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GUIDE Traders VS Keepers in your book

It seems a lot of people feel the same way I do about this subject. Many people who trade at the park will have their "Trading Book" out for everyone to view and then when you say you would like to trade for a certain pin, they say "Oh! I am not trading that pin" or "That's one of my keepers"

First lets talk "Keepers" I have a lanyard I wear when I trade that has what I refer to as my keepers, however, as I explained to my children, keeper is a relative term. Sure they are all really nice and hard to get pins but if someone had a pin I really wanted, I would certainly trade it, especially if it was like some people say, their HOLY GRAIL.

As for my trading books, That's what they are, trading books. Everything in them is for trade. Sure, I want it to be a fair trade and may not accept a certain offer but they are all for trade. Do some people just need to show off their NON tradeable pins? Personally, my TRUE KEEPERS are at home on my boards.

I guess some people need to show off their cool pins but when you specifically ask them "Are these your traders" and they say yes, and then you go through their entire book and pick a pin but it just happens to be a pin they don't want to trade. But they did say they were all traders.

I may be venting here and everyone is entitled to trade pins the way they want. Certainly there are certain pins I am hoping to trade for but when people want to trade with me, I always try to trade with them. If they don't have a pin I need, I try to get a pin that has a good trading value or at least trade up.

I mean, if these are the pins you are trading, what real difference does it make if you don't get a particular pin you need but get a pin that has a far better trading value than the one you traded.

An example is, when I trade for my kids to get a certain pin, I will trade crazy, meaning I will give way more value for the pin I am trading because I want to make my kids happy and surprise them with a pin they want. There was someone at the park who had their trade book out and the pin had approx. a $40.00 value as far as trade goes.
I offered over $100.00 in pins and they still would not accept. OK, maybe they are the ones really losing out but even if it was a rack pin but my kids want it, I will trade whatever I need to in order to get it. I do know the value of pins but if you have kids, maybe you can relate to what I mean by overtrading for them.

I just wish that people were more flexible. I have seen far too many people at the park where when someone looks at their pins, the first thing they say is you don't have anything I need, but you can buy me this pin inside. And usually it is not a fair trade for the person trading and it ruins it for other fair traders. Have any of you had this experience. What do you think?

For those of you who know me, I am the easiest person to trade with. Remember, Its called PIN TRADING and too many people get hung up on certain pins. I enjoy helping people complete set and when someone really wants a pin, I try to make it happen for them. I am honest with people and even if they dont have a pin I feel is a fair trade but know they really want the pin, I will tell them that maybe if they gave me 2 particular pins for the one they want, and I will even tell them I am making out more on the deal but if you really want it, I'll trade and then it is up to them.

I mean seriously, even if I did not have a PIN YOU NEEDED but was willing to trade 2 DSF pins for a BLUE DLR LE ($9.95), so that 2 LE300 DSF pins for 1 DLR LE1000 pin, would you trade? (And they are desirable pins like Jack, Stitch, Alice, etc...) Maybe I am crazy and just don't know it but if I was willing to give you a one hundred dollar bill for a fifty, would you not take it?

Leave your NON tradeable pins at home and if you have a trade book, trade them. Its one thing not to accept an offer but to not even be willing to trade it and say its not for trade, why is it in your book!?

Thoughts......................

PS and if you do know me, you know I am never at a loss for words....lol
If you dont, NOW YOU KNOW!
 
My keepers never leave the house. Simple as that.

The majority of the pins on my Trades list are on my Owns list as well, but that's because I like them all enough to have them on display. When it comes to taking them to pin meets, they are all for trade, but I might be reluctant to part with the ones that I like a lot.

For example, I have Pin 49034: DLRP - Jessica Rabbit - Mystery Release on my Trades list and my Owns list. I totally LOVE this pin, but because I'm not a Jessica collector, it's on my Trades list. I'd be willing to trade this pin, but only for something on my Wants list that I like MORE than this one. Just because someone is offering something that I want for a pin that I don't even collect, doesn't mean that I'll easily part with it. I'm a huge Disney fan, so it's only natural that I'd like pretty much all the pins that I own, even the ones that I don't collect.

