tiffjoy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2010
My girls pin trade purely for fun, and I pay little to no attention to if they got a "good" pin or not. I view it as something for them to enjoy, not an investment. We did get a start lot of 20 on ebay before I knew about the possibility of fakes, but the pins were mostly cute and the girls like them, so... I don't know. Most seemed fine. I will not buy from ebay again now that I know that, but I wasn't going to throw away all the pins because most were cute.
We do buy pins at DLR as well because they are nice souvenirs. On our last trip, my DD5 got a little bag that she can wear as a purse to hold her pins- it's a little booklet when you open it up. DD8 wasn't with me when I bought it for her sister, and now she wants one too. The pins do tend to fall off lanyards and get heavy and not fun to wear for littles.
We trade primarily with CMs because my DDs don't want to approach strange guests. Last time we visited, DD5 and I were at the pin store in Frontierland on a Friday night, and the professional traders mentioned up thread were all there in full force. It was fun to see all their pins. While DD was shopping for her pin, a nice younger woman approached her and asked if she wanted to trade. My DD was super shy, but said yes, and looked through the lady's pins. She saw a cute Mulan one and offered the lady a pin for it that wasn't very nice (might have been a scrapper for all I know- I don't claim to be an expert, and since we trade a lot with CMs, and I don't stop the girls if they see a pin they like, I'm sure we have some). I started to stop my DD and get to to offer a "nice pin" but the lady said that was ok and traded with her. Not sure if the Mulan is fake or not either, but it's cute and the lady was super sweet and my DD couldn't possibly care less. I wouldn't intentionally trade a fake, but I assume the lady knew what she was doing, and at the end of the day, I view the pins as something to be enjoyed, not counted for value. That's my take on the pin trading.
We do buy pins at DLR as well because they are nice souvenirs. On our last trip, my DD5 got a little bag that she can wear as a purse to hold her pins- it's a little booklet when you open it up. DD8 wasn't with me when I bought it for her sister, and now she wants one too. The pins do tend to fall off lanyards and get heavy and not fun to wear for littles.
We trade primarily with CMs because my DDs don't want to approach strange guests. Last time we visited, DD5 and I were at the pin store in Frontierland on a Friday night, and the professional traders mentioned up thread were all there in full force. It was fun to see all their pins. While DD was shopping for her pin, a nice younger woman approached her and asked if she wanted to trade. My DD was super shy, but said yes, and looked through the lady's pins. She saw a cute Mulan one and offered the lady a pin for it that wasn't very nice (might have been a scrapper for all I know- I don't claim to be an expert, and since we trade a lot with CMs, and I don't stop the girls if they see a pin they like, I'm sure we have some). I started to stop my DD and get to to offer a "nice pin" but the lady said that was ok and traded with her. Not sure if the Mulan is fake or not either, but it's cute and the lady was super sweet and my DD couldn't possibly care less. I wouldn't intentionally trade a fake, but I assume the lady knew what she was doing, and at the end of the day, I view the pins as something to be enjoyed, not counted for value. That's my take on the pin trading.