Help! A new pin trader needs advice

[carolrie]

Hi!

I am really new to this but due to TDS sale I wated to get some pins for my dd 4, dd 2, and okay me too to trade. I have a question about the ones with dates on them or the calendar ones of 2002 are they more or less desirable because of the date? WIll the cm's trade anything on their lanyards or are some pins rarer? I have no idea how to tell if something is more rare or not and should or should not be traded. Also I am looking for a place to get lanyards. Thanks in advance for all of your help!!!!!

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Hi, Carolrie, and welcome to the Collectors Board.

The Disney Store pins are pretty much common pins. The supply is going to exceed the demand among collectors. That doesn't mean that they're not good for trading with WDW CMs and their lanyards. In fact, they seemed to really like the Disney Store pins because they were different from most of the pins they usually saw.

Some pins with dates are more desirable than others. Those would be LEs for certain events, such as Independence Day or the WDW Marathon. Many other factors play into desirability -- what is the edition size? is the pin retired? is it a cast member pin? what character is depicted?

Sometimes -- okay, a lot of times -- desirability can be very subjective. For example, Stitch, Tinkerbell, and Figment are very popular characters and some of the pins with them are very hot. I'm not a huge fan of any of them, so pins featuring them are not high on my wants list.

I'm not sure where to find lanyards outside of the parks. The Disney Stores did have some at one time but I haven't seen them there in a while. DW Lauri and I visited the Disney Catalog Outlet at Potomac Mills yesterday and they had some of the Disney Catalog lanyards for sale. If there's an Outlet location near you, that might be a possibility.

Hope this helps.

[ivanova]

WIll the cm's trade anything on their lanyards or are some pins rarer?

CMs are supposed to accept any Disney copyrighted pin in trade for whatever pin you would like off their lanyard, regardless of "rare" or "common". Some traders will trade limited edition (LE) pins onto CM lanyards (which of course other pin traders find and trade to get off CM lanyards). Sometimes management places desirable (i.e. LE) pins on CM lanyards for guests to find.

[EpcotKilterFan]

Welcome to the world of Pin trading!!

Trading with Cast members is alot of fun. It is my favorite part of trading.

Best piece of advice is to trade / collect what you like. Whether it is "rare" or not. Some of my favorite pins are "common" pins.

As for a lanyard... check your Disney Store and *maybe* you will find one laying around. Or when you arrive at the park they are everywhere.

Have fun!!

Debbie

[AZ JazzyJ]

Did someone say lanyards?



Please don't use the "L" word!

Jeff

[AWilliams]

I'm also considering testing the pin trading waters when we go down in May. I was thinking about using my camera strap to display the pins. Is this okay? How many pins should I start off with? I will probably just trade with CMs to begin with.

Thanks!!!

[Figgy]

That is pretty good. It doesn't matter where or even if you display your pins. The kids might find trading with other kids fun as you are running around the park. My son loves to trade with CMs and that is all I pretty much let him trade with because they don't quite grasp the fact that when trading with someone else they can't just say here and get the pin they want of the lanyard...LOL

If you want to brush up a knowledge of pins you can check out www.pinpics.com it is an information database of pin and has over 18000 pins in it. If you want to keep abreast of the latest releases at WDW and check out what is released each day you can go to www.dizpins.com this is a good way to learn.

If you have any questions these boards are always a good place to ask and learn.

And if you want to go to a very very interesting talk on Pin Trading and how pins are made then you should definitely plan to catch the daily talk with Scoop Sanderson at Exposition Hall on Main Street. He is there at 1:00PM everyday EXCEPT Friday and Sat. He is very informative and you kids will love him....