Is this situation normal for pin trading?

[JKalai]

Me and the GF were in the parks this past weekend and are fairly new to pin trading. Before this trip, we purchased our pins at the Disney Outlet at about $1-$3 per pin so we knew going into it that all of our pins were 100% legit. I had heard about the big issue with fake pins at the parks, and we don't really care as we do not really trade for rarity or how much they are worth. We mainly just trade for fun.

Well this weekend after a day of trading I stopped in front of the Trading Outpost in Frontierland and saw a CM that had a really cool pin. I took off a pin I had traded for earlier in the day and gave it to the CM. The CM asked me "Do you have something better than that?" in a very sarcastic attitude. I thought the CM was joking at first, so I gave the CM the pin and we traded. The CM then took off the mickey back and threw it right into the trash in front of me!

Is this normal?!

I figured that I might have traded my legit pin for a fake earlier since we don't look at them up close to see if it is a fake. It kind of ruined the day as the CM was so rude about it. I regret not saying anything as I would hate for anyone else to have to deal with that, especially if they had legitimate pins!

 

[Pkltm]

so not normal.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Me and the GF were in the parks this past weekend and are fairly new to pin trading. Before this trip, we purchased our pins at the Disney Outlet at about $1-$3 per pin so we knew going into it that all of our pins were 100% legit. I had heard about the big issue with fake pins at the parks, and we don't really care as we do not really trade for rarity or how much they are worth. We mainly just trade for fun.

Well this weekend after a day of trading I stopped in front of the Trading Outpost in Frontierland and saw a CM that had a really cool pin. I took off a pin I had traded for earlier in the day and gave it to the CM. The CM asked me "Do you have something better than that?" in a very sarcastic attitude. I thought the CM was joking at first, so I gave the CM the pin and we traded. The CM then took off the mickey back and threw it right into the trash in front of me!

Is this normal?!

I figured that I might have traded my legit pin for a fake earlier since we don't look at them up close to see if it is a fake. It kind of ruined the day as the CM was so rude about it. I regret not saying anything as I would hate for anyone else to have to deal with that, especially if they had legitimate pins!

Ok, that is not normal at all! And so rude! I would absolutely report it, and if you remember approximately what time or location you can include that, or just do a general note so Disney will remind the CMs to be polite.

I have never had a bad experience trading with CMs. Sometimes, if I have my lanyard handy, I will let them pick one (if its on their lanyard, not on a board), but usually I just grab any pin and they are happy to trade!

 

[BadPinkTink]

unfortunately while not Disney standard and not the Disney way, things like this do happen. You obviously managed to catch a CM who takes pin trading seriously and can spot a fake or scrapper. The pin you got from them sounds to me like a pin they didnt want to trade, and you un wittingly traded a fake pin to them.

I always check pins I get in trade on pinpics.com its a database of pins and there are notes on all the pins

I had a similar experience in Disneyland Paris a few years ago. The CM wanted to pick a pin from my lanyard and became rude when I stood my ground and no you the CM can not choose. I am going to give you this and I want pin.

You just need to be firm and when you get a rude pin trading CM be rude back and stand your ground and take no bull from them

 

[WonkaKid]

Wow -- definitely not cool. There were so many better ways to handle that on the CM's part. I'd report it if I were you.

 

[cmwade77]

You may have had a fake or scrapper, which should never have been traded to you to begin with, but this is not right and in fact as far as I am aware against company policy. The CMs are required to trade pins, even if they know they are fake, they are supposed to turn in fake pins at the end of the day. The only time they are supposed to refuse is if they already have the pin you want to give them on their lanyard.

They may say something to you about it being a fake pin to help you spot them in the future, but really what they did is not cool and should be reported to city hall at bare minimum.

 

[tarheelalum]

That sounds like a very rude cast member. Don't stand for that type of conduct. Email disney and report their behavior. Include as much info as possible like the date, time, location, person etc..

 

[RapunzelIsMyHomeGirl]

Are you sure it was a cast member?? That interaction was against the way they are supposed to behave. Sorry that happened to you! We traded through 40 pins (all of our original real) this trip and the cast members were so lovely. The only time it gets a little confusing is with mystery pins because every cast member does it differently. Sometimes I felt a little self conscious because I would assume they did it x way, and instead they did it y way, and it seemed they were annoyed by the way I assumed it went, when in reality another CM DID just do it a completely different way.

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

Yikes, that’s horrible!

 

[figment_jii]

I've done lots of pin trading in DLR and that is not normal behavior. I have also run across CMs that do take pin trading quite seriously and have scrutinized offered pins, but I've never had a CM throw a pin away in front of me. I've seen them pocket the pin or put it in a draw, but never so rude as to throw it away. What happened to you was inappropriate, so I would definitely report that CM.

 

[Hojoanaheim]

You may have had a fake or scrapper, which should never have been traded to you to begin with, but this is not right and in fact as far as I am aware against company policy. The CMs are required to trade pins, even if they know they are fake, they are supposed to turn in fake pins at the end of the day. The only time they are supposed to refuse is if they already have the pin you want to give them on their lanyard.

They may say something to you about it being a fake pin to help you spot them in the future, but really what they did is not cool and should be reported to city hall at bare minimum.

