Is pin trading with CMs and guests still a thing?

[mla973]

Thanks for all of the responses. We will bring just our traders next month and leave our favorites at home. DS6 really likes finding the boards at the resorts because they tend of have a lot of pins which makes more options for trading.

 

[tiggerluver12]

My DD21 loves pin trading. She has collected pins ever since her first WDW trip --- years and years ago. As an adult, she now only brings with her the pins she can live without, leaving her beloved pins at home. Her best collection are the ones with the hidden Mickey's on them.

 

[Ds4angels]

After reading this thread earlier I meet ahead and ordered some pins from Amazon. I got 50 for the kids to divide between them. DS 12 is painfully shy, so I am hoping trading pins will help bring him out of his shell a little.
I did get a Mr. & Mrs pin, decided we'll just gift those to someone if we see someone on their honeymoon.

 

[Travis B]

DD9 and DD11 both look forward to trading pins in the parks. We have traded with CMs most of the time, but enjoy talking about pins with other that have lanyards. When we started collecting and trading I spent a lot of time worrying about scrappers and counterfeit pins. I watched so many videos on how to spot them and I feel like I am pretty good at catching the fakes, but it took so much of the fun out of trading that I stopped inspecting every pin. Now we sort through our traders before each trip, take what we want to trade and then look for pins they enjoy. We only trade Green level pins or pins from the booster packs and I buy many on clearance from the Disney Store. We have a few of our favorites on our lanyards with locking backs, and leave the rest of our LE pins at home. More fun and less stress with lower expectations! lol

I got a lot of scrappers this past trip but I also got some really neat pins. The nice thing is you can always trade on something you don't like. I agree that a really fun part of the trading is getting to talk with CMs - some know a LOT about pins and can give you good information, show you special pins they wear, etc.

I can't help it but inspect every pin I get. I think I'm getting pretty good at spotting fakes. I can relate to what you said - I don't have kids but some pins my BF was excited about collecting and looking for turned out to be fake and it kind of took the wind out of his sails. With kids I would definitely not worry too much about it. I'll continue to trade for fun and the occasional treasure - I can always buy pins that I like and know are real for my collection. In a way it's sad, though, at WDW it seems like fakes vastly outnumber real pins. At DLR I was able to get much better stuff, the lanyards were few and far between but were often fresh with new pins, especially in the morning.

 

[blemon]

Thanks for this thread. We are going in May. I bought some pins from ebay (where they said they were legit) and also some in the sealed packs so I have to assume those are real.

I'm giving them to my daughter for Christmas and we'll buy lanyards when we get there.

It's been fun to look around and I think it will be fun to do this. She loves collecting things.

 

[Lothlórien]

I purposefully spend more to bring authentic pins to trade into the parks and it's annoying that most of the traders are fake. It takes the fun out of pin trading. I understand that some people do it out of ignorance, but knowing better and still doing it shows a real lack of integrity IMO.

A lot of people do it knowingly. I am part of a lot of Disney buy/sell groups and those people buy scrappers and trade them in the parks for legit pins to sell in these groups. It is ridiculous!!

 

[Lothlórien]

I can't figure out how to PM you. I'm sorry it was deleted. I'd be interested in the info. Thanks!

Here you go.



IS MY PIN A SCRAPPER?? (guideline, but not always 100%. Some pins from Disney stores have flaws)

• Jagged Edges
• Outside of edges not cut clean
• Lines in surface of pin
• Dull/matte finish
• Coloring is very bright and glossy
• Dips in surface of pin
• Incorrect coloring
• Uneven coloring
• Back of pin is very hard to read
• Pin colors have yellowing or too much green, which are clearly not something yellow or green
o This is faces, grey-scales, light blues, etc.
o Pluto has a green tint o Goofy has a green or yellow tint
• Incorrect coloring
• Pin feels very light
• Pins from 2012 and forward should have serial numbers
• Should have prongs on back
• Small holes (pin holes) in surface of pins
• Mickey heads do not run off back
• **Most Hidden Mickey and Cast Lanyard Pins Have Been Scrapped
o Mickey Ears are not defined on Hidden Mickey series pins

 

[BobC]

I was there Sept '15 and saw a few CMs still donning the pins and doing this.

At the pin shops, I glance over at the CMs pins and look at them but never traded. The ones I buy are always $8-15 quality ones I buy in the park. I always buy a pin for my fav rides and resorts I've stayed in. The pins I saw on the CMs do seem boring and low quality. Sadly I believe this is due to many visitors buying scrappers online for higher quality ones, as many people also stated.

I'd stick to saving up $100 and buying the pins you like and knowing theyre authentic.

 

[JungleCruiseFan]

We love pin trading!! With the exception of the 6 resort pins at the top of the second picture, all of these pins were traded for at WDW from either a cast lanyard or a resort board. I trade everyday, last trip when my wife and daughter would take an afternoon nap I would walk from Caribbean Beach Resort to Pop Century and Art of Animation to trade on their boards. Lots of fun and good exercise! Also a great chance to meet and talk to cast members. I ended up having a great conversation with the guy who runs the bike and boat rental at CBR last trip about all kinds of stuff. I collect pirates, Star Wars and anything park related. My wife collects Little Mermaid and stuff she thinks is cute. My daughter collects Tinker Bell. My wife has more pins that she bought but she keeps them in her pin trading book and wears a different one each day.
Have fun!

