it onto to the factory is so that they will use this to improve the quality of their fakes, the thought of which I find thoroughly detestable ...
​

Does anyone else see the flawed logic in their response?

//-----------------------------------o0O0o-----------------------------------//

KT07 - thank you for your response, I agree that they are fakes and am not happy about it, and although I can understand your binning them out of disgust, I personally feel that is a terrible waste.

Kriscar, likewise I understand but it does feel like a waste of something that could bring some joy or colour to some ones life

breagirl, I think I will do the whole negative feedback anyway as I feel that anyone selling knock-offs or scrappers is being completely dishonest and should not be allowed to do business with legitimate customers.

I like the idea of giving them to kids as prizes at an event, but I do feel that rewarding them with something that is fake, will probably do more damage to the child's psyche in the future ...

The magnets is probably the best idea so far, I think I will turn them into magnets ... and then I will send them back to the sender suggesting he sticks them on his harddrive to make it look pretty ... now if only I could get some really really really powerful ones .... but seriously I like the crafts idea ... I will see what I can work on from that ... what with being a craft person myself =)

 

[tiggermickey]

I use my scrappers as tacpins for my cork board,it really makes certain appts stand out
Do not throw them away,you spent money on them...you them for something

Judy

 

[iamdisneydan]

The seller is trying to justify it, by telling me they buy the pins from the factory that produces the pins for Disney and although disney might order a run of 1000 the factory will make 1100, and they get some of the overrun. (Quoted from original post)


This is incredible that they would even tell you that. Buying the over-run...lol Like do you think Disney would allow this? Of course not.
This seller is crazy and I cant believe that they actually told you they buy them from overseas from a Disney Factory. Most will lie and say they traded for them at the park.

I hate to say but probably 100% of them are fake, not even scrappers but counterfeits. And why should you have to jump through hoops to prove it. Send them all back for a full refund. After the recent arrest, believe me that ebay knows whats up and if you disputed this transaction, I dont think they have much of a case.

Good Luck.

 

[aleciadesu]

When I first started getting into pins I had no idea that were such things like scrappers or fake pins. I have pot some lots from ebay without knowing what those pins really were. What happened to me was after I realized what I had bought I emailed the seller telling them that I did not want the pins because they were fakes or scrappers. The seller said that they would accept the return if we gave him feedback and shipped the pins back and would refund us on paypal or they would send us "real" pins. We were still dumb and said that we would accept the "real" pins. What ended up happening was They never gave us our money back nor did they send us any more pins back. They never responded back to the emails we were sending. Their account ended up getting shut down because there was about 12 other people posting on their account with negative feedback saying that they never got their pins. So we contacted ebay, and we had an open case. But because ebay though we never sent out the pins in time, they did not give us our money back, so we ended up loosing 80 dollars because of these ebay jerks that sell bad pins. My advice is, don't buy pins that are commonly found as scrappers or fakes. You have a better chance of trading with someone from the website here to get real pins. Everyone here hates scrappers and fakes and are aware of what they look like. Everyone here is educated on their pins unlike the sellers on ebay that could care less what they are selling. So ya... that's my story, haha. But if you have anymore questions please let me know, I am more than happy to help, I've had many bad experiences with ebay.

-Alecia

 

[erudolf]

I think that you need to explain to the seller that what he or she is doing is illegal and open a dispute with eBay to get your money back. Making people face the consequences is the only way to make any progress with this situation.

 

[Moondance]

I keep them, it's not a good idea to give scrappers to other traders.

 

[destiny117]

Erudolf said,

I think that you need to explain to the seller that what he or she is doing is illegal and open a dispute with eBay to get your money back. Making people face the consequences is the only way to make any progress with this situation.

This is what I have done in the past and it works. These sellers are breaking the law and they know it. I am sure you will get your money back, but you need to contact ebay in a timely manner.

 

[Mr.Balloonatic]

Just so that you all know I told the seller I was going to contact ebay and report them, and the seller decided to issue me a full refund and has not had the cheek to ask for the bad pins back, instead I think I will contact the Disney fraud/anti-piracy people and offer to send them on so they can put together a case against the seller and manufacturer if they so choose to. I will still report the seller to ebay and leave negative feedback too.

I guess my first mistake was buying pins from a seller in China, my second was that believing I was getting a bargain.

 

[KT07]

you should pass that info on to sumone. i think at one point there was a thread about the 2 guys and a gf that had the 100k in fake pins on them. Over the years...fbi/ice said they ran a 2m scam. I bet the same ice guys that are working on that may like to know the name or id of any ppl that say they get pins direct from china. that is in fact how the 2 guys and a gf got caught. Ice said that the small box they saw was 150lbs and going to a home strait from china. the key to this....is....if we want help getting rid of fakes and the ppl that sell them. we have to wish or hope that ice and disney see it as money they dont make. As with the case they are already working....any pins that go to a home or reg ppl from china with out paying import fees and tax....cuts money from the usa in tax and sells for disney...which has more tax for usa. lol funny how thy get sum on every move of a sell. sorry so wordy...in the end Yes you should get as much info as you can and pass it on to the ice team or local guys working the other case.

 

[CMR626]

Hola!
I'm the individual Brea mentioned regarding the box for the kids. I use them as treasure box items (in addition to other toys/games/prizes), as well as collect them as game prizes for an Autism Awareness walk held in April. I mark the backs of the pins with a Sharpie'd "X", as most of my kids don't have the opportunity to visit WDW or DLR and trade pins. However, this way if they do, hopefully someone will take it out of circulation fairly easily.
The kids absolutely love the pins, regardless of authenticity's sake. Usually they are the first things to be grabbed from the treasure box, and they'll sit around and compare their pins or create stories using the characters on them. It's a wonderful motivator.
In case anyone would like to get rid of their scrappers and doesn't want them to go to waste, I'd gladly take them off your hands. Please PM me for me info.

 

[Amarisolcito]

My boyfriend and I made a HUGE rookie mistake by buying a lot on eBay. Luckily, the guy gave us our money back. Now it's only pin lots from here. There was another situation though where my boyfriend anf I bought the same pin(I bought it as a surprise for him, anyhow...). This situation is probably more similar to yours. The guy my boyfriend bought the pin from used the pinpics description in the details section, the problem was the pin didn't match the description. You can see the pin under Danttebay0 if you like. It's the DON pin. I told him he should leave negative feedback because the guy was a real jerk that got completely defensive(even though his pin didn't match the description HE posted) and didn't want to give the money back. Sadly, he had three other pins that were probably fake as well that sold for over $30 a piece. Leave negative feedback so other people don't buy from him. If there are scrappers, we are all affected eventually. Good luck

 

[LadyArmonua]

I actually think doing something creative with scrappers could both take them out of circulation and be fun without wasting the money you spend on them. Maybe taking the pin part off the back and then hot gluing them to pieces of metal to make earrings, buttons, necklaces or zipper pulls could be fun.