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GUIDE KEEPER! It's a relative term

OK, so there have been post about keepers versus traders in your book, lanyard, etc but what is a keeper really? Is it tradeable?

My kids and I wear Lanyards with our keepers to show off but as I have explained to them, the term KEEPER is a relative term because what if someone offered you a pin either higher up on your grail list or a pin that has 2,3 or even 4 times the value?

I have about 20 pins on my Lanyard and I refer to them as keepers. When a trader asked me while looking at my books if they are for trade, I said they are my keepers, however, if something came along I just had to have, I may be willing to give one up.

The trader mentioned which pin they would like to have knowing it would take a good trade to get it and guess what, they had one of my highest grails for Max and we made the trade. Even if you have a set you are trying to complete or completed, if something came around you wanted more would you consider trading it? What if they offered you 2 sets you have wanted for the one set?

I think a better term may be this are my hardest pins as I am attached to them and it would take a great trade to sway me.

I know, some of you have pins you would never trade. never say never. So you have a DSF Grape Soda (Ellie Badge) and you worked very hard for it and will never trade it, then someone who wants it that bad offers you 2 pins that are DA100 pins and valued at $300.00 each. So you're gonna still keep the Ellie Badge? Just an example so I believe all pins are tradeable and even when we say it's a keeper, there is a price for everything.

There is only one pin I would never trade and its not a grail, its the first pin I ever traded and it stays at home in a frame anyways.

So would you agree that the Term KEEPER is a relative term?
 
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GUIDE KEEPER! It's a relative term
I would never bring my Alice collection to the park or a trading event. I would be unable to enjoy myself for fear I might lose a pin or a bag. Alice is my keeper, they never leave my house, and they are the second thing I would grab if the smoke alarm went off (my cats being the first). I keep them in a cuboard by the back door so they are easy to get to in case of emergency. If the Donald offered me $20,000 for a pin, I would take it - but let's face - how many of us know Donald Trump?????
 
Very interesting discussion! I have lots of "keepers" that never see the light of day. It would definitely depend on how hard I think it would be to reaquire the pin. It does seem that my tastes do change over time, so some "keepers" are not has high on my "keeper" list as they once were. It also sometimes depends on the person wanting it. The fun of trading for me is to make others happy, so I have often traded a pin just for that pleasure....
 
I never put my keepers in my trader books, because I don't want to irritate people by having to tell them that the pin is a keeper after they've looked through the books and decided they want one of the keeper pins. My keepers stay at home.

I see that Dan's method of putting his keepers on a lanyard, or other people's method of putting the keepers in a separate book, also works to avoid irritating most people, because you can tell people in advance that pins on the lanyard or in the book are keepers.

If I am at an event and am talking with someone who has one of my holy grails, I ask them what they are most looking for. Hypothetically, if they mention one of my keepers, and if I decide I would rather have their pin than my keeper, I can arrange to trade with this person later. I say "hypothetically" because I can't remember any time that I wanted to trade away a keeper in this way, mainly because it would mean I now have to go back and try to get the first keeper again.

Two other thoughts:

1. There are different degrees of keepers. Some of my keepers I love more than others. That would affect how willing or unwilling I am to trade one away.

2. There's also the "little book" pin: high-end pins that I keep in a little trading book, a book that I don't bring out to show other traders unless I see or have reason to believe they have high-end holy grails of mine. My "little book" pins aren't my keepers, but I'd rather keep them than trade them easily. I keep them in the little book, in reserve, in case I need them, but I don't pull the book out of my trading suitcase unless there's a good reason to do so.

(BTW: My anecdote about declining $1000 for a keeper wasn't meant to support any particular claim in this discussion. It's just something that happened, not something to draw a conclusion from. A different amount of money or a different buyer or a different pin or different time of the day or dish for lunch or set of trades before the offer might have changed my answer.)
 
I have to say that there are many of my pins (DA 100 Stitch, Si/Am, Cheshire) that I simply would not trade because I would then spend a great amount of time trying to find their replacements!

I don't even list my keeper pins on the 'owns' portion of pinpics because I don't want anybody making me offers on those pins! If they were traders, they would have been listed in my 'trades'!!
 
unibear said:
I don't even list my keeper pins on the 'owns' portion of pinpics because I don't want anybody making me offers on those pins! If they were traders, they would have been listed in my 'trades'!!
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That's a pretty good point. Just from an experience I had though, I was offered pins I didn't even know existed and were great additions to my collection, because the trader noticed that the pins were not on either my wants or owns list, and knew what type of pins I collect. So the owns list can be a good tool at times. Just another view on it. :)
 
Dan,

Using the extreme scenarios does make every pin a "trader" as erudolph pointed out. And it does make both you and Debby correct!:bowdown:

That having been said, I would guess that not very many out there have come across the extreme scenario with Carolyn being one exception.

As I said before, I wouldn't consider trading any hard to find Jessicas from my collection unless I had duplicates (which are always on my trades list) or I was positive I would be able to obtain a replacement fairly readily. To go one step further, I keep my Jessica collection under a separate Pinpics ID so as to avoid people asking for trades. It places them in the "keeper" vault, so to speak.

