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Anyone ever get like super frustrated with pin collecting??

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Anyone ever get like super frustrated with pin collecting??

Spr175psu

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So, I apologize in advance for the gif-less venting, but in the last week alone, two Mr. Toad ultimate grails have become available on everyone's favorite auction website. Yes, that's right 2 out of the final 3 that I need to complete my collection. The first one, I was outbid, not sure how that could have happened since I truly believed that only I was crazy enough to pay as much as I do for Mr. Toad pins. The second one apparently came up late Sunday evening and was sold three hours later, before I even knew it existed. And yes, I have set up a notification but I receive the email the next morning, too late to have gotten this one. And yes, I feverishly check multiple sources several times a day, searching for those last 3.

Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful for how far my collection has come these last few years and cherish all of my pins, but I can't help but be incredibly frustrated in thinking about the ones that got away. One of those was an LE 15 and the other was an LE 110 and I wonder if I'll ever get a second chance at them.

Anyone else have these types of experiences about the pin, grail or not, that got away, and whether you were able to get that second chance. Or maybe it's just me and I'm just crazy and should just get over it.
 
...frustrated with this hobby...NEVER. ;)

OMG...I feel your pain. :mad:

However, over the 9 years of collecting these shiny pieces of metal, I have learned the hard way, patience is without a virtue.

I will say, that the Blessings, out weight the Frustrations by 2-1. :)

Hang-in-there!
 
The frustration is totally normal. And I'm oversimplifying here, but: Yes, you will get another chance. It may take a while (cue @hopemax and her patience spiel, ha ha ha). But the cosmos provides when the time is right. Or it provides something better, and you'll realize you didn't spend the $$$ right now because X is about to happen and you need those funds (hopefully something good, but the cosmos does what it does).

Also, side note: eBay notifications SUCK. I have both email and app notifications, and I too missed out on something I really want that is truly rare and HTF (not a pin, something else) because it was listed and purchased literally in the 90 minutes I was NOT obsessively checking eBay anyway. I'm not kidding. My BF was dying because he was like, you literally keep refreshing your eBay search, calm down, you have the notifications. And I went to the mall, didn't check eBay, got no notifications, came home, refreshed, and discovered later on that someone had listed this item AT A FLUFFING RIDICULOUS PRICE NO LESS and it was gone before my feverish little hands could click the "search" button for the 79 millionth time that day. How. Is. This. Possible. The good news is that, after weeks/months of dejection, I searched (suck it, notifications) as I was getting into bed last night and this time I was the one who stumbled on a fresh listing and pounced like a ravenous lioness on a newly fallen deer. I'm looking forward to shutting off that particular eBay alert, since I WON'T MISS IT ANYWAY.

Obsessives unite!!!!

But seriously .. I am truly sorry for your lost opportunity. But hang in there, because this hobby is a roller coaster and you will have ups and downs but you can't let these things break your spirit.
 
I hear ya. You will get a second chance. I own a couple pins that I never thought I would. After missing them, never seeing them, hesitating and losing out, one day the timing was right. This has happened more than once. Take a deep breath, smile at the pins you do have and trust that things will work out eventually. :)
 
You are most definitely not alone Shaya! I agree with Ann, the notifications suck, I always get them when the items are already sold.

My frustration comes from wanting pins that are not accessible for me to buy. Seeing all the beautiful pins that are coming out and knowing that I would have to dish out hundreds of dollars on just 1...makes me sad.
 
Big ditto to the comments above. I was actually commenting to my wife the other night how I find it amazing that there are so many pins that slipped through my grasp, that I thought i would never get, that were the ultimate missed opportunity, that eventually came around again and are in my collection. And how many more there are still to go! :D Now on the down side, these aren't situations that turned around in days or weeks, but years and even decade(s) and counting. But eventually those opportunities come around. Just have to wait and watch. And, for you....
tenor.gif
 
Dear Shaya, Ditto everyone's suggestions above....just think how much sweeter it will be when you do come across that amazing trinket you've been coveting for years! As someone who has been enjoying not just the pins, but the pin community for many years, I can share that the cosmos align only when they decide to align...and it is so sweet when they do!

