Monday, January 19, 2009

Pin Trading Fever at WDW

Looks like the Theme Park Ranger is finally getting into pin trading, or at least, his kids are.

After they saw a friend's excitement at trading, they declared they were ready to try, too. So, for the day, we approached most of the cast members we saw and asked to view their pins. It was interesting to see how each child approached the process differently. My daughter jumped in wholeheartedly, as she does most things, willing to give away anything if the cast member had a pin that caught her eye. My son hung back shyly, waiting for his sister to finish her transaction, while he studied the possibilities. Then, with some encouragement, he made his offer with a specific trade in mind.


I will offer you my advice on this matter as a Disney pin collector and trader myself.

If you intend to get into Disney pin collecting/trading, DON'T!

:)

But, if you still decide that you want to do it after you read that, then there are several things that you MUST know first before getting into it:

1. Read the etiquette and FAQ of pin trading

2. PICK A THEME that you want to collect, and STICK TO IT, no matter how gorgeous that Eeyore pin looks and you don't collect Winnie the Pooh and Friends. You WILL go bankrupt if you buy everything that you like.

3. Buy cheap "throw-away" pins, such as those suggested by the Theme Park Ranger at the Disney outlet stores, for your pin-trading with cast members.

4. Don't buy for "investment". Most Disney pins do not appreciate in value over the years. Besides, no one can predict how valuable or collectible a pin will be.

5. However, having said that, if you seriously intend to get into pin trading with other pin traders, then you do need to do a little bit of homework, unless you really don't care the value of the pin you are going to trade away. You can get a sense of the value of a pin by going on ebay and see how much a pin is going for. However, this is not going to be easy since there are thousands of pin listed on ebay. So this could be a time-consuming activity. Frankly, I don't bother, but then, I have friends who can advice me on the value of such-and-such a pin. Most people do not have that luxury.

6. If you do intend to seriously trade with other pin traders, then you need to pay attention to buying Limited Edition pins that other traders may want. The general rule here is that the lower the edition number, the more sought-after the pin would be, especially after it is gone from the racks. However, plenty of other things determine the value or collectibility {is this even a word?) of a pin. The characters in the pin, the design, the size, etc. can also determine if a pin is going to be highly sought-after. So if you do intend to get serious, you have to end up buying multiple copies of a single pin that you think will be good traders. This is purely a judgment call (or even guesswork), because one can never predict which pin will be highly tradable.

7. Attend one of the pin events. The biggest yearly pin event is the annual Pin Celebration at Epcot's World Showplace. This is a hard-ticket event that gives you access to 3 days of pin madness, pin games, pin trading, and gifts/surprises galore. There are also pin trading night as mentioned in the news article, and various other smaller pin events held in WDW and Disneyland. Go to the Disney pin trading website for news and details. This website is also a good place to look at new Disney pins, upcoming Disney pins, and other info related to pins and pin events.

8. Join Dizpins.com and Pinpics.com. This is where info about pins, pin traders, etc. can be found.

9. Have fun! If you are not having fun, then pin trading and collecting will not be enjoyable. More than anything else, pin trading is about interacting with people, and specifically, other people who share the same love as you do. Many of them are also some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I can personally testify of making lifelong, wonderful friends through pin trading activities. That in itself is worth all the money that I've poured into this hobby.

If I have time later on, I'll expand this some more to include the necessary "tools" that you might need to be a serious pin trader and collector.

Zz.

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