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How do you get your more "valuable" pins?

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How do you get your more "valuable" pins?
tinydancr06

tinydancr06

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Hi, guys!
So, I'm not really new to trading but I am definitely not a veteran like some of you. Well, I was looking around on pinpics and realized that many of the pins I like or more valuable (LEs, more rare, etc). So this got me wondering, how do so many of you pin trading vets get your more valuable pins? Do you buy them? Or if you trade for them, how do you get your pins of equal value? I hope this makes sense, lol. I say this because I would like to obtain some more difficult pins to find and I just don't know how to go about doing it. So...how do you guys do it?! :bowdown:
-Lindsay
 
It's easier to buy them, I find. I did get a decent pin at the weekend by trading, but I had to give up more than I wanted to really. Sometimes you just get lucky though. Perseverance.
 
Alas, I have bought some from the evil auction site. I have also gotten lucky with some of the Disney shopping very limited edition pins that you have to get up early on Monday mornings (3 AM EST), the Tink and Jessica pins in costumes are fabulous traders... I have also gotten lucky on some mystery pins that turned out to be great traders.
 
I buy mine from ebay as its been such a help with getting some of my rarer pins, especially most of my UP pins so without ebay Id still be struggling to trade for those so to me ebay is a godsend (hahaha feel the evil looks already XD)

Ive also bought pins through pinpics by emailing the traders who have pins to trade as I find in todays climate some people accept that as an offer if there is nothing I can get them, worked for me quite a few times.

Ive traded for a few of the rarer pins but not many. to each their own I guess.
 
I probably bought around 75% of my "higher end" pins and if you trace back to what I traded for the others it is probably over 90% because I may have purchased a high end trader to get a high end want. There is just no way around it, you've got to spend money to get the harder pins. Unless you get really lucky, the only other way to not pay the higher prices is to buy pins direct from Disney today and wait and hope that they become good traders. Even then, the people with the older pins may not be interested because they got them when they came out too. But at least that way you have something to sell off to pay for what you really want.

I'm finding that it is just easier to buy and in the long run it can actually be cheaper. Some people want an arm and a leg plus your first born for some of their pins. I was once told by someone that they would trade their DA LE 100 Stitch to me for 10 (yes, TEN) of my LE 100 Stitches which included 3 DA Stitches and the others were Disneystore.com ones. I about fell out of my chair when I read that....especially since I could have gone out to ebay right then and there and purchased the pin I wanted for $250 (and that was even priced higher than I ended up paying for it)!!!
 
Some of my higher end pins I bought and some of them I've traded for. I've been pretty lucky at pin events on my RSP as well. If I want a pin I will trade a couple of pins to get it and back when Disney Auction pins were worth something I did buy them as traders so I used them to get some of my pins.
 
Yeah, I live in Florida and try to purchase trader LE pins whenever I get to WDW but I don't go often enough to depend on that (I'm not an AP holder just yet!). It just seems like some people have so many awesome traders but I never have anything close to the pins in their wants. The pins I have traded for though I loooove because it took effort to get them, lol.
 
Hi Lindsay!

I have both bought and traded for some of my higher end pins in my collection. If I can get a fair and equal trade for a high end pin that I want, there is no way that I'm going to walk away from it. However, I find that, for the most part, it's just easier to buy the higher-end pins outright than attempt to trade for them.
Even if you *have* high end traders, there is no guarantee that the person who has your high end grail either

1. will be interested in your high end traders for your grail or
2. will be able/willing to work out a trade for your grail (might want too much in trade for it, etc)

If you don't have the high end traders and you are looking to acquire them, well, since there is no guarantee that 'Pin X' will trade for 'Pin Y', I think you'd be much better off investing the money in just cutting out the middle trade and purchasing your more difficult pins directly instead of trying to trade for them.
 
I usually go on to pinpics and find a person who has a pin I really want. I then look up personal information about them. Once I know where they live, I kidnap their children or their cats. Kidnapping dogs don't work for some reason. So I stick to cats and kids. Using letters cut out of magazines I send them a ransom letter telling them that they need to give me a specific pin for their children/cat to be released safely.

When that fails I buy them off of eBay or from the sale boards. When buying from eBay I try to stay away from pins that have known scrapper issues. Also, if the seller sells lots of pins (like 50 for $20) I stay away from them. Sale boards are pretty safe. I've never had a problem with a pin purchased from a sale board here or DizPins (RIP).
 
Even with the sale boards, I've been victim of buying a counterfeit pin. But you can count me in with the ones who use eBay to buy some pins. I usually have to go there to get some of the ones I really want such as the Then & Now series and the DLR POH series.
 
