Any cast member wearing a lanyard, or a hip pouch with pins on it, is required to trade up to 2 pins to anyone who asks.
I was a pin newbie when I went, but it was super easy to get the hang of, and it was a lot of fun talking pins with the cast members. I went into it thinking it was something they did more so with kids, but would trade with an adult occasionally. That wasn't my experience at all. I was never turned away.
I never did any trades between other people- just CM's. I went down with 20 pins, but wound up sharing them with my niece and nephew. I bought SO many $12 mystery packs, it wasn't even funny. Next time, I intend to go down with a lot more than 20 pins to start.
I purchased about 10 non-mystery pins that I kept. Those are my pins because I liked them. The trading pins- some of them I kept, some I traded.
I didn't trade for expensive pins, I traded for pins I liked, or characters I liked. It was a lot of fun.
I bought my own lanyard at Claire's on clearance. It was a Nightmare Before Christmas one. I bought one for my friend, niece, and nephew each just at Dollar Tree last minute.
I did buy 1 lanyard at Disney when my own lanyard became crowded, but I didn't like it as much. I hate that it velcros on the bottom. I prefer the styles that have a clamp/locking thing behind the neck.
Tips-
Pick some up on ebay before going. Buying them at the park is pricey, and will add up super fast if you want to trade. It's addicting, so be prepared for that.
Buy some locking backs for the pins you want to keep, and lock them on your lanyard. I think we lost 3 pins the first day to lost backs.
Keep your trading pins in a bag- this made it easier and faster to trade, just pull out the bag, grab a pin, and trade. I kept 2 baggies in my backpack. One was for pins to trade, the other was for pins I had already gotten and wanted to keep.
Talk to your kids about trading, but maybe set some limits. My niece and nephew were SO into it, they were trading anything they got their hands on- even the expensive ones we bought as souvenirs for them. Decide how often you'll stop to do a trade, or how many pins they can have to trade each day, and what to do with pins they do not wish to trade at all. For instance- if it's locked on the lanyard, it's off limits.
With kids, I would limit trading to doing it with cast members. There are some shady traders at the parks who will try to take advantage of you and your kids. I saw one woman who must have had 50 lanyards displayed on her
scooter, and she was trying to talk people into buying a brand new pin, trading it to her with the receipt for one of her old pins. This allows her to then return the pin for a full refund. So, just be aware when trading to non-cast members.
