pins on ebay?? 2 questions...

[dream_disney]

I was looking at pins on ebay and they would save me a great deal of money. I want to make sure that they all have rubber mickey backs and mickey stamps on the back which you can find in the detail section. Has anyone found any great seller to purchase pins from? Also, how are people able to sell huge quanities for such a low price?

[oopsadaisy2003]

I can't recommend any specific seller, but ask questions. I bought a lot of pins and was very disappointed when they arrived. Most of them were scratched when the condition stated that they were in good condition. We were still able to use them for trading, but not for collecting. And some of the pins sell for more on ebay than they do in the parks.

[gerald72]

I can't recommend any specific seller, but ask questions. I bought a lot of pins and was very disappointed when they arrived. Most of them were scratched when the condition stated that they were in good condition. We were still able to use them for trading, but not for collecting. And some of the pins sell for more on ebay than they do in the parks.

I would think that scratches would be expected on a pin in "good" condition.
If it was described as "Mint", "Excellent", or "Very good" then not so. But "Good" or "Poor" is a little down the grading scale.

[Briansmom]

I want to make sure that they all have rubber mickey backs and mickey stamps on the back which you can find in the detail section.

I have not ever purchased any pins (or looked at any, for that matter) so I don't know anything about them. But I am thinking about starting my son on our next trip. I think maybe he would like to try something different since he is now a veteran (two trips..lol) and understands WDW now. What do you mean by having 'rubber mickey backs and mickey stamps'? Is this something that is important for trading?

TIA-
Lela

[CleveSJM]

What do you mean by having 'rubber mickey backs and mickey stamps'? Is this something that is important for trading?

TIA-
Lela

Lela - Official tradable pins are all metal and have an official Disney Pin stamp on the back. Most come with these black rubber Mickey pin back. Disney does sell other pin back list green goofy hats and blue scorcerer mickey pin backs, but the black mickey backs are the most common "real" backs.

Some european pins are plastic and have the old fashioned metal backs. The plastic pins aren't supposed to be traded but they are. My son seems to like them. So he's traded $7 pins for $.50 junk... but it's the pin he wants so...

[CleveSJM]

I think recommending a specific seller would be against Intercot rules. Just use the eBay feedback numbers.

A lot of the bulk cheap pins on eBay are "fake." I put that in quotes because they may be exactly the same pin that Disney licensed and made by the same company, but the company had overruns or made extra "knockoffs" outside the Disney order. These hit various shady markets ("Want a Rolex? ) and make there way to eBay.

Again, use the eBay feedback to gauge the quality of the merchandise and the seller.

[CanadianWDWFan]

I did research like the other posters have said, and when I finally ordered pins they were exactly what I had ordered. They all had the pin backs and each pin came in its own bag. The seller I found had delivered what they promised.

On a side note, I had a pin that was a "special" edition Disney-AAA and I was sceptical about trading it. I took it to Pin Traders at Epcot and asked a couple of CM's about it. They told me that any pin that had a Disney copyright on it was acceptable.

[John]

BTW, the rubber mickey back doesn't make it official... I have hundreds of real disney pins that were produced before they came up with the neat idea of making the plain black rubber back into the mickey head.

In fact, in the beginning, some of the pins came with metal backs and then disney sold the rubber backs and I replaced all of them with the newer backs to avoid the pins falling off the lanyards.

The disney imprint on the back makes it official.

I have quite a collection that I really need to sell at some point as they are gathering dust in the closet from the heyday of the pin trading era!

[Briansmom]

Wow , I had no idea about all these details. I knew people said they just ordered some cheap ones off of ebay and then traded them with the CM's when they got to the parks. I appreciate all the information.....it sounds like it will save me some heartbreak of trying to trade a 'fake' pin and having a CM shake their head at me pitifully (or look at me like I'm a crook!)

[JPL]

I still pin trade and I will say I saw some pins people claimed were "fakes" and honestly I don't 99.9999999% of CMs or pin traders could ever tell the difference. Here is how most of the fakes come about the pins are made in China and the same exact set up is used to make the "fake" pins as the "real" ones. Trust me I wouldn't worry too much about a CM turning you away from a trade.