How to get into pin trading

mrsgoose8

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 30, 2012
Messages
236
It hour spending a fortune! Is it possible?

My now almost 5 yr old had a great time trading pins when she was 3- but we only have like 6 pins. Without spending a fortune, is there a good way to get tradable pins, like a website or something? I know I have to have the authentic Disney ones..
Anyway any tips would be appreciated :)
 
Watch Disneystore dot com for good deals. Sometimes they will have pins half off, and they are probably utterly unrelated to anything your kids are interested in, and that's fine, because they can trade for stuff they like.

We ended up getting 2 starter kits with a lanyard and 8 pins for only $25 by watching the sales on Park merchandise.
 
Last yr, my friend ordered a bunch off of ebay for cheap & purchased the lanyard in Disney. Her kids then traded the ebay ones for ones they wanted in the Parks.
 

I ordered pins on amazon before going. I believe I got 15 for $20, they said authentic and they looked authentic. Not sure if they really were but the kids traded them just fine and had a blast :)
 
We are a family of six and we all love pin trading. What I have done is order everything off of ebay. I just type in AUTHENTIC and then Disney pins or lanyards. Yes you run the risk of getting fakes and that is not good but it is a gamble. Often people go to Disney once, think they'll be 'into' it and then end up selling their stuff on ebay. Also look for sellers with high seller ratings. The last batch of pins I bought there were 25 pins and I paid $19.99. This gives us a neck full of pins to trade and have the experience without spending an arm and a leg. When we do go, we do buy a genuine pin with the year on it as a souvenir which is always nice. Hope that helps :)
 
I get our pins on discount order 50 to 100 at time, then I provide each our kids with maybe 5-7 pins to put on their landyard.

Well actually, we have them put all the pins in the middle of the table and they pick one each round, like a draft.

I am going on trip # 4 - each year I have them get a new lanyard and plan on making a book for each of them...

Yah I am a Disney Dork....
 
Thanks all! I got some off of eBay and I also ordered a set with the 20% off code on the dis store website.:. May return those, we will see.
 
We look to see when the Disney store is having a sale - then we order the packs with many pins. My kids keep what they want and trade the rest. We also order several mystery sets. They are cheaper and they can trade away what they don't want. Then you know they are authentic.
 
Check out the collectible a board. There is a pin thread that lists good and bad pin sellers on EBay.

I spent about $100 on pins (about 35 pins) for our last trip using this. I purchased from 3 different sellers. They were beautiful good pins.

I made the mistake of purchasing a 50 pin "lot" the first time I wanted to set the kids up..... Little did I know about all the counterfeits and scrapers. They looked mostly okay... Some were a bit off. I researched and was shocked! I could not in good conscience let my kids trade them. That to me is the same as theft or stealing.

Bottom line is pins bought on Ebay in bulk large lots are probably counterfeits or scrapers. Too good to be true? Probably is. :-( If you get your Ebay bulk lot pin order and all the pins are in individual tiny zip bags that is a good sign they are counterfeits or scrapers. There are a ton of listings from known fake pin sellers that say they buy in parks or are selling unused pins.

This being said there are good pin sellers on Ebay. I choose to pay a bit more to get the kids set up with traders. I know when they trade with CM's they will end up with some scrapers....some are very obvious.... But they have fun collecting certain themes or characters regardless and keep their collections.

Good luck!
 
Once you have pins, If you are staying at a resort ask if they have pin trading board.
 
I buy my husband pins off of eBay and from disney.
-I only will buy from non business's to try and avoid fakes. On the last batch i got, about 10 out of 50 were scrapers.( I throw the scrapers out) I research each pin to make sure they are real once I get them i don't want to cause my husband to be embarrassed in a park.
-I will only buy lots were i get what I see. There are a decent amount of scrapers coming out of china and others USA sellers have them so buy with care.
- with pin trading never let a cast member see your pins in a plastic bag that they sometimes get shipped in. Also never tell them you bought them off eBay. They may not trade with you because there are so many fakes on eBay.
-the deal that disney ran in there parks was awesome the last two years we were down there. If you spent 40 at select stores you could buy a pin set and lanyard for 12.95+ tax. On our last trip we did notice that some stores were switching over to a similar deal only with a bag and something else (can't remember) so this deal is not always available.
 
So, for the real newbie.... Who can the kids trade their pins with. We went on a the Disney Dream cruise a few years ago and they now want to try trading pins. They have pins they would like to trade out. Thanks!! :confused3
 
The Disney outlet stores at two of the Premium Outlet malls in the Orlando area have pins and starter sets at 25% - 50% off. It is random though and obviously not the most popular or timely (like 2013 theme vs. 2014) but since you are trading anyway...and at least you aren't passing on scrappers.

Cheers!
 
So, for the real newbie.... Who can the kids trade their pins with. We went on a the Disney Dream cruise a few years ago and they now want to try trading pins. They have pins they would like to trade out. Thanks!! :confused3

Your kids can trade with any cast member they see that is wearing a lanyard. No questions asked. :)
 





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