Am I wrong for thinking this???? I feel like a LEACH

[GhostTrains]

Ok so I know the title was vague but now thay i have returned to pin trading and getting back into the forum life i have beed having issues with trades.

My wants list is so small I added pins i dont even really want just to try to get some trades, the problem is that i am the pleaser type personality who loves to get people what they desire. Its like a DRUG! ( a legal one) :eek2:

My problem is this: I have like 1000 pins and do not trade in park anymore, do not go to events or even to the parks anymore due to personal reasons so the only way i can trade is here. There are so many people looking for pins i have, but they just sit in the pin bag....and sit in the pin bag....6 years of it.
I want the pins to go to the people who will display them but noone really ever has my wants.

Here is my LEACH part:

I have posted before that I will trade any of my pins to anyone who wants them for any pin they have of equal trades/wants and value. I have dont a bit of this but now i am starting to feel like it is not worth it. I am trading my good pins away and having to pack and ship and pay for it to get just another pin that will sit in my book. Am I being selfish and greedy now? I also fee like some people have tried taking advantage of my asking for a bunch of my rarer pins they they dont even have on their wants and offering a similar LE but less desirable ones. I guess that is part of the whole trade up issue going on. then i feel like, hey i am trading and doing you a favor so i should get a little better pin since i am only trading to get you the pin.....:anxious:

Do I say "hey, I will trade with you but you have to pay for shipping and packing"?

i feel that would be rude but why should i have to spend $18 this month to trade for more traders?????

I just dont know what to do, I am trying to sell them for as cheap as i can since people just dont have the funds these days but being in NY i have had to buy literally 95% of my pins from sleezebay so i paid good amounts to get them and marked everyone with what i paid (crazy i know):naughty:. Then i feel bad offering them for sale at those prices.

Do i sell them cheaper so that people can get the pins they desire and take the loss??

I am so out of the loop with this

Hope you Kids have some words of wisdom for me, cuz my tires are spinnin in da mudd!

Happy trades
Kirk

 

[Goofy_Moe]

Hey Kirk... Have your ever thought of trying to get into another type of collection... I know you do trains n stuff, but perhaps attractions or something else to bring back the fun of the pursuit again... and hold on to those gems for the right time... Don't give them all up till the time is right and you find them homes where they will be loved as you have loved them... Just Sayin... You have great pins that were well taken care of... get them to members who will do the same with them...

 

[starry_solo]

Put them up at the price you paid and see if you get any bites

For trades, maybe do a multi-pin trade cuz you can send 5-8 pins (depending on individual weight) for $2 via PayPal or USPS Shipping Assistant/Click 'n Ship (which comes with free delivery confirmation)

 

[Merryweather]

Hi Kirk,

you are 110% entitled to your opinion and you are never wrong for your thoughts. We all think differently.

I have been collecting and trading for almost 3 yrs now and I am a tight fisted trader But then again, everyone has a different style. I agree with you on Ebay. It has been the major source of my pins for me and they do not come easy.

I looked at your traders and there are some old pin sets that are fairly great and valuable. I am not too familiar with Haunted Mansion pins, but as you mentioned you do not have enough wants worthy of your traders. In that case, you might want to consider branching into different pins. The latest craze seems to be the DSF marquees and Beloved Tales.

I have not been there during the HM craze, but what I heard that it used to be popular and it has fallen from grace lately. Do not take me on this entirely as I might be wrong though.

On a different note, you have one of my wants and I have one of yours. I am afraid my pin is not a good match for yours though

Welcome back & happy trades.

 

[dawny]

very tough situation,,,ya have to have wants to feel like a trade isworth it. If your not all excited and eager to do a trade...dont do it. Thats the FUN, it should be fun. It should make you feel like a kid, you should be drooling when the mailman comes...no droool, no trade. (bumper sticker?) I looked at your trades yesterday because i am in NJ and i love trading with tri-state folks, packages come quick, i always think maybe we will meet in person..bla bla bla BUT alas i had nothin you want and i even looked at your wants to see if i could pull something from my collection to tempt you--nada

i agree with goofy Moe
the pins are not "going bad". If you feel sad after a trade THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG. If your kinda done with pins right now, just chill. If you are interested in selling to make a bucck PM me and perhaps we can make a sale so you can use the money to do something that makes your heart sing! Now enjoy the hazy hot and humid weather that is NY/NJ !!
come down the shore and we can trade!!!

