Have I hit a brick wall in pin trading?

OK, I am actually taking the time to write this in Word instead of the forum as it has taken me a lot of thought and revision. The question that has been on my mind as of late is: Have I really hit a brick wall in pin trading?

For those who have not traded/talked with me before, my wife and I collect a very small segment of pins. I do Scrooge McDuck, Kingdom Hearts, and Disney Themed Star Wars related items. Betsy does certain Sorcerer Mickeys, and we both do certain pins that celebrate trips we take to WDW. The same applies to Vinylmations, so we do not do a lot of those either. Not really a lot, but in the 2+ years we have been collecting, we have collected over 450 pins in seven binders, and over 300 traders.

Since started the hobby so late in its run (year 8) we missed out on a lot of earlier pins, and that is the source of my frustration. Over the last week, I did a “test” and I have sent hundreds of pin requests. Out of those, I did not duplicate a pin offered all week; i.e. if I offered the pin on Monday, I did not offer it again. However, the requests went to the same people over and over, since the same people have the pins I want and I guess I have pins they want. I put on every trade: I am open to counter offers. Please let me know!!.

However, I get maybe a 2% reply ratio for all the trades I send, and half of those are counter offers I do not accept as they are too heavy favored one way or the other, or decline e-mails. Most people who trade with me know if it is a Scrooge pin I want, I will usually trade in their favor to a point, even trading multiples if necessary.

I have recently taken to trying to trade traders for other traders that might help me trade for the pins we want, but I am hitting the same wall once I get the new traders. I recently bought the Lady and the Tramp pin set on DS.com for the purpose of trading it not for pins we “want”, but for pins that I think might give us what we want. I buy new traders here on DPF in the hopes they might work for the pins we want. I am trying to avoid buying the pins we want directly, as what fun is that in a trading hobby as well as most sellers say on E-Bay are still selling the pins a lot higher than the current market is, IMHO. Also, a lot of the pins we do want, we rarely see on sale, like some of the older Scrooges and Sorcerer Mickeys.

My goal in this post is not to give up or anything similar. I am hoping by sharing my frustration with others here, I can get input on the next steps to take in order to continue collecting the pins we want.

Sorry to hear about your frustrations.

I feel that way as well sometimes...I have many great pins for trade (in my opinion), but it is hard to make trades for the pins I really, really want. I also send out quite a few trade requests and barely get a response.

But on the flip side:

-I usually do not reply to trade requests myself (unless I am interested). I know some people frown upon this, but when you get upwards of 30 trade requests on some days it would take too much time for me to respond to all of them, not to mention that 90% of trade requests are extremely lopsided.

-I know you want to trade for your most-wanted pins instead of purchase them (I do as well), but as many "good" pins as I think I have...I end up buying the majority of my most-wanted pins. It's just the way it is. If the pin is hard-to-find, the person that is trading it will probably not give it up unless you have exactly what they are looking for (for instance, a trader that has one of your HTF Scrooge wants may only trade that Scrooge pin for one or two other pins...and if you don't have them it won't work out).

-You only have 308 wants, and the majority of them are old and/or hard-to-find. In fact, many of your wants have 0 or 1 person trading. If you want to trade on a fairly regular basis I would suggest adding more attainable pins to your wants as well. You said yourself you and your wife collect a small segment of pins...and because of this it will probably be much harder for you to complete your goals. Honestly, it would probably take you years to find some of those Scrooge pins (because of their age, number of people trading, etc.) and some you may never find at all.

You either have to be OK with "hitting a brick wall" at times and coming to the realization that your pin quest may be harder than others, or you need to be more open to purchasing your wants or adding a different selection of pins to your Wants.

Don't let the lack of trading get you down...sometimes I will go months and barely make a trade, and some months I will make a ton of trades. You never know...one of your most-wanted pins could find it's way to you when you least expect it.

We feel your Pain! My hubby and I have been trading for 10+ years, almost exclusively at DLR PTN's, the park, and DSF pin events. We hit our brick wall about 4-5 years ago, and that lead to taking a slower path in collecting and just enjoy the rides and restaurants at DLR. Our main collection is Nightmare Before Christmas, then add in Tron, 20,000 Leagues, Haunted Mansion, mini pins, castles, Mickey (some Steamboat and Sorcerer), Tiki, Stitch and recently UP. There's an assortment of other themes to just keep us going and having fun. Since currently having more free time on my hands, I began trading thru Pinpics 2 years ago, adding Stitch to my collection as a way to continue to play. But Stitch's popularity has gained, and well, there was brick wall #2! We trade mainly to add to our collections, which is slow and going as it is the older, harder to get pins that we still need. We really like the older pins, Disney Auctions, Disney Catalog, etc. We also do what you did, trade for other traders in hopes of getting something someone else will want. We also invest money into new releases also in hopes that those pins will help out. We love the hobby, we love the parks, we enjoy meeting and making new friends and we love most things Disney and will continue on with our pin quests. Sorry, as I don't think I helped with options or ideas, but we have learned that in pin trading, patience will eventually turn up some golden moments worth any wait!

Hi, as a Villains collector I have a hard time making trades anyhow lol!! Months ago I posted about Trading for "older" pins (i.e <#10000 on PinPics) and got ZERO response. I need a slew of OLDER Villains pins but I get NO responses from TA requests PLUS it seems the collectors nowadays are not really interested in the "older" pins anyhow. Interesting since in a lot of other hobbies there is an interest and viable trader community for both Trading and acquiring older material.

