Got scared off from starting my kids on pin trading

[ktjohn]

We are leaving for Disney in 8 days! Originally I talked to my husband about getting some pins, so my 2 girls (7 and 5) could start pin trading. He was in agreement, so I started reading through threads here.

I have to say my enthusiasm for this great idea is now gone. I told my husband to forget the idea. One of the following scenario's would happen...

A. I pay a high price for authentic pins, and my kids trade them all away for "scraps" they find on the CM's lanyards. Then I will have paid all that money, and the value of what they end up with is much less.

B. I buy a bunch of pins on ebay and become the culprit who filled the CM's lanyards with scraps... therefore ruining it for everyone else.

I feel like this is a no win situation. Neither myself or my girls would know the difference between a real and a fake, and my kids would probably go for anything with a princess on it.

I couldn't figure out how to look up the "safe" sellers on ebay. I'm not sure how to search for a specific seller. But even if I found them, it still doesn't solve my problem of trading them away for scraps.

I'm really sad about this, because it was supposed to be our alternative to coloring the masks in Epcot. My kids won't want to color a Duffy bear, so I got all excited about starting them out on pin collecting (something they can grow up doing). Now I'm too scared to do it.

Any advice or thoughts?

 

[livndisney]

We are leaving for Disney in 8 days! Originally I talked to my husband about getting some pins, so my 2 girls (7 and 5) could start pin trading. He was in agreement, so I started reading through threads here.

I have to say my enthusiasm for this great idea is now gone. I told my husband to forget the idea. One of the following scenario's would happen...

A. I pay a high price for authentic pins, and my kids trade them all away for "scraps" they find on the CM's lanyards. Then I will have paid all that money, and the value of what they end up with is much less.

B. I buy a bunch of pins on ebay and become the culprit who filled the CM's lanyards with scraps... therefore ruining it for everyone else.

I feel like this is a no win situation. Neither myself or my girls would know the difference between a real and a fake, and my kids would probably go for anything with a princess on it.

I couldn't figure out how to look up the "safe" sellers on ebay. I'm not sure how to search for a specific seller. But even if I found them, it still doesn't solve my problem of trading them away for scraps.

I'm really sad about this, because it was supposed to be our alternative to coloring the masks in Epcot. My kids won't want to color a Duffy bear, so I got all excited about starting them out on pin collecting (something they can grow up doing). Now I'm too scared to do it.

Any advice or thoughts?

I would not worry.

1) you can't fill a cm lanyard with scrappers- they limit the trades to 2.
2) I have bought bags of pins from Ebay and have yet to have any problems.
3) Let your children trade the pins. My DD LOVES to pin trade.

Look at the feedback before you bid on a lot. I think there is even a list here of people who have been "problems" in the past.

Pin trading was intended to be fun not the "thing" some people have made it into.

 

[pixiemeg]

I would agree-- please keep this fun/ not an investment-- and enjoy. On ebay-- check out the rating and buy from someone who specializes in disney pins. Some of the larger sellers will even let you send them to your hotel. For trader pins, you can buy only single large group and then your cost could be less than a $1 per pin.

For my 2 kids, our first time I bought about 15 each and this last time I bought 50 (8 and 10yo). We trade till we run out and they end up with a wonderful memories of the trip. We really just trade with cast members but just love all of the conversations it starts with so many people. I think I enjoy all of these talks more then the pins. It really ends up being their favorite gift from the trip and lasts for ages to come.

Let me know if you have other questions.
Meg

 

[solfan68]

First of all, enjoy your trip. We were in The World last week and it was a tremendous time.

But on to the pins. Before we left I bought a small lot from a dealer who was neither on the good list, nor the bad. I did scrutinize them as best I could looking at tips here and info from Pin Pics. Is it possible that we put some scrappers into cirulation ? Yes. Am I losing sleep over it ? No.

I also got a good deal on the carded UP pins that the Disney store was selling back before Christmas. Is it possible that we got taken and traded known good pins for scrappers ? Yes. Again, not losing sleep over it. In fact, almost certain that I traded for a monorail that is part of a limited series of 500. Quite likely a scrapper, but I think its really cool, and wish I had found a few more out there. I would have gladly traded for them.

My apologies to the true collectors, that I may have unknowingly cheated.

