Progress is being made on exposing and shutting down bootleggers and Scrapper pin Sellers, but it's a war and not just a battle.  Following a few common sense rules on eBay will not only protect you from being ripped off by these unethical scrapper sellers, but will help make it less profitable for them.

7 eBay Rules to Avoid Being Ripped Off

1. If the pin hasn't been released by Disney yet and it's being sold on eBay, it's more than likely a SCRAPPER.

Some folks may not realize it, but Disney Corp. is on a tight schedule...they know months in advance when pins will be released.  Don't buy the lie that someone "got hold of pins early."  It doesn't happen and if someone is selling pins in advance of Disney's official release date, beware!  The exception to this rule is the pre-sale of event pins or when Sellers specifically note that the pins will be sent when officially released by Disney.  How can you find out when a pin is released?  Check Disney's official pin trading site or a place like Pinpics.  Hidden Mickey (formerly Cast Lanyard) pins are being sold by Scrappers sometimes MONTHS in advance of the real pins.  These are fakes - just as bad as buying bootleg DVDs or CDs - and their sale before being officially released is NOT sanctioned by The Disney Corp.

2. If the Seller is unwilling to reveal the source of their bulk purchases, be suspicious.

Very few Scrapper sellers are going to tell you that they're purchasing 1000s of pins from Chinese factories for pennies on the dollar.  They'll deflect the question by saying, "These are 'fully tradeable' in the parks" or my favorite: "None of your business."  I understand Sellers not giving away their business secrets fully - I don't discuss mine with people - but an unwillingness to tell a person where a pin came from is, in my opinion, a red flag.

3. Be suspicious of people who have dozens - or even 100s - of the same pins for sale.

This is especially true of NEW releases.  Think about it for a minute.  How can someone sell - at highly discounted prices - pins that have JUST been issued by Disney?  But it happens every day on eBay.  How?  Scrapper selling.  At the September 2007 pin event at Walt Disney World, I met a man who boasted that he had 50 SETS of the new Hidden Mickey lanyard pins...over a month before the event even took place!  He was trading the sets for legitimate pins at the pin event, ripping off people left and right and boasting about it.  Hopefully, someone from Disney figured out what he was doing and shut him down.  The point is, if it's being sold in bulk quantities like that, it's highly suspect.

There are legitimate Sellers who make close-out purchases or buy store displays.  But they should be willing to tell you that if asked.

4. Official Disney pins - except some Cast pins - don't come in sealed bags.

Scrappers are finally starting to get smart about this and are unbagging their pins.  But if you see bulk pins being sold on eBay and they're in SEALED plastic bags, that should be a warning sign.  NOTE: Many sellers DO use the Ziplock-type 2"x2" bags to help protect the pins they sell, but this is different from the machine-sealed plastic bags I'm referring to.  Also note, some Cast Member pins are sold to Cast Members in plastic bags...but a legitimate Seller isn't going to be selling 100s of those Cast Member pins.

5. Name Tag pins are NOT tradeable in the parks.

You don't see these a lot, but recently they've begun popping up again.  These are pins that Disney used to engrave with names or other messages.  There's nothing wrong with buying these pins...but if you think you're going to be able to trade them in the parks, you're mistaken.

6. If the pin doesn't have a DISNEY COPYRIGHT, it is not tradeable in the parks.

Again, there's nothing wrong with purchasing these type of pins...but if a Seller is bulk selling these pins, suggesting they can be used as traders - they're ripping you off.  It should be noted that there are MANY older Disney pins that don't have the Disney copyright on them...nothing wrong with them, but they can be turned down for trade by Cast Members, if they are so inclined.

7. Extremely low LIMITED EDITION pins MUST have a history the Seller can prove.

At one time, I had in my possession 14 pins from an LE 25 set.  They're obvious Scrappers and there's no way I would have sold them as being legitimate.  Yet you see LE20, LE25 and LE50 pins being marketed all the time on eBay, in multiple quantities.  The Cheddar and Gadget characters from a Rescue Rangers framed set is one example.  There's an LE 100 Disney studio set I've seen at least 30-40 times already on eBay...is it legit?  Maybe...but I'd be asking some questions before bidding.  I've seen literally 100s of low LE pins being sold over the past year by Sellers claiming to be selling authentic Disney pins.

Until Pinpics showed the bootleg version side-by-side with the real pin, the extremely rare Donald Duck "Wet Paint" pin was being sold by bootleggers for over $100...this went on for months!  Let the buyer beware!!  If a Seller can't specifically tell you where a low edition-size pin came from, I'd be VERY careful about bidding on it.  There ARE legitimate Sellers who sell low LE pins...a few years ago I had an LE20 framed set I purchased at the WDW pin celebration.  I broke apart the set to give individual character collectors a chance to pick up some very rare finds.  But do your homework.

These may seem like basic rules and some of them are real "no-brainers"...but if you are careful and do your homework, you will protect both yourself and your hobby's investment.

(If you have questions about pin trading, feel free to email me.  And if this article helped you learned at least one thing new, please mark this Guide as being HELPFUL below, so others have a better chance of reading it in the future.  Thank you!)