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How to build collection of trader pins?

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How to build collection of trader pins?
eesser

eesser

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Hello! I am looking to expand my pin collection to include pins to trade from... I have mainly been buying just for me and family, but want to expand to include some nice traders to try and trade for some of my wants that I haven't been able to find to buy and also because it is fun!

So I am wondering what characters are most popular? (This question seems to be asked every year but I think answers prob change as well)

When you find someone with something you would like to trade for, but do not have any pins on their wants list, but could get them (from collector, Facebook, ebay, etc) do you buy the pin in hopes they will trade, or approach them with the I could have x pin, if I acquired would you trade for y?

THANK YOU in advance for all advice and help!!
 
Be prepared to spend lots of money trying to build up your traders. I see you don't live near a park so the only way to do that is to buy from other people. Do some research so you know what real pins look like and what fakes look like.
 
Hi!

To be honest, it's a lot harder nowadays to build traders. Before, disneyshopping.com was an easy way for a person to get desirable, low edition traders for cost, no matter where they live. Now, it's much tougher. Buying collections and cherry picking ebay is probably your best bet. As Doc says, just make sure you look for warning signs regarding counterfeit pins. Building a network is also a great way to build pins- if they don't have what you need, they can point you in the direction of someone who does.

As far as popular characters go...I usually think there's two levels. Current trends, and mainstays. In 2008, the popular trends were Hanuted Mansion and Jessica, and princesses were dead. Now, Jessica is dead, and princesses are beyond hot. So while playing in popular trends is smart, it's also smart to not get carried away, or assume something will be hot (or not). For me, personally, Stitch is by far the character that works the best for me, despite the fact that I collect Tinker Bell, Duffy, Princesses, and Jessica. He has always been the one I go through the fastest.

I would say, to build a good base, you want a good variety of: Stitch, Chip and Dale, Cats, Princesses (especially Ariel, Belle, Frozen, and Tangled), Pixar (mostly Up and Wall-E), Villains (especially Maleficent), a few Tinks, and some parks and attractions. Maybe some NBC. Duffy does okay for me, but I collect him. Disney Auctions if you can get them, ds.com as well. The things that have sat in my book the most are Fab 5 and less popular movies (like Jungle Book, Dumbo, etc.). There are, of course, collectors for all of those, but fewer of them, and it's a gamble to meet up with them and match trades-to-trades.

As far as setting up a buy/trade goes...I usually ask them first, before just buying a pin they need. For one thing, they might not even be trading right now. Or maybe they have the pin on the way. Or maybe they no longer have the pin you want from them, but they forgot to take it off their Trades list. Etc, etc, etc.

Hope that helps! Good luck!
 
Most popular seem to be Tangled, Ariel, Stitch and Sleeping Beauty. PODM and BT are definitely very good traders as well. Frozen is dropping but are still good traders to the right collectors, but I'd say the first DSF set and the WDI set are the most popular ones right now. Also, get Paris pins. They trade well in US. Maleficent and designer pins are great too.

When someone has something I want and I can get what they want, I ask if they want to wait until I can get what they want or want to do a three way trade. I don't buy traders without knowing for 100% I can get rid of them again.

Like others have said, be prepared to spend green. This is the reason why I rarely buy high end traders, I keep my money for when a grail pops up.​

 
Building traders is nice, but then you realize you spent X on traders that you could have spent on pins you want for your collection. If you go to pin trading events in your area, it's good to have traders, but I suggest focusing on buying pins you want for your collection.

For example, I had about 80+ PTDs from DSF/DSSH. Some were worth $50-100, some were worth $20-30. I bought many at retail (back when I went to releases at least once a month), some at $25-30. All of those were traders since I don't collect PTDs (as a collection, only for those characters that I collect) so when I calculated how much I spent on these traders (like $1600-2000), it was a big sticker shock! I ended up selling the PTDs in bulk for cash and made back the money I spent on the pins (which is good, whew!) but it doesn't always happen like that. It depends on how long you can afford to hold onto these traders, etc.
 
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Many of the traders I've built up have been from sets I've broken up because a character I collect was a part of it. Especially if the set is low LE, there are probably quite a few people looking for the other set characters, hoping someone else has broken it up :)
 
Similar question, but different... What about for trading with cast members/Disney vs collectors? I've been picking up pins as they pop up on the disney store website to bring my order to free shipping or coupon requirements. I can trade those for anything on a cast lanyard or resort book, right?
 
Aaryana said:
Similar question, but different... What about for trading with cast members/Disney vs collectors? I've been picking up pins as they pop up on the disney store website to bring my order to free shipping or coupon requirements. I can trade those for anything on a cast lanyard or resort book, right?
Click to expand...

Yes you can trade those for any pin on a cast lanyard or resort trading book. I suggest looking for booster packs (at Disney, you can get a pack of 7 pins for $30 usually, but look online, you can usually get those for $15-20 shipped).
 
We are looking for better ideas on how to acquire traders as well, so far I have started to buy most of the LEs at DLR with low editions, and when I buy an LE for my collection I buy 2. It is hard to justify the spending sometimes because I look at the pin and know it is not going in my collection. But hopefully they will pay off and they will be traded for one that does stay with me. Basically, spending money haha
 
QueenBee said:
We are looking for better ideas on how to acquire traders as well, so far I have started to buy most of the LEs at DLR with low editions, and when I buy an LE for my collection I buy 2. It is hard to justify the spending sometimes because I look at the pin and know it is not going in my collection. But hopefully they will pay off and they will be traded for one that does stay with me. Basically, spending money haha
Click to expand...

