Starter sets and pins

[Claymax]

Hello everyone. I'm returning to WDW again this December with my friends and some family and thought I'd like to try pin trading this year. I'm almost always at rope drop and never snapped to the CM's asking me each morning if I traded, showing me their lanyards and then moving on when I said no thanks.

After finding out more about it, I can't wait to start. My thought is to get a lanyard (or some conveyance) for each in our group and a pin for each person of their favorite character and ride. And then say 5 each for trading. (Ones any Disney fan would like but not specific for them.)

On our first time we'll probably just trade with CM's to keep it simple. Here are my questions;

1) Can you recommend where I can buy lanyards and pins? Ebay I know, but is there a concern about authenticity? I have visited one local Disney outlet store and they had only a couple of pin sets of The Incredibles and Meet The Robinsons. Would these be suitable traders? Do other Disney stores have more pins? What about the lot buys on ebay, looks kind of junky...

2) I wanted a way to say thank you when I see CM's or others being extra nice while at WDW. We've all seen it. I was thinking, being from Austin, that I could give them a little Texas pin or Austin pin or something related and say thanks for going above and beyond, here is a (albeit small) token of our thanks. However since it obviously wouldn't be a Dis pin, would they want it?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I haven't had any problems with eBay myself, but I've heard from people who have. If you're careful and only deal with sellers who have mostly positive feedback, you should be okay. You could also consider buying from places like pinseller.com or pinfinder.com. While they're not quite as cheap as some eBay sellers, there's less chance you'll receive bad pins from them. If you're more concerned about authenticity than cost, you should probably stick with the starter sets sold at the parks. You can get a package containing a lanyard and four (or more) pins for a relatively inexpensive price.

Here in Kansas City, where we have three Disney Stores, it's been my experience that they mostly carry the same pins, but there is some variance. You might want to shop around. And generally, Disney Store pins are perfectly tradeable in the parks.

As for your Texas pins, why not offer them to CMs? They can't accept them as trades, of course. But since you're offering them as gifts, it would be up to the individual CMs whether they'll accept them or not.

*Brian*

 

[cinderellacm2000]

Check feedback on ebay, always. The Disney Store pins are tradeable at the parks. At our DS, they know us by name and when they see us coming the first thing they say is "time to stock up for trading?"

The CM's are not supposed to accept gifts of any kind, so I doubt if you would be able to give them another pin unless trading a Disney pin with them.

 

[Claymax]

Check feedback on ebay, always. The Disney Store pins are tradeable at the parks. At our DS, they know us by name and when they see us coming the first thing they say is "time to stock up for trading?"

The CM's are not supposed to accept gifts of any kind, so I doubt if you would be able to give them another pin unless trading a Disney pin with them.

Now that I think about it, probably a good idea to not accept anything. Would set a bad precedent. Oh well, just have to do a better job of remembering their names and run by customer relations before I leave with my kudos list!

Thanks for the info. I buy a fair bit on ebay so no worries about learning about the seller.

 

[cinderellacm2000]

Positive guest comments really make a huge impact for a CM, so I know they would appreciate that!