Fake Pins and Cataloging

[MistyGrayC]

@TheTwins I am getting back into Pin Trading and unfortunately finding out that some of the pins I bought in the past were fake. I kind of wish there was a Fake Category like the Own/Want/Trade categories to help me keep track, but also educate other pin pics users that there are fakes out there for a particular pin. I have both the of the same fake and real pins in some instances and would like the ability to show the differences to look out for and upload images.
I recently realized that I have a Robin Hood Baby Rabbit Tagalong pin that is fake. I really wouldn’t have thought such a niche small character pin would be faked but I have one. It’s probably not a massively faked pin but I would still like to know they are some being produced for this particular pin. 

[TheTwins]

14 hours ago, MistyGrayC said:

@TheTwins I am getting back into Pin Trading and unfortunately finding out that some of the pins I bought in the past were fake. I kind of wish there was a Fake Category like the Own/Want/Trade categories to help me keep track, but also educate other pin pics users that there are fakes out there for a particular pin. I have both the of the same fake and real pins in some instances and would like the ability to show the differences to look out for and upload images.
I recently realized that I have a Robin Hood Baby Rabbit Tagalong pin that is fake. I really wouldn’t have thought such a niche small character pin would be faked but I have one. It’s probably not a massively faked pin but I would still like to know they are some being produced for this particular pin. 

 

You're not alone in finding fakes in your collection. We have all done that and probably still have some in there to discover. It's an ongoing thing when collecting pins.

 

It would be absolutely impossible to maintain a Fakes database, since there is no way to be totally comprehensive in descriptions and photos. Fakes are always being produced, so it's an ever-changing thing. Not to mention the amount of money and time it would take to maintain. PinPics is really about educating people to understand pins and helping you learn how to identify things -- as well as giving you a place to post pictures and ask for help! 

 

Be sure to check out the Fakes & Scrapper Guide that is part of your Premium Subscription. That will give you a lot of information about this whole problem. It also includes a LOT of side-by-side photos to show you real pins vs. their fake counterparts. 

 

This is also why we are always working so hard on updating the photos of the older pin listings. We're getting good pictures of real pins as quickly as we can, which should help when comparing pins from your collection.

 

Feel free to post in the forum, if you'd like help IDing your pin. There's a board just for questions about authenticity! 

https://pinpics.com/forums/forum/10-is-this-pin-authentic/

 

[MistyGrayC]

1 hour ago, TheTwins said:

 

You're not alone in finding fakes in your collection. We have all done that and probably still have some in there to discover. It's an ongoing thing when collecting pins.

 

It would be absolutely impossible to maintain a Fakes database, since there is no way to be totally comprehensive in descriptions and photos. Fakes are always being produced, so it's an ever-changing thing. Not to mention the amount of money and time it would take to maintain. PinPics is really about educating people to understand pins and helping you learn how to identify things -- as well as giving you a place to post pictures and ask for help! 

 

Be sure to check out the Fakes & Scrapper Guide that is part of your Premium Subscription. That will give you a lot of information about this whole problem. It also includes a LOT of side-by-side photos to show you real pins vs. their fake counterparts. 

 

This is also why we are always working so hard on updating the photos of the older pin listings. We're getting good pictures of real pins as quickly as we can, which should help when comparing pins from your collection.

 

Feel free to post in the forum, if you'd like help IDing your pin. There's a board just for questions about authenticity! 

https://pinpics.com/forums/forum/10-is-this-pin-authentic/

 

I understand it would be hard to maintain a picture database of Fake pins, but I do HOPE you will put it on a future goal wishlist to add Fake? as a future category. 
There are a number of older pins that do not have pictures of the backs or descriptions. I know your team is working hard to update this and it will take time.

By having a Fake? category, pin pics users are given the ability to report/help identify the both small batch and mass produced fakes in a bit more real time data. 
It just personally feels a bit icky to say that I “own” the real pin when it’s fake.

My collection is growing. I can’t remember all the pins I have. I can’t remember which pins I bought or traded 15-18 years ago if I got them in the parks or online. That’s a huge reason why I became a premium subscriber. I want to know what Pins I have duplicates of or which ones I really want to trade. I don’t want to mistakenly mark a “real” pin I think I own as a possible trade that is actually fake. 

Maybe I want to buy an authentic pin to replace my fake version. I want to be able to identify easily, oh I have the fake, I have a chance to get the authentic pin and to be extra careful looking it over. 
I just think it would be helpful to new and old collectors to see that kind of data and you already have a platform that can make the number of fakes recognized useful. The number of collectors that were fooled by fakes and later educated themselves to recognize it was fake and really take a look at their pin. I keep seeing posts saying that a certain fake pin is a “known pin to be highly faked” but only see a few examples here or there. As a newbie, it’s frustrating.
 

The Fakes & Scrapper Guide is very educational and detailed, but also a reason why I want to keep track of my fakes. 

Edited 12 hours ago by MistyGrayC
More details

[TheTwins]

I've moved this thread into the Authenticity Board, since this kind of discussion is good here!

 

The best thing to do with cataloging your pins in these cases is to use your "Pin Notes" fields, which is a great feature with any PinPics subscription. You can make a note to yourself as to whether the pin you own is a fake, a scrapper, or just "iffy". Those notes are viewable in the Mobile web view, the app and can even be printed on a PDF! That's how a lot of us who have some "iffy" pins keep track of what we'd like to replace, etc.

 

If you have questions about any of your pins, feel free to post them in this thread or this board. There are lots of us who are very willing to help with this. Honestly, it's a matter of time and experience, and each person will have different knowledge from their pin experiences. 

[terabyte]

When viewing a pin, some do have a warning in the info column that a fake/scrapper version exists. For example, pin #5103:

 

You can see the info in the right column:

 

 

However, not all pins have the flag because most entries were made before the last site update, and the info was put as a note in the description.

There is also no way to currently filter all pins with that flag enabled, though.