Are the veteran pin traders leaving the hobby?

[norlando319]

David, you are completely right... In 05 the big thing was the ab five, Tink and I forget the other... (stitch maybe) So I get some of those pins and by the next time I get out there I am stuck with all these pins as those ones aren't the "hot" ones anymore...

Ace, your mailbox is full!

I looked and I have no fab five pins you want... What are the odds?

Really great, considering if I marked every pin I want, the list would be "almost every pin I don't have!". :lol:

I would love to trade for the 2012 spinner, the tour the lore tickets I don't have yet (not all fab five, but...), the nutcrackers, the "Where..." set of five pins, the 50th anniversary... Shall I go on? ;-)

 

[HeatherFeather]

Nicole,

As usual, I agree with your well thought out and coherent post. I haven't fully decided to leave pin trading but am very close to selling off at least my traders. I haven't traded for or bought a pin in probably 8 months.

I've been in it since 2005 and have always known there were resellers. I think one of the biggest issues for me now is the availability of LE pins to those not residing in Southern California. With disneystore.com all US people kind of had an equal chance of buying the "hot" new pins when they were released at 3AM EST every week. Also, there were no physical lines for people to cut so we didn't hear the stories of bad behavior that we hear now.

Overall, I am kind of considering myself on "hiatus" for the time being but definitely need to go out to my garage and get into my bins o' pins and sell some of them. Would you all believe I saved nearly all of the cards, foam envelopes, AND celllophane baggies with SKU that my DS.com pins came in?

 

[CoryTheRaven]

I've been in it since 2005 and have always known there were resellers. I think one of the biggest issues for me now is the availability of LE pins to those not residing in Southern California. With disneystore.com all US people kind of had an equal chance of buying the "hot" new pins when they were released at 3AM EST every week.

I found that's a general thing with Disney anyways. Whether it's merchandise, events, or even fan gatherings, if you don't live in Los Angeles you're out of luck. I would never move to LA in a million years, but there are some times that I feel a little frustrated that I'm missing everything because I live on the great plains of Canada.

 

[-em]

I agree with what all the 14+ year veterans say and then some-

I just miss the love for ALL pins not just the current 'it' themes- its sad how many amazingly awesome pins are out there and very few people give them a 2nd glance cause they arnt 'frozen' 'tangled' etc.

I get the need to narrow the focus but I think so many newer traders ONLY focus on the $$$ hard to get ones instead of working on a much more reasonable theme that then can help you get the more amazing stuff because sometimes those who HAVE the grails etc want to be able to trade for something THEY need.. Take for instance the cross u frozen pin- I have one of them for trade and yet EVERYONE who posts 'i need this' has very little to nothing of value I could trade for it- Nothing on my wants list (there is a few Id easily go 1-1 for) or nothing of approx value (I value it at 60-75 a pin not 200+) that I then could turn to get something I do need...

I recently have been tasked with selling a good friends pin collection (well part of it..) and she has some amazing older pins (some *I'd* never seen) some that 5-6 years ago people would have gone crazy for.. Now days Ill be lucky to get more 5-10 bucks a pin for most of it- one of the cooler to me pieces is an LE 20 AP from an old frame set- I'll be lucky to get 10 bucks for it since its goofy and no one collects goofy...

I miss the days of dizpins where people traded to help each other out- Now days my online trading has dropped to almost zero as its all about value and $$-

-em

 

[figment919]

Hi, I have been Trading/Collecting for over 12 years. If you look at my collection I have a few "grails" acquired by being at the Event or through some very fair but complicated Trades.

I have to say that being an East Coast NJ'er it has become very hard if not impossible to obtain any of the current LE pins (Villians which is my collection specialty). My on-line Trading has almost stopped completely, and what other folks want for some of the LE (DSF and so on) is just crazy.

People forget that this is a HOBBY and that these are pieces of metal made in China for pennies and not diamonds or rare jewels IMHO. I also notice a complete void in Trading for older pins (PinPic #'s LESS that 10,000). I need many of them but the current market is just for what is new and shiny.

I have made many friends over the years and will continue in the hobby and look forward to On-line Trading again once PinPics gets straightened out and/or DPP.com get a Trades/Wants matching facility in place.

