I Need A Pin Trading 101

[figment_jii]

How can we determine while trading that the pin might be a scrapper? Can we take a look at it and hold it just to feel it's weight? What would be the signs?

Sadly, there is no sure fire way to identify a scrapper pin...some are very obvious, while others are very subtle. The only way to really identify a scrapper is to have a non-scrapper in hand and do a comparison, but most folks aren't going to have a non-scrapper in hand. The issue is that there are two different types of scrappers out there: fake/copy/knock-offs and over-runs. The fakes/copies/knock-offs are probably easier to identify, but the over-runs look like legit pins (e.g., Disney orders 1 million pins and the factory makes 1.1 million, so there is now 0.1 million over-run pins).

Reddog1134 listed some of the ways to identify a badly made scrapper (bad colors, rough finish or no finish), but some scrappers are very hard to identify. Just holding the pin and feeling the weight isn't really going to be a full proof method either because the weight is so small to begin with.

 

[jcano]

I guess I don't really worry about it. If I like the pin, I trade for the pin. I'm just collecting things I like. It's not like I'm planning to sell them
someday and send my kid to college with the proceeds. That's why I bought Beanie Babies! ;D

 

[ErinTwinmom]

I by pins on Amazon. I get a good mix. Last batch around Christmas I got a lot of vinalmation pins and a kingdom hearts Mickey pin that made me the coolest Aunt ever. They are so cheap that they are fake I'm sure, but they look good. No bad Colorado and all the right marks. And we have fun trading them.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

You guys all left out the most important step.

Step 0: write down your bank balance. You will want it for the future so you can look back and shake your head at how much money you used to have. It will never be that high again.

Pin trading is very addictive. It starts with a lanyard and a few pins. it ends with books of pins that you never look at.

 

[lazy daisy]

You guys all left out the most important step.

Step 0: write down your bank balance. You will want it for the future so you can look back and shake your head at how much money you used to have. It will never be that high again.

Pin trading is very addictive. It starts with a lanyard and a few pins. it ends with books of pins that you never look at.

I take out my collection if pins and look they them befor every trip!! Some I decide to trade and some I wouldn't part with for nothing!! I love looking at them, reminds me of all the fun I had collecting them!

 

[lazy daisy]

I take out my collection if pins and look they them befor every trip!! Some I decide to trade and some I wouldn't part with for nothing!! I love looking at them, reminds me of all the fun I had collecting them!

Excuse grammar, phone does what it wants lol! Should be " look at them"

 

[jcano]

You guys all left out the most important step. Step 0: write down your bank balance. You will want it for the future so you can look back and shake your head at how much money you used to have. It will never be that high again. Pin trading is very addictive. It starts with a lanyard and a few pins. it ends with books of pins that you never look at.

It is addictive!

I bought cork squares and mounted one for each person on the wall in the den, so everyone's pins are displayed. I also have a couple sets that I use as thumb tack on a board in the kitchen. They always make me smile.

 

[china mom]

You have no idea how hard it is for me and my Type A personality to watch my daughter trade a CE, or even worse, a rack pin for a piglet or baby mickey starter pin. But, I promised myself I would stay out of - no matter how much it pains me.

 

[iheartjuppy]

We just bought the kids their first lanyards and starter kits last year on our trip (DS turned 5 on the trip, DD was just under 2 so just liked the necklace!). DS LOVED trading and was so excited and I had to bite my tongue quite a bit because it killed me to watch him trade away an LE Cruise Line pin that was a gift from a friend for an OBVIOUS scrapper. I said nothing, and he was BEAMING when he presented his trade - a rough-edged awfully discolored knockoff Snow White pin - to his baby sister as a gift. I was afraid to let her touch it in case she cut herself (the sides were SHARP) but his excitement was enough to make the entire thing worth it. This year I'm going to make a concerted effort to just let him do his thing but hope that the kid-only CM traders aren't as inundated with scrappers as they were last year. I think the combination of "for profit" traders sending their kids with scrappers for them and the families buying big scrapper lots on eBay to "start out" are flooding the parks with so many scrappers. If it's decent looking and not sharp/dangerous I wouldn't care as much but some of them are downright unsafe.