Here are some pin trading frequently asked questions. If you are new to Pin Trading, be sure to read this Pin Trading Starting Guide post I wrote about it in the past. Below are the answers to a few commonly asked questions about the ins and outs of Pin Trading.
Where at Disney World do you trade pins?
Pin wearing Cast Members can be found all over the Disney property from your resort’s food court to the Disney Vacation Club kiosks in the park. Just look for the display of pins around their neck or on their hip lanyard.
Do you wear them around the parks and people come up to you and ask if you want to trade, etc?
Guests can do this, but it has never happened to us. You’ll mainly find hard core pin traders (those that do it on a regular basis and collect 100s or 1000s of pins) trading with other hard core pin traders.
What is a good number of pins to get started?
I keep 10 pins on my lanyard, so I would recommend that you start with at least 10.
Do they increase in value over time?
Yes they do. As time passes and the pins are no longer available to purchase, their value will increase. I would not invest in a collection of pins in the hope of their value increasing though. If a pin starts being massed produced by scrappers (those that sell fake Disney pins), the value will plummet.
What are scrapper pins and how do I make sure I don’t get one in the park?
Scrapper pins are fake pins that have been mass produced and are sold on eBay or other online sites. Use your best judgement when you purchase Pins from sources outside of Disney. If the price seems insanely low, it probably contains scrapper pins.
Scrapping has gotten so good that there is no guarantee you won’t get a fake pin in the parks. The Cast Members do not knowingly wear or trade scrapper pins, but if a guest has recently traded with them, they might not know. Just always look over the pin for imperfections or misspellings on the back.
Disney will not evict you from the park or anything if you try to trade unknowingly trade a scrapper pin.
Tips Provided By Other Couponing to Disney Readers:
We always stop at Guest Relations when we enter the different parks and ask to see their pins. They graciously bring out their big book of pins and my daughter always finds a treasure. – Lani
Most of the resorts have a Pin Trading time certain days of the week. We usually stay at Port Orleans French Quarter and their trading time is around 5:30 in the lobby. – Michelle
If you go to Disney Springs, make sure you go to the World of Disney store at 1:00, they have their pin book set up. I think it was in front of the alligator but I’m not sure. It was in the room where the pins are. You can do 2 trades and they have lots of mystery pins. – Carra
Learn more about souvenirs in the Walt Disney World parks.
I just bought some off ebay 25 for 20 dollars just hope I dont get any scrapper ones
dollars for 25 I hope I am not getting any
Is the pin trading in the parks just something for children to do or so adults as well?
Pin trading is most definitely for adults as well as children.
We keep a plastic bag to put the pins we trade in.
My first time pin trading ever, during the last bit of the day, I was checking out the pins on a CM when a couple walked up and asked if I’d be willing to trade my “baby vinalmation” pin. The CM was literally gushing she was so happy that we worked out a trade right then. I just collect for the pleasure of trading, they were working on a collect, so I let them have that one for one that I could tell was much more meaningless (ie, I didn’t take the coolest, I took the least interesting pin lol!) It was pretty neat.
Thank you for this post….I am planing a trip for mid Dec, and trying to find new fun things for my daughter to do. She has a lanyard full of pins she loves, but I was thinking of getting a few (bout 10 like you said) that she can use to trade around the WDW. If I buy them on ebay how do I know I’m getting a correct one?
Also any more info on where to trade them at?
I would love to have it all down to a tee before I go.
Thanks
About 75% of all Cast Members have pins that they trade. I have even seen them on the Cast Members that work at the store in the airport. :-O
I just wanted to add that pin etiquette says that if you display it-it is up for trade, so when we get one that we’ve been searching for, we don’t put it on our lanyard.