Cast member pin trading pins- what I learned

[Captain Fartbeard]

It is a tough balance when you get the Disney Pin bug. I know I first started, I fell head first into the hobby. I purchased pins but didn’t take much consideration for the end cost. For me, the hobby felt like it was going to be too expensive to maintain and I actually stepped away for a bit.

When I returned, I set some boundaries for myself. I have a monthly pin budget, which helps me to prioritize what pins I purchase. This has helped me curb my impulse to buy every cute pin I see (and Disney does know how to make them cute!) There are some amazing Scrooge pins I would love to add to my collection, but I am going to be hunting for a while to find them at my price point or will have to make a trade for them.

I have only sold a few pins in my time in this hobby. Usually as my tastes change, I move items from my collection to my traders. Others might join the hobby at a later time and consider my older pins more desirable since they can’t readily get them. But whether buying, selling, or trading, it is definitely a good idea to do some research to get a baseline. You never know what pin might be in high demand. Back in 2017, I was trading with cast members on a trip. I came back with a Doctors Day pin from the previous year. Years later when I was looking up the value of my pins for a trade, I found out that it was going for $250+. I was shocked!

I had a planned monthly budget, but I’ve already gone over it lol. (I also spent a lot on traders for the parks) It’s tough when you get free admission to the parks, I can blow through 10 traders in an afternoon at MK. Buying traders even with a discount can add up. ( and trading is half the fun of it) I can only scrimp and save in other areas so much. And you’re right that Disney does know how to make their cute pins.

It’s crazy that you got a $200 pin by chance! I have a few valuable pins myself I might have to cash out on for some extra spending money. Either that or some spare mystery set pins I’ve acquired. It’s super easy to get hooked on this habit early and get really impulsive.

 

[Snoffsan]

Hi again! Decided to check out a couple pin stores in the area and see if there was anything worth scrounging for. First I hit up the Disney Character Warehouse for some traders (it's about the same price as Cast connections) then I stopped by the Pin HQ store in Ocoee.

The pin HQ was nice, they had a crazy assortment of really cool pins that would break my budget if I bought all the ones I liked. They offered me around $190 for the traders I brought, which didn't feel like a fair value (it included my LE 300 Mulan pin that I saw sold on Ebay for over $300) I did buy some pins though, couldn't resist with the selection they had. I'm posting them here along with some traders I found (all were verified except for Thumper, I'm 90% sure it's a scrapper though the guest I traded it with said they actually got it from DLP (from a lanyard though). I think he's a cute mascot for Flower and Garden festival though so he gets to stay!

Between bringing Meeko back, Nick Wilde, and Stitch it cost over $50 to bring them into the fold. (not even including the park traders I bought) I think it's about time I start selling some of my pins to help fund my habit, as I'd really love to go back there sometime and explore what they have. I'll have to explore posting some extras on the marketplace and looking up values and such. Time for some research!

Thumper looks real. He is from a Booster set from Paris and they can be found a lot on lanyards in parks there. I was in Paris this weekend and the CM lanyards are amazing. Not a lot of CMs have them though so you have to look for them but no scrapper or fakes to be seen. The Cast members are turning down fake pins so you can only trade real ones. They even have pin boards with Le pins where you have to trade LE for Le and can only trade hidden mickeys for other hidden mikeys and so on.

 

[Captain Fartbeard]

My trade arcade pins came in today! I'm super excited for them, especially the Rajah Boxlunch one. With the Acquisition of the Rajah fanny pack in the parks today, my Rajah collection is flourishing! 3 of them are retrades but I still think they're super cute.

I also did some trading both here and at MK over the past few days, and here are the fruits of my efforts!

As you can see I now have the Rajah fanny pack, as well as Meeko! They were the 2 fanny pack series I've been searching after the most so I'm super happy to be adding them to my collection. The Robin Hood and Incredibles pins on the left were recent acquisitions from Cast Connections that I couldn't say no to. The most interesting pin is the Chip and Dale red apple pin, which I traded from a Japanese guest who didn't speak much English. I gave up my LE St. Patrick's day Chip and Dale for it, so the price was hefty. Still, it's super cool to be finally have some real international pins! (I looked it up on Pinpics and I don't have any reason to suspect it's fake) Despite the St. Patrick's day pin being rarer overall I feel like this one's harder to find so I'm happy with it.

 

[Captain Fartbeard]

Thumper looks real. He is from a Booster set from Paris and they can be found a lot on lanyards in parks there. I was in Paris this weekend and the CM lanyards are amazing. Not a lot of CMs have them though so you have to look for them but no scrapper or fakes to be seen. The Cast members are turning down fake pins so you can only trade real ones. They even have pin boards with Le pins where you have to trade LE for Le and can only trade hidden mickeys for other hidden mikeys and so on.

Is that so? Man, I wish they did that at WDW, I'd have a field day lol. The reason why I thought it was fake was because the back had a border, which I didn't think existed for a 2011 pin. Not sure if the picture's clear enough but here's a photo of the back.


If this pin's real that'd make me so happy! Thumper's so cute already but he'd move to the forefront of my collection if it's a legit pin.

 

[Snoffsan]

Of course its hard to say for sre without holding it in hand and comparing with one bought there, but since they told you they traded it in Paris that makes me belive its a bigger chance its real. This set was sold everywhere in the parks so Im sure that is why it was found on CM lanyards there. It is a really cute pin. I almost traded for another pin from that set but then I saw a Minnie and went for that one since it fits my collection

 

[Captain Fartbeard]

Of course its hard to say for sre without holding it in hand and comparing with one bought there, but since they told you they traded it in Paris that makes me belive its a bigger chance its real. This set was sold everywhere in the parks so Im sure that is why it was found on CM lanyards there. It is a really cute pin. I almost traded for another pin from that set but then I saw a Minnie and went for that one since it fits my collection

Yeah, that makes sense! I've just been taught from WDW to associate any lanyard pins as sketchy. It's good to know not all parks are like that!