And, as we're sort of neighbors, it would seem frustrations are running a bit higher than usual in our neck of the woods...We're all stuck inside by the snow, with too much time on our hands to peruse the evil bay and other pin-focused sites... So....NOW, just for you...my very first gif.....
tenor.gif
 
The frustration is totally normal. And I'm oversimplifying here, but: Yes, you will get another chance. It may take a while (cue @hopemax and her patience spiel, ha ha ha). But the cosmos provides when the time is right. Or it provides something better, and you'll realize you didn't spend the $$$ right now because X is about to happen and you need those funds (hopefully something good, but the cosmos does what it does).

No patience spiel, this time. Take the non-spent Toad grail money and go buy an airline ticket to Japan. You'll feel better. Well, I'll feel better.

I'm going through my own super frustration and "re-evaluation" but it has more to do with WDW charging $12.99 for a basic, single layer pin! What! Apparently, the rest of the world is made of money, or at least acts like they are, but I have scruples and our 2-person, not-small income can't justify that anymore and it's a struggle to accept that.**

Okay, that's too negative. People don't spent Toad grail money without it also being their Toad grail. We always cheer on everyone else getting their grail even if it's one we want, and maybe the buyer isn't a DPF person, but we can cheer them on just the same. The next one that comes around won't be attracting the attention of that buyer because they already got one. Opportunity to buy lower, next time!


** I am however, going to spending a bunch of money on "didn't think I would find that pin at a price I could afford, but there it is!," via a friend of my Dad's who is also a Disney reseller. I don't know how well it works on LE15s, but for just about everything else things always come around again. Our friend does what they do because people die, need money, priorities change and a host of other reasons. That never changes, we just wait until they pop back out again, and hope that their kids just don't chuck it all in the trash because they don't want to deal with it.
 
People don't spent Toad grail money without it also being their Toad grail. We always cheer on everyone else getting their grail even if it's one we want, and maybe the buyer isn't a DPF person, but we can cheer them on just the same. The next one that comes around won't be attracting the attention of that buyer because they already got one. Opportunity to buy lower, next time!
Yeah, no. :p Time for my not-so-fave favorite story again.

Once upon a time there was a pin... and I thought it was simply the most beautiful pin ever made. And from the very beginning it was my one and only ultimate holy grail. Even though there were rarer pins, it was the culmination of pin art for me and the greatest representation of the things that I loved and it sang its siren song to my heart. And no one had it for trade. And no one had sold one on ebay for years. It had one of the highest wants ratios on PinPics I'd ever seen. Then lo and behold, one day, there it was on ebay! And I sat on that auction prepared to pay anything I had to to get it. And the seconds counted down and I bid and I bid and I bid... and I was outbid despite the insane (at the time) money I'd bid. And I was devastated. But at least I thought - as hopemax notes above - I don't have that person competing with me for the pin anymore.

Several months later, magically, the pin is up for sale again! And I bid and I bid and I bid... and I'm outbid again... BY THE SAME GUY. (This was back in the day when buyers and bidders' names were not hidden.)

I wanted to cry. This was my ultimate holy grail. I couldn't get one and this guy outbid me on TWO of them?! WTH?

Several months later, the pin shows up again, and once again I'm prepared to pay the moon for it. So I bid. And I bid. And I bid. And in the last second, I'm outbid again. BY THE SAME GUY.

I had no words. I could not believe this guy was not only so rich, but so greedy that he needed THREE of these low edition pins when I JUST WANTED ONE FOR MY COLLECTION to keep forever and ever!

