Pin Trading Night @ Contemporary - Advice Needed

[iwynlea]

Has anyone done this? Can I ask what you thought? I'm very shy, and I feel like it would be really intimidating...I get intimidated by the folks with their massive books at the tables outside the pin store at DTD! I only ever pin trade with CMs in the parks, and I just don't know what to expect from a "pin trading night". It's an hour drive up for me to go, but I'm very scared I wouldn't have a good time. Thoughts? Advice? A kick in the bottom to just do it?

 

[t_catt11]

Just do it! I'd love to live close enough to get top participate in something like this.

Will there be "pros" there with books full of pins, secret pricing guides, and other intimidating paraphinalia? Sure there will.

There will also be many other regular people, like you, that are hoping to find a Rafiki or Cheshire Cat or Stitch that they don't already have.

What's a "good" pin, anyway? Easy. A pin that you like.

It is fun to try to get limited editions, holiday pins, cast lanyard lins, etc? Of course it is. But are they really worth any more than a starter set tinkerbell from a couple of years ago? You tell me.

Incidentally - we've had some great experiences with the pin trading pros. For instance, we had a guy trade a limited edition holiday Chip and Dale pin to my son, knowing that it would complete a set my son had been trying to put together... in exchange, he took a fairly common Aristocats pin, and made a big production out of how he had "been looking for just that pin."

Remember - most pin collectors/traders do it for the same reason as you - they love Dinsey pins and get enjoyment out of seeing those that others have.

 

[CanadianGuy]

I'm moving this over to the Disney Collectors Board.. They know a TON about Pin Trading and probably lots of people there have been to these events in the past!

Thanks

Knox

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I have been to Pin Trading Night a few times at the Contemporary when it use to be held on the 4th floor and was finally able to go back in December when it got changed to only happen once a month and got to experience it taking place in the ball rooms on the 2nd floor, however usually it takes place in ball room at the convention center. The biggest difference between trading with regular pin traders like myself or others there is we can say no to a trade, the way Cast Members can never do that. So if that happens to you don't take it personally. My best advice to you if you don't feel comftorable with a trade that is being offered by someone else is to just say no thank you, because you don't want to be taken advantage of.

 

[PinCrazed]

We did the pin trading last year at the Contemporary and I have to admit we were extremely nervous as well. We found a lot of the pin "shark" traders out there who looked at our books quickly then closed them and said thanks or offered us a terrible 3 for 1 trade.

However, most of the people were just like us, a family that liked trading pins and were very helpful and friendly. Alot of people just want to show off their Tinkerbell collections. My wife is a big Tink fan and she had alot of great conversations with other ladies who sharedthe same interests. We got a chance to meet people with our same interestss and have kept in touch with a lot of the folks over the past year.

The kids colored and played and it was a great experience once we got overour own fear. We already planned our next vacation in March to coincide with the next pin trading event on March 14th and WE CAN NOT WAIT

 

[iwynlea]

Thanks for the advice. I've been very shy about pin trading at all, even with CMs, since a CM many years ago accused me of being a "shark." It was about 11pm during the now-defunct E-Ride night, and he made me wait 30 minutes to trade with him, because he was trying to fix a printer at the photo booth at splash mt. I could see his lanyard, and he had two pins I needed to finish my collection I had started on a trip two years before (this was only our second trip with pin trading). When he finally offered to trade, he told me that "even though the rules here [pointed to the rules he was wearing on a card on his lanyard] say you can trade me for two pins, I can tell you just want the lanyard pins so I only trade one pin with sharks like you. That's just more fair, don't you agree?"

I was so upset, DH and I left the park with me in tears, and I wouldn't trade at all for about 2 years. Because he was a manager, I thought maybe I was a bad person for wanting two lanyard pins at once, even though it wasn't to "hog" them, but to complete my collections. I finally decided I wouldn't let some Grumpy Scrooge take something I enjoyed so much out of my life...and in fact just yesterday had a CM offer me a second lanyard pin from a set I mentioned I was collecting, even though I had already traded her for one lanyard pin! (Only two more to go and I have all the Mickey Bear pins!) But, the whole experience has made me very, very shy of new pin experiences! Long story short, I really appreciate your advice! Maybe I'll try it in March!

 

[agnes!]

iwynlea -

I'm sorry about that bad experience. Unfortunately not every CM is full of pixie dust. And *that* Mr Crabbypants was out of line and *wrong*. Chalk it up to *him* having a bad day.

And if something similar happens again, consider asking for the CMs lead or supervisor. Also get the CM's name and report them to Guest Services. They might have a bad habit of being UN-magical.

There was one CM in Epcot that my family used to see all the time but we learned to avoid them like the plague - she was just downright rude.

But that hasn't stopped us from having fun pintrading !

ages!
PS - Btw, what are you trading for these days? Have you checked out pinpics.com and dizpins? You'll find lots of news on both. (And the folks here on the DIS Collectors Forum are pretty darn nice if I do say so myself!)