Trading pins?

[StyledSugar]

I figure we will mainly just be trading with CM's but looks like there is a lot more issues than I thought with pins I thought as long as the pins had the disney logo on the back and the mickey ears back they were fine. Guess I'll just buy a few of the set on sale from the disney store for each of us.

Don't stress about it. We started pin trading during our last trip -- first the kids and then we joined in as well. We spent tons of money buying sets at DL to trade with CMs and were thrilled with the "sets" we were able to trade for.....until we got home. We then realized about 80% of the pins we traded for in the park were fakes. At first we were disappointed but then realized you know what, we love our little sets and had a blast searching for them, trading and chatting with different CMs and seeing the kids so excited to find the ones they were looking for! We had a fantastic time!!

Yes, it's nice to get authentic pins but for us we chose to just enjoy the ones we got. When we go back in December we are taking pins with us that we've had family and friends purchase on trips throughout the year. Most are mystery pack pins and the cheaper sets. Yes, we know we'll no doubt end up with fakes during our trades because most of the fakes are so real looking that we can't tell the difference but to us it's not about the fakes and the authentics, it's about the experience. We don't plan on selling our pin sets as they are memories for us and the kids. That's how we choose to see the whole experience. Enjoy yours!!

 

[scrapbunny]

Thanks for all the posts! I'm trying not to stress since the whole point is to have fun and make memories right? StyledSugar, even the CM's have fake pins? I was thinking they get rid of any fakes that get traded to them but the more I read the more it sounds like most pins are fakes/scrappers then real and the fakes are hard to spot sometimes. The $10 sets from Disney Store were already sold out but I found some of the sellers on the good list from pixiewings71 so I'm going to try those I think. How many pins should I get for 3 kids and 2 adults? I really don't want to run out and pay $6+ a pin just to trade them

 

[Disney Dreams]

Thanks for all the posts! I'm trying not to stress since the whole point is to have fun and make memories right? StyledSugar, even the CM's have fake pins? I was thinking they get rid of any fakes that get traded to them but the more I read the more it sounds like most pins are fakes/scrappers then real and the fakes are hard to spot sometimes. The $10 sets from Disney Store were already sold out but I found some of the sellers on the good list from pixiewings71 so I'm going to try those I think. How many pins should I get for 3 kids and 2 adults? I really don't want to run out and pay $6+ a pin just to trade them

Yes, it's supposed to be fun. And, yes, CMs will have fakes on their lanyards. Why?

How It Begins
Well, ebay-buyer-with-fake-pin trades to CM-who-is-not-a-pin-expert. Voila! Fake pin ends up on a lanyard.

You then come along and love a Disney authentic pin for one you bought on ebay. You don't know it's fake. The CM doesn't know it's fake. Now the CM has two fake pins. Person C now comes along with authentic pins purchased from Disney. S/he loves two pins on the CM's lanyard. S/he trades two authentic pins for the two fake pins on the CMs lanyard, neither side knowing. And it goes on and on and on.

Why It Matters
Person C then stumbles upon the pin trading tables in Frontierland where other guests who are "serious traders" hang out. Person C loves a pin they have and offers a trade. They then inform Person C that s/he has fake pins and they have zero interest in them. Person C is then sad, confused, upset, and has no idea what a "fake pin" is because it looks to them just like all the other pins.

Go ahead, ask me how I feel about 99% of pin sellers on ebay.

How Many???
How many pins do you need for the 5 of you? Depends on how interested you think everyone will be. When I went to WDW for eight days I took 100 pins with me for trading. (That's about 12 a day. Not as many as it seems....) How many do you want for each person / day? Do you think everyone will trade? If so, just calculate how many you think you want and go with it.

Must-Have-More
Also, if you run out, you don't have to pay $6/pin. There are sets at DLR that are a box of seven for usually about $30. That puts you at just over $4 a pin if you find your group feeling the must-have-more-pins urge.

Hope this helps,
Dreams

 

[Fivers]

If you're looking for more places to trade, all 3 of the Disney hotels have pin trading boards either at the front desk or at visitor information, which is a great way to take a break from the parks when it gets busy! Also, if you're willing to give up a bit of your morning, when DL first opens (especially if there's no rope drop) Main Street is lined with CMs, and a lot of them have lanyards. It took my Mom and I 20 minutes to make it down Main Street at 8am one morning, but we found some great pins, and had some great conversations! The CMs outside of the Tiki Room often have lots of pins as well. Hope you have tons of fun!

 

[pixiewings71]

I had not noticed. Never had a problem trading in past but will be more aware from now on. Thanks for the info, greatly appreciated

As I said, the CM's won't care as Pro Pins are good to trade, but the "professional" traders in general won't take them. Again, as I said, I do/did because there are some I like(d), but we don't go to the parks as much as we used to so I'm rarely there.

I figure we will mainly just be trading with CM's but looks like there is a lot more issues than I thought with pins I thought as long as the pins had the disney logo on the back and the mickey ears back they were fine. Guess I'll just buy a few of the set on sale from the disney store for each of us.

Yes, buy the pins from the Disney Store, those are the best for trading. Great price on sale and great pins.

