Thoughts on over-valuing pins while trading?
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Thoughts on over-valuing pins while trading?
- Thread starter Girugamesh
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Hunterofspoons
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I suppose, it just really depends on what hobby it is.
But I honestly never liked trading for/with pin values. Where's the fun in all of that? Like I can't take my trading book to the parks before someone starts telling me a pin and its history and how muchbits worth when all I want to do is trade pins with them. Like Really? I do this for fun not for gain. I don't even know why this is an issue. I've run into more people who are like this recently and its a real shame.
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jadeites-lady
Bookworm Belle
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Yes, it was quite odd. I told sis that I guess we had to start writing down trade values vs. sales price on all the pins. It was weird how many people asked how we valued the pins.
I have to look at it this way... I also collect coins with my dad. It's what we do, haha... And the way that some traders or sellers value certain coins can either be by
1. The collectors value to the coin depending on age/rarity
OR
2. The cost of the metal the coin is made out of.. (Gold, Silver, Platinum)
And really, on either side of that deal can be either good or bad. You could have a really rare coin that's worth $3000 but it's made out of copper and scrap costs are $157.
I find that pin traders have the same kind of mind set. They either want to trade for the rarity of the pin or they trade for what the market value of the pin is.
I have to respectful of people's opinions and preferences... but once you start making a business transaction for a pin TRADE, then it's no longer a fun activity.
Pin SALES are pin SALES... that's a business transaction.
1. The collectors value to the coin depending on age/rarity
OR
2. The cost of the metal the coin is made out of.. (Gold, Silver, Platinum)
And really, on either side of that deal can be either good or bad. You could have a really rare coin that's worth $3000 but it's made out of copper and scrap costs are $157.
I find that pin traders have the same kind of mind set. They either want to trade for the rarity of the pin or they trade for what the market value of the pin is.
I have to respectful of people's opinions and preferences... but once you start making a business transaction for a pin TRADE, then it's no longer a fun activity.
Pin SALES are pin SALES... that's a business transaction.
Same thing happened to me! Found a LGM pin I needed which he Initially said it was worth $100. Then looked through my book and took out about $200 worth of pins (he was asking me what I valued them at). He said since they were pins he didn't know much about he wanted more for. Cmon.. He even had 3 of the same pin. So it wasn't anything sentimental, he just wanted to get as much as he could.
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I always tell people, if your doing this pin trading/collecting thing as an investment then your going to be very disappointed. Pin values do nothing but drop over time. I have pins in my collection that were selling for $200 to $300 and even $700 at one time but you can get the $200 and $300 ones for like $50 now and the $700 one for like $150 to $200 now. I never paid those high prices for them because I'm not stupid...lol. I was able to get them at either very low prices or trades. I'd hate to see of all the money that I actually lost pin collecting but it's something that I enjoy so I just don't ever think about it. Plus if I never started collecting then I would never have met all of you wonderful people!! 
Girugamesh
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how funny would it be if pin traders valued pins because of the color of the metal it is haha kind of like the gold, silver, black prototypes?
Girugamesh
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I always tell people, if your doing this pin trading/collecting thing as an investment then your going to be very disappointed. Pin values do nothing but drop over time. I have pins in my collection that were selling for $200 to $300 and even $700 at one time but you can get the $200 and $300 ones for like $50 now and the $700 one for like $150 to $200 now. I never paid those high prices for them because I'm not stupid...lol. I was able to get them at either very low prices or trades. I'd hate to see of all the money that I actually lost pin collecting but it's something that I enjoy so I just don't ever think about it. Plus if I never started collecting then I would never have met all of you wonderful people!!
This reminds me of a ebay seller who put up all their pins for auction and they weren't the most popular pins so most sold for starting bid. Then everyone got messages from the seller saying, "save urself time and file a claim because i invested hundreds of dollars on these pins so im not going to let them go for minimum bid. i rather get the bad feedback..." Who does that?! lol
YES! I personally go by personal value. If they tell me their pin is worth $400 but it last sold for $200 on ebay, I respect that, I just wont carry on with the trade, and I definitely wont tell them "but it last sold for $200 on ebay."
I feel the same should happen when someone trades with me, they ask my value on my pin. So I give MY value, and if it suits them, then lets work a trade. if not, walk away. But I won't, and never will allow someone else to value MY pin for me. Meaning the moment they pull out their phone, and start telling me "eBay this, FB that, IG this" the entire deal is OFF.
If my value of a pin comes close to or matches the other persons value, and we are BOTH (yes BOTH) comfortable with it, then trade. I say both because if you feel sharked or taken advantage of, your own fault for accepting the trade. If you like it, then eBay, FB, and whatever prices shouldn't matter cuz you just traded for a pin you liked more than what you traded away.
