Where to get inexpensive pins & lanyards

[HayGan]

I'm thinking of getting both my little ones (3 & 5) lanyards and a couple of pins to trade on our trip. My DS# 1 is diagnosed as PDD-NOS (which is classifiication within the autism spectrum) and his biggest challenge is social interactions. I think that the trading will really help him and be a great activity that is non-sensory related. I would like to get some soon that we can start working on the concept of trading for him and his brother.

So where can I get pins (and especially the lanyards) at a reasonable price? Is ebay the best or are there better sites?

Also any pointers on the whole trading thing in the parks would be really helpfu!

Thanks!

 

[greenshoes]

Have you been to disney already? http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/index this is a link to the official disney pin trading site, you can print out the rules of ettiqutte, very helpfull! and find out things like the cast members are required to trade with the kids, and look for ones with green lanyards at WDW, teal at DL because they can ONLY trade with kids. We also found a list of special props at different rides where the castmembers trade, like at the haunted mansion they trase off a tombstone, Pirates of the carrabian they trade from a treasure chest! Last time we went down, we did'nt do the pins, just autographs, but my niece really liked the pin trading so this time we are going to try it. I did find a pin set on the disney website www.disneystore.com one set, lady and the tramp was $24.95 for 7 pins, not really cheap, but not bad, and I have all boys, who don't really get into lady anyway, so they will not mind trading them. I know when I went a few years ago, they have a disney outlet store in the outlet mall, and they had pins for $1-3 each, I am hoping they still do! I am going valentine's day, and if you hav'nt gone yet, I will let you know what I found. My brother in law is sending the boys lanyards leftover from their trip, they go as part of their tour, so I am not sure if you can get those cheap, or just check walmart, get one that is a plain color they sell for keys or ID badges. I am really hoping that they have some in the outlet store. But the dinsney stores in teh mall no longer sell pins! And they are $8 at the parks! If I am going to pay $8, I am not going to trade it! I will buy what I want! But the lady and tramp set is the best deal I found, Of course you can find some at ebay. I saw some priced reasonable, if you don't get outbid! I jsut don't have time to wait for shipping, so I am crossing my fingers when I get there the outlet stores will have some. Just be careful on ebay, from what i ready on the site, they have to be official disney pins, they can't be a mickey pin you bought at walmart. Please email me if you have any questions, or if you found out any info that would be helpful! I have three boys, 5, 8, and 11 and they are very excited about trading pins. I hope we do well!!
jgreenshoes@msn.com

 

[Matt'sMom]

Just one caution regarding buying the actual Disney pin sets...

Certain pin sets are intended for trade as complete sets only, according to the pin trading rules. The multi-pin sets really are wonderful for collecting, if you like the featured subject and intend to keep them together as a set. But it may not be a good idea to buy an actual set with the expectation of then being able to break it up and trade out individual pins with Disney CM's. You simply are not supposed to do that. The CM would be justified in declining such a trade, when the pin being offered is not a 'tradable' pin according to Disney policy. Same as if you attempted to trade any other type of non tradable pin--such as bootleg pins, or cheaply made foreign pins. To help avoid confusion regarding which pins are or are not part of a 'set', the newer multi-pin sets are supposed to be coming out with a back stamp indicating '1 of 2', '2 of 2', etc..

However, if another WDW Guest is willing to trade with you (for a single pin from a multi-pin set), then that does not fall under the same restrictions. Aside from the requirement that no money may change hands during a trade, most of the restrictions relative to 'tradable' pin types apply to trading with the CM's only.

 

[lovethattink]

DS(11) has been trading pins since he was 5 years old. The cheapest place to buy lanyards is Claires at the malls. Only problem there is they are mostly geared to little girls. As for pins, ebay is a great place. So is the selling boards on Dizpins. Both of those sites allow you to check a persons references too! We try to buy our pins around $3. At the parks at WDW the cheapest pins are $6.50. Be aware, though that only metal Disney pins are permitted to be traded. There are many counterfeit and fantasy pins that may not be traded. Also, plastic pins may not be traded. Sometimes people sell these non-tradable pins on ebay.

 

[~Kathie]

Just one caution regarding buying the actual Disney pin sets...

Certain pin sets are intended for trade as complete sets only, according to the pin trading rules. The multi-pin sets really are wonderful for collecting, if you like the featured subject and intend to keep them together as a set. But it may not be a good idea to buy an actual set with the expectation of then being able to break it up and trade out individual pins with Disney CM's.

While what is quote here is true to some extent the general rule is that if a pin can "stand alone" it is tradable by itself and does not have to be traded as a set.

A good example is Pin Pics #3189. This was sold as a set at WDW but each pin is tradeable on it's own and will be found frequently on CM lanyards.

The Lady & The Tramp set depicts individual characters, no one pin is dependent on the other so they would be fine to trade individually.

On the other hand Pin Pics #4842 This is a 2 pin set. The Tinker Bell pin alone would be accepted as a trade without a problem. The words alone on the other hand might not be accepted.

Hope this helps.

 

[greenshoes]

thank you for clearing that up! I was getting a little frustrated! I talked to the girl in the disney store and on the phone and they said we could use them no problem, you just can't go to odd jobs and buy 10 for a dollar "kinda look like mickey pins". I also found Walmart had laynards for $1.97-$2.49 and they had a cute one, green with footballs, or plain colors. ( I have three boys, so claires probably would'nt suit us!) I will be dissappointed if they can't trade the lady and the tramp pins, they are already on the way, and we leave in 5 days!!! My boys are very excited about trading this time. I will post after we get back the 23rd how we make out and if we could trade them ok or not!