Don't buy all LEs at DLR. Some will go up in value, some will be worth less than retail.
 
I don't buy traders for market price. I only buy for my collection. It's just too expensive to buy good traders at market value and I'd rather spend that money on pins for my collection, even though I love trading.

That said. I patrol eBay for good deals. If you can get a deal on a pin lot or other lucky find that has been mislabeled (the real ones, not those faker lots) you can get great traders for retail prices and those traders may be worth pins you want that are currently selling for high market prices. Of course, if you are close enough to DSSH, DL, WDW then by all means, get the event pins and hot releases you can if you think they'll gain trade value. Try to get lucky with retail priced pins from Disney online like the Euro/US split releases. Occasionally Disney will release free pins like the May the 4th Be With You day pin given out at stores. There are also the AMC movie pins.

Also, your collection tastes may change. If you abandon a collection you will have instant trader fodder. I collected Tangled because I really identified with Rapunzel. (I have long blonde hair and am a bit sheltered and goofy lol.) However, I really didn't like the look of the collection. Way too much yellow for me ;) I also had a Hook collection because I adore Hook in ABC's Once. But I realized the Pan movie holds no emotional connection for me so I just become a Once pin completionist instead and now have some cool Hook pins to trade.

Keep your eyes peeled at conventions and fairs and antique stores! You never know the treasures you'll find. Before I collected pins (kick myself for not buying/keeping what I found) at a fair I found amazing Studio Ghibli pins fo$3 a piece at a booth! At a con they were giving out ABC pins that I gave away. They later became mini grails of mine that took some good leg work to track down and sell for a decent price now. At the same con a sweet old couple were selling off random stuff they found in their attic and had some older pins (bad prices). At another con was a booth selling all legit OEs for $2 a piece! Plus bulk discounts! If only I'd collected back then!

Opportunity knocks if you keep a look out.

The only reason I see to buy high value traders is if your wants are so VHTF/older that you need to buy other VHTF when they crop up to use to trade for the other pins you need.

If someone has a pin I really want, I'll pull from my collection.

I got into pins in 2014 so I am way late to the party. It sounds glorious back when pins were auctioned and sold online regularly! Those Sunday night computer camp outs sound nail-biting and awesome!
 
Is Stitch back in vogue? I feel like when I first joined people talked about how Stitch and Tink had waned. But recently my Stitches have been getting lots of hits. I have one particular adorable water wing Stitch people asked about until I moved him off my trader list because I decided he was just too frickin cute to part with just yet. Another LE 100 Stitch I had got snapped this weekend and several trade inquires this past week, when in the past few months not much action at all about him at all. No one wanted the cute little guy despite his low LE and gorgeous design. (I sorta miss him :( Stoked for my Triton pin I traded for though!)

This is why I don't buy expensive traders unless I get a good deal. The tides can turn so quickly. PTDs raged, then crashed a bit, now seem to be high or low depending on the character. As long as I collect what I like then no hard feelings if it gets popular or not. TLM is hot now but I collect it becasue she's my favorite regardless. It's just too bad I joined during the princess craze instead of when they were apparently dead way back when! Stitch I still semi-collect but I'm slimming down to a more specific set of wants focused only on Pudge, Scrump, and the Frog. The others will be traders :)
 
Li brings up a point about having lots of money tied up in traders. For me I started a long time ago and I have been bitten by the trading bug. If I ever get to the point of just buying pins I will quit the hobby. For me I love the trading part. I get to interact with other traders all over the world. The thing to remember is the thing most of us don't have, patience. We love trading in person, but we have enough pins I am not intimidated by the sharks in the world. You have to realize not everybody is going to want to trade with you. Don't take it personally. Living in Seattle, not near a park like yourself it is tough. Which is why most of the time I trade for different traders. It allows me to get my trading fix in. Plus my traders are always changing. Then when we do go to the park I have a variety of stuff to take with us.
 
starry_solo said:
Don't buy all LEs at DLR. Some will go up in value, some will be worth less than retail.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! So far I only have 4 - traders of any "value" meaning not just the standard CM lanyard pins floating, and a couple of the mystery pins.
I trade a LOT with kids and first time traders in the parks, we love doing this, so most of our 'traders' are for them. Just generic pins to get people involved and give away for free to kids in the parks.

I always just buy for my collections rather than trade, but wanted to try out the trading aspect of the hobby so I am all about the great tips everyone is sharing on this thread :)
 
QueenBee said:
Thanks for the tip! So far I only have 4 - traders of any "value" meaning not just the standard CM lanyard pins floating, and a couple of the mystery pins.
I trade a LOT with kids and first time traders in the parks, we love doing this, so most of our 'traders' are for them. Just generic pins to get people involved and give away for free to kids in the parks.

I always just buy for my collections rather than trade, but wanted to try out the trading aspect of the hobby so I am all about the great tips everyone is sharing on this thread :)
Click to expand...
whats your pinpics id?
 
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