Not the best experiencewith a PRO pin trader

[Mickey527]

I had a little problem with one of those DTD traders last week but I took it in stride since I know some of them can be wonderful and some are put on this earth to drive us nice traders crazy.
My son is in bootcamp and due to graduate from the Marines on DEC 12.
I was sent one of the Mickey saluting the Marine pins from a wonderful person but wanted one for my son to keep.
I went to all the traders and one woman had one for trade. I asked her what she wanted for it and she said I could buy her a pin. She showed me what pin she wanted and handed it to me to buy. I waited in line for about 15 minutes and finally bought the pin and brought it out to her and she said she didn't want that one she changed her mind and wanted another pin. I had to wait in line again for over 15 min. only to be told that I couldn't take it back to the CM I had bought it from I had to go to another register. Ok, another 15 min or more in line until I made the exchange. Apparently the trader had done this with another person and the CMs were getting mad. They didn't take it out on the person outsied but on us, the buyer. I got drilled from the CM, why are you returning it, you just bought it, why don't you just keep it and buy the other one, did you try and trade her one of your pins before you bought this, etc.... like I was doing something wrong.
But I did get my Marine pin for my son..

 

[Luv2Roam]

Apparently the trader had done this with another person and the CMs were getting mad.

Bingo!

I have heard it happens allll the time. (Not on one specific trader. Just in general.)
Why they just don't ban those traders I do not understand. Makes one wonder.....

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

The ones who hang out at DTD are sharks! Many of them have been banned from the Parks. I know at the parks often the CMs at the major pin locations will warn people away, but the attitude of the CMs (and especially the managers) at Pin Traders is there is no such thing as a shark.

Not all of the DTD pin pros are sharks. On one of our trips my DS then 10 yrs saw a pin that one of the DTD pros had that he wanted. Unfortunately as we were at the end of our holiday he'd exhusted all his "trader pins" that he'd bought with him. The DTD pro told him to go into the DTD pin store and buy the cheapest pin he could find and he would be more than happy to trade his pin for the pin my son bought.

So they are not all horrid and I'm very soory you had that experience but I hope it doesn't put your daughter or you off this very entertaining and addictive event

 

[prairiegirl]

We have had good and bad experiences at DTD. It is all in who you get. I still go and look and ask if I see something I like.

I enjoy trading so I will keep doing it!

 

[BigGreen73]

I just had to comment as I read some of the baseball card references and I have been doing the pin collecting//trading since 2004.

I was big into the sports cards thing in the late 80's and early 90's. The sports card hobby killed itself, the collectors and dealers killed it. The sports card business boomed, there were card shops on every corner, price guides everywhere, the demand was high and the values were skyrocketing. Every company tried to get in on the action and prodiced more and more and the dealers wanted top dollar for everything. The market was flooded, the demand dropped and the values plummeted. Cards that were valued at $30-$50 ten years ago are now worth a couple of bucks and all but a few card shops are gone.

Stuff like this made me a little wary about getting into pins, but so far, Disney does it right. There are no price guides, and pins can only be bought officially at WDW and DL or at a Disney store. Unoffically it's e-bay and other random websites. The trading with CM's is a great idea, but the Pro-Pin traders do leave me with a bad taste more often than not.

I admit that I did the buy a pin and trade to the DTD pro-traders before I new how much things were worth and what the values were of the pins etc. Now I do, and I avoid them. 98% are "sharks". I am glad that there are not more as they would definitely dampen the fun of pin trading. They over value everything they have including normal hidden Mickey and boxed pins (random 2-pins for $8). I still browse occasionally and last trip in Dec 07, I came across two Dumbo pins that my wife did not have and asked what they wanted for it. Both pins were easily obtainable on e-bay for $3-$4. The trader played the rarety card and wanted two pins from the DTD store that were $13 each, no thanks. And the comment in the 1st post of what was said to the child is common and I hear it everytime I go to WDW and visit DTD. It's sad.

The DTD dealers have tons of the Hidden Mickeys that can be bought in lots on e-bay and other limited editions etc that were bought when on sale at Disneystore.com. They then value these highly and want gold to get them. Very sad, especially for the kids.

If you worried about value, check e-bay before a trip and have a clue about what pins are selling for, especially what you are planning on trading and what you may want to trade for.

But it's all about fun. Don't let one bad experience get to you.

PS. If I would have overheard that Pro-Pin trader say that to a three yr old, I would have given her a Tink pin right then and there.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I would consider myself a pro pin trader and in the past I have told people very nicely if they did not have any pins I liked, however I have never said any rude comments like the one told your daugther.

