Pin Trading

[brendaanna]

Hi my DD has been hearing about pin tradeing, Do any of you do it and how? How much are the ave. pins at WDW? What is the best place to get them?

 

[thumpersfriend]

I would like to know too, probably on the wrong board though. I want to start a collection for my granddaughter but I have no clue. I ordered Eeyore on e bay but gosh the shopping and handling was over $4! The Disney store in my area said they only sell them at the parks now. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[Disney753]

I started Pin Trading in 98 I think.... when only a few CM in each park did it...Now it has become much more about what is valuable than what one likes by eye appeal. Prices in the parks for individual pins are anywhere from 6 - in the 20's. Start your child off with one of the lanyards that give you the 4 pins 2 for trading and 2 for keeping...Beware of the grownups who want your lanyard pins and encourace your children to trade with kids there own age and cast members only. I watched a man in his 40's trade with a 7 year old who wanted a MM pin he had.... he told her she would have to give up 3 pins for his one..I had the same pin and told her and her mom I would trade 1 for one. I trade only with cm now as the sharkes are really bad. You might want to look at garage sales I have found pins at them and if you find someone on ebay that has more than one pin buy a few and the shipping should be the same. The Disney Catalog also sells pins but usually by sets but sometimes that can be cheaper. At DTD by the Pin store there are adults with albums of pins be careful of them as a cop who works there was telling me that a few weeks ago they arrested a man who was making fake disney pins and selling them ...like I said this is shark infested waters....
On the upside I did meet a pin trader who was selling off some pins at 4 bucks each again this was at DTD by the pin store

 

[turnlisa]

My DSs have done this for the last two years. Last year the Disney Store was getting rid of inventory, so I picked up a lot of pins there cheap before I went. Here are some tips:

* Buy pins before you go from either eBay or cheappins.com. Cheappins.com also has a listing of guidelines for trading so this will be most helpful. Allearsnet.com also has rules of trading so this can be extremely helpful.

* For trading pins, try to buy things that your children won't want to keep. I always buy pins of things that I know my kids won't mind parting with. This means that they are eager to make a choice and have no problem picking out which one to trade.

* Only trade with CMs. I don't even let my kids trade with other children. Kids can be very trusting so if some kid says they are making a great deal, they may believe them. My kids only trade with CMs.

* Try to find CMs who are not busy doing other activities. When the CMs wear the lanyards, this is on a totally voluntary basis. They are not required to do this. Since they are taking their time to participate, I always try to make sure that they are not busy doing something else. And always thank them for the trade!

If there are any specific questions you have, please let me know and I will be more than willing to help out. Your kids will love this and it is a great souvenir that they got to pick out all on their own!

 

[thumpersfriend]

So people actually come up and ask to trade a pin?

 

[Disbug]

thumpersfriend! I love to trade pins especially with CM's... I had one little boy who must have thought I was a CM. He pointed to a pin on my lanyard and said "I want that one." I said "Yes, that is a nice one, I like it, too." He replied, "But don't you HAVE to trade with me?" I let him know I think only the people who actually work here HAVE to trade. LOL! So cute! There was one little girl who REALLY liked my Thumper pin. She was so sweet and had these cute bouncy purple mickey balls on springs atop a headband. After standing in line with her for a while and going through the Haunted Mansion movie soundset over at MGM, I lost sight of her and her family. I decided to let her have Thumper... but could not find her family in the crowd. I was very sad that I had not traded with her!

 

[Jockaroo]

Pin trading is a wonderful way to meet the CM at the parks. When we were down last May, some cast members wore special children only trading lanyards. I think they were green--but not sure. The other lanyards are black and both children and adults can trade from these. Other posters are right. It is best to trade only with the cast members.

If your child has a favorite character, you might encourage her to collect these pins. It helps limit the "gotta haves" in the stores. This can be addictive, but it is so much fun. And if your child wants a specific character, encourage her to say that she collects it. CM sometimes remember certain pins other CM may have.

The pin trading lanyards are a very nice way to get started. I believe they are about $25 and you get 4 pins and a lanyard to wear your collection on. Hope she has fun.

 

[Buzz2001]

Visit us on the collectors board.

Check out this link as well
Pin Trading Etiquette 101

 

[MAC3]

You can also check or gauge the values of some pins by checking Ebay often (although that can be addictive too)! Or check out pinpics or even the people at Dizpins are very helpful!

Lisa

 

[brendaanna]

Thank You all for all the info it will be very helpful

 

[pat's mom99]

What is a mystery pin? And also lanyard/cast member pins?

 

[ColoradoDis]

I'm curious too - What is a lanyard pin?

 

[bobcat]

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, a lanyard pin is one you can only find on a CMs lanyard and they aren't for sale (well except on ebay). Mystery pins are released, I believe in limited edition amounts, and you don't know what they are until the day they are released.

My kids and I trade, usually only with CMs. We don't worry about how valuable a pin is but just if we like it, that's what makes it valuable to us. We usually try to find the new pins that we see on the pin carts that we don't want to pay for that trip and usually we find them. If not then if we really really want it we will buy it. We all have certain pins we collect and we may buy special pins that are released on our trip.

On ebay look for a LOT of pins. Shipping doesn't kill you that way and you can usually get good traders.