At EPCOT today and
Erudolf - You're literally comparing theft to profitable trading. I'm not sure that's the comparison you were trying to make, but yeah. Honestly, I think if someone is at a Disney park on vacation and is already paying hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars to be there, taking a -10 on a single pin isn't a huge problem. We can definitely agree to disagree, though.
Personally, I'm basing my opinion on my own perspective - if there's a pin I really want, I'll -10 for it. I'm relatively new to the hobby, and my budget for pin trading (and everything else in life right now! haha) is pretty small, but yeah. It's ten bucks.
If I were a tourist who spent $100+ on pins that I got home and started researching because I really got into pins on vacation to find that I could have gotten them for $15, I would be on fire. I probably would write letters and emails to Disney also; I guarantee that is what is happening. People get home and realize that their vacation was NOT as magical as they thought and they were taken advantage of by people who Disney has allowed to trade on their property. Bottom line: Disney is responsible for what happens on their property and when people find out what is actually happening, Disney loses business in the long run. Do they need the pin sales or the family of four to buy the tickets, food, other toys, and stay in the hotels for a week at a time?
Honestly, if I were a Disney executive, I would yank the tables and leave trading for the lanyards and PTNs. MAYBE set up a small section in the parks for an hour of trading a day (sort of like what they do at World of Disney).
I like that idea!I would like to see them move pin trading to a location to an area away from the stores
I would like to see them move pin trading to a location to an area away from the stores like how people trade at the Plaza away from the stores at DLR.
I think those of us in the "community" forget...we're a small portion of overall pin sales. It's true that we're an *important* small part, because we're repeat buyers and we're big ticket buyers. But still, a lot of tourists think that "Pin Trading" is what you do with cast members on lanyards. They might only buy once, but they usually buy a lot, and at full price (most of us know better by now *coughoutletscough*). And, in the end, they overwhelm us with sheer numbers.
Honestly, if I were a Disney executive, I would yank the tables and leave trading for the lanyards and PTNs. MAYBE set up a small section in the parks for an hour of trading a day (sort of like what they do at World of Disney).
Just to shift gears, another thing that can help solve this problem is simply speaking up. Flat out, if you're watching someone mize 100 bucks off tourists over and over, ESPECIALLY if they're pretending to be someone's sick grandmother, just go ahead and ruin their business. Let the victim know before they make the trade, "Hey, you know that's not exactly a totally fair trade, value-wise, right?" If they don't seem to care, then that's fine. But you'd be surprised at how often someone will respond and ask "Really? What are [x items] worth?" and then change their decision appropriately. There's no law that says we as traders have to put up with that stuff, and the tourists can always return the pins (I think - correct me if I'm wrong on that bit).
-JD
They can write all the rules they want. It is enforcing them that is the problem. And what rules are they exactly supposed to write? The traders' pins are not their property. They can't control what trades they make and they certainly can't stand there and say "that's a fair trade" or "no, you can't do that, that isn't fair". Since "value" is objective then "fair" is also and if they were going to try and police trades they would be opening a whole host of problems, not to mention wasting a head count babysitting traders. People would start saying that the CM just didn't like them so they were ruining their trades, etc., etc. It just isn't feasible for Disney to enforce it. I think they have already arrived at the only possible solution which is to not have trading. Trading in the park and at DTD was a privilege, some traders abused it, and now everyone will have to suffer the consequences.
The first time somebody faking a disability to rip people off got booted from the park with their pass revoked, people would smarten up.
-JD
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