And I told my story of woe and my triple loss frustration to our pin community (a different board back in the day, filled with amazing people too). And a little while later, I got a message from a simply amazing person - the same person actually, who had zapped me my very first pin zap when I got into the online pin community to encourage me and my collection - and they said they were going to take the pin out of their collection so I could have it for mine. And I just lost all words. After seeing the worst in pin people (the person who outbid me for the same pin THREE times), here truly was the best in people. And so not only do I cherish that pin as my ultimate holy grail and still think it's the most beautiful pin, but I treasure it as an example of the kindness of someone I never even got to meet in person but will never ever forget.

And so, the moral of the story as has been said so many times before - some day your pins will come. :)
 
Thanks everyone for your responses. And although I agree with ya'll, it still doesn't take the sting out of losing two ultimates and not knowing if I'll get another chance.

I think what I need is a pin intern, a pintern if you will, to scour the net and all social media for pins on my Wants list and make sure that as soon as one of them comes on the market, to notify me and purchase.
 
Sorry this happened to you!
This has happened to me a few times but not with my ultimates and it was still frustrating even then! You will get your pins they are just playing hard to get right now!

I too get frustrated as a newbie and someone who works in a school as a teaching assistant (low wage I'm pretty sure it's the same in the US!) I can't afford profiles, clusters etc that I love but £400 on a pin is not feasible for me! What gets my back up even more is that they retail for what under $20? Sad times!

*Edit* As annoying as this all is, I am eternally grateful for the wonderful people on here, never did I think I would have access almost at cost to LE pins from DLR, WDW and DSSH (I didn't even know DSSH existed this time last year) So whilst there are some extremely annoying aspects the kindness of essentially strangers/internet pals makes it all worth while.

On a FB trading page months ago, a guy was ISO of the last two pins from the handbag mystery set and I had them. I was collecting the set too, but as its OE mystery I thought I may aswell help him to finish his set as I know there will be opportunity in the future (I only had 3 of the pins out of the set at the time, I didn't let him know I was trying to collect the set too ). Anyway, we set up a trade of three pins to make the shipping abit more worth while, my package arrives and its hefty, way too hefty to be the pins we agreed. I open it and he'd zapped me a lilo keyring from the mystery bags which I refuse to buy over here as they're expensive AND the stitch director DSSH pin. I was on the verge of tears, it was so kind and made me way too happy for days after! These moments out-weigh the annoying times and thats what I try to keep in the forefront of my mind!
 
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I think one of my biggest frustrations is when I finally get caught up with a collection and then new pins get released and I have to start the chase all over again. It's mainly slowed down now, but for awhile Inside Out and Zootopia were AWFUL for this - I'd finally get the last Judy or Joy I need and then they'd release a new one the next day.

I also agree about ebay notifications being ineffective. I largely ignore them now (I should turn them off but I'm lazy, haha).
 
I have learned to be a patient wolf, and that all pins come in time. Yes, they do take years sometimes, but I find if I stick to my guns, I usually end up getting the pins for less than they would have been, had I pushed too hard to get them and have that instant gratification.

I get more annoyed with the actual pin traders out there. Well, rather, the total sharks. I get wanting to get fair value for pins, but the people who just aren't even shy about trying to make sure they get the better end of any deal. The people who won't work with you to make a trade happen, so that both parties leave happy with pins, the ones who just see the $$$ signs. Those are the ones who make me consider giving up again.
But then I come back here, and love everyone on our little forum, that I feel silly for even letting jerks like that ruin it for me.
 
I too missed out on something I really want that is truly rare and HTF (not a pin, something else) because it was listed and purchased literally in the 90 minutes I was NOT obsessively checking eBay anyway.

This keeps happening to me on the FB pin auction site. I'll go a day without checking and someone will do some amazing pin but just as a 24-hour auction and it goes for a super low price. Kills me.
 
This keeps happening to me with my other collection, James Avery sterling silver charms. They are highly popular and collectible where I am from and some of the retired pieces go for crazy prices. I keep missing out on my last few grail charms, but I am a believer that most things will come back around. I hope you find your grails soon!
 
