Wanted to share an old post about pin trading from a pin veteran on 10/31/07
[TD="class: th post-subject"][h=3]I just think it is important to remember why we are here!!!
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Dizpins Ohana Member
Posts: 13
Oct 31 07 5:52 PM
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[TD="class: post-content lastcol, colspan: 3"] Hello all
My name is Don. I have been collecting Disney collectibles as well as Disney pins for well over 25 years. My wife and I are charter members of the WDCC and I have a rather large collection of pins so I am no newcomer to Disney pins and pin trading by any means.
I have been a lurker on the Dizpins boards for a number of years and do enjoy reading the posts about pins. I have had to sit on my hands many times to keep from posting replies to some of the posts. Because I love pin trading and enjoy our hobby I am concerned with the direction our hobby is going and all the negativity lately. Yes I realize everything has its ups and downs.
One thing we can think about when it comes to pin trading, and this may help explain some of the lopsided trades we all get. Since the World Series just got over lets compare pin traders to ball players. Those of us who were into pins when pin trading official started at the parks joined a little league team called The Pin Traders. We got in on the ground floor of learning the techniques of pin trading. It was pretty simple back them, as we got to learn about pins as they came out. We didn't have a pin trading area, no pin trading nights, no pin events, we walked around with our little pin books and traded on garbage cans or benches. We soon learned if you were shy or timid than you didn't trade. We soon learned as the LE pins started to come out that we could use them to get other pins we wanted. We learned by standing in line for 4, 5 or even 6 hours or more to get the pin of the month that some pins are worth more in trade or cash than others. Most of us had learned enough that we formed a High School Team and kept the name Pin Traders. Now more and more pins came out and from different places we now had hundreds of pins to choose from but we all learned together. As we learned we moved on into collage with our pin trading team. Now trading was starting to get complicated and some decided to drop out. Those of us who stuck with it had by now learned enough that we moved on to the major leagues with our pin trading team. Now we were starting to get more and more pins, the LE 100 the LE 300 The Surprise pins, the Pin of the Month. Now some of the traders started thinking hey maybe we can make some money with this so they moved on to form a professional pin trading team. Now lets look at the newer trader that has started trading in the last year or so. They started by joining the little league pin trading team but its not so simple for them. Their team is having to play against our major and professional league teams. These newer traders don't have the luxury of learning as the pins came out like we did. They have joined the team when there are 10s of thousands of pins to choose from, there are dozens of HG high end type of pins for them to choose from that they know nothing about or the best way to acquire pins they want. While we had maybe 40 or 50 traders at the parks to trade with when it started, they have hundreds of online traders, Pin trading nights, and all kind of Pin Events. I can surely understand how they could be intimidated by all of this. They are starting at a time that makes it very hard for them to always come up with what we think may be a fair trade. It is kind of like putting a 1st grader in the room with the 8th graders and expect them to pass the test. We as seasoned traders can help them along the way by giving them the benefit of the doubt and simple conversation either in person or in e-mails.
Please remember if you read this it is not directed at anyone person or group or is not meant to be negative toward our hobby of pin trading.Yes I remember the old days and the start of pin trading at Disneyland. We were there on the opening day of Pin Trading. Yes pin trading was fun back then. Yes there was cutting in line back then. Yes there were dealers back then in it to make money. Yes I stood in lines for hours to get the pin of the month. I have been in lines for many years collecting my pins for my love of Disney and YES pin trading is still fun.
There will always be people cutting in line until we traders stop it. We should not expect Disney to do it. We can stop it by not allowing it to happen. We can do this by telling them where the end of the line is. There will always be dealers in pins to make money and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, the secondary market is what keeps pins alive. There is nothing wrong with dealers getting pins to sell by standing in line or trading for them in hopes of making a few bucks. This is fine as long as they go by the same rules as the collectors. Yes even back then people paid others to stand in line and get pins for them and people brought babies in strollers to get extra pins for them.
