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Trade or Pay.......??

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Trade or Pay.......??

DiPLAKev

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Hi all,

I've recently been looking around a certain secondary market site and I've seen one of the most infamous 'Holy Grail' pins in the history of Disney pin trading for sale....in fact there are 2 of them up for sale here in the UK at the same time.. for what I think are vastly inflated sums of money.

Now, I know this pin collecting hobby can really get under your skin at times, especially when there's that certain pin you just must have...but how far would you go to acquire it??

Would you pay the price??

Or would you stick it out and try to trade for it still??

I guess the question I'm asking is would you Trade or Pay??

And is it fair for people to ask for these sums of money in the first place??

All opinions welcomed

Kevin.
 
I was talking to a couple of people about this at the Oldham Pin Meet and for me it isn't so fun just buying something online - I really enjoy the interaction of pin trading and the sense of community that you get at events . However most of the pins I want are quite easy to trade for so I suppose that alters my views a little compared to those who need pins that 100 other people are also looking for.

I have only ever paid over the retail price for a couple of pins and they were originally $15.95 and think I paid around £12 I think but I would say that is my limit. Although that could also be to do with the fact we have a Disney Wedding to pay for

If people will pay it then others will keep selling at that price - it's supply and demand.
 
What a great question. I guess you have to consider the value of your grail. What's the intrinsic value of these little pieces of metal? I had the opportunity to buy my ultimate grail a couple of years ago for$75. At the time I was a grad student and that was a huge amount of money for me, so I passed. The value of the pin now has quadrupled. I don't think Id pay that now even though I could technically afford it.I agree that its the social aspect that makes the hunt for that grail so much fun. Otherwise we turn into golem- holed up alone and keeping our 'precious' pins to ourselves.
 
I guess it would depend on how much you wanted the pin, how your financial situation is and what do you think your chances are of actually trading for the pin. I've had to resort to buying simply because that's the only way I feel I'm ever going to get the pin. If I could just trade for my grails I would, but sometimes it actually winds up cheaper to just buy it. That's my nickle's worth.
 
I guess it would depend on how much you wanted the pin, how your financial situation is and what do you think your chances are of actually trading for the pin.  I've had to resort to buying simply because that's the only way I feel I'm ever going to get the pin.  If I could just trade for my grails I would, but sometimes it actually winds up cheaper to just buy it.  That's my nickle's worth (as I sit in a cave holding my precious).
 
If I can trade for a pin, I'll definitely try to do that first. I'd rather trade than buy, but this is one thing that comes to mind a lot for me. Sometimes I'll find out what pins people are willing to trade for so I'll go take a look and see how much or how hard it is to acquire that trader pin. Sometimes the Buy It Now eBay price will be the same that you would pay for the trader pin.

If you can, just wait it out. I've seen my Holy Grails for ridiculous amounts of money on eBay. But with some patience I've been able to buy them at their original cost or slightly above it.
 
if you can afford it and you have not had any success with trying to trade for it with numerous attempts then I would go ahead and buy it if it was my #1 grail. If there are always on the secondary market i.e Ebay for whatever price you are refering to then I guess thats the market value of said pin and might not go down in price for some time and you might not be able to trade for it either so the question is how badly do you want the pin?
 
Depends what price we're talking about. I've had to let 2 grails go as I couldn't justify paying $300 - $400 for 1 pin, however rare and low the LE number is! It depends on the pin too.

I think the most I'd pay for 1 pin is $150, but I wouldn't pay that for my current number 1 HG. Buying is much easier, but trading is more gratifying.
 
I tend to wait and see if it goes down in price and keep in mind how much others have sold it for. My traders are not usually what people are after. So I tend to have to buy them. But I wouldnt pay in the £100's for a pin
 
I love trading! So saying that I also know that no one is going to trade
E MY holy grail since people are looking to sell it so high. :-(

I would love to buy it but I'm not even sure if anyone has one their selling. :-(

Vicki
 
I have both traded and paid for my grails. It all depends on the trader you are dealing with. I've had traders not wanting to make a 3-1 trade even when I was giving them the edge. However, I've made some great trades with Tammy for a couple of grails and she was super generous to me (to the point that I sent her another LE pin because it felt unbalanced). For the most part, I've been buying my grails on ebay or on here though. It takes so much time trying to find trader pins that will satisfy the other party and result in a fair trade. I much rather skip the bartering and have the pin without hassle.
 
