Several member badges on Ebay
 

I don't understand how or why someone would be selling these. Obviously we cannot track the original owner bc we don't engrave, but it made me sad. Anyone bidding on them?

Do you have a link so we can see them?

The search link:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=%22gamma+s igma+sigma%22&category0=

One of the badges:

"http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Gamma-Sigma-Sigma-Shield-Pin_W0QQitemZ170110903896QQihZ007QQcategoryZ11145Q QrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem"

Keeping hold of pins...
 

One of the Social sororities (Don't remember if it is NPC or NPHC) actually does have the sisters sign that the badges are the property of the sorority rather than the sister and even they haven't had a great deal of luck with keeping their pins from changing hands on eBay. They have sisters who bid on *every* pin that comes up in order to return it to the National Office and I know that there are some who *deliberately* bid up the price to annoy them.

For APO, we don't even try. With the service pins being something like $5, brthers just don't stress when they lose them, the only ones I'll buy are the ones prior to about 1960 that are half the size and screw down as they were meant for a buttonhole.

I believe I had to sign something, with Gamma Phi Beta, that said that I understood that my badge was property of the sorority and not my own, and that in fact I was leasing it for life. :)

But with Gamma Sig, our badges are inexpensive, and they are easy to buy direct from the jeweler. When I bought my replacement badge, for the one I had lost, I did it from the jeweler, and there was no proving my membership, which I thought was kind of odd.

I know with Gamma Phi, and most socials (at least NPC socials) we buy our badges direct from our international office.

It's sad to see badges for sale like this, and hopefully maybe our national office can come up with a program to save them from ebay, like Crescent Catchers, or Kappa's Keepers of the Key (I think it has another name now... not sure).

It is true that we buy ours with our own money (from one jeweler who manufactures our badges), so I know that it is not breaking any law or rule, but I don't get how or why a pawn-shop type company is selling GSS badges? It's not like they are worth money to pawn if you are down and out. And the sellers claim that they are brand new, and one of them has more than one.

I asked one of them where they purchased and they sent me back an empty email. It just doesn't make sense why someone outside a GLO would want the pin. It obviously wouldn't mean anything to anyone outside the sorority.

I am simply perplexed.

As for why someone would want the pin, at least for the socials, I know that there are people who try to collect all of the fraternities in the NIC...

Randy

It's about creating collections for a lot of people. They are just wanna bes. :rolleyes:

Not necessarily wanna bes, the one I know is a brother of one of the NIC fraternities. To me, "wanna be" behavior is getting lots of stuff from one group, not brother pins from many and exhibiting them together.

Besides, one question is what do you do with engraved pins for those who have passed away. If a Sigma Alpha Epsilon pin has engraved on it's back something like "B 1960A" on it because the brother was in Sigma Alpha Epsilon - Beta Chapter Fall 1960 Pledge Class, who would ever wear it again? Would you melt it down?

Randy

This isn't even the "official" pin.
We had a vendor selling these at our Convention last week.