Attention Pin Traders!

[WheresMickey]

I am not a "hard core" pin trader, but do it for fun while at the Disney Parks. But I have notice a lot of counterfeit pins being traded. Or have been traded and CM are just wearing them on their landyard while other guests are tradeing throughout the day.

How do you feel about all the counterfeit pins in the Disney parks?

Do you think CMs should refuse to trade pins when knowing it is conterfeit?

What happens to all the landyard at the end of the work day? Does Disney go through each landyard, and destroy all the conterfeit pins?

Any thoughts?

[Coheteboy]

Counterfits bad!

[Melonballer]

They should toss the fakes. Also they should not trade for one if they know it is a counterfit

[MousieMagic]

It's pretty sad that someone would go so low as to counterfit pins.

Although I'm kind of on the fence on this, what if there was some kind of mark, like a "second edition". People would know that this is not the real kind, but it still has the same features. Then again, if you're not big into trading and don't know about it, what's stopping someone from taking advantage of others using this? What I'm thinking of is like the reproduction ticket books that you can get, they look just like the originals, but you know they're reproductions.

[Rob F]

I just hate waiting in line to get lunch and someone in front of me decides to have a counterfit because their food wasn't served up fast enough.


Now counterfeit pins on the other hand...

[I Heart Disneyland]

I don't do the pin thing, but, was at DL with a friend last week who does. I did want a pin, and, she gave me a few traders. The CM's who were standing in Frontierland would not take 2 or 3 of the ones she gave me. They felt them and refused them. So, they are watching, but, I can't say the same for the ones just walking around with them on their lanyard. Like I said, I know VERY little about pins...but...just saw a few cute ones, and, she gave me traders to use to get them.

[ashley solo]

I just hate waiting in line to get lunch and someone in front of me decides to have a counterfit because their food wasn't served up fast enough.


Now counterfeit pins on the other hand...

[VMKCardCollector]

if your going to trade fakes, then your going to get fakes. Simple as that.

[Cuddles McHenry]

Im new to this. How can you tell they're counterfeit?

[gRuMpEe]

I usually try to trade for the ones I know are real!!!

I'm fairly new to pin trading but try to keep an eye out!!!

As a matter of fact I don't even like the Disney Store pins!!!

[yoyoflamingo]

I have a knack for picking the fake ones for some reason. I trade what I like, and then I always find out it's fake afterwards. I still like the pin, so I would not trade it back, but it is disappointing to get a fake pin.

The best place to check is http://pinpics.com

And I don't think it's necessarily fair to blame the cms. Many of them don't realize which are fakes and which are not. I think at the end of the day they should go through lanyards, but is there time for that? When I see a Living Seas pin with a Hong Kong Disneyland backstamp, that is when it's easy to spot, but some of the counterfeits are getting pretty close to the real thing too.

[NeverNeverland]

Im new to this. How can you tell they're counterfeit?

The best way is the smell of gasoline, but that's hard to tell from a lanyard lol
It's hard to tell because they look so real. We just look them up on pinpics after. Counterfeits will have off colors or gold vs. silver backs. Sometimes they're thinner. Usually the back markings are the same but sometimes they're different. Unless you're looking for a certain pin and know its colors and markings, it's tough.

[Pipeek]

At my location I will go through every few weeks and maintain all the pins we have to look for fake pins. As a CM, I do accept fake pins. I will get them off of my lanyard as soon as possible and put something else on. If you just started pin trading and the next CM you go to refuses to trade pins with you since your pins are fake, then the chances are you will be turned off of pin trading. Terrifying young guests or even new pin traders with the fact that they have something that is not a real pin is not my goal. I want them to have a positive experience. Some guests perfer the fake pins on occasion and don't care if they are fake or not.

[VeganPrincess]

I'm a pretty avid pin buyer (not trader). How can you tell a real pin from a fake one and who makes these counterfeits?

[WDWImagineer]

I traded with a CM one time for this really neat pin. When I flipped it over there was no Disney Trading Pin stanp. Nilch, notta! Let's just say I had traded a very expensive "real" pin! I looked everywhere online and kept showing up as a fake. I had to go through 2 CMs before anyone would take it.