Most of my grails are the types where so few people have them that they want a lot for them in trade, but when they come up on Ebay they don't get a lot of bids, so I buy them. It's older park stuff, but not so old that they go for big bucks. I would prefer to trade, but I don't have matches. I don't have a problem just buying something if the price is right.
 
I would always prefer to trade for a pin rather than buy it. I'm just not a fan of spending money in general. Although you wouldn't know it recently as I've bought a few pins over the last fews weeks. I've been able to get them for prices that I think are worth it though.

My top Grail (Jessica dressed as Alice) is never going to be sold at a price that I would see as being reasonable, so chances are the only way I'm going to get that pin is to trade for it.
 
For us its a close tie. We much prefer to trade with people and have a lot more fun when we do, but it is ever increasing more difficult to trade with some people outside of the UK for example try trading for a Paris PTN pin and you hardly get an answer back let alone a positive response. Then there are the low end edition pins these are likewise impossible to trade.

So whilst I agree trading is best, at least with the opportunity to buy you are in more control over the price if its too much just leave it alone and as Danny found recently with the Stitch pin ever so often your grail pin comes along at a price that is in your range.....Now if only we could find one
 
I would prefer to trade as well, but most of the offers I get are pretty lopsided. Many of the pins I am looking for are older disneyauctions or disneystore.com pins and traders don't seem to want to let them go for less than an arm and a leg. I've gotten a several of those from eBay on original card for about $15 including shipping when most people are wanting $40-$50 worth of pins in trade for them.

On the other hand, I do have some pretty common easy pins on my wants list but with postage I am to the point where I don't want to make mail trades for these unless I can do a multi-trade. It doesn't seem worth it otherwise, IMHO.
 
Over the years I have made many good trades and made pin friends around the world. I cut back when postal trades were not arriving and traders in Paris were openly trading counterfeit pins. Since the return of pins to the UK many new collectors and traders have emerged and I have enjoyed trading and selling to them. In most cases I will sell at cost because there are few pins I want to trade for. I own many holy grail pins and often the only way to get what I want for them is by auctioning these at the market rate and obtaining my wants the same way.

I will be returning to WDW in September for the first time in around 7 years. I have a lot of catching up to do but I don't expect my trip to be all about pins but meeting new friends. There is a weight limit to what I can carry there and back.

 
Honestly, for me, sometimes it costs more to buy traders than just to buy the pin. It depends on the pin obviously. I LOVE to trade but as I live in the UK and don't really have regular access to parks or meets I just usually buy the pins I want off of mr bay or here. There are exceptions obviously there are pins out there I can't find on the bay that I need to trade for and Mae helped me out to get me a pin that wasn't showing up on the bay. At the moment for me, I am just trying to trade away all of my trading pins and buying pins I want instead of pins to trade for pins I want. I'd prefere to invest in a pin that someone wants and trade that pin for one I want instead of investing in traders that no one wants.

I do love to trade its just hard not having pins that people want to trade for pins I want.
 
Its good to see such a varied response to Kevin's question.

Laura it looks like you are after some of the same pins as me, I just love Lady and the Tramp
 
scrapcomber said:
Its good to see such a varied response to Kevin's question.

Laura it looks like you are after some of the same pins as me, I just love Lady and the Tramp
Click to expand...
I love Lady and the Tramp too, especially Si and Am.

I've pretty much decided I wont be buying any new traders, it just seems I get such lopsided offers for them or lately its been getting an offer, me accepting, & then never getting a reply back plus with the money I have tied up in traders I could've easily bought a few grails. Its the few great trades I have made that keep me trading & hopeful that I'll be able to trade for some I really want instead of buying them.
 
SyriusLionwing said:
hehe yeah I love lady and the tramp! It's definitely my biggest collection, though Aristocats comes in a close second. my other collections are relatively small so lady and the tramp makes up for it XD!!
Click to expand...

Lady & the Tramp is my main focus, then Bambi, & the PODM ones. I've only been collecting seriously for a little over a year, so have been kind of all over with pins, if I like it & want it, I'll add it, but think Im going to trade some of those & concentrate on my main collections now.
 
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