I think you hit on the crux of the matter. Some people will only trade out for something they like as much or better. The OP was talking about values but a lot of people don't see pins that way. It's not a financial decision. It's a gut decision.
 
My 2 cents here... my traders are in 1 book keepers I leave home, just that simple.

Exactly what I do. A friend of mine has started to keep her keepers at home (she used to like to display them on her lanyard while walking around DLR) until a VERY pushy trader tried to corner and badger her into trading one of her pins.
 
My traders and keepers are mixed throughout my binder and separated on my lanydard. I don't have enough to have them separate and I like to arrange by type, so to have two separate arranged sectino in one binder is just silly. I just say up front take a look and I'll let you know if I'm trading it.

If you don't want to look then you don't have to, I get it, but some enjoy seeing them mixed in. Me for one, since I get to see more pins I've never seen before.
 
My GF and I leave our "keepers" at home when we go to DLR. Now, when we go to trading events, we bring almost everything because like many others have stated, once you run into that pin that you must have, nothing is a keeper. Now while at the parks, we further break it down to two books, LE pins, and open edition/HM pins. This helps with trade fairness. If we are looking at an LE pin to trade, we show our LE book first. As far as value, I look at Edition size primarily.
 
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I used to take my keepers with me, but now I have so many that I keep them on my board at home.

I don't have many semi-keepers (ones I will consider trading) or traders, hence my poor traders list, but I do like to make trades that will make people happy at DLR.....

I encountered a guppy once, hasn't everyone? This guppy gave me a scrapper for my LE 1000 Stitch Flag .......his mum didn't want to trade her Pocahontas Fall LE or her Pocahontas "Where do I go from here?" pins before or after >_>
 
I have to agree with Dan! I don't know how many people tell me to look in their "trader" book because their interested in one of my pins, and then I point to one and they say their not trading that one.

One day I went through their book and asked about at least 7 different pins that were not for trade. The ones they were trading, were ones that no one wanted in the first place but the person knew this and was hoping someone would trade for something less.

I don't mind you bringing your keepers, but don't make it appear their part of your traders!

Vicki
 
I wish I had enough pins to separate them from my book but when I do my pin collection gets sliced in half :( I hate saying some pins are not for trade though so I am going to have to bite the bullet and accept the fact my trader collection is not as big.
 
Hey luis, One Idea, If you have just one book, put your" keepers" together in the back part of your book, then just specify that those pages are not up for negotiation from the start. I have seen that work.
 
We keep the back 2 or 3 pages free for our keepers and this seems to work out very well for us. :) That said everyone will have their own system that works for them, I don't think the same deal works for everyone. :)

If I bring a large bag which is rarely, this is what I do.
I usually stick to trading with the CMs because I've only got traders no one wants. ;)
Heck, over 2/3 of them aren't even listed on PinPics because I trade in the parks so much down here.
 
I wish I had enough pins to separate them from my book but when I do my pin collection gets sliced in half :( I hate saying some pins are not for trade though so I am going to have to bite the bullet and accept the fact my trader collection is not as big.

You don't have to feel bad. My collection only consists of about 225 pins because I was in silence for the LONGEST time.
I just recently started back in June 2011 and I've SLOWLY been adding. Although I just gave a few away just for whatever reason.
 
I also don't have a problem if someone asks me to buy a rack pin to trade with them because of the discount I'm able to get.

Another reason why I don't like to trade with regular guests is because I don't want to lug around a large bag (the only one I've got hence my small collection) on my shoulder all day after I feel I'm done trading. Besides if I really want the pin I'll just trade/buy it online, not a big deal. I keep my traders AND keepers since it's the only bag I've got. Keepers in the front, traders in the back so they don't get ruined. I'd rather my keepers get ruined than my traders. If my keepers get ruined I have another chance at trading for another copy of it. Whereas if the traders got damaged somehow I'd have to end up buying everything again that moment to trade. If that makes sense at all. Don't mind me, LOL.
 
Sis & I have 3 bags between us - the same Mickey Pin trading bag and a Sci-Fi Cadet/Academy bag (for the Little Green Men and Star Wars pins). All our keepers are there and left at home.