I feel the same should happen when someone trades with me, they ask my value on my pin. So I give MY value, and if it suits them, then lets work a trade. if not, walk away. But I won't, and never will allow someone else to value MY pin for me. Meaning the moment they pull out their phone, and start telling me "eBay this, FB that, IG this" the entire deal is OFF.
If my value of a pin comes close to or matches the other persons value, and we are BOTH (yes BOTH) comfortable with it, then trade. I say both because if you feel sharked or taken advantage of, your own fault for accepting the trade. If you like it, then eBay, FB, and whatever prices shouldn't matter cuz you just traded for a pin you liked more than what you traded away.
For a person who has limited time and opportunities to trade pins - this all seems too complicated! I think I'll mostly stick to what got me into pin trading - trading with cast members at the parks. Fun and not intimidating
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It would be!! And for me, I would totally value Black metal over any others haha!! It's just my preference... ... SEE HOW CRAZY THAT IS??!!?
AvatarAng1
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Haha, I know it sounds complicated and not very fun. I haven't been trading that long, and while trading with castmembers is good fun. I almost always enjoy trading with people more, so please don't let this thread intimidate you.
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Interesting to read everyone's thoughts on this. As someone brand new to collecting who hasn't traded except with cast members at a single trip to WDW, I've been getting the majority of my pins online, so the main reference I have when it comes to "value" are ebay prices. I have no idea when I look at a pin if it's a popular character or a highly sought-after set but I guess that experience comes with time. I'm trying to learn!!
I collected Pokemon cards for years and this is REALLY similar--I can still look at practically any card and know exactly what set it's from, how "rare" it is (LE size basically) and whether it's a popular "character." When I was a kid if you wanted to trade cards you generally would do 1-v-1 based on rarity, but now cards are worth more or less based on how good they are for battling in official tournaments so it's a lot more complicated.
I collected Pokemon cards for years and this is REALLY similar--I can still look at practically any card and know exactly what set it's from, how "rare" it is (LE size basically) and whether it's a popular "character." When I was a kid if you wanted to trade cards you generally would do 1-v-1 based on rarity, but now cards are worth more or less based on how good they are for battling in official tournaments so it's a lot more complicated.
I was browsing through some old threads here once and read about this pin that sold in an auction for $1500 a few years ago. Out of curiosity I looked it up on eBay and it last sold in auction for about $60 if I recall well. 
SoraPandora
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Hmmm. I didn't know it was considered jerky to research a pin during a trade. I mean, obviously you don't pull out a phone and start ignoring the person you're trading with to look on eBay, but... I don't have a whole lot of LE traders, so if I'm going to trade one, especially I'm not trading for something for my own collection (in other words, trading for another trader), it is important to me to get something near the same value. And I don't think that's rude, or sharky. I think that's common sense. :dunno:
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CoryTheRaven
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My attitude towards trading is that a pin's ultimate value, at the end of the day, is what it means TO YOU. This is also why I find pin trading incredibly frustrating and don't go out of my way to try it anymore
The truth about pins is that, objectively, they are inch-long pieces of painted metal that cost about $0.50 to make. Everything else is trumped up artificial value... Rarity, LE, OE, etc. Those try to manipulate supply and demand. But who creates demand? We do. Which is why, at the end of the day, a pin only has value if someone wants it. It doesn't matter if it's LE, OE, or whatever. If it's a pin that you want, then it has value to you. If it's a pin that you don't want, then it is worthless to you. Now I can recognize that there is a point where you can't realistically expect a trade (if you're offering a $7 OE for a $150 LE for example), but when the economic value and the demand is more or less equal, I do not get why people will hold out on trades if you both have pins that the other person wants. Hell, I'm willing to trade for a pin I don't even want if someone REALLY wants the one I have.
Which is why I don't trade much I'm pretty much the only person who sees trading as "you have a pin I want, and I have a pin you want, so let's exchange the pins so we each have the one we want!" The last times I've been to the parks, I only traded with castmembers (which raises a whole other set of problems). I haven't even been able to BUY pins lately either, because people post the price at $300 on Ebay or whatever, where it's been sitting for 4 years, and then other people come on and see that $300 is the price it's being sold for (but not BOUGHT for) and price theirs the same, and on it goes. The whole system is a mess and does suck the fun and interest right out of the hobby.
I could get behind this analog trading group though
The truth about pins is that, objectively, they are inch-long pieces of painted metal that cost about $0.50 to make. Everything else is trumped up artificial value... Rarity, LE, OE, etc. Those try to manipulate supply and demand. But who creates demand? We do. Which is why, at the end of the day, a pin only has value if someone wants it. It doesn't matter if it's LE, OE, or whatever. If it's a pin that you want, then it has value to you. If it's a pin that you don't want, then it is worthless to you. Now I can recognize that there is a point where you can't realistically expect a trade (if you're offering a $7 OE for a $150 LE for example), but when the economic value and the demand is more or less equal, I do not get why people will hold out on trades if you both have pins that the other person wants. Hell, I'm willing to trade for a pin I don't even want if someone REALLY wants the one I have.
