Pin Trading

[katy621]

How do you get started on pin trading?

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Just buy some pins and you can start trading with cast members. The parks sell starter lanyards which come with around 4 pins that you can trade with cast members who carry lanyards and/or hip pouches for pins that you would like. The starter sets have different themes such as Mickey, Disneyland, princesses, pirates, Buzz Lightyear, Tink, and so on and so forth. World of Disney has starter lanyards as do the Emporium and any pin stores in the parks and Pin Traders in DTD.

You could get pins and lanyards ahead of time off ebay or from the Disney Store as well.

You can also trade with other guests in the pin trading areas, but that can be a little bit trickier as they may be looking for a specific pin that you don't have. Cast members have to trade with you, but you must trade them a pin they don't have on their lanyard. Guests will trade with you if you have a pin they want. The only trade I've made with a guest was for a pin out of one of the stores that she wanted for a travel package pin that I wanted that she had.

 

[meduck]

buy official pins, and find any cast member with a lanyard (avoid green lanyards, they can only trade with kids), ask to see their pins and if you see one you like offer them one of yours in trade. I always put the pin back on before handing them the pin so on one gets hurt. after you get comfortable, you can also approch other guest that have lanyards on and trade with them in most cases

 

[jlparedes]

So I've never done pin trading, but I've been reading about it. I thought my nephew might like it, so I bought a couple official Disney pins on eBay and will get him a lanyard at the park. I figured he could start with a handful and go from there. We'll see how that strategy works.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

That idea would work great too. They also have pin trading sets that come without a lanyard. These work well if you don't like the lanyard with pin sets or already have a lanyard. This last visit I bought a starter set because I really wanted one pin in the set and now have the others available for trade with cast members. Besides that, if you find you need more, Disney is more than happy to sell you more pins.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

http://www.mousepinsonline.com/tp40/Default.asp?ID=18157 have realy good deals were buying like 50 or 100 grabbag for our oct trip

 

[Sy-]

If you don't like wearing lanyards you could always stick em on a baseball cap! Although you should just trade the pin and keep your rubber backing since you may have made em all sweaty and stuff.

 

[pixiewings71]

I've traded with CM's and with "regular" people. I've met some really nice people pin trading but also some really lame ones. LOL I love trading, with CM's, with regular people, with kids. It's fun. Just go in knowing that sometimes regular people won't trade with you, but don't be afraid to ask. Have fun!!

 

[medievaldave]

arg pin trading. i'm so hooked and poor because of it lol

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

If you don't like wearing lanyards you could always stick em on a baseball cap! Although you should just trade the pin and keep your rubber backing since you may have made em all sweaty and stuff.

Actually, the written pin trading "etiquette" for trading at Disney Parks says that pins should be traded with the backs on. This is for safety reasons as a previous poster mentioned.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I don't think it's a good idea to wear pins on a hat. My mother traded for a pin from her favorite Disney Christmas cartoon in WDW and wore it on her hat. I lost count how many times somebody from our family had to pick it up off the ground because it had fallen off. Fortunately, we always noticed it.

Personally, the only pins I wear on my lanyard are duplicates. That way if I lose a pin, I've only lost the duplicate and I still have the pin. I keep my traders in a small pin book with a shoulder strap.

 

[Me!Thatswho]

We're going to try pin trading on our upcoming trip to DL in three weeks. For our kids, we bought starter lanyards and about 15 pins each over the last few months from Disneyshop.com. The hardest part will be getting my DD(5) to part with all of the princess pins that we bought her.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

You may not want to trade the princess pins because they're probably more limited than the pins on the CM lanyards. I think the "starter" sets are good for just trading with CMs.

 

[bumbershoot]

We're going to try pin trading on our upcoming trip to DL in three weeks. For our kids, we bought starter lanyards and about 15 pins each over the last few months from Disneyshop.com. The hardest part will be getting my DD(5) to part with all of the princess pins that we bought her.

Aw, if she doesn't want to do it, don't convince her of it. I personally don't like trading; I buy what I want and keep what I buy. Hubby enjoys it but he'd never be able to convince me to trade any of the pins I have b/c I like them all.

 

[Plantlady]

We bought a lot off of ebay, 50 pins for about $100. I then bought locking backs, because last time we traded, we lost a couple pins.

So, today, the kids found their lanyards, and we took off the old pins, and put on the new pins for trading, complete with locking backs.

I didn't know it was pin trading etiquette to trade with the backs on though. Last time we went, many cast members told the boys to keep their mickey head backs, because they were better. We told the boys, with these locking backs, just to be polite, and ask to keep the back. Maybe I"ll pack some spare backs, just in case it turns into a problem.

 

[pixiewings71]

I don't recommend using the locking backs for traders. It takes too long to get them off. I use them only for keepers, I have a lanyard full of keepers and every pin on there has a locking back. As for trading with the back on, as long as you trade with the pin facing up out of you palm and you let the person you are trading to take it there shouldn't be any issues with getting hurt. A lot of times the CM's will tell us to keep our backs too, and when we trade from our book those pins don't have back at all, they are pushed into cork. We do carry extra backs though, just in case.

 

[Me!Thatswho]

You may not want to trade the princess pins because they're probably more limited than the pins on the CM lanyards. I think the "starter" sets are good for just trading with CMs.

Really? Seeing as I have only made pin purchases when they were reduced, I figured they were, if anything, too common.

 

[Me!Thatswho]

Aw, if she doesn't want to do it, don't convince her of it. I personally don't like trading; I buy what I want and keep what I buy. Hubby enjoys it but he'd never be able to convince me to trade any of the pins I have b/c I like them all.

While we would never force her, we were kind of hoping to find some pins that were only available at DL, that way she would truly have something special.

Oh, and we too have purchased some special pins that will be staying here when we go. Those are the ones that were bought just because we liked them.

 

[Plantlady]

I don't recommend using the locking backs for traders. It takes too long to get them off. I use them only for keepers, I have a lanyard full of keepers and every pin on there has a locking back. As for trading with the back on, as long as you trade with the pin facing up out of you palm and you let the person you are trading to take it there shouldn't be any issues with getting hurt. A lot of times the CM's will tell us to keep our backs too, and when we trade from our book those pins don't have back at all, they are pushed into cork. We do carry extra backs though, just in case.

I purchased a different kind of locking back than they sell in the park. They are not any more difficult to pull off, but they won't fall off.

Here is what I went with:
http://cgi.ebay.com/50-Locking-Pin-...ryZ35970QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
They were recommended by someone else on the DIS.

 

[pixiewings71]

Oh see, I don't like those either. I have had better luck with the Mickey Head backs than those. lol Those are the ones that the CM's are always telling us to keep our backs and they will keep those. lol

A lot of the pins on Disneyshopping are Limited Edition, you may want to check the back before letting her trade them. Of course if that's what she wants to do then that's fine, just thought I'd mention it.