So I’ve come to realize that, for the most part, collecting Mr. Toad is collecting backlog. Maybe you get 5 new pins a year, hopefully a few more on an anniversary year, but that’s it. Once you complete that back catalog, it’s done for all intents and purposes since the new ones won’t be very difficult to track down.

I’ve always said that half of the fun of pin collecting is in the chase, not the capture. And I’ve always known that it’s a long distance pursuit, not a sprint.

So, with that in mind, I will continue to enjoy the pursuit of those final 3.

And if you need me, this is what I’m doing on eBay at the moment. CTRL + F5

EasygoingBoldHoneyeater-size_restricted.gif
 
So I’ve come to realize that, for the most part, collecting Mr. Toad is collecting backlog. Maybe you get 5 new pins a year, hopefully a few more on an anniversary year, but that’s it. Once you complete that back catalog, it’s done for all intents and purposes since the new ones won’t be very difficult to track down.

I’ve always said that half of the fun of pin collecting is in the chase, not the capture. And I’ve always known that it’s a long distance pursuit, not a sprint.

So, with that in mind, I will continue to enjoy the pursuit of those final 3.

And if you need me, this is what I’m doing on eBay at the moment. CTRL + F5

EasygoingBoldHoneyeater-size_restricted.gif

I admire how calmly you refresh. This is pretty much how I do everything:

giphy.gif


PS: It is most excellent to hear you back to your mission! The struggle is real, and as you see above, we've all had our moments. But as long as you still love and enjoy the hobby overall, great times await!
 
This keeps happening to me with my other collection, James Avery sterling silver charms. They are highly popular and collectible where I am from and some of the retired pieces go for crazy prices. I keep missing out on my last few grail charms, but I am a believer that most things will come back around. I hope you find your grails soon!

Every so often I get their mail order catalog and think about ordering some. I had no idea they were collectible though.
 
This keeps happening to me with my other collection, James Avery sterling silver charms. They are highly popular and collectible where I am from and some of the retired pieces go for crazy prices. I keep missing out on my last few grail charms, but I am a believer that most things will come back around. I hope you find your grails soon!

Show of hands, how many of us just googled "James Avery charms"?
 
Definitely a big frustration of mine when it comes to hunting for grails is the amount of time one has to spend on: eBay, facebook, pinpics, instagram and what not just to see what's getting posted. It's just simply too many platforms to keep up with. I work and sometimes I don't have the energy to get on social media after, so the only time I really have is on the weekends, and when I do check most of what I want is gone... Nowadays, to get awesome grails without having to waste hours on social media is to make alot of friends who will look out for you. Which brings me to my next point...

Alot of sharks or those with big guns work in teams, and when they have a grail they'll favor their friends, or if you have a history of buying from them, they treat you like a valued customer. As someone who doesn't pay for pins second hand that much, I don't have that business-customer relationship with alot of re-sellers out there.

I'm a pretty socially awkward person and putting myself out there among new traders is hard. I did meet a few people with whom I feel comfortable talking to about anything pin-related, and usually I feel comfortable talking to someone once I know they're from DPF. But trading at Sunday tables has been tough because of all the seasoned locals who only want big stuff. I'm sure I am not the only one who feels this way, but at the tables it seems like the best way to make a lot of friends is by having good stuff that people will want to do business with you again. Those who don't feel left out of the community.

Finally, just little things that irk me are the people who will value THEIR pins based on highest ebay listing and YOUR pins based on lowest ebay listing, even after you've told them what you think is a fair value on YOUR pin. To me that's someone trying to take advantage of the negotiation and it's not attractive to me at all...

I can't forget to mention how ridiculous the way the market has been manipulated, especially for profiles. Left and right you'll see heroines and villains being arbitrarily sold by a seller who would have a friend "fake buy" the pin so that it appeared as high on ebay sold listings. Watch out for the cuties, the re-sellers are going after them because they want to turn them into the next profiles...
 
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