A question for all you pin traders

[cotton]

Hi

After seven visits to Florida we decide that this year (number 8) we will have a go at pin trading.:) I have bought some pins from ebay and would like to know if there is a way of telling if they are real/ok for trading :erm: can anyone help please:confused2

Also if you have any tips on what to do and what to look out for. There will be 3 of us trading myself DS(10) and DD(4).

Thanks for any help.:)

Jo

[BevS97]

They are supposed to have Disney and a Copyright circle on the back.
the CMs will trade for pretty much anything with Disney on the back, real pin traders are more fussy. I have traded some pins that came out of crackers before (they were marked with Disney on the back)

[BevS97]

Oh, and tips on what to trade for..

i would each choose a topic, ie, a specific film, or park, or character and look for pins associated with that. There are so many pins that it's impossible to choose but we now just trade for pocahontas pins and these are pretty rare, so the thrill of finding one is great fun, whereas just trading for any old thing gets a little boring.

[may]

My DD 6 really enjoyed pin trading with cast members in October 05. In brief cast members seemed to be happy to trade for any metal pin with the Disney copyright on , providing they hadn't already got it. A maximum of two trades could be made with each cast member. Cast members with teal green lanyards traded with children only. Extra information on protocol is available at http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/page?id=getStarted#guideline

More information on the range of pins available and detailed photographs can be found at http://www.pinpics.com/

DD's pins came very cheaply from www.mousepinsonline.com and were produced by a company called pro-pins. I think that serious pin collectors may not be so keen on these as they are on the ones bought directly from the park but they met the basic criteria and cast members were perfectly content to trade for them. DD had lots of fun and will definitely want to trade again next time we go . Hope this helps :-)

[Jay66UK]

The starter packs are really good, too. One problem we found was that DD6 (at the time) was more than happy to pick which pin she wanted, but less happy to pick the pin she was happy to give. Some of the starter packs have 2 of each pin, making the giving part a little less painfull.

And I echo the comments about collecting a theme, but with a warning. There are so so many different pins that you couldn't begin to collect them all. Similarly there are so many pins with (insert name of almost any character) on them.

Even going for something quite specific (like Mickey Animal Kingdom pins) and there are loads.

It might be better for your child to pick their favourite X characters and see if they can collect a pin for each. Then, when trading, they can see if the person has "a better Minnie" or something.

[BevS97]

On trading, my dd is also not so keen on trading, so we bought a few pins from the outlet shops for $2, these were all the same and something quite odd (I can't remember but some ride we didn't like springs to mind) so they weren't for keeping but solely for trading and she was much happier with trading those.

[TinkTatoo]

We bought loads of pins on e-bay to take with us and trade and have had great fun on this trip trading with the cast menebers.

[LizzyBear]

We bought loads of pins on e-bay to take with us and trade and have had great fun on this trip trading with the cast menebers.

That's what I plan to do, will probably buy loads there too *lol*

I find it's best to just have tradeable pins on your lanyard then anyone who asks can have the pick of it, either that or put tradeables on one side and the rest on the other. With the CMs you can choose which one to trade obviously (and they are obligated to trade with you if you ask ;-) but with other guests it may help avoid a tricky moment if someone wants to trade a pin of yours that you want to keep.

[ursula]

theres also pins of the cutie series that are in packs of 7 i do blieve, for $25. these are great to trade.

when ur trading with CMs look for pins with hidden gold mickeys on them, these are cast lanyard exclusives so cant b bought. for example, monorail pins, busses, car parks, disney dollars... its lots of fun!!!

mim
(gemma)
ursula's daughter

[loadsapixiedust]

Find CMs with lots of pins and ask them to show you which ones to look out for, there are lots of CM only pins and passholder or other limited edition ones which are good to keep if you get them.
The pin shop at DTD has very knowledgeable staff who will help you out if you are buying pins. It is good to go for a theme, DD collects Donald and Daisy pins, some people choose a favourite character or you can collect ride pins for each ride you do.
Trading is great fun.

[ursula]

but then you could want Mary Poppins or Marvelous Madame Mim pins and then even the ppl outside Pin stop at DTD dont even have any! :(

[Leanne1977]

We bought our 2 DS's a lanyard each and a pin starter pack each last year.

They happily traded with cast members.:grin:

This year i went to The Disney Store sale and managed to get loads of Narnia pins for 50p solely for trading.

We plan on putting the ones we want to keep on one side and traders on the other side of the lanyards.

Its good fun!:grin: