What do you usually say to people?

I have a couple of questions for all you fellow pin traders. Yesterday my husband and I went to the park yesterday to trade some new LEs and pins we got. We had a couple of families that came up and were all over my pins. Unfortunately they did try to offer there pins but they were SCRAPPERS and PWPs. I said politely no I'm sorry these are pins I'm not looking for but thank you. I had one lady who said it was weird and stormed off and another family who was expecting me to trade with them but I also told them no. Well I want to know what do in those situations. I mean I feel bad but in a sense there my pins and I should trade for what I want right!? Advice would be appreciated

First tell the trader before they look at your book(s) that you aren't required to trade with them.

Wave and smile politely as they storm off. You're never going to please some people when they don't get what they want.

Haha kill them with kindness

I try not to tell people that the pins they have are of lower value unless they make an issue out of me not being willing to trade.

My usual reply is "i am sorry, but I already have the pins you have in my collection at home." or "I am not looking to collect those specific pins right now, thanks for offering a trade!"

I've heard a few traders quickly go through a short script where they lay out their rules for trading. It may or may not include such things as LE for LE or Hidden Mickey for Hidden Mickey. They almost always throw in that they will only trade for something they want or something they feel they can trade again. It seems to be quite effective and people immediately get the idea that this is different from the rules for trading with a CM.

I had a kids book. Until one day a ~18-ish year old girl and a ~5-ish year old girl came up. I just put in some booster pack pins into my book. They had all scrappers. I told them the little one could trade from my kid book. The older one showed her all the new booster pack pins and said pick those. I let her do one, but then said that was all I would allow. The girls made some comment to me that was uncalled for. I told her that her pins were fake and I wasn't going to allow her to use her kid sister to get real pins from me. She said "I know they're fake, we get them on ebay and trade them to people." I told her she should be ashamed if she knew about scrappers and I wanted my original pin back, she said no and stormed off. Little brat.

markheardjr said:

I had a kids book. Until one day a ~18-ish year old girl and a ~5-ish year old girl came up. I just put in some booster pack pins into my book. They had all scrappers. I told them the little one could trade from my kid book. The older one showed her all the new booster pack pins and said pick those. I let her do one, but then said that was all I would allow. The girls made some comment to me that was uncalled for. I told her that her pins were fake and I wasn't going to allow her to use her kid sister to get real pins from me. She said "I know they're fake, we get them on ebay and trade them to people." I told her she should be ashamed if she knew about scrappers and I wanted my original pin back, she said no and stormed off. Little brat.

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Wow that's horrible. Some people just take all the fun out of disney

Wow that's horrible yeah I was mad yesterday when I told this lady no and she said so you won't trade for anything on my daughters lanyard and I said no in so sorry and she said whatever weird.

It always make for an intresting situation...i usually just tell people..

Im gonna pass this time..and thank them for letting me look..

Ohhhh and smile!!

sometimes people do not realize we can say no and are not cast members.....

I always start with the basics for folks and I have a laminated copy of our family guidelines for trading when things are busy. I take my time and share that we trade for fun. This is not a career for us. We like Disney art and we feel like Disney pins are a cool way to take home some really interesting Disney art without taking up a lot of room or spending a pile of money (OK, not sure about that second one). Then I explain what pins I have with me. If it's a bag of mostly cast pins, I explain what they are. If my binder of LEs, then I explain that. If my book of mostly rack pins, I explain that. And then I explain that we like to trade similar for pins. IE, for hidden mickeys, pretty much any other hidden mickey is fine unless I already have several of a given pin in my book. That's helpful for setting the stage and getting newbies up to speed with what they are looking at.

I have a children's lanyard that any kid can trade off of. No questions. That's only been taken advantage of a few times. Sometimes and adult will direct a kid to get something that they want. If they're nice about it I usually just ignore it. And I'll even take a scrapper from a kid. Then I break off the post and toss the pin. Sometimes the lanyard gets full of junk pretty quickly. Kinda sad.

Sometimes things can get hectic and there's not really time to explain our trading thoughts with others. So when I see a bag of scrappers come out I politely tell the person that I have most of their pins and am not really interested in a trade. Most people are pretty good about that.

On our last trip a woman I was trading with had some real hidden mickeys and we traded a few pins 1 for 1. Then she wanted to do a bigger trade so I suggested that was fine since we were just trading hidden mickeys. She then pulled out a baggie with a half dozen scrappers in it that she'd carefully kept hidden for the first couple of trades. As soon as I saw the pins I was suspicious. I asked to see them while she looked through my bag. A second glance confirmed they were junk so I politely told her I had extras of all of those already and wouldn't be interested in a trade. She accepted that gracefully and moved on. I was a disappointed that someone would try to be THAT sneaky, as if they would not get caught.

