QUESTION Traders

I am pretty new to Disney pins, and VERY new to trading. I've been reading this forum a lot and have learned so much, but there is so much more to learn! Now I sit here, nap-trapped by my daughter, and I started to wonder.
What makes a good trader? If you go out to intentionally buy trader pins, what do you look for?
Does anyone feel like their collection is complete?
For those that have a very large collection, do you only trade for pins you need, or do you ever trade for something new? This is assuming you have everything you want, or can buy new releases without trading.
Ever trade for something you already have?
And finally, anyone have any good or funny trading stories?
Thank you for visiting my caffeinated brain and trapped body.

With the number of pins produced annually I don't believe any collection is truly complete.
Pin trading is a very personal affair. Some people trade based on pin values, others trade for specific themes or characters. Some people collect Hidden Disney pins.
Each person has their own process of trading. I don't mind getting a duplicate pin if it helps someone else get their ISO (Want).
Due to the cost of mail, I try to coordinate multiple pins I one package. If I have multiple pins someone wants, but they only have one pin I'm looking for, I'll check their trade pins to see if we can find something I can add to my trade list later.
I usually pick up extra pins of the more popular characters and hidden Disney pins (a lot of people collect hidden Disney pins).

Oh no! Not nap-trapped!! I know that life all to well.
Pretty new to trading myself and learning what I do and don't like with traders. Trading for me started when I found mystery packs. I don't love every set, but the ones I do I like to complete, so I ended up with lots of duplicates. At first I traded on the boards at the park and learned REAL FAST what a scrapper was and became discouraged from trading. That led me to Pin and Pop which led me here (I feel like there's a whole college course in this forum).

My park trips are cut in half this year due to other travel so I found myself on Disney store online a lot. So right now my traders are different from just the mystery packs I used to have. And as I've scrolled through the P&P database I've found pins I love that I must trade for, so that has influenced my recent buying. I've never really traded for a trader before, I usually trade for something I'm looking for, but I don't have a large collection.

I was gifted and then purchased some mystery bags from Collect Random, which led to some cool traders, but be warned, because I've yet to receive a 10 pack where I didn't keep at least half!

Hope you don't have a numb arm at this point! Happy Trading!

I find it's useful to look at the pin databases to see how many people want a particular pin. It's not that I look up EVERY pin, but just as I'm looking at other things, I try to pay attention to which types of pins seem to be most popular.
The Pin & Pop trade arcade that's coming up next weekend will be a great place to do that, because it shows you how many people have made offers on each pin.
I do try to avoid pins with dates on them, as there seem to be very few collectors who want those.
But most of my traders came out of collections that I've narrowed down. It's rare that I purchase a pin just to trade it.

collycon said:

Oh no! Not nap-trapped!! I know that life all to well.
Pretty new to trading myself and learning what I do and don't like with traders. Trading for me started when I found mystery packs. I don't love every set, but the ones I do I like to complete, so I ended up with lots of duplicates. At first I traded on the boards at the park and learned REAL FAST what a scrapper was and became discouraged from trading. That led me to Pin and Pop which led me here (I feel like there's a whole college course in this forum).

My park trips are cut in half this year due to other travel so I found myself on Disney store online a lot. So right now my traders are different from just the mystery packs I used to have. And as I've scrolled through the P&P database I've found pins I love that I must trade for, so that has influenced my recent buying. I've never really traded for a trader before, I usually trade for something I'm looking for, but I don't have a large collection.

I was gifted and then purchased some mystery bags from Collect Random, which led to some cool traders, but be warned, because I've yet to receive a 10 pack where I didn't keep at least half!

Hope you don't have a numb arm at this point! Happy Trading!

Click to expand...

I hadn't heard of Collect Random before, but it looks like fun! Especially since I have a small collection and I could benefit from some randomness!
My arm is great btw, I've been training for years

Nursteve said:

I am pretty new to Disney pins, and VERY new to trading. I've been reading this forum a lot and have learned so much, but there is so much more to learn! Now I sit here, nap-trapped by my daughter, and I started to wonder.
What makes a good trader? If you go out to intentionally buy trader pins, what do you look for?
Does anyone feel like their collection is complete?
For those that have a very large collection, do you only trade for pins you need, or do you ever trade for something new? This is assuming you have everything you want, or can buy new releases without trading.
Ever trade for something you already have?
And finally, anyone have any good or funny trading stories?
Thank you for visiting my caffeinated brain and trapped body.

Click to expand...

A good trader is subjective. For park traders, I recommend sales at Disney stores (if you are lucky enough to live near one) or getting deals from the Disneystore.com. For other traders… I like mystery sets, I also like pins from companies that are licensed to make Disney pins ( box lunch, pink a La mode, etc). FYI some of my “best” traders came from my collection. Pins I thought I would collect, but decided for one reason or another to use as a trader(looking at you Jumbo Up House)

If I am buying traders I look for certain characters that I know are popular (like Maleficent), and/or pins I know someone is looking for it (like the Artemis Fowl Sunglasses…I know one person that wants this pin), or I look for low limited edition (le) mystery pins that are reasonable in price.

I wouldn’t say I have a very large collection (over 3000 pins in total). Probably a quarter of my pins are traders, it I wouldn’t say they are in my collection).

I would not say my collection is complete. I have too many incomplete sets/series/collections. That and a few pins that are really expensive.

I trade for both needs and something new. Some of us have done swap boxes( one of us sends out a box of a bunch of pins, trade for what you want and put something comparable back, send to the next person). Sometimes you have a trader so long in your book you just want a different one.

I have traded for something new, sometimes you may be in pin jail, and an older pin you own maybe worth it to someone else.

I have traded for something I already have both intentionally and unintentionally. Sometimes a pin fits more than one collection. Sometimes you think a friend will want it.

The collection is ever changing and growing into a whirl wind of a blackhole mixed with the realization that I will probably never be "complete" in the way I would like.... and that's ok. Since I don't live near a park and can't go every year I've been slowly tracking down the really tough isos via PinandPop, PinPics, Facebook and Instagram trades. New isos (in search of pins) pop up all the time and are added to the plethora of pins I'd love to track down some day. Will I ever be complete on anything that I collect? Absolutely not. Are there things that I say "this is good for now", you bet. I suggest making an account on any one of the many pin databases out there to just see what's available within the pin community! That'll help you get an idea of what pins you might want to grab for trading and what to bulk up on for characters or sets you want to work on. Some characters/movies have an endless amount of pins to collect while others have a select few that may seem impossible to find. Either way, you'll have friends to help you along your pin trading journey.

To kickstart your trader hoard, I suggest you concentrate on popular characters like the Princesses, Stitch, Mickey... to help get popular releases that people are wanting in their collections so that you may trade for older pins you can't readily get at the parks or retail stores anymore.

There's so much information to keep track of but I hope what others have already contributed helps in the beginning stages of your pin trading/collecting journey! If you'd ever like to talk more feel free to drop a line! Always happy to chat about Disney with you!

Thanks for all the insight everyone! I've been looking at pin and pop, which has made me realize how much variety there really is! Also a great place to see older pins that I wouldn't otherwise be able to see often.