Can someone give me pintrade 101?

[JC Butterfly]

Hellllllloooo-

I feel like I'm jumping into very dangerous territory. As a recovering Disney beanie collector, I have just purchased my first set of pins at the Disney Store. I am interested in trading for my upcoming trip to WDW. How do I know which ones will make more popular trades? For instance, it seems that everyone is having trouble locating the Walt and Mickey pin . . . is it popular because they are together? Because Walt is rare? Help me out!

how do I know a pin's number?

I really need a pin trading 101! Since I can't afford to own *every* pin, how can I know which ones will help me get other pins that I want? How will I know if I am making a good trade?

Thanks so much,

Brenda

 

[Engr-Chas]

Hi, The reason that the Pin#1 Walt and Mickey are soo popular is because there weren't that many released and there are not to many pins with Walt on them. Pin numbers can be found at pinpics.com. You can see what pins have been released every day at dizpins.com. If you are going to be trading online, make sure that the trader has references (ebay, dizpins, etc). A good way to start pin trading/collecting is to start collecting what you like (Mickey's, Donald's, ride pins, etc). Have fun and don't go broke! If you need any more info, let me know.

 

[BeautyLLM]

Hi Brenda,

Welcome to the wacky world of pin collecting, and welcome to the DIS Collectors Board!
I'll try to answer some of your questions.

At WDW, you can trade with any CM wearing a lanyard. I believe the rule now is that you can only give the CM a pin that they do not already have on their lanyard, although my experience is that they do not seem to adhere to that guideline. You can also ask to trade with any guest who is wearing a lanyard or showing a pin book. A couple of quick guidelines:

*Rack pins (unlimited pins) trade for rack pins
*Limited edition (LE) pins usually trade at equal edition sizes ie an LE 5000 for an LE 5000. On most of the newer pins, this is imprinted on the back of the pin.
*Beyond that you come into a gray area, where you might trade two or more pins for one....this is the fun of negotiating...maybe you did some of this with your Beanies! The thing to remember is that you can always say no if the trade doesn't feel right to you. Usually people will say "no problem". If you find that someone is trying to talk you into a trade that you don't feel comfortable with, ask other traders if they are around or just say no thanks.
*Regarding desireability of pins, usually lower edition sizes are more desireable than others, but not always. For instance, there was a pin last year called the Main Street Electrical Parade Spinner pin, LE 7500 that everyone went nuts over and it became hard to get. In general, an LE of that size is easy to find.

Well, hope this helped a bit. My best advice is look for the pins you like and have fun. Pin collectors are the best! You will meet alot of great people! Don't worry if you can't trade for a pin you want...there is always a better deal tomorrow!

Leslie