Trading in Paris

I've actually noticed very few hidden mickey's on their lanyards, I don't think it's a huge thing in Paris as they don't sell hidden Mickey pins there anyways.

The traders, some are "in the spirit of trading" some sit there and gloat (sorry ... but to regular folks who just want to have fun with it, that's really what some are doing in the once-in-a-while traders eyes), and they are very hard to trade with.

Oh, another question:
Is it hard to trade in Paris if you don't speak French? :hs:

Can be ... I find in general it's very hard to find someone who speaks English quite well over there.
I speak enough French to get what they are saying and to reply back, but if you point a lot and such, it should work out, hehe.

Seconding everything what moorhunhe says, basically.

The CMs are easy to trade with, I've heard they're much nicer than the US ones (I don't know if it's true because I've never been to US). In my experience, not many fakes/scrappers or even none. It's rare. Mostly because pin trading isn't as present as in the US. And I'm totally seconding the gloating, I feel like it's a Paris trader's mentality (just a general feeling though, not attacking anyone, sometimes you do meet nice ones).

Also, you should be careful of a certain French pin trader but I don't think I can name anyone here. He's known to have bad sales/trades experiences. I haven't been to the park in a year but according to some friends he still hangs out in the park. If you wanna know who, you can pm me.

If I'm going to Paris, I don't bring a lot of pins tbh. I just bring some pins on a lanyard I can trade with CMs and I usually bring a small pin bag with some of my traders. But I keep that bag at the hotel and I just ask traders to meet me later on the day or something like that. I hate dragging pins around lol.

Concerning scrappers, when I went in November last year I saw A LOT, of the 5 pins I traded for 3 are definitely fakes However the CMs are lovely and great to trade with, and most spoke great English after my attempts to speak French failed....:lol:

The CM's indeed are quite good at English, most of them.

But the regular "die-hard" traders, who are there daily/weekly, I've noticed their English not being so great. So we usually just point at stuff, lol.

I was there in June. I didn't take my pin book into the park, wished I had. I saw a Sleeping Beauty marquee and the guy wanted WDI pins, which I have tons of, but I forgot them. He wasn't there the next day.

Lanyard trading was hit or miss. LOTS of scrappers everywhere. You can find the Cast Refresh series which is like our hidden mickey's, but their pins are larger and MUCH better quality. They are practically small rack pins of a single character. They also have trading boards in two of the stores at a certain time, and they sometimes do LE for LE so bring some cheaper LE pins. On these boards, they typically have a rack pin section too which also has Paris refresh pins, and seperately there is a hidden mickey section, very small. They may inspect your pins and if they don't think they are real they may say no.

At the PTN's, show up early. It seems everyone goes early and once the PTN pins are sold they kind of pack up and leave. I was dissappointed, next time I will go earlier. Trading was pretty easy. There are some really friendly and some turned up noses. Many don't speak English but pointing to pins or lining up pin for pin or pin for pinS is pretty universal.

ALWAYS run through the hotels too. Their stores often have LE pins for sale that the park sold out of. I found a Merida Mother's Day pin at the Yacht Club on 6/27/13 after it was sold out in the park a few days after it came out in May. It was in a case and I had to wait for a manager with a key, but it was worth the wait.

This thread is very informative! I was just about to make one as well!

Thank you very much for all of the responses! They have been very helpful!

The best to trade is a sunny day . The week end, the pueblo trading post is open and traders are in tables for the trades.

Do traders in Paris tend to like a certain type of pin(s) (like WDI)?

As it's more difficult to access to WDI and Soda Fountain pins from France, I would definitely say that these are interesting traders in Paris. I'm a rookie and agree with the general opinion by moorhunhe (it's very hard to trade when you're a beginner like me, I always fear I'll get an unfair trade with hardcore pin-traders during PTNs) but there are some very nice people too and the cast members are super nice and helpful.
As for the lanyards, there are about as many hidden mickeys and fakes as everywhere, mostly because these are sold on Ebay and cheap, but if you stick to the cast lanyard series or to the board, it should be ok. The board is in the Frontierland shop during the weekends (Pueblo Trading Post) and on weekdays, it is exposed at Harrington's (on Main Street) round 6pm.

