Name: Tremplin Numérique
Price range: $$$

“PIN” is a crucial acronym if you are trading valuables on the internet. Keep reading to find out what it means and why you should pay attention to it, and why PIN can mean a lot of money.

In this section:

new in package

In online marketplaces, NIP stands for "new in packaging". Sellers use this acronym to refer to items that are new and still in their original packaging. You can find this practice on websites such as eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or specialist reseller communities for various product categories. It is often combined with "condition", which is the part of a sales message where the seller indicates the current condition of the item. A similar term, "NIB", stands for "new in box".

A "new in packaging" item has the retail value closest to the original price. If a product is PIN, the seller has probably never opened it or removed any seals on the packaging, such as plastic wrap or a seal on a box. Depending on the type of product, the value of an item may drop after opening the packaging. It drops even further once someone uses the product, i.e. when the product goes from PIN to “used”.

This acronym is mostly capitalized to avoid confusion with the word "nip", which means to pinch someone or rip something. You may also see the idiom “nip it in the bud,” meaning to end something before it has a chance to progress.

One thing to note is that the PIN is primarily for products with prominent packaging such as electronics, toys, and appliances. Some products, especially clothing, do not come with unique packaging. Apparel sellers use “NWT” and “BNWT” instead, which stand for “new with tags” and “brand new with tags,” respectively.

The origin of the PIN

The term "PIN" probably originated in online shopping websites and classifieds such as eBay and Craigslist in the 90s or early 2000s. It then spread to consumer online services (such as Facebook and Twitter) in the 2010s as online retailing became more ubiquitous.

However, evaluating products based on their packaging is a long-standing practice in person-to-person selling. For example, Hemingway's apocryphal short story “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn” is one of the most famous examples of flash fiction. He reveals that the fact that they are “never worn” is essential information. Acronyms like NIP are arguably a continuation of this.

Value retention

PIN products are often the closest to their original value. When a product is sold close to its original release date and has not yet been discounted, a PIN List may sell for close to the original retail price. This may require information like a receipt or papers to confirm its legitimacy.

For example, let's say you accidentally bought two pairs of the newest AirPods right from launch. If you haven't opened any of the boxes at all, you'll probably be able to sell them for almost full price. You can also resell several items that you managed to get at a wholesale discount, in which case you can probably sell them at the standard retail price.

However, as mentioned earlier, there is a hierarchy of value when it comes to reselling items online. PIN products are at the top, with unused but open items below. Next are EUC and GUC products, which stand for “excellent used condition” and “good used condition”. These are acronyms used to describe the condition of a used product.

Collection value

Leaving products in their original packaging is very common, especially in amateur and collector circles. A good example is in the toy collecting community, where rare, decades-old action figures resell for hundreds or thousands of dollars each. Many collectors never even open the packaging of some limited items to ensure they retain their prices over decades. These products often instantly lose a significant amount of value if the packaging is opened or damaged.

This practice is also common in trading card communities. Since individual baseball or basketball cards can be worth a ton, many sellers will trade packs instead. Each deck may contain cards that are essentially worthless or valued at thousands of dollars. There are organizations that verify the authenticity and condition of trading card sheets.

For collectors, NIP can be synonymous with "mint in a box" or "mint in a package", sometimes abbreviated as MIB and MIP.

RELATED: Here's how much your 90s toys are worth

How to use PIN

If you want to use NIP to enhance your sales messages, it's pretty simple. Simply add it to any sales station where the product you are selling is unused and still in its original packaging. Or if you're looking to buy a product in mint condition, search for "PIN" on online marketplaces like eBay.

Here are some examples of PINs in action: