Disney Pin Trading

[cdoc29]

I have been seeing a lot of blogs, facebook posts and such lately that are promoting buying cheap pins on Amazon or Ebay for trading at the parks. Most pin sellers on Amazon and Ebay are for people selling scrapers. If anyone wants to cheat the system by buying scrappers, fakes and other low quality pins (and that’s what they are if you spend a dollar a pin) to circumvent the system because you are cheap and cast members have to trade it’s kids like mine with special needs that you are taking advantage of, not Disney. When my kid trades at the pins boards as an activity that allows him self confidence in interacting with other people it is frustrating when he gets cheap knockoffs because of cheapskates. If you can't play by the rules (and it is against Disney Rules to trade pins of lesser quality) then don't participate in the activity.

 

[DavidNYC]

However there are also very many legitimate sellers of pins as well on ebay where you can get some inexpensive ones for trading at decent prices. If you're looking to just get a handful of pins and don't care what you get so that you have something to trade, it's still a good way to do it. There are enough blogs where you can look up info on how to tell legit pins from scrappers. Also - kids get to pick pick their own pins when they trade. Not sure what you're getting at by saying he gets cheap knockoffs. No one is forcing a child to take a pin - if you don't see one that you like or think one is fake, don't trade. If you're concerned about knockoffs, check out the pins before he or she chooses. No one is trading pins with cast members to get valuable pins - those are going to be done in person to person trades with collectors. Cast member pins are generally pretty common stuff. Kids should get pins that they like - I've yet to hear a complaint from a child pin trading about the value of what they picked.

It's been known for years that castmembers generally have cheap pins with a bunch of knockoffs that make it in. My advice would be don't pin trade with castmembers if value is what you're concerned with. The only way you should be doing cast member trades is to get a pin you actually like.

 

[starry_solo]

There are plenty of sellers on various forms of social media that sell legitimate pins at $1.75-$3 per pin (still cheaper than retail).

Tips as to what to look for (for fakes, scrappers, knock-off pins) on various auction sites (eBay) and Amazon, Mercari, Craigslist, etc.:
- 100% tradeable (NOTE: it doesn't say authentic)
- what you see may not be what you get
- if you order more than X, you may (or will) get duplicates
- cannot guarantee authenticity
- extremely cheap pins being sold by people that aren't in FL or CA and it says they got the pins while trading at either US Disney park
- check their sold items to see how many they have sold
- the pins are 40-50 cents each and are individually wrapped in little bags with red lines (thin, flimsy bags, not the ones you can get at craft stores)

 

[cdoc29]

No one is trading pins with cast members to get valuable pins

Yes but neither is anyone looking to spend $25 on 5 pins to trade only to come away with 5 worth less than $2. All I am saying is if someone willing buys scrappers or knockoffs they are contributing to the problem. The people they hurt are other Disney patrons not Disney itself.

 

[Kimpossible1]

There are many people who have 2 lanyards and trade pins with cast members with a "trading" lanyard, and then have their special lanyard with pins that are really important to them. Maybe that would help with your kids trading?

 

[ClapYourHands]

I figure my "buy price" is about $2/pin for random authentic pins. If my kids end up trading for something they like that's only worth $0.50, then the trade didn't lose me $1.50 worth of value; it provided $1.50 worth of enjoyment.

I won't allow them to trade $6 or $10 pins in the parks. If we buy them at retail, we buy them to collect.

Pin trading is meant to be fun.

 

[cdoc29]

There are many people who have 2 lanyards and trade pins with cast members with a "trading" lanyard, and then have their special lanyard with pins that are really important to them. Maybe that would help with your kids trading?

This last trip I was letting my kids do the trades, we always buy the multiple packs in the park to put into trade circulation. When one of my kids went to trade one of the more astute cast members refused the trade due to the one my child was offering being a scrapper, it looked ok but they pointed out the flaws, turns out the kids had picked up three scrappers along the way. After that I had to supervise what is supposed to be an otherwise fun activity and inspect each pin to determine if it was legit or not. Not a good experience especially when researching the topic only to find many blogs, websites and videos supporting the practice of buying in lots for $1 or less a pin and trading them.

 

[ClapYourHands]

This last trip I was letting my kids do the trades, we always buy the multiple packs in the park to put into trade circulation. When one of my kids went to trade one of the more astute cast members refused the trade due to the one my child was offering being a scrapper, it looked ok but they pointed out the flaws, turns out the kids had picked up three scrappers along the way. After that I had to supervise what is supposed to be an otherwise fun activity and inspect each pin to determine if it was legit or not. Not a good experience especially when researching the topic only to find many blogs, websites and videos supporting the practice of buying in lots for $1 or less a pin and trading them.

From what I understand, this shouldn't have happened. According to multiple sources (including these boards) the scrappers proliferate because CMs aren't supposed to refuse trades if the pins have the logo on the back, even if they suspect it's not real.

If the folks at Disney are cracking down on scrappers (which is totally fine with me), they need to do it uniformly with all the CMs being trained to detect and refuse scrapper trades. Not fair for a kid to start with authentic, get a scrapper from a CM, and then not be able to trade it with another CM.

 

[cdoc29]

From what I understand, this shouldn't have happened. According to multiple sources (including these boards) the scrappers proliferate because CMs aren't supposed to refuse trades if the pins have the logo on the back, even if they suspect it's not real.

If the folks at Disney are cracking down on scrappers, they need to do it uniformly with all the CMs being trained to detect and refuse scrapper trades. Not fair for a kid to start with authentic, get a scrapper from a CM, and then not be able to trade it with another CM.

That was my thought too.....

 

[FCDub]

Posted too soon. This is a tough subject, for sure. Vinylmation had similar issues back when it was a product.

 

[Flagge]

In my research leading up to our family's October trip I found the same information Starry provided. I went the route of going to my local Disney stores (I have two near by) to check the clearance section. I was lucky enough to get a number of sets and singles on clearance and during the half annual sales. I went every couple of weeks. I know mileage may vary for everyone but I found this strategy worked out well with my pin count currently in the mid 60's for my family with paying 20-30% of the original price. Its still costly mind you but better than purchasing pins in the parks for trading or getting scrappers which hurt everyone in the end.

 

[KMarston]

I bought my kids and my niece several starter sets to begin trading with. The girls enjoyed it by my son was obsessed with it. He ended up trying to collect a few sets that he for some reason loved. Some puzzle type pieces and maybe it was a villains bowling pin set. I have no idea if the ones he got were scrappers. Over the years he got so much enjoyment out of trading that that’s all that mattered to me. He was missing one of the bowling pin set and actually found it at Epcot on a cast members “child’s” laynard. He begged and pleaded but she would not trade with him. He has about 5 laynards or more. Several are the ones he purchased on trips to keep, a few are for trading. All the kids liked to buy the “brown bag” pins with their souvenir money though I never quite understood it. It’s just supposed to be fun. One of my favorite Disney pictures is my sons first trade with a custodian. I’m trying to tell him not to bother the man, and when he asked to trade this older man spent 15 minutes explaining his pins. It was priceless.

 

[DuskKodesh]

On Ebay you can find nicely discounted legitimate full sets still in their packaging for about fifty percent off. A great way to do it is to limit your results by area and eliminate Chinese and hong kong results. Then on youtube you can see what's gone on clearance at the outlets and you'll know those are great to search for marked down. I got some nice ones that way from people that shop the outlet stores then throw things into their ebay shop. I also got some scrappers from trades last vacay but it's okay. I just wanted the memories so they stay on my pin board and don't get redistributed.

 

[mtrib]

Hijack alert!

Anyone know if they are still dragging out "The Trading Post" at Frontier Trading Post in MK on Fridays at noon? The were still doing it in February.

 

[solfan68]

I'm another big fan of the pins you can get at the two character warehouse sites just off property. Last trip we picked up a Tsum Tsum set that we could have cared less about, but made for wonderful trading fodder. I think it worked out to about two bucks a pin. Not as cheap as the fifty cent scrappers, but still a really good deal for legit pins to trade.

 

[Jennasis]

If your kid sees a pin they like/want does it matter if it's a scrapper?

 

[starry_solo]

I'm another big fan of the pins you can get at the two character warehouse sites just off property. Last trip we picked up a Tsum Tsum set that we could have cared less about, but made for wonderful trading fodder. I think it worked out to about two bucks a pin. Not as cheap as the fifty cent scrappers, but still a really good deal for legit pins to trade.

I would be too, except, apparently both character outlets are packed due to their good deals on other merchandise. I've heard about 2+ hour waits to get inside at all times of the day

 

[solfan68]

If your kid sees a pin they like/want does it matter if it's a scrapper?

We've never thought so, but some folks do feel quite strongly about it.

 

[Flagge]

If your kid sees a pin they like/want does it matter if it's a scrapper?

If its something my niece and nephew like and want to trade for it doesn't matter to me. Its more about the memories and trying to keep from trading 5+ dollar pins. I would rather spend a little bit more time and effort to try and avoid any issues that might come up with trading. Plus there are a lot of people that feel strongly about scrappers going into circulation and I'd rather not add to the problem.

 

[DisLiss]

If your kid sees a pin they like/want does it matter if it's a scrapper?

To me it doesn't. If they like it, they won't re-trade it anyway, and I'll start them off with new authentic pins the next time we go to the park, so there won't be any chance of them trading a scrapper back to a CM again. If spending money in the parks was an issue for me, I wouldn't be at a Disney park. So if I buy my kid a mystery pack and the pins they trade them for are worth less in value...it's just part of the expense of the trip for me. No biggie. We're never going to sell the pins, so their value exists only in if they make us happy.

I could spend time ranting and raving about ebay scrapper sales, but I know there's no point to it. Too many people simply don't care. They want 50 cent pins and that's that. So, instead of being sucked into to the negatives of pin-trading, we found a solution we can live with and go with that. My kids enjoy the trading. We all like buying one or two special Keeper Pins each trip, and we do our very best not to let any scrappers travel from us into the park. That allows us to be positive and have fun while not making matters worse for other collectors.