Mike S.
Figment919

 

[GoofyinMadison]

My husband (Dizfan/IMDizfan) started collecting/trading in 2000; he got me hooked in 2003 when we met. Initially he was the one online & in the chat rooms...now I try to keep involved, but I haven't been having as much fun as of late. We've started going to a couple of events, but since we live in WI, we're very limited on those we can get to. We had a great time at WDW last Sept & found more great pins on the boards than we had at our previous (1st) event. The thing that really irks me are all of the people who are either scamming or fighting. Honestly I felt like I was back in high school....mind you, these were people my age or older. It used to be so much fun chatting online & traders really loved to trade & loved the hobby. Many times I leave DPF feeling sad....a lot of drama & finding people to trade with has been difficult. Anyway, times change & we'll be selling a lot of the pins we hung on to for trading. We'll still go to some of the events--we found a few of our grails on the trading boards last year--but we'll spend more time enjoying DVC & the parks instead of lugging all of our pins around. I'm sad about this, but we still enjoy the pins we have!

 

[GoofyinMadison]

I agree with what all the 14+ year veterans say and then some-

I just miss the love for ALL pins not just the current 'it' themes- its sad how many amazingly awesome pins are out there and very few people give them a 2nd glance cause they arnt 'frozen' 'tangled' etc.

I get the need to narrow the focus but I think so many newer traders ONLY focus on the $$$ hard to get ones instead of working on a much more reasonable theme that then can help you get the more amazing stuff because sometimes those who HAVE the grails etc want to be able to trade for something THEY need.. Take for instance the cross u frozen pin- I have one of them for trade and yet EVERYONE who posts 'i need this' has very little to nothing of value I could trade for it- Nothing on my wants list (there is a few Id easily go 1-1 for) or nothing of approx value (I value it at 60-75 a pin not 200+) that I then could turn to get something I do need...

I recently have been tasked with selling a good friends pin collection (well part of it..) and she has some amazing older pins (some *I'd* never seen) some that 5-6 years ago people would have gone crazy for.. Now days Ill be lucky to get more 5-10 bucks a pin for most of it- one of the cooler to me pieces is an LE 20 AP from an old frame set- I'll be lucky to get 10 bucks for it since its goofy and no one collects goofy...

I miss the days of dizpins where people traded to help each other out- Now days my online trading has dropped to almost zero as its all about value and $$-

-em

My sentiments exactly!

 

[Nathan95]

Take for example the most recent DSS pin Rapunzel/Pascal January calendar. It sells on eBay for $45. Which is probably about right IMO. Yet I see people on Facebook with these unreal expectations of like DA Ariels, HTF Marquees, Frozen surprise pin, etc as what they are willing to trade it for. And yet I may have a HTF pin from 2 or 3 years ago that is worth $40-$50 but that person won't trade me. They would rather sell it and two more for $45 each and add up to some $150 pin they've been eyeing. But that $150 pin is only $150 because people like them keep paying that much. It's like pinflation is happening because of people who would rather deal with eBay than another person.

+1000000000

I've been turned off more by the "new" style of trading more than anything. It seems that if the pin is Rapunzel, Frozen or any other popular outlet no matter what the origin or Le size its made of King Midus's gold. I too have been searching for the Rapunzel calendar and have encountering this issue of peoples unreal expectations. It also seems that you dont have princess pins or any other high end pins people dont want to trade with you. I dont know if its because i have just about everything i need for my major collections but it seems like trading as a whole is dead!!

 

[RetroDiz]

I've been collecting for around 6 or 7 years; the trading part tends to fluctuate. I finally came to the conclusion that I can't afford to buy extras of pins to trade, or pins that are for trading purposes only, so naturally this limits my trading ability. I'm happy to buy pins from the park when I can, or buy reasonably priced ones elsewhere, but the decrease in number of releases along with the skyrocketing resale prices means I don't buy very many these days. (I am a stickler and absolutely refuse to give in to inflated eBay prices!) The fewer the releases, the more I tend to lose track of what's going on in the pin community, and then I'm always sad to see how much has changed when I come back. It's sort of a vicious circle, I'm afraid.

 

[cameraguy1559]

I started collecting/trading back in 2004, I dont see me going anywhere. I collect and trade because its fun , I love the pins and the chase to collect sets and complete them and show them off in the shadow boxes, It was never about the money i could make selling them, and at this point the pins i have had for some time I am willing to let go to someone else to enjoy for awhile, in the beggining i would hang on to them with all my might , no longer it does me well to share the pin experience with others

 

[cameraguy1559]

I would be willing to trade

 

[Shadow Man]

Wow! I just read through this entire thread and its just sad! My family and I have been trading for about three years now and while there have been some trades gone awry and some unreasonable people, I have met a lot of great people here on DPF and in the parks. Now while we haven't been actively trading for a bit, simply because we don't have a whole lot that anyone wants, we aren't packing our bags! We do it because our kids love trading with people and love spending that time in parks actually interacting with others and finding out a little about someone else and where they are from etc while waiting in line for a ride. Pins have been an excellent ice breaker and we have met very interesting people from all over the world from every walk of life. For us that's what it's always been about stepping outside your comfort zone and touching someone else's life while they touch yours. We are always down for a trade everything we have is up for trade for the right pin, check out what we have and if there is something you might want.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RIDisneyPinGuy]

Don't ever forget, these are just little pieces of metal (yes they are cool) but it is supposed to be the friendships you make here that matter more. At least in my not so humble opinion.

Love this point.

 

[YoSoyAhPuch]

I've been turned off more by the "new" style of trading more than anything. It seems that if the pin is Rapunzel, Frozen or any other popular outlet no matter what the origin or Le size its made of King Midus's gold. .... It also seems that you dont have princess pins or any other high end pins people dont want to trade with you.

Yeeeeeeep! When I first started pin collecting (2000) and trading (2005), I really enjoyed walking around, searching for that new pin for my collection. I was offered money for some of my traders as a kid and I was kind of offended. Nowadays, that is common place. When pin trading first started, at least from my point of view, everyone had a different pin focus. People collected obscure characters or themes and everyone's collection reflected who they were personally. There have always been popular characters, but I feel like there was more of an individual mentality when it came to each person's collection. Within the past 2-3 years, and especially recently, there is this mob mentality that has emerged. A movie comes out and all of a sudden everyone is a completist. It dies down or they realize they can't find them all, and they end up on eBay. Then on to the next big thing. OH! Wreck It Ralph was amazing and now I'm a completist.. I'm selling all my Wreck it Ralph pins so I can be a Tangled Completist.. I'm selling my Tangled pins so I can be a Frozen completist. And its not just movie based pins either. Remember the PTD frenzy? That calmed down. The same with BTs. While they remain popular, there have been many people who "collect" them because they are the popular pin at the time. Then they sell them.

I do the best I can to find the pins that will fit in my collection the best and I will continue to do that. While everyone else is looking for the GSF Frozen pins, I'll be after some OE pins that I don't have and will appreciate them because they are part of a collection that I will not get rid of once the new "hot" pins come out. I don't mean to sound bitter, but there are a lot of people who whine and cry about trying to be completists, and then give up, sell them, and then whine and cry about becoming another completist.

There is a lack of patience in the hobby. That is the biggest change.

There's been some big changes to the hobby, and it will be interesting to see how it will evolve again.

I wonder who will de-throne Frozen?

 

[grapesoda]

It seems a lot of people are confusing Pin Traders with Pin Collectors. I would definitely consider myself of more of a Disney Collectables type of person, therefore, I do consider the price inflation a good thing. Just my opinion.

 

[markheardjr]

I wonder who will de-throne Frozen?

The next princess movie, or Good Dinosaur

 

[CoryTheRaven]

I do the best I can to find the pins that will fit in my collection the best and I will continue to do that. While everyone else is looking for the GSF Frozen pins, I'll be after some OE pins that I don't have and will appreciate them because they are part of a collection that I will not get rid of once the new "hot" pins come out.

TESTIFY!

