Pin Trading - Here to stay or going away

I have had a discussion with a friend who seems to feel that pin trading is a fading hobby. They said that new traders are now getting bored with the prices and the difficulty and giving it up and older traders are tired of the sharking and bickering and getting out of pin trading all together. I think that part of what they say is true, the new traders who jumped into the hobby full force, spent a ton of money and want the most current pins, will eventually get bored with the hobby and move on to the next "popular phase". I do not think that old timers are giving up any time soon. We have seen this before and the experienced traders will stick it out and hope the "bad times" will pass. I also don't think Disney is going to give up pins anytime soon. It's a very lucrative item for them and pin events usually sell out (OK maybe not in times past). What do you think about the pin hobby - staying or going?

there is always turnover in this hobby. the average trader lasts about 1-2 years before moving on to something new. This is typical of many collecting/trading hobbies. Pin trading will not vanish.

There are also always ups and downs in monetary trends in a collecting/trading hobby. Pin trading is not like Beany Babies. It will not vanish. It will adjust, the "bubble will pop" or things will level back out given time.

Disney MAY eventually discontinue officially supporting pin trade nights. But I seriously doubt they will remove trade tables from the parks totally. Disney will always sell pins, both OE and LE. There is too much easy money in it for the business plan. Disney will likely always have cast lanyards with hidden mickey pins, because it is just another part of the disney magic and Disney guest interaction.

I think trading is here to stay. but I am the eternal Optimist.

I've only been at this for a year, but I suspect the old-time traders will stick with it. The newer traders will tend to rotate - they'll start, go gaga over the current fads, and most of them will drop it after a while (like anyone who starts a new hobby). A few will become the old-time traders, and the new ones will continue to rotate.

I've been collecting on and off since 2006, but I really got into it for real last year. I would hope that it doesn't go away since I feel like I haven't even experienced a lot of the trading aspect of things yet!

I think it's here to stay. Obviously just look at the D23 Expo this year... pins were EVERYWHERE. Not only that, but Disney makes a buttload of money off of these pins. They have the production and costs down so tightly that they are making profit on them hand-over-fist. I would say the only area where Disney needs to be careful is to not oversaturate the market.

It's not as big as it used to be (and I think Vinylmation has seen it's peak recently as well) but I think it's here to stay. It's easy, cheap to get started, and fun. It's something EVERYONE can get into, unlike Vinylmation which has a more love/hate relationship with people I think (I HATE them by the way). Pins are common for the Olympics, baseball, and many other events, so Disney has no reason to stop.

Just look at the recent popularity of the Piece of the Movie pins, any pins from the Soda Fountain store, any pins from the WDI Glendale store, and the rare pins at the D23 Expo. Obviously demand is still strong.

E

I am coming only to my 4 yr mark this October, and I have not seen as much as many others on this board. But here is my measly 2c anyway:

The hobby would probably -and hopefully - would stay, but a lot of things changed in the last 1.5 yrs or so. I think trading has diminished, but collecting is still there. A lot of people flip many new releases to get the htf pins they want.

Many old timers are selling and leaving, that is true. But, I am not sure if they are frustrated or if they are going through life changes such as growing families and changing needs & interests. I recently "met" an old timer who is thinning her collection because she had a baby and needs $$.

I wish we had a way of judging the size of the active pin community. I am very interested in knowing a ballpark number.

Hi Margaret! I've been actively collecting since Aug 2008. I think it will continue to thrive, but I have noticed the prices coming down just a bit from what they were on Ebay & pin stores. For example, I just bought the Haunted Mansion Raven tier set from 2009's O-Pin House releases. I only paid $10.00 above the retail price, $65.00! I already had a set I bought at the release day 6/21/09, but I wanted an extra set for a gift or resell later.

ive been trading for a year now and I dont see me leaving..... ever.

I will be a pin master untill the day i die!!

The biggest difference to me between the old days and now is that for all the possible themes, as far as online, there seems to be interest in only a very few. So prices/trading are astronomical in those small areas, and pretty dead in just about anything else. So it's a complete drama frenzy on one hand, and crickets on the other. On the quiet end, no trading gets done which leads to frustration and eventually giving it up, and we all know what happens on the other end - same thing, but with a lot more damage. Any hobby, needs a broad and stable base. Feast or famine isn't going to get it done. But how do you grow all those things that used to be popular back up?

Well, every time I tell folks i am starting a new collection suddenly 5 other people are collecting it too, so we could start there. lol

Hi, I am psycho pixie and my new collection is hidden mickeys. Please dont collect those because it would drive up trade and sale prices.

**cue the hidden Mickey collector frenzy**

:lol::werd::lol::werd::lol::werd::lol::werd::lol::werd::lol::werd:

Im also reaching my 4th year this October as Selen so Ive seen things change as when ds.com stopped pins there was a sudden.shift in power of where to.get the good traders and that fell upon DSF as a constant source of good traders and brought many newer collectors into the hobby.

In terms of trading side I think many are turning to buy pins and sell traders as more and more people find it easier to just buy and are missing out on trading online etc and making those connections.

So to me its buy and collect than trade these days as people see the turnover than keeping it to trade st a later date.