Most of my joy in park trading has been in HELPING OTHERS complete sets or find a cherished pin or character. Seeing that joy in someone's reaction to finding the right pin, is awesome!! My son has taken to doing that with the Sorcerer cards. He has completed a couple of sets but LOVES carrying a deck around when we are in the MK and trading with folks even though he's not really playing the game (though sometimes he plays the game as well). He also takes joy out of helping others complete a set or get a card they need.

As for someone who wants to be rude about pins, I have no time or patience for them. I trade because it is fun for me. If it ceases to be fun or someone wants to make it unpleasant, I'll move on.

markheardjr said:

I had a kids book. Until one day a ~18-ish year old girl and a ~5-ish year old girl came up. I just put in some booster pack pins into my book. They had all scrappers. I told them the little one could trade from my kid book. The older one showed her all the new booster pack pins and said pick those. I let her do one, but then said that was all I would allow. The girls made some comment to me that was uncalled for. I told her that her pins were fake and I wasn't going to allow her to use her kid sister to get real pins from me. She said "I know they're fake, we get them on ebay and trade them to people." I told her she should be ashamed if she knew about scrappers and I wanted my original pin back, she said no and stormed off. Little brat.

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That is plain disgusting. They are the definition of awful pin traders.

Unfortunately there are always going to be regular day guests who have just bought a few new pins (or ebay scrappers) who think we are all there for their pleasure, paid by Disney to trade blindly. Yes, they give you dirty looks when you won't trade your LE500 for their piece of crap dirty fake Hidden Mickey.

I had a big burly messy guy come up, point his dirty lanyard in my face and say, "Will you trade for anything on here?" I simply said no thanks, he stormed off and yelled to whomever was around, "Why do you have pins if you won't trade them". That element will always be around.

I've watched people, when approached with the question, "Is everything you have here for trade?" say "Yes, but only for things I like or am looking for". That's all you have to say. Just make sure to say it before they get their heart set on that rare Ariel or Rapunzel in your book.

Mostly when my boyfriend and I trade in the park and we see new traders or kids with scrapers we tell them right off the bat we're not cast members and are not obligated to say yes to every trade. We are guest just like you with passes and just enjoy coming to the park and trading for things we like or feel is fair. But we always keep one page in the back for kids and some adults and say we are willing to trade any pin for any pin like cast members on this one page so feel free to trade if you see something you like. We only put pins on that page we are willing to lose for scrapers that aren't a big deal to us. This method seems to keep most people happy. We also keep our high end pins in a seperate bag from or smaller rack pins and hidden mickeys. This seems to also help so guest that are just starting out don't get their hopes up when flipping through our bag and end up wanting some le 100 Ariel or something. Hope this helps.

If we are not interested in the trade, we politely tell the other person(s) that we either have the pins they are offering or that they do not fit into our collection.

Haha not only that but today I was Disneyland wearing my lanyard with all my LM pins and this lady was like ooh can I see your lanyard can I do a trade for these two? I'm like huh I'm walking around the park minding my own business and she just approaches me and I'm like huh? I told her that I wasn't trading and that these were simply ones I'm keeping. She said oh I thought you were trading. I'm like because I have lanyard around my neck doesn't mean I'm trading.

When I went to Disneyland last summer I met a random pin trader near Star Tours. He let me look at his book of pins and explained the hobby very well and allowed me to take full advantage of my time at the park buying pins. So...be informative.

So, would it be rude to tell someone they have scrapper pins? I know any serious collector (or honest person)would want to know if they had a scrapper or fake. When I see people post them for trade on FB I usually say something. I want to have a few pins that I would be prepared to trade with kids, no matter what they are offering, but if a parent or older sibling is supplying the kid with scrappers and coaching them on what to choose, I would not trade with them.

Many rookie traders, including myself, don't or did not know about scrappers. My first trip to dlr last year ended up a bit sour because I wad trading booster pins with staff and was mostly ending up with scrap. So like I said, try being informative.

Tell them to get the go away

this is a very helpful thread to me.. I've often seen people with pin collections in books hanging out near some of the pin stores in the park, and have been too intimidated to approach their books.. My boys and I have been fairly casual traders, and my boys enjoy trading with Cast members. But this thread is somewhat re-assuring to me.. on our next trip perhaps I'll work up to talk to such traders and ask about their pins and trading policies

thanks

I have not had a problem with this yet.Just like someone said above kill them with kindness. I've had good trades with people with lanyards. One family did have scappers though, but I just traded a small pin I didn't really mind about. What they really wanted was my LGM PTD. I kindly reminded them that's not for trade. They were still nice didn't get mad about it. For the new people like myself. Dont be intimidated by the traders at the tables. Just talk to them and as you look through their collection. I enjoy looking through other peoples collection, you see a lot of pins you didn't know about. Just enjoy yourself. Its fun.

I usually let them know that I'm not a CM, that these are my personal pins, and then go on to let them know I'm only trading for pins I want.