We bring traders with us but, obviously, it has to be something we want more than what we have for trade. I wouldn't trade a LE Snow White for just a hidden mickey ;)
 
I love to pin trade. many times I have been at the park in line for a ride there are kids i front of me as well as behind me. I will just take pins out of my trading bag and give pins to kids. Yes I go with 12 or so pins to tade and only come home with 7 or 8 new pins. But i love to do that. I love to see the smile on a child's face and that sweet "Thank you lady". So as stated above in 1st post....Take only your trading pins leave your keepers at home. One young boy came up to me to look at my pins "will you trade that pin for one of mine?" yes let me see what you have..he really didn't have anything I wanted but trade for a pin anyways...I ended up trading that pin away for one I REALLY REALLY wanted. So you grown ups trade with kids its worth that wonderful smile you get in .
 
I just started to collect pins,again. I eventually would like to keep all of my keepers in a seperate book from my traders. I use my lanyard for only traders as well.


My wife and I were down at WDW just this past September and I noticed at downtown disney there were no traders out and about. What I mean by this is that the tables near the big disney pin trading co "tent" were not there and I ended up trading with some CM.

Does anyone know if they do not hover around there or is a specific time and day of the week? We will be heading down next year and I will be much better prepared than I was! Thanks!

Also where are the best meeting places to find traders in WDW/DTD
 
that is exactly how i feel and how i wanna behave when i get down there. Truth be told, i am actaully excited to give away some cute pins to some kids--sounds fun!! I think it is a tease to display pins and then tell people they are not for trade, but to each his own. all this is a learning experience for me.
 
I definitely understand the frustration here, but I do not agree with the argument. I keep my "keepers" in my book because I think there is always the possibility of finding a pin that you would give anything up to have. For example, my favorite pin in my collection is Jessica dressed as Ursula. I value this pin both in monetary and sentimental value. That being said, I would not even blink to let it go if I came across one of my "grail" pins. This would be a rare occurrence, but I would rather be safe than kick myself for not having a trade-worthy pin on me
 
If someone is just starting out and does not have enough pins for a book, is it acceptable to wear 2 lanyards, one for trading and one that has your keepers? Or if all on one lanyard, is it okay to tell someone, "I collect Doom Buggy pins, these are my keepers" as long as you have plenty of other pins available for trade? I'm still trying to learn proper pin trading etiquette!
 
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This has been a very insightful post. I see both sides of the OP's opinions. As new traders, my family has 1 book each, and 2 lanyards. We keep our favorite pins on one lanyard while we have another lanyard that we use for trading with Cast members/Pin traders. My book has a page of Stitch collection that I am working on, also a page for Tinkerbell and another for Star Wars pins. In time these books will grow and our collecting/trading methods will change. I don't even have a corkboard at the house for pins to display my grail! Oh the horror!! Ill get on that this weekend however!

For now we have no clue on 'the best practices'. I thnk they would differ per person really. While your valuation of your trade of $100 in pins for the $50 pin...I don't know. I agree with others that the value of a tradable pin can only be given by the owner and not the trader. I recently did some trades via this site, I cant wait to get what I traded for! I gave up 3 really nice pins that a lot of the 'vets' around here deem valuable. For me, the trade pins that I got are as valuable to me!

Thanks for the informative thread and an awesome read before work today.
 
I know exactly what you mean. There is a certain trader at Disneyland that does that almost every time I want to trade with him. He may say "I am not ready to trade that yet", or "I really want to keep this". Then why are they in his trade book? Leave them at home if you don't want to trade them. I know it's fun to show off our pins and I would actually love to go to some kind of "Show off your pins" gathering but when you are at the park hanging around all the traders, he needs to leave his special pins at home. Thanks for letting me vent too.....lol.

Sue
:rant:
 
I think it depends...

I understand it is really frustrating when they say that everything is for trade then when you choose a pin they say it isn't. But I keep all my keeper pins in a book and I finally had to get a second book (one for trades one for my collection) but I still haven't had time to take out all of my collection pins from my trade book so I do have both collection and trades in the same book. But I let people know that. I open my book the beginning of my traders and say this is where my traders start.
 
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