In the end, what I can say is that my son and I had a fun time interacting with Cast Members and discussing pins with fellow guests. And we came home with some great trades(plus a few pins that we paid The Mouse for). I think that you'll have fun either way, but the trading past time is a great way to enhance the Disney vacation.

 

[tnhillbilly]

Hello,
Me and my son both trade pins in the park. Yes before I was informed about the scrapper issue, I myself bought a bag of pins on the bay. I have not since but have purchased pins from people off of pin discussion boards, usually $2. Pin. A lot of “cuties”, and boxed characters sets that get purchased in the park for trading, which is fine just saving me from having to buy the same thing at full price.
Why do you want to get the girls started into trading? Building a Collection that is worth a lot of money? Building a collection of metal pins that when they look at them they bring back memories? Adding to their experience while on vacation?
NO ONE wants to feel like they are geeing taken advantage of but if you go into pin trading as a fun thing to do, experiences with your girls, and something to bring back memories, and not as a money investment collection to make a return on, you will enjoy it.
Here is what we do.
We sit aside a $ amount to spend on pins in the stores that are coming home with is, adding to our collection. Those go to the room and are packed.
We bring down traders that we purchased from, hopefully, honest, pin sellers (no _bay stores and only has pins for sale in small groups at random times), and buy some of the cheapest trading sets that Disney has to offer.
Then as we are trading in the parks we only trade for pins we like.
Our collection will never be worth the money we have put into it. I know some of the pins that have came home with is are scrappers, which I did mark on the back with red nail polish, but it’s about the memories we will have when we look at them, time spent together, who found the last one need to finish up a set, who traded more, who spent time with me doing something fun.

 

[figment_jii]

I agree with the PP's. There is always the possibility that you could either add to or end up with scrappers after trading pins, but overall, the point is to have fun. I've done a lot of trading through the years and yes, I'm sure I've traded for and traded away scrappers. Do I know which pins were which? Not really (there were a few pins that I knew were scrappers so I didn't make the trade - in this case it was because I was collecting anything that had a Figment on it and that one pin looked very different from the other five I had of the same design). In most cases it's hard to tell.

My feelings is that in the end, if you like the pin, does it really matter if it's a scrapper? It's not like you're going to try and re-sell the pins and might end up with an angry customer.

You're doing this for fun and you're daughters will have a good time collecting princesses. In most cases, the CM's are willing to trade anything and they won't say to your kids, "no I won't trade this because I think it's a scrapper."

If you're worried about the financial investment in purchasing pins and then coming back with pins of lesser value - try to think of the purchase like buying tickets to a movie or the tickets to the parks themselves. You spent money and it was worth it, in part because of the fun and wonderful memories you got from the activity. Pin trading is about collecting pins you like and the fun of looking at lanyards are trading. If you think about it that way, then it might help reduce the worries about not trading for more expensive pins.

 

[pixiewings71]

Of course you could end up with scrappers, we have tons in our collections. I'm sure we've traded them as well, in fact before I had any idea what scrappers were I purchased from scrapper sellers and traded the pins. It's not something you can stress over, you will get scrappers, you will trade scrappers without knowing, it's part of trading. Honestly, pin trading is not meant to be an investment that gives you a big return, it's meant to be a fun hobby and something to do while at the parks. It's fun, we've met a lot of really nice people thru trading.
As for how to find sellers on eBay it's actually quite easy, just click the advanced search button, on the left of the screen check the box that says "by seller" and enter the sellers name in the search window, you will have no problems finding them that way. As a second option you can join Disney Pin Forum (do a google search) and there are people there that sell pins for a few dollars per pin.
good luck with whatever you decide to do, pin trading is fun but it can be disheartening if you dwell too much on the scrapper issues.
Personally, I try to trade real pins, but I also try to get them at a bargain price. I'm not an expert in any way, just a hobby trader but I know how you feel.

 

[carebee21]

I actually agree with the OP and wouldn't bother if I was her. Unless you know how to tell a fake or scrapper pin, I just don't see the point. My son absolutely loves pins and pin trading, but slowly, we've been waning away from it, just because the lanyards are becoming so oversaturated with fake pins. We've even seem some cast member with lanyards that were 100% fake pins. We're pretty informed and good at picking them out, so he still trades here and there, but we've definately cut back and now only buy them at the park to keep, not trade. I just hope Disney figures out how to put a stop to the fake pins before it continues to get worse.