 

[Matt'sMom]

Greenshoes, I am sorry if you misunderstood, and thought I was implying that the L&T pins that you purchased were not tradable. If they are the ones I think they are, you should not have any problem trading those pins with the CMs.

I had just wanted to post a caution to new pin traders in general. I know that some 'sets' can indeed be split up and traded as individual pins, *if* those pins can indeed 'stand alone'. That is why I specifically stated only that 'certain' multi-pin sets must be traded as sets (as oppossed to all). There are a lot of people that simply are not aware of that, and may purchase such sets thinking it is a great way to save a few bucks... only to be disappointed and upset if/when a CM refuses a trade (particularly where children are involved). When bargain hunting, it pays to be informed and aware.

 

[~Kathie]

The most important thing is to have fun trading. I hope you and your children have a great time and look forward to you reporting back to us and letting us know how it went.

You may want to take in Scoop's 1:00 pm Pin Talk at the Expo Center in the MK. He isn't there every day but if you go in there you can find a schedule. Very informative and fun for the kids.

 

[PinCollector]

I bought a lot of pins at the Belk's Outlet mall...about 5-7miles from WDW...for a really great price. Also, it's been a while, but the disney store has sales on their pins from time to time.

Good Luck!

 

[GeneralMax]

I have bought my kids pins to trade on ebay. If you check feedback you can usually count on getting real Disney pins at really good prices. I have not been burned yet. ( I hope I did not just jinx myself...)

 

[greenshoes]

http://disney.store.go.com/DSSectionPage.process?MerchantId=2&Section_Id=14508#restrictions

disney annual pin sale! There are some multi pin sets that are fine for trading and right now, free shipping on orders over $60! Wish they had this two weeks ago!

We just got back from Disney yesterday Did'nt rain the whole ten days we were there!!! Had a great time, very crowded though! We are official Pin heads now! We had so much fun trading pins! The kids would trade for all one theme, then the next day trade them all away for some other theme, one day all mickey, the next day all stitch....It was great fun!

The cheapest pins you will find on the property are the starter sets, still pricey, but cheaper than individuals, a nice laynard with 4 pins is $25, tinkerbell, lilo and stitch, buzz lightyear/toy story, winnie the pooh, and the incredibles were the ones I saw, or an 8 pin starter set which was villans was $48. the cheapest individual pins were $6.95 each. There was also a 4 piece holiday set which was $22. Cute pins. At disney MGM studios, in the planet hollywood store, they had a planet hollywood walt disney world pin for $5 we bought several of these since they were cheaper than any others....and traded several of them, one cast member in Animal Kingdom told my son that it was un tradable, but she traded with him anyway and told him she would just put it in her pocket.....which bothered me, I did'nt want to trade "illegal pins" so I read my ruls I printed out and asked around, and it is a tradable pin, because it said "walt disney world" on it. You are allowed to trade pins that may not be disney, but as long as it is a partner and it represents disney, such as Coke, kodak, planet hollywood....so long as they say something about disney, which they did. But the best deal is we found the Disney outlet stores, and they had a whole bunch of pins for $2.99 and $3.99. Limit of 24 pins per person! Guess some serious traders must come in and buy them up! Look for them though, they have regular priced pins in there too, you have to ask for the sale ones! There was a Character Premier at the Orlando premium outlets, and there are two disney outlet stores in the Belz outlet mall. All three had the discount pins, my husband asked and they told him they don't always have the pins, or not always that many, but it is worth checking!

Make sure to go to Scoop's pin trading talk at the Exposition Hall on main street at 1:00 sunday-wednesday. My oldest was called up to help Scoop do a demo on how to trade, and gave him a free pin. Then at the end he let ALL the kids come up and pick a pin off his vest. My kids went 4 times! They really liked hearing his jokes, or sometimes he would have them play a little game, if they did it in one try they got two pins. And I even got a free pin once! he will give an adult or two a free pin for asking a good question, or helping him act out trades... It was fun! We had so much fun with it!

So rush to the disney website and order your pins so you are all ready! You will have a great time with it!!!

 

[kkana]

just want to track this post

 

[gurleym]

Here are the phone numbers for 2 outlet stores that I know have some pins for as low as 2.99. 407-354-3255 and 407-345-5285. It is to the character warehouse and another disney store at the beltz outlet mall you could call and get the directions to get there. I know they have them I talked to them yesterday and they said they would also ship. I have found just get any pin as long as it is tradable for the lowest price. It doesn't matter what it is because if you don't like it trade it. Hope this helps.

 

[greenshoes]

that is great! Thanks for posting the numbers! The other store at Belz is called Character Corner I think, but they have all the same stuff. YOU are right, we bought 12 of the same pin, it was not anything special, but we did'nt care, cause we just wanted to be able to trade it! And it was only $2.99 so we traded them for pins that were more expensive or the cast lanyard pins you can't buy. It was funny though, because over the next couple days after we got our pins there, we saw MANY of the cheap pins on the cast lanyards! It was a little more of a challenge to find pins that we could trade for!

 

[lewdyan1]

Does anyone know if it is still O.K. to trade the white glove AMEX pins they used to give at check-in when you paid with AMEX? I recently found two in a drawer and didn't know if they were still good.

Thanks,

 

[~Kathie]

Those should be fine for trading. They say Walt Disney World on them.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I also wanted to mention that the DIS Shop has lanyards in lime green with "DIS" in white lettering for $7.00. It's a great option if you're looking for a lanyard and for a great way to let your fellow DISers know you post here.