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How many pin traders/collectors do you think there are???

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How many pin traders/collectors do you think there are???
erudolf

erudolf

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I was just wondering how big the pin trading/collecting community is....I mostly just see numbers from people I trade with or post here or wants numbers on Pinpics. But, I know there are lurkers and many people that don't even use Pinpics. So...how many do you think there are? I don't even know where to begin guessing.... How big is the annual event typically?
 
I would think tens of thousands easily, given the demand for certain ones, and looking at things like E-Bay. Mind you, that can also range anywhere from a casual collector to the hardcore completest.
 
the community has to be pretty big -- even with dizpins being the central hub for the "hardcore", there were still smaller alternative boards out there, though they were less frequented.

you also have to consider that casual traders or children/young adults may not know of the online pin trading communities..

I've been to the parks many times and see a good amount of people with lanyards and pins. You have to think that the "better-informed" online communities are actually a very, very small subset of the group at large.
 
You must understand that less than 1% of the pin trading community uses forums and sites like pinpics. Sure, for the people who know it certainly does let you know supply and demand for most pins but there are 1000's of collectors and traders out there. Think of how many people buy pins at just DLR on a daily basis. They are all collectors / traders and may never know a board exist.

As with any collection, very few people except the hard core join sites or even look for them. Here is an example, LOST was a pretty popular show. They had on average 12 million viewers each night it was on. I was on many of the blogs and on average there were 2 m- 300 people on a blog and maybe 10 different blogs. See what I am saying.

Just because 3000 people participated on blogs is no indication to how many people actually watch it. Pin trading is no different when it comes to the percentages of people who participate in forums. I would think there are well over 100,000 people who collect pins and I bet I am off ten fold when you think of all of the resorts combined and the total people who visit these parks and buy and collect and trade pins when they are there.

What do you think?
 
I don't know....those estimates seems pretty high to me. I'm not thinking of the casual trader here that has 10 pins and just trades with cast members when they go to the parks. They don't really qualify as a "pin trader/collector" in my eyes. I'm talking about people that are continually active and seeking out specific pins. I'm leaning towards under 10,000 in that category and that even seems high to me.

Sure, people buy pins from the parks everyday. But the everyday customers are not collectors. They are just getting a cute souvenir. People that line up for a release however, or attend events, are the ones I am talking about. And yes, good releases are always packed, but it is always the same people.

I don't really see Lost as an apples to apples comparison. It takes virtually no effort to come home and watch TV and if that show is the best in its time slot, of course a lot of people will watch it. But of all the people that have ever bought a pin from Disney I'd say a very very very small percentage become semi-serious collectors.

Anyone else? What is the crowd estimate at the busiest event you ever attended?
 
I tend to agree with the 10's of thousands - also remember those traders etc from the UK & DLRP etc. I know of collectors from various regions of Europe & the far East. Okay, these numbers may not get close to the vast numbers within the US, but it all adds up in the end!
 
There probably aren't that many traders but lots of casual collectors. This is what Disney counts on. They want people to go to the park and buy one or two pins and take them home, not be like the rest of us, buy 50 pins stay in the park (Epcot only) and try to trade with each other.
 
I think it would be a really great idea (and I was thinking about doing it but I'm too lazy to actually look into it. :rofl: ) if we all made business cards for pin trading! Have our name, email, pinpics ID with possibly the site addresses of pinpics and a forum that we can give out to people we see wearing lanyards. I'm certain most of them don't even know anything about pinpics or pin forums.

Just a thought. :)
 
At this point in life, I consider myself a collector, Not a trader. Has been quite a while since I have traded to to strange wants/needs
 
Many of us already have business cards. I have ones I pass out to people when I meet them to stay in touch and in the hundreds of trades I have done on pinpics, I have received well over 100 other business cards.

As for the trading numbers, Like I said, take all of the parks into consideration and understan that Japan is Crazy with pin trading and has way more people than DLR or DWP. I still think there are 10's of thousands or more.
 
erudolf said:
I don't know....those estimates seems pretty high to me. I'm not thinking of the casual trader here that has 10 pins and just trades with cast members when they go to the parks. They don't really qualify as a "pin trader/collector" in my eyes. I'm talking about people that are continually active and seeking out specific pins. I'm leaning towards under 10,000 in that category and that even seems high to me.

Sure, people buy pins from the parks everyday. But the everyday customers are not collectors. They are just getting a cute souvenir. People that line up for a release however, or attend events, are the ones I am talking about. And yes, good releases are always packed, but it is always the same people.

I don't really see Lost as an apples to apples comparison. It takes virtually no effort to come home and watch TV and if that show is the best in its time slot, of course a lot of people will watch it. But of all the people that have ever bought a pin from Disney I'd say a very very very small percentage become semi-serious collectors.

Anyone else? What is the crowd estimate at the busiest event you ever attended?
Click to expand...

Ditto to everything you said :)
 
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