And no, it's not that we financially invest in pins and expect an equal return, however, I would never trade a real coach bag for a fake one just because I liked the pattern better. I would expect something of equal quality and somewhat similar value. Plus, I just don't think it's right that some people spend $10-$15 for pins while disney allows others that spend $.50-$1.00 on pins to trade, even if the cast members now the pins are fake (which if you talk to the cast members, they're pretty knowledgeable.)

Now, stepping off of my soap box, we've replaced pin trading with vinylmations. You can pick the vinylmations up on sale at disney store.com for $5.99 and trade those throughout the park. And I haven't heard of any fake ones, at least not yet

 

[debranator]

There is an easy way now...to trade..without a large investment...
and..without the worry of possibly.."losing value".
Mousegear at Epcot and world of disney downtown,
..to name a couple of stores..
have a pwp deal..that would make it easy for you to trade.
they sell a lanyard..with 8 large character pins..for 15..or 16..bucks[i forget]..
with a 40 buck purchase.
this way..you will not pay a lot to get started.
and..as you paid so little..you will not have to worry about trading for a lesser valued pin.
also, the new PWP pin deal at the pin trading store in DTD...
is with every 30 buck purchase..you get a mystery key for a buck..
as they are new..
all the key pins so far..
are real..
that you see on cm lanyards.
As for the poster with the vinylmations..
yes..they are a lot of fun..
and.I trade both.
but,,they require a much larger financial investment at the park..
as they have raised the prices on most of them to 12 or 13..
although,,the holiday 2 series is still 10.

 

[pixiewings71]

I actually agree with the OP and wouldn't bother if I was her. Unless you know how to tell a fake or scrapper pin, I just don't see the point. My son absolutely loves pins and pin trading, but slowly, we've been waning away from it, just because the lanyards are becoming so oversaturated with fake pins. We've even seem some cast member with lanyards that were 100% fake pins. We're pretty informed and good at picking them out, so he still trades here and there, but we've definately cut back and now only buy them at the park to keep, not trade. I just hope Disney figures out how to put a stop to the fake pins before it continues to get worse.

And no, it's not that we financially invest in pins and expect an equal return, however, I would never trade a real coach bag for a fake one just because I liked the pattern better. I would expect something of equal quality and somewhat similar value. Plus, I just don't think it's right that some people spend $10-$15 for pins while disney allows others that spend $.50-$1.00 on pins to trade, even if the cast members now the pins are fake (which if you talk to the cast members, they're pretty knowledgeable.)

Now, stepping off of my soap box, we've replaced pin trading with vinylmations. You can pick the vinylmations up on sale at disney store.com for $5.99 and trade those throughout the park. And I haven't heard of any fake ones, at least not yet

I agree that CM's should be more informed on how to tell scrappers. That said I've seen many CM's take a pin and pocket it, I've asked why and they've said it's broken or they suspect it's a scrapper and don't want to trade it. So not all CM's don't care. I've managed to find enough sellers with legit pins that I'm not paying more then $2-4 per pin for traders, but I belong to boards where pin trading is the main focus. Perhaps I've been lucky that way. I won't give up completely on trading, I enjoy it too much, but I do look at pins before trading with anyone, CM's to park guests.

 

[carebee21]

I agree that CM's should be more informed on how to tell scrappers. That said I've seen many CM's take a pin and pocket it, I've asked why and they've said it's broken or they suspect it's a scrapper and don't want to trade it. So not all CM's don't care. I've managed to find enough sellers with legit pins that I'm not paying more then $2-4 per pin for traders, but I belong to boards where pin trading is the main focus. Perhaps I've been lucky that way. I won't give up completely on trading, I enjoy it too much, but I do look at pins before trading with anyone, CM's to park guests.

Most of the CM's are pretty informed, IMO. The problem is, they don't turn away guests with fake pins. I know it brings up a big can of worms, but if the pin is fake or they have good reason to suspect it's fake, they should say, unfortunately we can't trade that pin. I know it's idealistic and implementation wouldn't be so easy (you'd tick off a lot of people) but I honestly think it's the only way to maintain the integrity of pin trading.

