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The addiction...

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The addiction...

Sufikation

Real Name: Patrick
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167
Location
Idaho
So let me just say I love this hobby. These pins are amazing to look at and even more fun to collect. I however have no self control, I find myself attempting to spend hundreds of dollars a month on these pretty little beasts. How do you all keep yourselves in check? Do you just splurge or limit your monthly spending amount? Fill me in, I need to learn the ways, lol. :eek2:
 
most of us learn the hard way, massive debt!
then you control it better or lose the car...
i guess some people have self control but myself, im just realllllly cheap and wont pay more than retail for most pins.

Happy trades
Kirk
 
I have been purchasing most of my oins for a little below retail, I get lucky because most of the ones I like are just basic SW/ST pins. But even so...it gets crazy. I was going to limit it to $50 a month, but I think I might cut that in half.
 
It's hard, let me tell you! :lol:

I used to spend a few hundred dollars a paycheck on pins. Now, I spend $0-$50 depending on the week. It's easier to refrain when you have other responsibilities.
 
Ya, in the first week I joined this forum I had totally neglected my own forum I run (an idaho based honda forum) as well as my car, lol. Its so crazy.
 
I have had unusual circumstances the last two months which can't last; partly birthday gifts, and partly extra money because I've been financially supporting a family member for almost a year and then suddenly the family member didn't need it last month or this month. So I'm afraid I splurged rather an embarrassing lot.

That extra money won't continue to be there in the future, I don't think, so I'm planning to set a monthly budget after this month and try to hold to it. I don't have very much willpower, is the thing. Once I reach it I am NOT ALLOWED to look at the For Sale threads anymore! Or so I tell myself...
 
Set yourself a limited. Get someone to take away your cash if you can't control yourself.
Otherwise you'll go into debt real fast.

Or trade your butt off online. That's how I keep up with my taste in pins.
I do big multi trades online and when they come in the mail, it's very satisfying.
 
When I began trading, I immediately set a limit for myself: I would stop when I had 50 pins altogether - including keepers and traders. The idea was that then if I wanted a new pin, I would HAVE to trade one of my pins for it - No buying allowed. No more money out of pocket, except for shipping costs.

But when I accumulated 50 pins, I changed my limit to 100.

Once I had a hundred pins, I told myself "No more than 100 keepers."

I really need to set a budget. I know I've spent a couple hundred dollars on pins already, and I've only been trading for 3 months.

:anxious:
 
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Haha...It would be so easy to go nuts and buy all the pins I want sometimes. I'm happy I'm usually able to control myself (most of the time)
 
budget budget budget.

Give yourself a set amount every month, and if you know certain pins are coming out in a certain month that go over your budget, underspend the previous month. Dont take out of "next months" money because you wont stick to the budget the next month that way. Give yourself an evelope of pin cash to spend or save as you go. Add the monthly amount on the first, not before.... It works. i promise.
 
I agree with what everyone is saying. It is very hard to keep in check and. It go in debt. But as a new person to the hobby, has the prices of pins in the secondary market been so high? Or is this common?
 
I hear ya! I WAY over spent this past month, we had some extra cash lol. I do not charge. While I use credit card on paypal because I feel its safer, I pay what I spent asap. Gonna have to cut down, some things to do for the house. I'm just trying to figure out what an ok budget will be. I have terrible willpower lol
 
once you get the collections going and getting more pins it kind of becomes a self sustaining pin machine... You buy you sell you use that money you made for other pins, your collections change and you make your collection smaller. you use those pinstoo get new ones but it is expensive in the beginning, It took me years and about $15,000 to do it but if i want a new pin, i sell some to buy it. But thats just me, I have such hard wants that it is easier to buy then trade 95% of the time

kirk
 
my first 2 trips I bought pins like a maniac then i bought less over the next 3 trips(the 5th trip only buying 2). Then I didn't buy any for 3 years because we didn't go to disney world. Now i've discovered buying them online but most of the time I only buy the ones i want and i know my limits on what i'm willing to pay(reasons why i don't have any designer princesses/marquee pins). I decided my expensive set would be PODM. I'm also not paying rent or anything while living with my parents so i have a little more room to splurge a bit. I still won't go over a certain price on an individual pin( usually around 40 is where i say no) So I guess you just have to see what works for you
 
Budget?! What a naughty, naughty word!