Actually, now that you mention it, the Then and Now series has really worked well for me as traders. I think it's the nostalgia of all the old attractions they feature. I had to keep the Philharmagic/Legend of the Lion King one though, seeing as I collect Philharmagic pins. :) That brings another thought to mind though, even if you have LEs to trade there's no guarantee that they will be popular. I've had a few that have actually taken a lot of effort to trade. It's not a bad thing really, just interesting.

Oh, and I am totally not against EBAY. While I've definitely had a couple issues with scrappers/counterfits on there I've also gotten some great deals on legit pins. :)
 
Ebay, from the boards, and my best pins have come from people getting out of trading and selling their collection. The problem is when several of your rare pins are up for sale at once....I tend to get in trouble from my wife when she sees the bank statement, lol.
 
I bought the vast majority of my high-end pins on the secondary market. The few high-end pins that I managed to trade, I had to trade away other high-end pins for--and invariably those other pins were ones I'd purchased on the secondary market.

Even though I purchased MANY pins on eBay, most of those weren't the really high-end pins. Nearly all of the high-end pins that I bought, I purchased in person from sellers who live near DLR. Buying them in person allowed me to check the pins for possible flaws before purchasing them.

Add me to the list of people who've said in this thread that it's easier to buy than trade for the higher-end pins.

(Some people manage to get high end pins from sellers who are eager to get specific hot, new DS LE 100 pin sets that the seller can then flip on eBay. The strategy is to buy the sets from DS, then trade with the seller. But that means you spend a bunch to get the DS sets in order to trade the sets away for the high-end pin you really want--so why not just hand to money directly to the seller rather than to DS? Giving the seller money means you don't have to stay up late, or worry that you won't be able to meet with the seller until after the set has gotten stale and is no longer valuable enough for the seller to trade a high-end pin to acquire.)

(Oh, and a plug: I have high-end pins for sale.)
 
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I used to do a lot more trading, but these days the only way I can seem to get pins I'm looking for is buying (and that's few and far between as no one is letting go of the pins I'm still looking for!).
 
I get my stuff pretty much anywhere. Most of my success has come from eBay and messages that I posted on Disney message boards. Usually someone who has retired from Disney is looking to sell their stuff, and I ask what they have. I've gotten some pretty amazing stuff that way. I've even scored a few rare items from trolling the posts on Craigslist!
 
I'm lucky to live near WDW, so I try to pick up new releases that might be popular. Lower edition pins I get from Disney Shopping.
 
I try to trade for as many as possible. If I see a good deal on ebay or on a sale board, I'll bite on occasion.
 
YoSoyAhPuch said:
I usually go on to pinpics and find a person who has a pin I really want. I then look up personal information about them. Once I know where they live, I kidnap their children or their cats. Kidnapping dogs don't work for some reason. So I stick to cats and kids. Using letters cut out of magazines I send them a ransom letter telling them that they need to give me a specific pin for their children/cat to be released safely.
Click to expand...
YoSoy - while you send a slight shiver up my spine, you DO make me laugh! :) Well played.

I've been in the hobby for years and bought the majority of my older pins directly from DA; then, due to circumstances, I boxed up a bunch of pins in 2006 - opened the boxes a few years later and ta-da - good traders. Though, when I really get that neeeed (most of you know exactly that feeling!) I head to eBay. Personally, I have steered away from sellers with tons of 'grab bag' lots (those are the sellers you tend to find on the "naught" list) and check feedback. Even if you get a scrapper, sellers will almost always refund/replace immediately and if they don't, eBay handles it and you get your money back.

I put in automatic searches on eBay (they'll email you whenever that pin you're looking for is posted). Then I get in "Simba pounce position" for the hunt. When those pop up in the inbox, I'm there in a flash. ;)

Be patient, enjoy the hunt and if you have that OHMYGOSH that's AWESOME feeling about a pin, buy a few and keep them on hand. Surely someone else will have that feeling too. ;)
 
Right trade at the right time

An OE can trade for an le 1500

le 1500 for le 1000

le 1000 for le 500

le 500 for le 250/300....

takes time, but it can make an ugly collection into a beauty in no time flat :)


Most of the DS.com pins I've bought, I've just sold because usually nobody wants them with the pins I think they'd be worth lol, idk why
 
scottydem said:
Right trade at the right time

An OE can trade for an le 1500

le 1500 for le 1000

le 1000 for le 500

le 500 for le 250/300....

takes time, but it can make an ugly collection into a beauty in no time flat :)


Most of the DS.com pins I've bought, I've just sold because usually nobody wants them with the pins I think they'd be worth lol, idk why
Click to expand...


That's actually a very good point. It isn't easy and doesn't happen often, but sometimes the stars are just aligned. One time I was able to take 10 low to mid-level pins which I paid about $180 for and trade 8 of them for a nice grail pin which I then traded away plus the 2 others for 4 DA LE 100's that I never would have been able to get for $180. I was just in the right place at the right time for that to happen.
 
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