I believe any one has the right to ask what ever they want for any pin whether it be for $$ or pins but one does not have the right and it is wrong to give false or misleading information about their pin. Yes I have listened to this many times at Disneyland. I once got chewed out for butting in on a trade at DL. I happened to be at a table that a friend was being giving a line about a pin she wanted. After a bit she asked me what I thought. I told her if it was me that I would not make the trade but it was up to her. She refused the trade and I was chewed out for butting in when all I did was answer her question.
There has been a lot of talk on the boards about "unfair" trade offers. While I agree this happens, what I think is unfair is that some traders are so "offended" and upset by trade offers that they have the newer traders so afraid to make a trade offer in fear they will "offend" the other person. I would say to the newer traders Keep sending out the TA's and Don't worry that your trade offer may offend some. If it does, you don't want to trade with them anyway. What I think is unfair is when I get a trade offer and I look up the pin to make sure I have it then e-mail the person accepting the trade with my address and then the pin is tied up waiting for their address which never comes. Now to me that is unfair and frustrating. Again, it is about keeping lines of communication open.
It is not only newer traders that send out "lopsided offers" Once I got what I considered a very lopsided TA not once but 4 times from the same trader. For the fun of it I looked up their references and they started in 2001 and they had hundreds of Refs. This makes me believe they were not a newcomer but a trader that knew what they were doing and hoped I didn't.
There is a very simple way to stop getting the "lopsided" trade offers that offend and upset you. Turn off your TA. Then, only send out trade offers that you think are fair and don't offend you. Another option to use is if the trader has his or her e-mail public, you can personally e-mail the person asking to trade and sending then a more personalized trade offer. Remember we all value pins in different ways and what may be a HG to you may be just another pin to others. Some of us do not follow the auction site to check on what pins sell for. Yes I get trade offers that I feel are not fair but does it "offend" me? NO I simply send a No thanks. To me a fair trade is when both parties are happy with the pin they got. It is not only in pin trading but in every day life that we have forgotten simple and plain courtesy. Hold a door open for someone and not even get a thank you. Say good morning to someone and not even get a reply.
If we are so busy with life that Somewhere along the line, we had time to go over the pins and create a trade list and a want list, but if we do not have less than a minute to look at a trade offer and reply with a Yes or a No thanks, then maybe it is time we turn off the TA or get out of online pin trading. While I respect everyone's right to try and change things in hopes it will help our trading experience I think we should be thanking Pinpics for the FREE program that lets us make online trades and we should be asking each other how can we help you bring back a little courtesy into online trading.
Of all the fond memories I have from trading at DL one stands out far above all of them. Just after the pin carts opened in the plaza at DL, I was trading with a lady from Japan we ending up trading 7 pins and for each, she pointed to the Disneyland "D" (at that time the "D" was one of the pins) and each time I said no. When we were done with the trades she went to another table and sat down. Well I went over to her and placed The "D" in her hand and said Thanks for the trades. What happened next was a complete surprise as she jumped up screaming like I was killing her!!! The cast members came running over to see what was going on and the people all came over to see what I had done to her to make her jump and scream. She almost broke my neck hugging me and after about 5 minutes of this she finally calmed down enough to push her pin book to me and said you take. I shook my head no and said it was just a thank you gift. We should all have the pleasure of a experience like that and I know many of us have had these positive experiences.
Pin trading is kind of like the movie The Good, the bad and the ugly. We all know about the Good and the Bad but If you want to know about the ugly you will have to get that by e-mail. ;-) I love and enjoy pin trading but if the day ever comes when I don't enjoy it and I start getting upset from trade offers, then I will quit trading, but I do not see that day ever coming.
I welcome your comments and views but I would appreciate if we can keep this post positive and discuss what we can do to promote Our Hobby and keep it fun. With all of the negativity on the boards about pin trading, I am very interested in your thoughts about how we, as pin traders, can turn this negativity into a positive fun experience for all.
One of the things I think could be discussed is maybe an online pin trading class. This could maybe be sponsored by Dizpins or Pinpics and held in one of the chat rooms. Might be something to talk about?
Don L.
Dizpins donlank
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