Anyone else out there with an extreme example of being willing to trade or sell one of their "keepers" because they were offered a large sum of money or an HG they couldn't passup??
 
swim2sea said:
I have some pins that no offer could entice me to trade them. They are part of my core collection, very rare and impossible to get. I do have some that I would trade if the "price is right", but I have keepers that are just exactly that - keepers. Nothing would make me trade them. I've been offered money, pins, etc, but no deal.

You theory works well if you are physically in the trading area, but for general purposes and to avoid confusion, the theory has flaws. When I ask about a trade on Pinpics I usually put in the text box "Looking to open a dialog here and make a trade" then send the request. That way they know we are just starting. I've gotten way more replies. If they have a pin I really want, I tell them to look at my collection and let's talk.
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I have tried this approach as well and since I have at least received some responses to my trade requests.

My theory is if your pin is a keeper and you are never going to trade it then please KEEP it out of your traders list. If your holy grail comes up for trade you can always put it back in your traders. Am I wrong for saying that?

Have I reached 25 yet. Boy this is harder than I thought.
 
My keepers are in separate pin books that are labeled on the outside cover "These Pins Are For Exhibition Only". Obviously, I have a lot of keepers. Then again, I have even more traders.

For the rare, valuble and impossible to replace pins, I have been offered money and multiple pins for one and I just turn the people down. I explain that it was very hard to obtain the pins and that I just can't give them up. Some of them are long-retired and just can't be found these days. I have all of the available Elliott pins, all of the 2001 trash can pins 4 of the wait time sign pins (okay, I'm admitting I have the POTC wait time sign pin and the Jungle Cruise wait time sign pin in addition to Dumbo and It's a Small World). A person who was looking through one of my pin books was astounded to see those and offered me $1500 for them. I said no. The look on that person's face was priceless. I should have had my camera handy.

Nope...not even The Donald could persuade me to part with those. Yes, my pins books are on the top five list of things I would grab on the way out the door in the event of a fire or other natural disaster. I wouldn't leave them behind.

Laura

Laura
 
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I think all pins....are exchangable under the right circumstances. Be it price or sentiment. Someone can convince a trade. Everyone has a price.
 
I am to addicted to all my keepers that I could not give one up.

But for this reason, I do not wear them or bring them with me to trading events. Otherwise people would get mad at me for not trading. :-)

Vicki
 
I have a small pin book with my "keepers"--I would bring them to trading events to show them off--and on the off chance that someone who have something great that I couldn't turn down.
 
I am very new to pins but I also trade a specific type of cards that are kept in binders.. I have the binders partitioned off into sections, the 'trade fodder', stuff I like for whatever reason(cute/cool but not something for a specific set/collection) and stuff I've been collecting/hoarding for my own personal collection. These sections are labled so people know the other two aren't ENTIRELY open to trade but I would consider trading ANY of them if the price is right.. So often people don't look past the trade fodder unless they A: have stuff of REAL value or B: have cards they KNOW I want and want to see if they can bribe me into trading away something I am VERY fond of.

I am hoping to get a bag type of deal, I have all mine on a big thing of fleece atm and need to buy a corkboard(again, I am VERY new, only 40-50 pins) but I think when I get a bag it will be the same theory. I'll categorize them in sections and have some way to distinguish between them so people know the further back they go in there the higher the price/less willing I am to hand it over without a fight, so to speak.

Hopefully that makes sense! :o
 
I've only traded 1 time and with a cast member at that because i had a duplicate. Since my collection is so small i think i would have a hard time letting go of any of my pins unless i had duplicates. maybe i just need to get more into trading lol instead of just buying
 
My Merida/Angus pin is the only pin I currently could never bring myself to trade. However, my Ariel pins tend to be my keepers. If I have duplicates of the pins that is one thing but Ariel/The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie so I spend most my time looking for those pins and not other Disney pins.
 
I have 3 levels of pins. My traders, pins I collect but stay in my trade list/trade book because I'll trade them away for something for a main collection, and my collection. I have never traded a pin from my collection. They don't have price tags, you could offer me $10,000 and I wouldn't get rid of them. A few of the easier to get ones, I miiight be willing to trade away for something I couldn't get otherwise, but even that is hard to think about *lol* I'm a completist when it comes to my collections so even if I was trading something away for a pin I 'like' better, I'd still have to find it again so that my collection could remain in tact. I don't take my collection to pin trading events, I've never made what I call a brag lanyard(full of rare, expensive pins that are part of your collection), etc. it can be frustrating trying to trade with someone who keeps their traders and their collections all mixed together in one bag, as well. But hey, everyone is different!
 
Geez Calvin, your'e like the gravedigger with DPF threads lol ^_^

Yeah, this has been an age old question. I think I talked to Dan about this at the park around the time he first made this thread. It took me like a year to finally sort it out for myself.

First, I put everything in the same bag and had a "brag lanyard". People would get me to trade things I really wanted to keep out of either and i would get frustrated because I wanted the pin back. So I had to change from that strategy.