My guess is that pin trading will still be here for years to come. As it has been stated before, it's a cheap (sort of) and easy thing to get into. Lots of new pin collectors who have entered the hobby have pushed up the value of certain collections, while others have pretty much flatlined or plateaued. Thank God my collections are not as popular as they once were! Having collected Disney pins since 2000 (with my father) and heavily started collecting/trading in 2005, it's funny to see the highs and lows of the hobby. I remember as a kid, everyone wanted those 100 painted Mickey pins. I remember wearing them on my lanyard and some lady stopping me, willing to buy me 2-3 pins from the shop in exchange for that one Mickey pin. Now you mention that series of pins and some traders have no idea what you are talking about. (New traders/collectors, keep clamoring for Tangled pins, and stay away from my Haunted Mansion pins!)

We now have non-Disney stores that sell pins (My-D, Phat collectibles, Frank and Sons), and that says something about the hobby. With networks like DPF and Pintalk, people from all over the world can discuss pins and trade with one another.

The only way I can see Disney pins dying off in the near future is if we find out that pins are radioactive.

Most Disney collectibles are an ongoing thing, there is always someone who collects something with the Disney name on it. Pins are a pretty wide reaching collectible. They don't take up too much space and can be relatively cheap. The only thing I find difficult about the hobby now is the lack of accessible LE pins for all collectors. If you don't live in SoCal or near a Disney park, the only way to get LE pins is trading or buying and the buying can get expensive. If there was more available to everyone (Like there used to be on Disney Store.com) I think it would remain a stronger hobby and be less frustrating. And really, if you're making LE's of 100/200 or less, how are all the completists supposed to be happy with their collections? But there is always something new to keep interest in pins. "Frozen" is likely to be huge and who knows what other movies will be popular or what new series/themes they come out with to start a new surge.

I agree that it's staying. I do wish Disney would be smarter and more reasonable with LE sizes and releases. I doubt that will change either.

I definitely think the 'honeymoon' stage is over for Disney Pin Trading..

Back in 'the day' everyone bought everything because thats what there was- LEs of 10,000 sold out within a day or two- LEs of 5000 were 'harder to get' and a LE 1000 sold out in hours-

Add Disney Auctions/Store to the queue and suddenly you had LE 500s/100s- people stayed up for hours trying to chance a shot at the new releases-

2003-2006 was the peak of it all-

Then the recession hit- and the pin community took a huge hit- LEs started to sit around for months as discretionary spending was gone and a lot of 'old traders' got out of the game-

Now there is a LOT more new traders with a lot of money ready to throw around and disney hasnt really catered to them..

Course now you have almost 70,000+ pins to potentially choose from which forces people to choose a theme because its not realistic to just 'get them all' which as Hope said as shifted the light from some really neat absolutely gorgeous pins and some pins that are just as rare or more than todays 'grail' pins..

I'd personally would much prefer to have a 'wet paint' a 'mickey for president' a 'malificent diva' than most of the current grails...

I think part has to do with all the 'new blood' that has caused such a 'short term memory' because so few remember the 'old days' of pre-scrapper, lots of new releases, dozens of opportunities to trade with PTN every month (every week for some time) and pin trading bags that werent crap...

I've been collecting/trading for 13 years and have always collected things out of the 'mainstream' which means I often hear from people looking at my trader books "ive never seen that before"- Ive learned to be patient for pins because in time I will get them for a very fair price/trade-

As a CM told me in 2000, "Disney pins will be around as long as people are amused by them."

Going on 11 years in pin trading now and still into it. I think it will slow down, but not disappear. Even Disney has slowed down on their production. It used to be page after page of monthly releases for each park, now only a couple. Of course there is always a chance it could come back full speed. Nothing else has really gone as far for us to say that is the replacement.

-em said:

Back in 'the day' everyone bought everything because thats what there was- LEs of 10,000 sold out within a day or two- LEs of 5000 were 'harder to get' and a LE 1000 sold out in hours-

Add Disney Auctions/Store to the queue and suddenly you had LE 500s/100s- people stayed up for hours trying to chance a shot at the new releases-


Then the recession hit- and the pin community took a huge hit- LEs started to sit around for months as discretionary spending was gone and a lot of 'old traders' got out of the game-

Now there is a LOT more new traders with a lot of money ready to throw around and disney hasnt really catered to them..

Course now you have almost 70,000+ pins to potentially choose from which forces people to choose a theme because its not realistic to just 'get them all' which as Hope said as shifted the light from some really neat absolutely gorgeous pins and some pins that are just as rare or more than todays 'grail' pins..

I'd personally would much prefer to have a 'wet paint' a 'mickey for president' a 'malificent diva' than most of the current grails...

I think part has to do with all the 'new blood' that has caused such a 'short term memory' because so few remember the 'old days' of pre-scrapper, lots of new releases, dozens of opportunities to trade with PTN every month (every week for some time) and pin trading bags that werent crap...

I've been collecting/trading for 13 years and have always collected things out of the 'mainstream' which means I often hear from people looking at my trader books "ive never seen that before"- Ive learned to be patient for pins because in time I will get them for a very fair price/trade-

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I agree with this. As another collector who has been in this over 13 years, we've seen a lot of changes. Most for the worst, but some of us are still in it for the long haul.