 

[Chuck-PA]

I pretty much gave up pin trading because of such sharks.

I was a novice collector and met many great pin traders in the Philadelphia area back when pin trading just got hot. At one such meeting someone told me that on a certain night at the All Stars Resorts they did pin trading. So we went on that particular night when we went on vacation.

I saw a particular pin that I liked and the trader saw one she liked, so we traded. After she showed my pin to someone else, he told her it was nothing but a "rack pin" and that I tricked her and that I was a ruthless shark trader. I did not know the difference between a good pin and a bad pin or what a shark trader was. I only trade for things I like. She came over to me to let me know that she was unto my little tricks. She then started going around and pointing me out to other traders there telling them how I tricked her for a cheap pin and then no one wanted to trade with me after that. Several women at the table next to me told my wife what was going on. They knew her and said she did this all of the time when she thinks she has been ripped off.
So for now my pins have been sitting in a drawer for several years.
It is horrible how one bad experience leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Chuck

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I pretty much gave up pin trading because of such sharks.

I was a novice collector and met many great pin traders in the Philadelphia area back when pin trading just got hot. At one such meeting someone told me that on a certain night at the All Stars Resorts they did pin trading. So we went on that particular night when we went on vacation.

I saw a particular pin that I liked and the trader saw one she liked, so we traded. After she showed my pin to someone else, he told her it was nothing but a "rack pin" and that I tricked her and that I was a ruthless shark trader. I did not know the difference between a good pin and a bad pin or what a shark trader was. I only trade for things I like. She came over to me to let me know that she was unto my little tricks. She then started going around and pointing me out to other traders there telling them how I tricked her for a cheap pin and then no one wanted to trade with me after that. Several women at the table next to me told my wife what was going on. They knew her and said she did this all of the time when she thinks she has been ripped off.
So for now my pins have been sitting in a drawer for several years.
It is horrible how one bad experience leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Chuck

That's a horrible thing which happened to you and I can't believe another person would do a thing like that. However I have heard this type of story before you posted about your experience, although I am surprised no one else ever told this woman to stop making up all these fake stories if she has done it before.

 

[WDWRocksMySocks]

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience with the traders at DTD. Some of them are a bit...hardcore, shall we say. Not all of theme are like that. While we were there in October, I happened to stumble across a monorail pin that I had been wanting since I started pin trading. I had never traded with someone that wasn't a CM before, so I wasn't even about to ask. However, the pin trader noticed how excited I was to see that pin so he asked if I wanted to make a trade. Well, I only had my traders with me and I offered to buy something in exchange. He told me I could go in and pick one from this LE collection that was $9.95. He was so nice about the whole trade and it really made my entire trip - I was so excited to find that pin!!

Here I am, right after I made the trade. Don't mind the dorky expression...I was excited!!

 

[JeffM]

I love that pin. I got mine a few trips ago and I was excited to get it also. I really did not know what I had when I traded for it until I got home and looked it up. I do have to thank my wife for spotting it as I would have just over looked it in the first place. I like the sliding doors and the Spanish monorail saying on it.

 

[MKhead72]

Just a little story about something that happened with us at the DTD trader spot. Our son who is 15 sometimes asks us if he can go ahead of us, because we like to stroll, he likes to fast pace. So he said he was heading to the pin store, and would meet us there. Well we got there about 10 to 15 minutes after he did, and I walked up behind him as he was speaking to one gentleman about a certain pin that he wanted to trade for. Just as I walked up the guy said to him " son, there is nothing you could possibly have that I would be interested in " as he is glaring at my sons lanyard.... Not knowing that I was his father and had all our LE, HM, CM, full sets, etc.... in our pin trading book that was in my bag !! So my son says dad let me get the book, I gave it to him, knowing what was about to happen, and as he opened the book to the first page and seen that we had full sets of all buses and monorails on the first page, his eyes started twitching, and then we turned the page to the 1 yr., 5 yr., 10 yr. service pins for CM's, and various other hard to find CM pins, now he's ready to talk.... But my son said to him " sir I don't think I have anything you would be interested in ". Well other traders around us thought that was great, he ended up sitting with some of them going through the book for a while, the whole time that man would every now and then give him that @#!?... look. It was priceless !!

