How to Pin trade?

[danielephant]

Not sure if there is a tutorial on here about pin trading. But I would love to know about it. I was going to buy a "lot" off eBay before our trip and wondered exactly how it worked. Do you just walk up to a cm and ask to see their pins and if you like one you see you just swap theirs out with yours? Or do they pick what pin of yours they would like?

 

[Danauk]

If you look on the collectors board there is lots of info on pin trading. The basics though are that you ask a CM to trade, choose a pin from their lanyard and you give them any pin from yours that you would like to. A warning about the 'lot' pins on ebay. They are more that likely fakes, unauthorised pins that do look like the real pins bought in the parks, but they have inperfections in them. Having said that a CM will still accept them for a trade.

 

[carrie1626]

I've seen CM's pin trading every trip.
Usually children, but anyone can ask to trade a pin with a CM.

If you're new to it, give it a day or two to look at the pins in the resorts and gift shops and pay attention to the CM's and their pins. PINS are everywhere.. Then jump on board. Warning: It can be addictive

Me, I love my pins too much, but I still wear my landyard w/o the pin trading card)

 

[duffy]

I wouldn't know a "scrapper" from a "real" pin. I trade for fun.

Here's what I would consider to be a great trade:

I'm in line for, oh, let's say a bus. Kids in front of me are looking at my pins. They keep looking, but don't say anything, probably too shy. Trading is very new to them.

I ask, kind of loudly, so as to get their parents' attention: "Would you like to look at my pins?" I make sure the parents are watching the entire transaction, and hopefully, they don't interfere, telling the kids what to do. I think it's a good lesson for kids to do their own trading, if they're old enough.

I'm careful to keep my distance, I don't want to be perceived as coming too close to the kids. One child may say something like, "I like that one," pointing to a pin that I don't care about, which is most of the ones I'm displaying. (The ones I want to keep are in my room. I may have just picked up one I want to keep, though.)

I say, "Do you want to trade?" Child says yes, and I ask which one of theirs they would like to trade for mine. Just for fun, I might say, "well, how about that one?" and point to a different one of theirs. If they shake their heads no, they want to keep that one, then I say, "Ok, I guess I'll take the one you want to trade," without caring.

We each take off the pin, and drop it in the hand of the other. I have no idea if I got a "scrapper" or not. The point is, the child got the pin he/she wanted. And I exchanged a pin that I don't really
want, for probably another one that I don't really want. Win-win!!

I'm not about to whip out a magnifying glass to look over the child's pin, or dig out a guide book. He can have my pin from Cars-I'm not much of a fan of that movie-and I'll take his Mickey Mouse pin, which is always something I'd like! Did I exchange my scrapper for his non-scrapper? Beats me!

Child is all excited. "Look, Mom! Look at the pin I just got!!"

It's about the trade, not the pin, for me. I've made a child happy, and that's what counts.

I'm going to get a lot more pins from Ebay for our next trip, just to trade.

 

[maman_et_fille]

Disney has a pin site: http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/page?id=getStarted

We have done the ebay lot purchase in the past . . . won't do it again, but it is a mental and monetary challenge to find "cheaper" authentic pins for my daughter to trade away when we know she is most likely going to pick a scrapper from a CM's lanyard (CMs cannot object to a guest's choice off the CM's lanyard and will not turn down a scrapper pin - most probably don't know the difference)

My DD5 loves to pin trade! (And that's what it's all about for us; if you want pins to "collect" you are much better off buying them outright)

 

[danielephant]

Yeah This would most defiantly be for fun. I don't really have the desire to "collect" just thought it would be somethjg to talk about in lines with DD and such. And we DI talk to cms quite a bit so this would be a nice way to work on DD's manners as well

 

[phred52]

We are a big pin trading family.

Through the years we have had numerous times been refused trades because a pin was a 'scrapper' or fake Disney pin.

Several times I'd trade a cast member for a pin 'just because' only to show it to my DD who immediately told me it was a fake, then she'd proceeds to point out why. THEN I'd have a heck of a time re-trading it back to another cast member ....

So, I'd suggest if you do get a 'lot' of pins from e-bay to check the sellers feedback as you want the whole pin trading experience to be a positive one for your kiddos. And e-bay is the way to get into pin trading without breaking the bank