Well I will see if I can help you some. There is a Collector's board here on the DIS and the people over there certainly know their stuff but I find they are the more serious collectors and not your average "just for fun" pin traders. Nothing wrong with that but it is just not my style.
Originally posted by ohMom
is this the place for pin questions??? we have bought a few - mainly discounted ones at the disney store - for my DDs to trade on our next trip. It's my understanding that any pin on a lanyard can be traded - so where to you wear the ones you don't want to trade?
You can wear pins on your lanyard that you don't want to trade. If you only have a few that is probably your best option. If you start getting quite a few pins and you might want to buy a pin book. You can find them at the pin stations around WDW. They have different sizes depending on how many pins you have. DH has one that is pretty decent sized and he just keeps it in his backpack.
also, I got the Disney Visa Lion King pin at the broadway show - is anyone familiar with it? is it a good trading pin or should I keep it?
I am not familiar with that particular pin but if you really like it keep it. If you don't then trade it. You might ask on the Collector's board because if it is a "hot" pin you would probably not want to trade it for just a regular rack pin.
also - is it "OK" to wear lanyards with non-disney sayings, we have one that says 'girl power' on it.
As far as I know. There is no reason why you can't.
do you trade with other people or just CMs?
We do both. The majority of my trading is done with the CM's because I am really just getting pins that I think look really cool or that remind me of a special time during our trip (resort, favorite ride, etc.). Most of my pins are rack pins although I do have a few LE's. Now my DH has probably close to 200-300 pins and he has a lot more of the LE type pins and he is often on the lookout for certain pins so he deals with other people more often. There are professional pin traders that seem to have every pin under the sun. Some of them are honest and great people but others are just plain rude, arrogant and dishonest and try to take advantage of guests who do not know better. If you do decide to trade with them make sure you know about your pins (LE edition size, etc.). You can ask the CM's at the pin stations if you don't know.
sorry if I sound basic but we have never done this? i'm not going crazy with this hobby - but it sounds like fun
Not go crazy over pins?

Actually it is a great hobby and I really enjoy it because I love meeting the CMs and just finding some really interesting pins. DH really, really loves it for the thrill of the hunt for a really special pin.

It is easy to get addicted to it. My best advice is to just have fun with it. Collect what you like and don't worry about chasing every LE pin out there. Pick a theme that you really like and work towards getting pins in that theme. I like Dalmations and Eeyore so I have lots of those type of pins. DH collects Disney mice other than Mickey and Minnie (especially Timothy Mouse, Great Mouse Detective, etc). If you are interested in what pins are out there then take a look at pinpics.com and you can see just how many types of pins are out there.