 

[BigGreen73]

Just a little story about something that happened with us at the DTD trader spot. Our son who is 15 sometimes asks us if he can go ahead of us, because we like to stroll, he likes to fast pace. So he said he was heading to the pin store, and would meet us there. Well we got there about 10 to 15 minutes after he did, and I walked up behind him as he was speaking to one gentleman about a certain pin that he wanted to trade for. Just as I walked up the guy said to him " son, there is nothing you could possibly have that I would be interested in " as he is glaring at my sons lanyard.... Not knowing that I was his father and had all our LE, HM, CM, full sets, etc.... in our pin trading book that was in my bag !! So my son says dad let me get the book, I gave it to him, knowing what was about to happen, and as he opened the book to the first page and seen that we had full sets of all buses and monorails on the first page, his eyes started twitching, and then we turned the page to the 1 yr., 5 yr., 10 yr. service pins for CM's, and various other hard to find CM pins, now he's ready to talk.... But my son said to him " sir I don't think I have anything you would be interested in ". Well other traders around us thought that was great, he ended up sitting with some of them going through the book for a while, the whole time that man would every now and then give him that @#!?... look. It was priceless !!

That was awesome. I would have loved to been there for that. Bravo to your son!!

Another thing about the DTD pin traders that bugs me. They show real interest in pins that you have and want to trade for them, but when you find something that you want, it's a pin that is "not for trade." Those DTD traders want your good stuff but usually don't want to trade anything good for it. So annoying. This just makes me walk away.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Just a little story about something that happened with us at the DTD trader spot. Our son who is 15 sometimes asks us if he can go ahead of us, because we like to stroll, he likes to fast pace. So he said he was heading to the pin store, and would meet us there. Well we got there about 10 to 15 minutes after he did, and I walked up behind him as he was speaking to one gentleman about a certain pin that he wanted to trade for. Just as I walked up the guy said to him " son, there is nothing you could possibly have that I would be interested in " as he is glaring at my sons lanyard.... Not knowing that I was his father and had all our LE, HM, CM, full sets, etc.... in our pin trading book that was in my bag !! So my son says dad let me get the book, I gave it to him, knowing what was about to happen, and as he opened the book to the first page and seen that we had full sets of all buses and monorails on the first page, his eyes started twitching, and then we turned the page to the 1 yr., 5 yr., 10 yr. service pins for CM's, and various other hard to find CM pins, now he's ready to talk.... But my son said to him " sir I don't think I have anything you would be interested in ". Well other traders around us thought that was great, he ended up sitting with some of them going through the book for a while, the whole time that man would every now and then give him that @#!?... look. It was priceless !!

That was a great story to read, so thank you for posting it.

 

[doc005]

We just started trading pins back in July of 08. Started with a few pins and just to try it. Well....5 trips to DTD later and one DCL trip and another in about 43 days, we are hooked.

My 4 kids really enjoy it and even my wife. The pro traderes at DTD that we have talked have been very friendly and even helpful. This is just fun for us so we trade for things we like. Really like pirates pins and any DCL pins. These are very cool pins IMO. WE usually buy ourtrader pins at Disney stores in the mall when on sale or The Disney Outlet @St. Augustine. The cast members there even wear lanyards to trade. We hae stopped there 3 times to buy pins and other disney stuff. Hope this helps.

 

[WDWRocksMySocks]

I love that pin. I got mine a few trips ago and I was excited to get it also. I really did not know what I had when I traded for it until I got home and looked it up. I do have to thank my wife for spotting it as I would have just over looked it in the first place. I like the sliding doors and the Spanish monorail saying on it.

Isn't it a great pin? I just love it!! Did you trade with a CM, or with a pro-trader?

Just a little story about something that happened with us at the DTD trader spot. Our son who is 15 sometimes asks us if he can go ahead of us, because we like to stroll, he likes to fast pace. So he said he was heading to the pin store, and would meet us there. Well we got there about 10 to 15 minutes after he did, and I walked up behind him as he was speaking to one gentleman about a certain pin that he wanted to trade for. Just as I walked up the guy said to him " son, there is nothing you could possibly have that I would be interested in " as he is glaring at my sons lanyard.... Not knowing that I was his father and had all our LE, HM, CM, full sets, etc.... in our pin trading book that was in my bag !! So my son says dad let me get the book, I gave it to him, knowing what was about to happen, and as he opened the book to the first page and seen that we had full sets of all buses and monorails on the first page, his eyes started twitching, and then we turned the page to the 1 yr., 5 yr., 10 yr. service pins for CM's, and various other hard to find CM pins, now he's ready to talk.... But my son said to him " sir I don't think I have anything you would be interested in ". Well other traders around us thought that was great, he ended up sitting with some of them going through the book for a while, the whole time that man would every now and then give him that @#!?... look. It was priceless !!