Mike S.

and it seems that my wants always go to the same 2 or 3 people . Of course you don't know that until Pin Pics sends the email of request . I look and think, okay, not hearing anything on this or that . :lol:

In the 12 years I've been pin trading I've hit this wall many times. Its usually when I take a short break and come back to it fresh. Currently back at it full force and enjoying it more than ever.

After all my pin trading time I'm now looking for about 5-8 pins for my collection. The rest of my trading is looking for pins friends want, trading for traders, or just making someones day buy trading a pin they really really want.

At the end of the day this is a hobby and it's supposed to be fun. When it stops being that I stop for a little while and come back to it.

I know the feeling, though I do not have tonnes of pins to trade, I find it SO frustrating trying to trade for my most wanted pins. I do just buckle and buy the pins I want if I can but none of my most wanted have shown up on ebay any time recently. I don't know what to do, I don't know if I should try and invest in pins and if so what should I invest in? Its very frustrating and I really just wish I would get some replies from people letting me know what it is they want for these pins.

SyriusLionwing said:

Its very frustrating and I really just wish I would get some replies from people letting me know what it is they want for these pins.

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This^^^ If you want something particular for your pin I am willing to hunt for you (and I usually say as much in trade requests), but how do I know unless I get a response? Oh well, some people are just busy I guess.

We all seem to hit that problem. It's so hard to trade these days unfortunately. I.E. the one pin you want it's really hard to trade for. I agree with everyone's opinion.

I think everyone has hit that wall at some point in time. Especially if you are a longtime trader like I am. There become fewer pins you are looking for and they are harder to get. But don't let it get you down. You never know when suddenly you'll get some of your grail pins. I've been fortunate that in the 10 years I've been trading, I've now been able to get just about every grail I ever wanted with only one exception now. But I gave up on that one long ago and no longer really desire it. Pins I never thought I'd own like Pin 1098: WDAC 1999 - Haunted Mansion Dangle, Pin 1799: DLR - The Haunted Mansion (Mickey), Pin 15343: WDW - 999 Happy Haunts Ball - The Transformation of Master Gracey (Lenticular), Pin 47642: Club 33 - Member Event - New Orleans Square and Pin 48745: Disney Auctions - Jessica Rabbit Movie Star (Jumbo) with a lot of patience and persistence are now in my collection.

So keep hope alive! You never know when that kind trader will come along and help you get your grails.

movingthestars said:

This^^^ If you want something particular for your pin I am willing to hunt for you (and I usually say as much in trade requests), but how do I know unless I get a response? Oh well, some people are just busy I guess.

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In addition, many people with the hard-to-find pins I want are Anonymous. Meaning, I don't recognize them if I should send them a duplicate request down the line, especially if they haven't replied to anything because they are too busy, or I have misjudged the value of my trader (gasp. the horror.) Sometimes I think it would be an improvement on PinPics if requests were sent via the site (notifications sent to the potential trade-ee with a link) and a simple Do you Wish to Accept This Trade? yes/no/contact requester. That would allow us to see if they have turned down the trade (so we're not left waiting and wondering) or if there is another pin they're willing to receive for the grail we're after.

I so appreciate it when people write back, even with a simple "I'll pass this time, thanks". Too few people make the effort, which leads to frustration like this. I haven't been trading (online) for very long, and I feel like I've hit a wall myself. :crazy:

You are describing exactly where I am at! I actually got burned out on going to the park because of it. After excepting there are not many pins left that I want to acquire for my personal collection, trading for better traders is all i could do. Surprisingly, it rekindled my love of trading again. This is definitely good for now

I think we all sympathise just as an aside though I did a wants match the dlrp ptn pins youa re looking for are all htf my advice is its multiple pins or buy them theya re all in the $100plus range now on that site we dont talk about and most people trade to value

Jacqui

I personally haven't hit a brick wall in pin trading yet, but that doesn't mean I'm not frustrated in not obtaining the older Ariel pins I want. Like you, I too have one mainstay collection and just a couple other interest. I don't collect everything because that would drive me crazy and broke. I recently ranted to another member about pin traders. I've only been collecting for 2 years and have been to a pin event or two.

What I've noticed is that people value a higher dollar amount on a pin because they have a personal connection to that character. For example: If someone loves Lion King, they would value that pin much higher than its pin trading value, because of its emotional worth. I see many traders that can't let go of pins because of this. Even though someone can trade a pin cause they don't Really need it, they're reluctant because of their emotional ties.

I usually average 2 pin trade requests via pin pics, per week and I've met them all. The reason I have successful trades is because I value my Ariel collection, not my traders. I honestly have bought half of my collection, because I realize that there is no one out there willing to trade for older stuff. Again, like you I've only been collecting for a short while and don't have any major pins backing huge LE, AP type trades. So I buy what I can't trade. Sometimes olders traders need to remember what it was like when they first started trading and give some of the newbies a chance to get a grail.

I understand where you're coming from. I haven't exactly hit a brick wall yet, but I have hit a rough patch over the past year or so. I collect Figment, Attraction related POM series, Attraction Anniversary pins, and mostly anything else Attraction related. I will say that sometimes you'll run across what you're looking for when you least expect it, and sometimes all you can do is wait it out. I was walking through Animal Kingdom early one morning and caught quite a few managers to trade with who had just refreshed their lanyards and was able to get 7 fantastic Artist Proof pins which I used to trade for some of my most wanteds. It just took a chance encounter to land some great pins.

Sometimes it is hard to get a trade to go through since everyone values their pins differently. I've traded with people who go by edition size, or trade/want ratio on pinpics, or "cash value" based on recently ended ebay auctions. There really is no good way to value a pin when so many pins have more "intrinsic value" than "book value."