At PTN, everyone seemed to like Jessica & Stitch & Up. But after that it was really random with some asking for Snow White, Jack & Sally, Monster's Inc & other Pixar. The red PTN pins were easier to trade for that I was expecting. Many of the traders only come out for PTN's and they have primarily those DLRP PTN pins to trade. Some were easy to trade with, some impossible. One smug guy had a trash bag filled with rack pins he just bought with his DLRP AP discount and then wanted to trade me for my pins, at the original cost. So he wanted, say a DSF Jumbo Jessica "Doing the Tango" surprise pin for like 2 or 3 rack pins. He was flabbergasted when I declined. "But your pin was only $18.95 US, that is like 15 euro he says. Then he offers me like 3 5euro pins. Um, no. He was all pissy and stormed off with his trash bag of pins. haha.

One thing I did notice is that the WDW event pins are plentiful in DLRP. There are a few traders that go to the Florida events and snap up TONS of WDW pins. Those traders also get DSF and WDI pins at the Florida events so DLRP gets a lot of pins that way too. But I was surprised at the pins some asked for and the pins nobody asked for that I thought they would eat up. It all depends. I was a pretty nice trader while I was there and tried to make it work. I was also trading to get pins off Sherry4pins wants list because she was picking up PTD's for me while I was gone. So I was happy to trade a pin knowing it would get a pin she wanted.

You can kind of tell who is there for social and who is there for profit too. It wasn't too hard to tell the friendlys from the frowns.

Also, at DLRP PTN's they sell a special drink and when you buy the drink you get the new Cast Refresh pin new in plastic. At my PTN they had Russel & Pascal PTN pins and the Tiana as frog refresh pin. The pins you got 1 for each 5euro drink you bought.

Honestly I'd only bring enough hidden mickey's for lanyard trading at the park. No one wants U.S. hidden mickey's there. They think they are too small and the Paris parks are loaded with fakes/scrappers. Hidden Mickey's at the PTN's weren't even worth their cast pins to them. They want U.S. rack pins for their cast refresh pins.

markheardjr said:

ALWAYS run through the hotels too. Their stores often have LE pins for sale that the park sold out of. I found a Merida Mother's Day pin at the Yacht Club on 6/27/13 after it was sold out in the park a few days after it came out in May. It was in a case and I had to wait for a manager with a key, but it was worth the wait.

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This counts for every single store ( ! ) There is a glass frame behind most cash registers in every store (and like you said, in every hotel), where they can still sell LE's that have been released previously (which are only now on Saturday's at Pueblo's).

Thank you very much! I am going to DLRP in 2 weeks on Friday and Saturday. So, I won't be going to a PTN, but I was still hoping for some trading. I think I will bring a small bag of traders and a few lanyard traders.

Also, (I'm just trying to clarify) every store sells the DLRP rack/OE pins, but Pueblo's only sells the LE pins on Saturdays?

Saturday is usually a day for the NeW Le released pin's. If you are lucky, you ll' be there a saturday where it's a New LE release. In that case, the new LE will only be avaible at pueblo trading post . If the LE pin's aren't sold out, you can find them during the week at some store. here are some pics of the pueblo

oh and here is the store when you can find LE pin's during the week inside the park

I love how much Disneyland Paris accepts pin trading and encourages it. I wish the Pueblo had been open when I was there. Shame on Disneyland and WDW for taking away our areas for trading because of a few rotten apples. The hobby obviously is alive and well because we just find new places to go. They want the money but not to support it!? They just started the new GWP lanyard set which is probably how 50% or more get into the hobby to begin with.
If you want the sales then keep supporting. So BTR is open and you don't want us at Rancho Del Zocalo, just make us a new spot! But Aladdin's Oasis is out of site and won't catch the tourists. I still think Taste Pilots Grill would be a better spot. Two pin stores nearby, Starbucks, 2 entrances, bathrooms, alcohol, food, etc. You can lead them to water...

LumpyLover said:

Thank you very much! I am going to DLRP in 2 weeks on Friday and Saturday. So, I won't be going to a PTN, but I was still hoping for some trading. I think I will bring a small bag of traders and a few lanyard traders.

Also, (I'm just trying to clarify) every store sells the DLRP rack/OE pins, but Pueblo's only sells the LE pins on Saturdays?

Click to expand...

No, Pueblo's will only sell the new LE's on Saturdays when on that Saturday will be one released.
But it takes a lot of effort, get a wristband and such.

Oh, okay, I think I understand now.

Thank you all again!