Can someone please point me in the right direction of how to get started & where to buy some good pins to get started with.
Be careful! Once started it can be very addictive and very expensive.
Disney has some general guidelines posted and that's a good place to start:
http://disneyparksmerchandise.com/parksauthentic/disney-pin-trading-guidelines-for-guests/
In a nutshell, as you walk around the parks and resorts, keep an eye out for CMs wearing lanyards or hip lanyards. If you see a pin you like, simply ask the CM to trade (politely of course). You tell them which pin you want and offer them one in exchange. It's pretty much that easy.
The key points (when trading with cast members):
- Each guest may trade up to two pins per cast member per day.
- CMs can only accept Disney pins (i.e., the pin must have the Disney copyright on the back).
- The pin must be in good condition.
- CMs will only trade one-for-one (so, you can't ask for two of their pins for one of your's and they can't ask you for two of your's for one of their's).
- They cannot already have that pin on their lanyard (i.e., the offered pin cannot be a duplicate).
- Some CMs are wearing green/teal lanyards. Those are for trading with children only (so your son can trade, but technically you cannot).
- Some locations also have pin boards or books. So keep an eye out for those. Some are behind counters and only come out at random times, others have to be asked for. Most guest service locations in the parks have a pin book. Some of the resort guest service desks also have books.
- Finally, have fun!
Lanyard wearing CMs are usually in stores and at ride queue entrances. Janitorial CMs and management CMs also often have lanyards. The only CMs that generally don't have lanyards are ride operators/loaders.
Now a few warnings (at least more serious warnings than the one initially):
- There are also professional traders. These are other guests that usually have pin books with them and hang out at the tables near the pin stores. I'm sure there are some nice/honest ones out there, but most that I've come across are in it to make money. Feel free to look at their pins, but be careful if you try to trade with them. They can ask you give them multiple pins and/or they can ask you to buy them pin(s). Unless you know a lot about pins, I'd be leery of getting involved with them.
- Scrappers, this is the other big issue that is out there. Scrappers are pretty prevalent and if you do end up trading with CMs, you will end up with scrappers. Scrappers are pins that should have been scrapped due to quality issues or they could also be production over-runs or they could be straight-up knock-offs. Some are pretty obvious to tell (e.g., Belle's yellow ballgown is green, Ariel is blonde, etc.), but others are tough because they look close and without having a non-scrapper in hand, most folks wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I would say that 75% of more of the pins on CM lanyards are probably scrappers. For some people, this is enough to stop them from trading, others feel that as long as they like the pin, they don't care. It's up to each trader to decide.
Finally, with regards to buying pins, there are serveral options:
- Starter sets are sold at the parks and online. They're usually a set of 5 or so pins for about $25-$30.
- Disney Outlet: If you happen to be near a Disney outlet, they often have pins on clearance.
- DisneyStore.com: They also sells pins and sometimes put some on clearance.
- eBay or other online sellers: You can often find very cheap pins online. However, it's more than likely that if you're paying less than $2 per pin, you're probably buying scrappers. Look for sellers that say the pin is still on the card and/or in the original packaging. Even that is no guarantee that it's going to be legitimate, but it's better than nothing.
Overall, I love pin trading and do on every trip. I know I have scrappers in my collection, but I'm not trading to make money so I accept that as part of the process. Pin trading is a lot of fun and I can't imagine a trip to WDW or DLR without it!