 

[AmySchweppe]

Kirk,

I think you have such a big and kind heart. If you are upfront with them and tell them look, I see you want these pins but there is nothing I want from your traders however, if you really want this pin so badly let's trade a pin of equal value and if you pay for the shipping of the pins I will do the trade to help you out. I mean, lets just say you were trading those pins I really want kirk, I would happily pay for shipping cause I know your doing me a favor. And if people do not see it that way then it shows what kind of person they are. I think the big thing is that you explain exactly why they are being given a favor by a kind person to help them out. Ya know?

And about the selling pins thing. If you need the money then yea, maybe sell them a little cheaper to get some of the money you need. But if you don't. I would say its fair to say to look on ebay and give competitive pricing. It's how things are. I know that you have some nice pins that are hard to find and valued highly. If it were me, I would look at ebay for what they have sold at and see what they are selling for and go below that within reason that you feel comfortable doing. It sounds like you have already done that. So... I don't see anything wrong with it. Again, just my opinion but... I don' t want to see people take advantage of the situation. Keep your chin up. Love you tons! xoxo.

 

[erudolf]

I don't think you are being greedy, you are being practical. The postage you have to pay to trade online can really add up so it isn't really worth it to you if you aren't getting pins you really want or can realistically use to get the pins you want. But, asking the other party to pay your postage will definitely turn some people off. Some people will get it, but others will take it very negatively and I wouldn't risk it.

I'm in a similar situation in that very few people have what I am looking for and if they do, they tend to want an unfair (in my eyes) amount in return. For that reason I rarely trade anymore.

My suggestion to you is to continue to sell at prices you are comfortable with. Once you run out of bites here, take them to ebay and get your money out of them if you can. Especially since you live in NY and possibly had to pay markup to get a lot of your pins in the first place, you should not feel obligated to take a loss just to give people what they want. But, be realistic too.....if you bought a pin 6 years ago for $50 and it is on ebay now for $25, you aren't going to get $50 out of it.

 

[GhostTrains]

Heyo all,
thanks for the recommendations,

its not that i am unhappy with trading. I love trading but when you want/have so few pins the percentage of someone having one for me and 1 for them is like 10%
i am not even goonna get involved with those podm, bt, and the marquees since they are crazy evpensive for me to get on ebay just to hopefully trade for my wants.

i took advice and took off all the pins i dont want from my list and nnow i officially want 10 pins lol

i just hate the fact that i am going to keep these pins in storage while people really want some of them, and wait till i like something new or the price i invested can be made up.

im just gonna list them for sale for whatever the market is minus a few bucks so people can have them. i dont think ill ever be that hardcore into trading i was from 2000-2007.

thanks everyone for the help

Happy trades
Kirk

 

[Merryweather]

I hope in time you will find a satisfactory solution, but don't be in a hurry to part with your extra pins.

I am sending you a PM, best of luck

 

[daveshan1]

Kirk you sound like you were collecting more back in the day when I was Back when HM was huge, the Wet Paint was the Grail everyone was on the hunt for, Tink, Stitch, Jessica & Maleficent were the BIG things people were in to collecting etc. I'm just back trying to get a little reaquainted and feel totally out of my element with all the talk of how UP, PODM, DSF Marquees and Tangled are the new HOT items LOL Certainly not what I have in my collection, traders or to sell.

I'll pretty much be in the same boat. But do what makes you comfortable and only if you still are enjoying the trading. But like you I won't be spending $$ on all these new popular pins just to be making trades Wish you nothing but the best!

 

[Psycho Pixie]

well, I have 2 opinions here, and they kinda contradict eachother.

first: if you dont want to trade for more traders, then stop. Say no, dont trade anything except wants/keeps. Dont pay for more traders in your book.

second. I like to trade for traders. I dont mind the shipping for something new on my book at might move better or worse then what I traded to get it. I recently, for the fun of it, almost totaly traded out my book for new traders. I dont regret it. Even if some stuff is less sought after.

 

[GhostTrains]

Oh shannon that is great. I remember that first week of the 1000 posts wanting the wet paint donald lol. Those were the good old days when scrapping was a baby, and you could just wear earplugs to ignore it. hehe

Thats kinda when the scrapping became big with the wet paint pin and everyone saying the dark orange was fake and the real ones were yellow. oh gosh why do i even remember that. then a few months later everyone who couldnt get it ended up settling for the lilo and stitch wet paint lol.. (thats me too) i still have it and am waiting for it to explode onto the market.

other than that i guess i am just not that into it because all my pins revolve around trips to WDW and i havent gone is 6 years..
guess ill have to wait till i go again to get that "kid in a candy store feeling back"

happy trades
Kirk