Ha, what a great story!! Ain't karma grand?

 

[olbear]

The ones who hang out at DTD are sharks! Many of them have been banned from the Parks. I know at the parks often the CMs at the major pin locations will warn people away, but the attitude of the CMs (and especially the managers) at Pin Traders is there is no such thing as a shark.

This is such an UNFAIR statement. And I do not take kindly to all traders at DTD being put under such a blanket statement that you have made. And you're a CM yourself. How unprofessional.

Yes, I have heard that some traders are no longer welcome at DTD Pintraders. One that I'm aware of has even had their Annual Pass revoked.
This is indeed a shame.

But ever so often my husband and I go to DTD Pintraders and spend several hours there trading. We even have a special book and vest with pins on it just for such cases as this one mentioned. With the vest and special book , children 12 and under can trade and give me anything they want, and take whatever they want. No questions nor exceptions. It is one of the things I enjoy most in pin trading is the inter action with children.

I know many others who do the same. It is unfortunate that the OP happened upon someone who was less than gracious. Hopefully in the future they will try again and have a more pleasant experience. I hope so!

But please do not "lump" all DTD pin traders as sharks. I know they exist, and have been bitten a time or two. So I learn and go on, and try to not let it ruin the experience for me. And I also try to understand and believe that not ALL who trade at DTD are bad or "Sharks" as you have labeled them.

I hope you will put more thought and consideration into your remarks left here for new pin traders.

Thank you sincerely,
Winnie

 

[nyyankeegirl]

I'd just like to give a little shout out to 2 women who were trading in Epcot, the beginning of Oct. They were set up right near the main dancing fountain. My DS7 was in search of the last pin or 2 from his Tangram (sp?) set. (looking for Tink & Stitch, I think) He had been searching for a few days for them, & these ladies were just so sweet. I'm sure he didn't really have anything that they wanted, but they went out of their way to trade w/ him & make him happy. He was the happiest little boy. We were leaving a couple hours later, so this was just the icing on the cake.
I also remember feeling a little slighted by one of the traders at DTD.
At least these women made up for it!

 

[BigGreen73]

As the last couple of posts show, there are still a few good "Pro" Pin Traders that are out there. Unfortunately, they are not the norm.

 

[SunnieRN]

I used to trade pins several years ago. I was even in DCA all night July 16, 2005 to get into Disneyland in one of the first groups of people to get one of the limited edition pins. That night I saw several professional ebay sellers.
They were continually bragging about how many people were in their group to buy pins and many of them were laughing about the fact that they had already listed several auctions for the pin on ebay and had bid up to $100 for something they didn't even own yet.
I have only traded with CM's except for a couple of trades for rare pins that I had and others wanted but that held no interest to me.
I do have a signed pin from DCA that I prize and even though it isn't worth anything, it is to me and that's what counts.
I pretty much stopped buying traders from ebay when I started getting scrappers. Most were very difficult to spot and I could have easily traded them to CM's. Now I rarely trade.
I have a lot of pins, not sure what I will do with them. Unfortunately the bug is starting to hit me again!!
Really enjoyed this thread and I am wondering if anyone has ever seen a pin for Animal Kingdom Villas. That is one I would LOVE to have!
Thanks for a fun read!

 

[feline figaro]

Both myself & my df are big pin traders, we ve got quite a large collection of pins which are mostly Le's & have quite a few rare pins. We started trading at DLRP & from there have spent obscene amounts of money on Ebay building up our collections. Pinpics has been a great find in getting those harder to find pins too . We ve traded with many cast members in the past which has always been fun, granted you dont find super rare pins but still we ve found some which we could nt believe people would have traded with them.
So when we visited WDW in Oct one of the places we were most looking forward to visiting was the Pin Shop at DTD, especially as we d knew there would be keen collectors there willing to trade. We did manage to trade with a couple of them, 1 an older lady( who liked to have a good chat), a lovely lady who like me collects Bambi & a young asian couple, all of whom were very very friendly . However the others we came a cross were pretty rude , we walked a way seeing a whole new side to a hobby that we get much enjoyment out of. The pins we did trade with collectors in DTD were great finds which we were chuffed to obtain. However the other traders attitudes simply sucked, due to our bad experiences with them it put us off approaching the traders there again.

I would nt call them all as sharks as 1 of the ladys we met especially was lovely but she seemed to be sitting in the middle of what i would call a bad crowd . We left with the feeling that we d rather stick to Pinpics & cm's, no bad attitudes this way