My first post, oh boy!

Hello everyone! My name is Gabby and I am pretty much brand new to pin trading. I live in Orlando so this is a hobby my boyfriend and I picked up after we got WDW annual passes last month! (By that I mean I dragged him along until he got addicted too.) He's a huge Star Wars fan and some of my favorite characters are Alice, Lady, and Ariel but I'm still trying to decide what I'd like to collect. We've mostly done some casual trading with cast members around the parks so far, and recently invested in a few LE pins from Epcot with the idea of improving our trading options (111105, 111102, 108756). He also got me a box of the Alice in Wonderland mystery pack for sale right now as a present (106305 and 106302). Neither of us has traded online yet!! I am full of questions so here's a few:

How did you decide what to collect? There are so many pins out there!! How do you narrow it down?

For those who are regular WDW park-goers, do you have tips for pin shopping? Maybe like where to find the best pins (i.e. limited edition and such) and how to know which pins will have good trading value, as we try to improve our trading?

Any tips as to how to do this on a budget? We obviously don't want to add to the scrappers/counterfeit problem but we're also college students so any advice as to building a collection on a budget would be wonderful!

Hi
welcome again to dpf

Welcome, Gabby!

🙂

All I can really say about figuring out what to collect is that it takes time to learn what is most important to you, and your tastes will probably change here and there, so don't worry too much about what you want to "mainly" collect right away! You can always use your old pins as traders if you end up not wanting them anymore!

I would say think about your favorite movies, attractions and characters, and start there. Over time you may find that you really only like a certain scene or character from that movie, and can trade away the pins you have that aren't specific enough. Or maybe you will find that you have a thing for characters dressed as other characters, or maybe a certain holiday, the black & white classics, balloons, food - who knows! You might be surprised what attracts you when looking at all of the pins online, and suddenly a new collection will start to grow!

Just have fun with it!

I don't live near any parks, so I can't really help with that, but for more options I know a lot of good honest members here sell pins in the "Pins for Sale/Wanted" section. Sometimes there will be a large sale while someone is trying to get rid of all of their traders (or they quit the hobby and are selling everything), so prices may be less than eBay, etc..

Welcome Gabby! this is a great site for newbies like you, and me! The other posters have been helpful and the pin discussion threads are great for those basic questions we all have as we get started. I'm still struggling with my "what to collect" idea too. Figment has always been my favorite since my first trip to WDW in 1992, but as I have really studied the pin options out there I'm adding all dragons, some Star Wars, love the pins which move or have dangles, punny pins (Darth Tater!)...I'm jealous of folks living close enough to parks to get annual passports and have the ability to go frequently. Enjoy your new hobby/obsession!
Sis

welcome 🙂

Hi Gabby! Welcome to the forum.