I'm not happy with the way some people want to take it, but I just won't buy into their nonsense. It's been tried before, so we'll see.

The hobby is what one makes of it. It's fun if you want it to be. I'm still having a blast and making new friends along the way.

I have only been collecting a little over a year and in that short time, I have noticed a big change in what is going on. Pins are more expensive, most of the cast members have crap on their lanyards, the crazy desire for wanting to own only the low LE pins has made trading harder because no one wants to even look at the small pins anymore. I for one can't afford to drop $400.00 to $600.00 on one pin. I think some people are losing interest because it's not fun and simple anymore. Many people are in it just for the money. They buy, hike up the price and sell. They could care less about the pins.

I doubt that pin trading will go away any time soon but I do find myself having mixed feelings. Not because I am bored with the hobby but the attitude of the pin community seems to have turned greedy, overly dramatic, rude, condescending and downright hateful at times. If this trend continues, people may think twice before even getting involved.

Who knows? Maybe pin trading has been this way since day one. I don't know. I really enjoy the trading in person aspect of this hobby but I find it harder and harder to make trades these days. My trade book isn't stuffed to the gills with tons of LE's. I like trading the smaller pins but I know some people refuse to even have any in their books. New pin traders don't even have a chance.

Thanks for letting me put in my two cents. Pin trading is fun and I hope it continues. I have made many nice friends that I enjoy sharing this hobby with. I hope it can remain a "fun" hobby for current and future pin traders.

Well, for me I have always been a Disney fanatic because of my Mother. She is a Disney fanatic and a collector a heart. We use to have original VHS Disney movies, Figurines, Jewelry boxes, snow globes, dolls, stuffed animals, mugs... all sorts of things. Sadly my parents house had been broken into twice and lots of the things we have collected over the years either was damaged or stolen. We could never afford to replace any of the items we collected over the years but, we had a bunch of pins that were never touched. My mother ended up giving them to me about 5-4 years ago and since then I have been collecting.

I have never really traded before because I never went to Disneyland and, I had no clue about trading. I would just buy pins I liked on Ebay. (Which was sometimes a bad mistake) After getting married and moving closer to Disneyland my husband and I got a Annual pass in 2012 and since then I have been hooked. Going from Hidden Mickeys to much more rarer pins. I guess you could call me a "Newbie" cause I have no clue what the "olden days" were like but, in my opinion I love it. To me it's much more than just trading. Making friends and finding other Disney fanatics has been really fun. I know this hobby can have its down falls but, I think it's what you make of it. I know myself there will be pins I will probably never own...(Come on I am a Sleeping Beauty collector) but I have so much fun getting a new pin weather it is a high end pin or just some hidden mickey to complete my sets. The magic has not left for me I think I will be trading for a long time cause I just love Disney in general. Maybe years from now I can talk about the "old days" like some of you. Lol. Overall in my opinion I LOVE IT! and I will probably be here trading for a long time.

I've been collecting for 3 and a half years and still going!! I have seen the prices shoot up and I think the sharks have cotton on to how much money can be made oot of selling the pins at sky high prices and I think that they will soon get board or a new fad that can make them a massive profit off bumping the prices right up on something else and will see the pricess of pins drop considerately I don't think that pin trading is fading out at all its just evolving here in the uk pin trading is as big as it has ever been!

Well considering as I started pin trading when it first came to DLP and then I went on and off, the collecting. Partly because it was quite expensive and I lived so far away from the Parks. However, I have noticed a lot of changes from when I first started to now.
When I first started pin trading was at a low, cast members didn't have many pins on their lanyards and what they had was good stuff. On my previous visit to DLP, I saw more cast members with a full lanyard on. However, most of these are probably scrappers. So I am not sure which is the best result.
Also, in near enough every store they sell pins, whereas in the first few years it was limited to a couple on Main Street, etc. I have not been to a pin event in a long while, but I remember from the last time I went, which must be about 6ish years ago, that people were queuing out of the doors and all around the hotel S.Lodge and at that we had to wait about 2-3 hours just in hope of getting a ticket to get a pin. However, I do remember not many people knowing about the free pin with cocktail which we managed to get. So if anyone can compare DLP Nights to that then we might be able to see how much trading has changed.
In my opinion though, if there are still sights like this dedicated to Pins, then there is still a wide community. All in all, I think that trading may be facing a blip, but doesn't everything.

I've been collecting pins since 2006, but I didn't start trading until this year. I love pin trading, but it sucks that it seems a lot of people just buy pins to sell for crazy prices I refuse to pay. I know that most of the pins on my most wanted list I'll probably never own because I don't have rare LE 100 pins to trade or hundreds of dollars to drop on a pin and I'm okay with that, I just enjoy this hobby and will continue to collect and trade.

Been collecting since 1987 and only even considered trading the past year. After doing it, I can honestly say I can take or leave it. It's fun, but my main goal is building a collection, not trading around multiple times. Still, I'll keep at it, just on a more limited basis going forward.