This is the policy that I know of too. They have to trade if someone offers them a fake pin and just turn in the fake pin at the end of the day. When I trade, I still see a lot of fake pins so maybe some CMs don't know how to spot fake pins or care. Sorry that you ran into a CM that was TOTALLY RUDE. Hopefully that doesn't turn you away from pin trading. Most CMs are really nice about it. From what I know too, CM have the option to wear a lanyard, they don't have to wear it.

-Kriss

 

[Indiana Scott]

The whole story kinda makes me wonder if the CM doesn't care about pin trading and is resentful for being forced to do so by the co.
I am sorry you had to be subjected to such a bad attitude. Those kinds of things just shouldn't happen at DLR.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Are you sure it was a cast member??...

I’m not even OP and I can answer this. Yes, they are sure it was a CM. It’s super obvious when someone is a CM with the name tag and all (unless they are undercover Security or high level management in which case they aren’t pin trading in the parks).

 

[corrie563]

That would have ruined my day too!

We just got back and the four of us traded pins at every opportunity, seriously, we spent hours doing it... And every single cast member was lovely... Agreed that you should report it if you can remember time/date/place and a description of the cast member...

Sorry that happened to you...

 

[JKalai]

Are you sure it was a cast member?? That interaction was against the way they are supposed to behave. Sorry that happened to you! We traded through 40 pins (all of our original real) this trip and the cast members were so lovely. The only time it gets a little confusing is with mystery pins because every cast member does it differently. Sometimes I felt a little self conscious because I would assume they did it x way, and instead they did it y way, and it seemed they were annoyed by the way I assumed it went, when in reality another CM DID just do it a completely different way.

1000% sure. The CM was working the pin kiosk.

I've done lots of pin trading in DLR and that is not normal behavior. I have also run across CMs that do take pin trading quite seriously and have scrutinized offered pins, but I've never had a CM throw a pin away in front of me. I've seen them pocket the pin or put it in a draw, but never so rude as to throw it away. What happened to you was inappropriate, so I would definitely report that CM.

Eh, I've mostly put the situation aside as I was trying to have fun for the rest of the day. I have been to both domestic Disney Parks for many years now and that has been the first negative CM interaction I have ever had so me and the GF were both kind of shocked. The rest of the great CM's we traded and talked with were so nice and we were pretty sure that was a very isolated interaction.

Sorry that you ran into a CM that was TOTALLY RUDE. Hopefully that doesn't turn you away from pin trading. Most CMs are really nice about it. From what I know too, CM have the option to wear a lanyard, they don't have to wear it.

Me and the GF are really easy going, so we weren't that too put off by it. We had plenty of other great trades and met CM's that were so nice during our trip.

I actually doubled down, went back to the Disney Outlet and cleared out the pins since they were so cheap. I'll give them to kids that don't have that many pins on their lanyard!

 

[az4boys]

I actually doubled down, went back to the Disney Outlet and cleared out the pins since they were so cheap. I'll sometimes give them to kids that don't have that many pins on their lanyard!

I love this!

 

[bumbershoot]

The whole story kinda makes me wonder if the CM doesn't care about pin trading and is resentful for being forced to do so by the co.

They aren’t forced.

I’m not even OP and I can answer this. Yes, they are sure it was a CM. It’s super obvious when someone is a CM with the name tag and all (unless they are undercover Security or high level management in which case they aren’t pin trading in the parks).

Name tags can be purchased on eBay. It’s not hard to look like a CM.

It’s why parents will tell children that if they get lost and see a cast member *behind a cash register* to go to them for help. Because it’s easy to look like a CM.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

To the OP: while being easy going is great (and I'm glad you didn't let this ruin your day at DLR), please report this incident to Disney. Use the "contact us" link at the bottom of the DLR webpage. Be as specific as you can about date, time, location, CM description (and name, if you got it), what happened, how it affected you, and how it could have been better, etc. Disney needs to know about this behavior so that it can be corrected and so that it won't be repeated with other guests. Can you imagine if this had happened to a child? Also, the pp is correct that there are guests out there who pretend to be CMs, so Disney needs to know about this in case this person was not an official CM, but is out there harrassing other guests.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Name tags can be purchased on eBay. It’s not hard to look like a CM.

It’s why parents will tell children that if they get lost and see a cast member *behind a cash register* to go to them for help. Because it’s easy to look like a CM.

Yes- but fake CMs aren’t trading away pins they don’t want to trade!

 

[LisaDKG]

Every time I've traded at Disney - both at WDW and DL over the past 10 years - CMs have been 100% uninvested, at worst, in which pin I choose, and slightly communicative about pin trading, at best. The pins on the boards at various locations are not 'their' personal pins and while I can't speak for sure, it seems obvious to me that the pins on their lanyards are GIVEN to them to encourage pin trading, and more importantly, pin buying! If they are 'in to' pin trading themselves, I would think it would be weird for them to display a beloved pin on their lanyard if they were hesitant to part with it.
When I was last at DL in 2015 I was actually shocked at the low quality, repetitiveness and general lameness (that WOC series that are just small water fountains with a face - ugh!) of all the pins on CM lanyards and the boards around property. Although I never verify one way or another, a lot of them on display appeared to be scrappers anyways.
The only thing I can think of to explain this CMs behaviour is that he/she has made it a personal mission to shame scrapper traders and somehow pegged you as one, without having any way to verify your intentions, or your fault in the situation. I like to think I would have given a piece of my mind to this crabby CM but this is only in hindsight. I'm Canadian so I probably would have just apologized for nothing for 3 minutes and high-tailed it outta there!