I went nuts when I started, both creating and then beefing up my own collection and gathering up traders. I'm SO glad I did because now they're rare and they net what we're looking for in trades. Over time Limited Editions become, obviously, harder to find and then get you the newest, latest and greatest pins that cost even more. With the economy being what it is and the price increases we're already seeing, I can easily see the LE pins becoming $20-25 at release, so anything you're buying now for $14-20 is cheaper in the long run. I look at it as saving on future pins. Shhh...don't argue with me, I need this logic to justify my spending.
 


ok ( whitney close your eyes) everyone else, while she cant see as to not burst her lack of budget lol. This is an addiction for many...Its like beer but the high lasts forever
so be cautious so you can have some control. I have actually refused to sell my pins to a few people in the past because i had alot invested in them but they were willing to pay but they say "i want them and ill find the rent some other way" thats where you have to step up and take the keys away. put others before your wallet.

My wallet only has 2 george washingtons right now

happy trades
Kirk
 
First off: Anything I have written below is my own opinion and not in anyway saying my way of pin trading and collecting is the only way to do it. This is what works for my household:

Gosh... This is a tuff one. I mean you really have to think about a few things when it comes to this hobby. And I do mean a hobby! My husband and I started to trade pins 2 years ago and we did Hidden mickey pins for over a year. Just hidden mickey pin trading. It was great! I bought all my traders on ebay for dirt cheap and it was a cheap and wonderful hobby. Then.... the word scrapper comes up. We realized all the HM sets we competed (2 boards full) were 95% fake pins. We were so down. So we got into LE pin trading. We still do HM pins but only the brand new ones. Once they are scrapped I call it quits and wait for the next "wave".

We started collecting LE pins in October of 2011. Not even a year and we have accumulated a ton of pins. How? Well... the first and most important thing to us is to make sure that we know pin trading is a "hobby". The biggest issue I find is people who do not recognize this is a hobby. I would never ever buy pins before making sure our rent is paid, we have food, insurance, etc. This is a hobby to us. We make sure to take care of ourselves and our future first before pins. Some people may disagree with what I am saying but this is my opinion.

My husband and I have absolutely no debt (other than one car payment which I do not put in the debt department but... some would disagree). We live off one income while I am attending school full time. Are there times where we don't go out and stay at home for most of the month? Sure. But we stay within our means.

Do I go and get a pin that I do not collect myself. Sure. Why not? If I cannot trade it then I will sell it. Some people may "disagree" with that. But this is my point of view. Not everyone can get the current pins that our out. Let's just take the example of PODM at DLR and WDW. Well... I can get those pins (most of the time). Sure, I collect them but If I am able to get some for trade and no one will trade me a pin I need or want then I will sell it. I have a limit of 1 pin trading bag and 1 binder of traders. I will not allow myself to have too many traders. That is too much money sitting in something I do not care about. So I sell some of my traders. I also have a resellers license because we sell things online. But the thing is once I sell some of my traders I then have money to purchase pins I really do want OR I can use that money for another pin release. It has helped us be able to keep up with this hobby in a healthy way.

This month was a huge pin buying month. I never ever spend as much as I did this past month on pins. But I also sold a ton of my traders so I could buy a ton of pins for my collection. This is what has helped me and my husband be able to collect and trade. I am not saying our way is the "best" way. I am just sharing what has helped us with this hobby. We have enjoyed the camp outs at DSF and have met a ton of wonderful people. I love pin trading but sometimes you may get a trader that just sits in your book for ages. (I am sure most of you have gone through the same thing at one point) I just cannot afford to have a ton of pins that won't move. 2 books is good enough for me. Plus, hard to lug them around if we get past 2 books lol.

I wish everyone the best in their pin trading and collecting. xoxo.
 
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