Then, I started saying, no I don't trade off my lanyard but everything in my book is for trade. But then people would ask if the pins in my bag were traders or keepers and I would say "both" and I would get strange looks of bewilderment and disappointment, similar to the looks people have after riding Radiator Springs Racers for the first time. Needed yet another change.

Then I started keeping two books, an easy book and a hard book, and still had my lanyard. This made it a little easier, but people kept wanting what was on my lanyard and not what was in either book, and I still had pins in the "hard" book that I didn't want to give up. Still needed tweaking.

Then, I stuck my first pin in the wall. Its a Stitch super jumbo, the surfing one, biggest Stitch pin ever made. It was like wall art, but too hard to frame, so into the wall it went. Then I realized; I didn't need to haul around every pin that I own, I can really leave what I truly love at home. That wall is getting pretty full now, and I took everything off the lanyard and stuck it up there.

Now, I have a mixed book and book of stitch. I tell people that the mixed book is easier, and I tend to trade Stitch for Stitch out of the other book since he is my favorite. Now, no one looks at me with awe of my lanyard (which I admit, I miss a little), and neither do people run away in terror when they can't make any sense out of what pins are for trade or not. I think my wall has about 100 pins on it, from super jumbos to a couple of rack pins, LE 25s and DA 100s to stuff that I could pick up on ebay for 2 bucks, but you know what? They are my favorites. And I don't ever have to worry about trading them because they are not in a book or a lanyard that I could just take with me to trade. Its pretty time consuming trying to remove 100 pins off a wall.

Now, if the Donald came to my house and was like, "I want that-a one, here's 20 grand", I would gladly give it to him. I know that I could save part of it for finding the pin again and buy a car while I am at it. I don't really think I own anything that couldn't be bought in the realm of the fantasmic and the macabre, but in terms of real life, good luck prying my [framed] Stitch WDI master Gracey outta me. Ain't gonna happen. To me, that is my favorite pin of all time, and I would never trade anything for it except one pin, and if that pin ever came around, I would part with Master Gracey, but the chances of me finding someone with a Stitch Masterpiece DA 100 as Blue Boy that wants a Master Gracey is probably 1.23*10^14 to one.

But again, for the right pin, even if its only just one out of 90,000+ of them, I would trade anything I have ^_^
 
I do love my pins, and there are many of them that I consider keepers no matter what. I would never let them go.

And I do feel kind of bad when people offer me fair trades (LE/trades/wants all match up) and I turn them down, but I just have more of an emotional attachment to some pins more so than others. I know everyone feels this way.

Buuuut if someone offered me, say, around $1400 for one of those beloved keepers, I would have to give it serious consideration. We all have bills to pay. (Unfortunately I do not collect Rapunzel :) and at this very minute that second auction is still going up in price).
 
Okay, so I collect pins not to be a completeist, but because I LOVE every single pin I get. With the collection I am currently doing, I wouldn never trade any of them for anything. Even if a grail did come along my way. I believe that everyone will get their most wanted pin, but it doens't have to be by trading away other loved pins.
 
Great thread,

I think it is the pin owner's responsibility to decide what is a "keeper" and what is a "trader". I agree that every pin is tradeable to some extent, it is up to the pin holder to decide what type of value to place on each and every pin. It is best to organize keepers and traders on levels of "trade" so to speak. Personally I've established my own pin trading system as to what to keep and what to trade, even if it's an LE 100. For example, my Toy story Midway mania pins are very hard to trade for, however I am a big believer that there's always a nice pin out there, waiting for a good home, waiting for that "right" trade. It may come tomorrow or a year from now, but every pin has its purpose. Whether it's on a board for display or getting ready for trade. There's over 93,000 pins, surely there's going to be that "platinum" pin we've all been waiting for.
 
Disxar said:
Okay, so I collect pins not to be a completeist, but because I LOVE every single pin I get. With the collection I am currently doing, I wouldn never trade any of them for anything. Even if a grail did come along my way. I believe that everyone will get their most wanted pin, but it doens't have to be by trading away other loved pins.
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i agree with you i only collect not trade sure i have a few traders but there from buying mystery packs. I have bought pretty much every pin i have and i have over 900 pins now some LE55 and LE10 i wouldn't trade one pin in my collection. almost all my pins are in frames or on boards behind glass.
 
Great discussion, I couldn't trade any of my childhood pins, sentimental reasons. I'm hoping to build up my collection so I can have a number to trade, as I may be able to find and offer what someone has been searching for :)
 
Since I categorize myself more of a collector than a trader, most of my pins are "keepers" with specific memories attached to them and therefore I wouldn't sell or trade them. We've gotten duplicates of some of my GF's Keepers so that she can wear them on her lanyard (not a big hidden Mickey fan) and trade if she finds something she "has to have". It always seems that other people want her favorite pins even though she's got other good and equal LE's to trade ... they almost always want her "Keepers"
 
I feel that a "keeper" is a worthy pin. I have some keeper pins that are still for trade because they are not my top grails. They are awesome pins and are sought after but I would still trade them for the right pin. Every pin I have is a trader but some could be permanent keepers for the right person so those are the keeper type of pins. When people ask me at the park I just say they are all for trade because people misunderstand sometimes. I like things simple.
 
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