And we don't pay more than a few dollars for traders either. We stock up when they go on sale at Disneystore.com (I seriously think we have 10-15 packs of the up pins from when they were $6 for four pins) and we have a disney store outlet and the character warehouse, so we can stock up for fairly cheap!!!

 

[debranator]

Most of the CM's are pretty informed, IMO. The problem is, they don't turn away guests with fake pins. I know it brings up a big can of worms, but if the pin is fake or they have good reason to suspect it's fake, they should say, unfortunately we can't trade that pin. I know it's idealistic and implementation wouldn't be so easy (you'd tick off a lot of people) but I honestly think it's the only way to maintain the integrity of pin trading.

And we don't pay more than a few dollars for traders either. We stock up when they go on sale at Disneystore.com (I seriously think we have 10-15 packs of the up pins from when they were $6 for four pins) and we have a disney store outlet and the character warehouse, so we can stock up for fairly cheap!!!

Cms are told...unless it is a really obvious thing..to just trade.
If they suspect a pin is fake..they are told to switch it out.
Although,I noticed an earlier poster mentioning that the cm traded from his pocket..
you are not supposed to see that..ever...LOL
When they switch out from their pockets..it is for their own collections.
Of course it happens..you are just not supposed..to notice.

 

[pixiewings71]

Most of the CM's are pretty informed, IMO. The problem is, they don't turn away guests with fake pins. I know it brings up a big can of worms, but if the pin is fake or they have good reason to suspect it's fake, they should say, unfortunately we can't trade that pin. I know it's idealistic and implementation wouldn't be so easy (you'd tick off a lot of people) but I honestly think it's the only way to maintain the integrity of pin trading.

And we don't pay more than a few dollars for traders either. We stock up when they go on sale at Disneystore.com (I seriously think we have 10-15 packs of the up pins from when they were $6 for four pins) and we have a disney store outlet and the character warehouse, so we can stock up for fairly cheap!!!

IME they are not. In fact, I asked a CM to see a pin, she pulled it off, I looked it at, I gave it back, she asked why I didn't want it, I said it was a scrapper and she asked what a scrapper was and said she'd never heard of them before. So no, all CM's aren't very well informed. At least not IME.

I agree tho, they shouldn't take them if they aren't legit. Or they shouldn't put the scrapper on their lanyard and then trade it away, they should do as other CM's do, pocket it and not put it back into circulation.

 

[ktjohn]

Thank you, everybody, for your feedback!! I let my DH read it all, and we puzzled and pondered for a few days much like Winnie the Pooh. This morning we decided to get them 8 pins each from the Disney store clearance and test out the world of pin trading without going crazy with tons of pins. They each have 8 authentic pins, so I don't have to worry about guilt over putting more scrappers into circulation. If they do pick out scrappers from a CM, I'm not going to worry about it. It will be one that they chose and love, and that's all that matters. We might also grab that starter set deal at Mousegear for the starter set.

If they enjoy trading, we'll research some trading boards for less expensive authentic pins for future trips. I had several ebay auctions open with my finger on the trigger button, and I just couldn't do it. (I have been so indecisive about this whole thing!)

DH also said he would buy them a couple pins that they REALLY want (translation: Rapunzel and Pascal) at the end of the trip.

Crossing my fingers! We'll see how this goes! THANK YOU for all your honest feedback!

 

[debranator]

well..that is how it starts...
you are only going to buy them ONE good pin..each trip.
Good luck with that.
soon..you are..hooked.

 

[ktjohn]

well..that is how it starts...
you are only going to buy them ONE good pin..each trip.
Good luck with that.
soon..you are..hooked.

Yes, but shhhhh.... don't alert my DH to that fact!

 

[pixiewings71]

I'm glad we were all able to help. Enjoy your trades and your new hobby!! It is addicting!

 

[carebee21]

I agree, the addiction just starts with a few pins !!! Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[downsouthca]

hope its not too late, but I got a pin lot from here http://thepinstation.ecrater.com/ before my WDW trip and they were a good set. A Little more expensive, but worth. very few scrappers.

My Kids loved doing pins and they had some great CM interactions.

 

[tnhillbilly]

When you get back, how about an update?