Which is why I don't trade much
I'm pretty much the only person who sees trading as "you have a pin I want, and I have a pin you want, so let's exchange the pins so we each have the one we want!" The last times I've been to the parks, I only traded with castmembers (which raises a whole other set of problems). I haven't even been able to BUY pins lately either, because people post the price at $300 on Ebay or whatever, where it's been sitting for 4 years, and then other people come on and see that $300 is the price it's being sold for (but not BOUGHT for) and price theirs the same, and on it goes. The whole system is a mess and does suck the fun and interest right out of the hobby.I could get behind this analog trading group though
In a lot of instances I find eBay pricing to be unreliable anyway. It hurts my trading prospects being in the UK given that our releases may sell for £10 ($15) here, and yet an American eBay seller can get $40 for the same pin.
i do take into account value when trading; many of my traders I have paid over retail for or traded for, however I do not get hung up over eBay sold listings. I once was trying to trade for a BT, and the trader wanted my pins (worth $150 or so) for their BT worth about $70. I kindly let them know that I thought it was an imbalanced trade, and I was told people had every right to bump up the value of BTs in trade because they're in demand. I felt like that was just taking advantage. European LE pins are hard to find in mainland America (the pins I was offering) and I don't feel that trade value should really be that much higher than sale value.
i do take into account value when trading; many of my traders I have paid over retail for or traded for, however I do not get hung up over eBay sold listings. I once was trying to trade for a BT, and the trader wanted my pins (worth $150 or so) for their BT worth about $70. I kindly let them know that I thought it was an imbalanced trade, and I was told people had every right to bump up the value of BTs in trade because they're in demand. I felt like that was just taking advantage. European LE pins are hard to find in mainland America (the pins I was offering) and I don't feel that trade value should really be that much higher than sale value.
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Here's the way I look at it (and this is the pin trader, not the administrator, weighing in, if that makes sense):
At the end of the day, a pin is worth only what another person is willing to give up, whether in trade or currency, to acquire it. It really is that simple. A transaction occurs when both parties agree with their perceived values for the pins in question to either be traded or sold and said transaction is considered, if not 'fair', acceptable because one party wants it enough to either overtrade or overpay. I am assuming, for the sake of simplicity, that both parties know their values and nobody is being taken advantage of or sharked.
As you are valuing your pins, you decide what they are 'worth' to you - and if you want to 'overvalue' your pins, that is your prerogative. You can ask whatever you wish for your pins; just know that other traders and buyers have the right of refusal if they believe you are asking too much - and likely not only will exercise it, you might develop a reputation as (best case) clueless about your pins' value or (worst case) a shark.
At the end of the day, a pin is worth only what another person is willing to give up, whether in trade or currency, to acquire it. It really is that simple. A transaction occurs when both parties agree with their perceived values for the pins in question to either be traded or sold and said transaction is considered, if not 'fair', acceptable because one party wants it enough to either overtrade or overpay. I am assuming, for the sake of simplicity, that both parties know their values and nobody is being taken advantage of or sharked.
As you are valuing your pins, you decide what they are 'worth' to you - and if you want to 'overvalue' your pins, that is your prerogative. You can ask whatever you wish for your pins; just know that other traders and buyers have the right of refusal if they believe you are asking too much - and likely not only will exercise it, you might develop a reputation as (best case) clueless about your pins' value or (worst case) a shark.
AidanShepard
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All this seems like it makes it rather hard for new pin traders to try and gets older pins, tbh. The whole "I want the price value for this pin".
AvatarAng1
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Sometimes it can be frustrating, but you just have to meet traders with your similar trading style. I think the older pins usually are a bit harder to get, but I'm sure you'll get the ones you want.
Don't let anything overwhelm you, just have fun trading! ^_^Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Tapatalk
AidanShepard
A Villainous Villain!
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Sometimes it can be frustrating, but you just have to meet traders with your similar trading style. I think the older pins usually are a bit harder to get, but I'm sure you'll get the ones you want.
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Yeah, I hope so. I need to get a signature with my grails! I have a handful - all of them Stitch related, I think. Haha.
AvatarAng1
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There are lots of community members who will make you a signature. Try contacting @Froggerway or @Speedwaystar1
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AidanShepard
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Does anyone know a relatively decent site or something to value pins for selling? I'm worried about buying pins from strangers, haha... I don't know what's a decent price. Like, is $29 good for the Pumpkin Stitch pin - Pin 116822??
(Sorry, I don't know where else to ask!)
(Sorry, I don't know where else to ask!)
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