One of my favourite pins is an OE pin for the Mysteries of the Nautilus attraction in DLP... It's not LE, it's not rare, it's not the next big attraction from the next big movie, but it is the only Mysteries of the Nautilus pin that exists, and I personally got it from DLP, and it's great looking, and it fits my obscure collection. I would happily trade off some high-demand, LE pin of the next big thing for a pin I actually want.

 

[markheardjr]

I'm thinking of redoing my signature. Marquee's aren't happening. Maybe I'll throw up some of the other collections to see if I can flush out some pins I have a chance at. The older ones are hard to find in person, not many people have older stuff or shlup it around because most are just looking for new "IT" pins. The older mid-range stuff has been harder to come by.

 

[Booger1964]

I've been collecting since 2003. At this point in time I have no intention of leaving. I haven't made many trades lately. Most of the offers I get through Pinpics are very lopsided and my "wants" list is getting smaller. I do most of my trading at the weekend meets in New Jersey as I don't make it to the parks much. Alot of good people at those meets and it is easier to make trades for other traders (if I have pins to help others) as no postage costs are involved.

 

[tinkerbelle1956]

They hobby has changed, from trading/collecting to buying/selling. While we haven't been around as long as others (about 6 years), we've also seen this hobby go downhill. From DS.com stopping their pin releases, DLR tables being taken away, to the hundreds of newbies that all want everything for nothing. What ruined it for us are the new breed of people that rely solely on aftermarket prices. There was once a time where you could go to DSF at any time of the day and purchase pins days, sometimes weeks after their release date. Trade negotiations were based off of wants/trade ratios, LE size, and how badly a person wanted the pin. Now you can't even bring up a trade conversation without having ebay prices determining everything. One of the last times we went to DSF for a release every person around us was talking about what the pin was currently selling for and what they were going to list their pin for. Not to mention it's almost a health hazard to try to get current pins with the week long camp outs, and physical fights that seem to happen at every release. There are far more resellers now then traders/collectors. You also have to be in the "right click" in order to find someone to help you out for a reasonable return rate. It's rare to find someone willing to help you out for as close to cost as they can get anymore. You never had to camp out for pin releases, the closest to "camping out" was waiting until midnight on Sunday nights to see what new pins were released on DS.com. Overall the hobby has just become more stressful like a job then fun as a hobby should be.

While we haven't quit the hobby, we've taken a huge step back. We rarely send out trade requests anymore because the newbies all expect gold, diamonds, and rubies for their pin that was released yesterday, and then tell us that we're "sharks" and "not fair" because we don't accept their offer. We've weeded out our collection and kept only those that we really like, but aren't ready to start parting with our collection yet. We'll continue going after our shrunken down wants list, but we're no longer putting the effort into it like we used to do. It just isn't worth it anymore.

+ I,000 .... I agree with everything you said. Well put!

 

[jennisney]

I have only been collecting properly for about a year, but I collect princesses in general, and yes I love frozen a lot, it's my favourite movie, but I've kind of given up on collecting it for all of reasons listed by others! I won't sell my frozen pins I have and I still will try and collect the new ones as they're released but I am not wasting my time pining after them anymore when I can add lots of new pins to my other princess collections easily ! That's not to say I don't still want them as I'd love to have the GSF frozen pins in my collection :lol:! It makes me sad how many people buy pins purely because of hype, I mean each to their own and everything, but all my collections are because they're special to me! I collect bolt pins because I love the movie and bolt reminds me of my dog and princesses because the princess movies have always been my favourites all my life so they're special to me ! But again princesses are popular so it's hard cause there's some really pretty ones which are impossible to obtain :lol: !! But there's so many pretty OEs I have lots of choice of pins to add to the collection hehe ^-^

 

[JKrolak]

I'll add another "old hand" to the discussion.

I've been pin collecting / trading since the Disneyland 35th anniversary, when I had the great fortune to get a Roger Rabbit pin form the Disney mystery machine.

I'm not going anywhere but I have greatly scaled back my pin trading activities. Postage had taken a toll. But so to has the lack of opportunity to get pins when you do not live near Orlando and Anaheim. I would add in those more interested in "resale" than trading, but that's already been thoroughly discussed. One other factor is that personal issues can also temporarily take a person away from trading.

But while I've been staying in the background. I'm plan on sticking around.