Thanks for all the posts! I'm trying not to stress since the whole point is to have fun and make memories right? StyledSugar, even the CM's have fake pins? I was thinking they get rid of any fakes that get traded to them but the more I read the more it sounds like most pins are fakes/scrappers then real and the fakes are hard to spot sometimes. The $10 sets from Disney Store were already sold out but I found some of the sellers on the good list from pixiewings71 so I'm going to try those I think. How many pins should I get for 3 kids and 2 adults? I really don't want to run out and pay $6+ a pin just to trade them

Definitely have fun with it and try not to worry about scrappers. We have thousands of pins in our collections at home, we have hundreds that are scrappers. Some you can hardly tell, others are terribly obvious. There are a lot of good sellers on the list in my signature, I do suggest reading the last 5-10 pages of the thread as the thread owner has pretty much disappeared and he is the only person who can update the original list so it is a bit out of date.
My family has 4 traders, we can easily trade 100 pins in a 4 day trip. It's hard to know how many you will need until you know how much you will enjoy trading. I suggest 20 pins per person.....

Yes, it's supposed to be fun. And, yes, CMs will have fakes on their lanyards. Why?

How It Begins
Well, ebay-buyer-with-fake-pin trades to CM-who-is-not-a-pin-expert. Voila! Fake pin ends up on a lanyard.

You then come along and love a Disney authentic pin for one you bought on ebay. You don't know it's fake. The CM doesn't know it's fake. Now the CM has two fake pins. Person C now comes along with authentic pins purchased from Disney. S/he loves two pins on the CM's lanyard. S/he trades two authentic pins for the two fake pins on the CMs lanyard, neither side knowing. And it goes on and on and on.

Why It Matters
Person C then stumbles upon the pin trading tables in Frontierland where other guests who are "serious traders" hang out. Person C loves a pin they have and offers a trade. They then inform Person C that s/he has fake pins and they have zero interest in them. Person C is then sad, confused, upset, and has no idea what a "fake pin" is because it looks to them just like all the other pins.

Go ahead, ask me how I feel about 99% of pin sellers on ebay.

How Many???
How many pins do you need for the 5 of you? Depends on how interested you think everyone will be. When I went to WDW for eight days I took 100 pins with me for trading. (That's about 12 a day. Not as many as it seems....) How many do you want for each person / day? Do you think everyone will trade? If so, just calculate how many you think you want and go with it.

Must-Have-More
Also, if you run out, you don't have to pay $6/pin. There are sets at DLR that are a box of seven for usually about $30. That puts you at just over $4 a pin if you find your group feeling the must-have-more-pins urge.

Hope this helps,
Dreams

 

[scrapbunny]

You are all so awesome and helpful I really think this will be a fun thing for me and the kids now that we have AP's
I have been reading the last pages of the Good/Bad thread and searching sellers.
I asked there but just in case I'll ask here too, any ideas about cuquicollectables? They seem to be a new seller and they say "authentic" in their listings and you get the pins in the picture. Comes to a little over $1 a pin and there are lanyards too. Too good to be true?

 

[damiel]

If you jump on it today while they still have them in stock and on sale and they still have the free shipping for park merchandise, the Disney Store has this set of 7 pins for a terrific $10 sale price. It would be a great way to get some starter pins for cheap that you know are real:

http://www.disneystore.com/disney-parks-adventure-mickey-mouse-pin-set/mp/1317898/1000286/

I tried to buy these yesterday and they were sold out. Bummer!

 

[Girimama33]

You are all so awesome and helpful I really think this will be a fun thing for me and the kids now that we have AP's
I have been reading the last pages of the Good/Bad thread and searching sellers.
I asked there but just in case I'll ask here too, any ideas about cuquicollectables? They seem to be a new seller and they say "authentic" in their listings and you get the pins in the picture. Comes to a little over $1 a pin and there are lanyards too. Too good to be true?

Most ebay sellers will state their pins are authentic and tradeable...this does not mean they are not scrappers.
A good rule of thumb (I think), is if it is a "lot" of pins, chances are good you will get some scrappers. If you are purchasing individual pins or small sets from trusted sellers, you should be okay. It is going to cost more, but like everything else in life...you get what you pay for.

 

[Disney Dreams]

...Comes to a little over $1 a pin and there are lanyards too. Too good to be true?

Generally speaking, if you are paying less than $2/pin (unless you are buying a very large quantity), it's probably too good to be true.

- Dreams

 

[pixiewings71]

You are all so awesome and helpful I really think this will be a fun thing for me and the kids now that we have AP's
I have been reading the last pages of the Good/Bad thread and searching sellers.
I asked there but just in case I'll ask here too, any ideas about cuquicollectables? They seem to be a new seller and they say "authentic" in their listings and you get the pins in the picture. Comes to a little over $1 a pin and there are lanyards too. Too good to be true?

It's very hard to tell without buying pins from them myself, but I would use extreme caution when buying. Not saying they are scrappers but I don't like the picture quality and there really isn't any information on the pins themselves, it just makes me wonder.

 

[scrapbunny]

Thanks so much for taking the time to check them out I am excited to give this a try