 

[Lothlórien]

Mousepinsonline have never been scrapers for me and my family. we used them dozens of times.

All of his pins are scrappers. Some are just better quality than others. How else would he sell them at that price and make a profit?? Disney DOES NOT sell their pins to random people at a discount rate. They get them from distributors in China. He never claims to sell authentic pins, just 100% tradeable pins. That should be your clue.

Here are some pins from Mousepinsonline. All clearly scrappers.

 

[littlebearfan]

Here are some pins from Mousepinsonline. All clearly scrappers

Thank you for the pictures - I wasn't sure what people meant by 'not full' or 'not filled in'. Although I don't think I will get into serious pin trading, it's good to know what to look out for!

 

[DisneyDetective]

I've never traded before, is it fairly easy as in do you basically just go up and ask if you'd like to trade?

 

[Lothlórien]

Thank you for the pictures - I wasn't sure what people meant by 'not full' or 'not filled in'. Although I don't think I will get into serious pin trading, it's good to know what to look out for!

My pleasure. Some people do not care and I think that is fine, too.

To be honest, I have over 2500 pins and more than 200 of them are scrappers from CM lanyards. I took them because I like them. I do not resell them for profit and the value of the pin is set by me because I am keeping it. I would never buy a booster pack at full price and trade those for CM lanyard pins, however. There are a few places that sell legitimate pins for $1.50 - $2 a pin if you buy a decent-sized lot....those places are approved resellers (by Disney).

What I do have an issue with is people knowingly buying scrappers and trading them with CMs for legit pins and then selling them. I know of several people who do that in FB buy/sell groups. It is the same as stealing and lying.
I also really do not like that unaware guests might buy a booster pack at $35 (with tax) and trade them for a bunch of scrappers. But.... until Disney puts a stop to the manufacturing of scrappers, this is how it will be.

 

[Gillbob316]

I wanna run a couple pins I acquired recently past this crowd just to hear your thoughts...

I live in Chicago so I only get down to Disney every so often. That said, I collect Tinker Bell pins, and always try to snatch up any I see in trades. I acquired the one on the left in Sept and noticed after I got home that the bun in her hair was miscolored orange (rather than yellow). I assumed it was just a defect that went unnoticed. I googled the pin and found images with both an orange and yellow bun.

I remembered seeing this pin on lots of lanyards, as this series seems very common atm. I went back last month aiming to find the same pin w/ correct coloring. I did so, and acquired the pin on the right. (I also saw two or three more of the orange-bun version on cast member lanyards).

These two pins, I now note, when held side-by-side have a LOT of differences. So while I acquired both from cast members, at least one is obviously a knock off.

Funny thing is the one with the correct coloring is by far the rougher looking of the two. The one with the orange bun is for all intents and purposes a fairly nice looking pin. It's smooth, the lines are clean and well defined, the colors are paler, but distinct. The green on her dress looks a little sunken but not off-puttingly so, I didn't even notice without scrutinizing. The right one has much more vivid colors, I'd argue too vivid, Tink's skin is borderline orange irl (looks better in the photo than it does on my table). The orange-bun pin is thinner and ever-so-slightly larger (As in, the square is bigger). The right pin is thicker with a slightly smaller square. The metal on the orange-bun pin is much much smoother. The yellow-bun pin is very rough around the edges, and has several surface defects (you can see the light catching them in the photo), and is also slightly rusted (most visible on the back). The backs don't match at all... but I'd argue that the yellow-bun pin has the better looking back (rust aside)... the mickey stamps are much more clearly defined, as are the logos/text. The logos/text are also larger on the yellow-bun pin and easier to read. They're much more clearly embossed. The orange-bun pin has much lighter, less-defined embossing on the back (both mickey pattern and text)... I'm not sure if all the defects in the yellow-bun pin are due to the fact its fake, or just due to the fact it was mistreated/clearly rusting (IE. Is it rough because it rusted, or is it rusting because it's a rough fake? Chicken/Egg).

On the whole the orange-bun pin is the nicer looking of the two, yet clearly the one with wrong coloring. The yellow-bun pin looks cheaper and less authentic. But the orange-bun one isn't without its flaws either. The orange bun version also seems far more common amongst cast members, I've seen handfuls of CMs w/ the orange bun pin, but only this one with correct yellow coloring (and it took a small bit of effort for me to find it, finding several orange buns along the way). Yet ALL the ones on ebay (when last I searched) had yellow buns. Is EITHER of these pins authentic? Neither has a serial number, I'm not sure if they should.

What color bun *should* this pin have, authentically? (I realize yellow should be correct, but somehow Orange seems more common among cast members.) Does anyone have a pic of the authentic version of this pin, for my own future reference, haha?