Several Quesgions

My son and I collected pins when he was younger- from 2003- 2008, then we collected hidden Mickeys and picked up a few OE and LE pins when we visited the parks until the beginning of 2011. We stopped going to Disney for a while- we were taking advantage of other travel opportunities- and packed away our pins.

Well, we just got back from WDW a few weeks ago and pulled out our pins again. The pin world has changed so much since we stopped collecting and trading, and I am totally lost.

First, I thought it would be fun to pick up some hidden Mickeys and trade with the CMs, so I took a couple of hundred traders from 2009- 2010 with me: I had bought them for about $3 each from people through dizpins so I know they were legitimate. After a couple of days of trading with the CMs, I realized that about 90% of what I was getting off their lanyards were scrappers or counterfeits. When did this start happening? I basically gave away 160 good, legitimate pins for crap. How do I even get hidden Mickeys when I visit WDW again this fall- and make sure they are legitimate? I am afraid to purchase them on ebay after reading up on them.

Second, I am having some difficulty figuring out where to buy some lower LE pins from Disney direct sources. (I was buying pins from Disney Auctions, DLRP mail order, and dollar for dollar trades with someone from Japan- whose information I have lost.) At the time, I think they were selling some lower LEs at the NYC Disney Store. Now it seems as if the only low LEs are coming out of Disney Hollywood Studios ice cream place and maybe pin events. Can someone please let me know what is going on- what parks and stores get what, when, and how can someone purchase them? Is it possible to order from Japan's Disney Store or DLRP and have pins delivered to the States? I have emailed DLRP and not received an answer.

Third, are there fewer pin and merchandise events than there used to be? Do they only have the fall pin event at Epcot, or does WDW have others throughout the week? We went to several and completed some trading.

Fourth, what is the issue with the huge price differences on ebay? I have some LE100 Chip and Dales that are listed at $200 and $457 for the same pin. Also, some pins from the Disney ice cream store are going for around $1,000, and they are LE 300 or so and fairly recent. Are those pins so hard to get?

Fifth, what else can you tell me about current pin trading/ collecting practices and etiquette?

Thanks,
Diane

Just in the last three years that I have been trading, things have changed a lot. Instead of trading pin for pin, people are more focused on current price of a pin which makes them pop into EBay before making a trade. I don't care for that kind of trading but I have been sort of forced to trade the same way. I do not do the Ebay thing while trading but I try to be aware of the cost of my pins. It has gotten crazy. The PTDs from the Ghirardelli store in Hollywood have gone ballistic. They really are way overpriced in my opinion but that's the way it is. If you have any of those, be careful not to trade them away too easy.

The differences in Ebay are from people trying to take advantage by over charging.

There are lots of scrappers out there so be careful. Most of what you find on the CM lanyards are no good. Pretty sad. I don't look at the lanyards much anymore.

I don't know anything about some the the stores you were buying from. Auctions was gone by the time I started trading. I have been to many of the releases at the Hollywood store ( Ghirardelli ). That is a good place to get low LEs.

Do some research before trading your pins. Don't get cheated.

Are you a Chip and Dale collector? Me too. I love them.

Trading at the parks is risk

Oops hit post, sorry

Anyway, when down at WDW, people have better luck at the resorts. Sometimes you get to know the cast members at the stores or food courts, and to make your trip special they will find newer pins for you, or ask you what you are looking for, and will try to find the hidden mickeys for you.

As for low LE pins, another place is Mickey's of Glendale. It is a store at the Walt Disney imagineering studios, but you need to have a cast member take you. They are having 2 pop-up shopping events for D23 members at WdW this summer, but that is it. I wish they would hold other pop-up events in other parts of the country for those of us not in California or Florida.

Like Suzziesue, I don't do EBAY either. Too much variation in prices. Too many opportunities for shilling and auction manipulation. If I can't trade for a pin, I don't ever get it. They are just little pieces of metal, and only have as much value as you want to give them.

Hello
1. The last time I went I managed to trade for quite a few legitimate pins . You can always ask to check the back before trading to check edges and check for dips etc . It may take a bit longer but it's doable .
2. Since I can't reach DSF I can't help there . As for DLRP I have an order with them at the moment , as far as I know they still post to the US too . However they don't release LE pins for online sale until 1 Mon after release .
3. Check the boards here , most events are mentioned somewhere
4. Ebay is a necessary evil for me but luckily I get a lot of what I'm after from here .

Thanks for your responses. I will definitely try the resorts since we tend to resort hop to eat our meals. One cast member told me to use a magnet to determine whether or not a pin is counterfeit because authentic Disney pins are not magnetized. Out of curiosity, I went through our 2010 collection and before and found several (over 150) pins that were magnetized. I almost had a heart attack especially since that means we now have several incomplete sets!!

After the first couple of days, I did check the edges and paint jobs, which helped a lot.

I am going to have to pay attention to ebay and see if the hassle would be worth it.

What characters are the most popular for trading right now? I know Stitch, Tinkerbell, Jessica, and Malificent were popular several years ago.

I will email DLRP again about mail orders. I would still like to know about the Japan Disney Store.

I did read over the events section of the forum. I think it just seems to me that there are fewer Disney sponsored pin events at WDW than I remember.


My son is an avid Chip and Dale collector- and I really like their pins!! We have a few hundred of those- especially from Japan, Disney Auctions, and holidays, etc. from WDW. He also loves Stitch.

For a while, characters from Tangled were very popular, but then Frozen came out and now everyone wants Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Sven, and Kristoff. Carl and Ellie from Up are also very popular. There are still plenty of Chip and Dale, Stitch, Jessica and villain collectors, but the newer characters seem to be much more popular.