STARTING A DISNEY PIN COLLECTION
Those new to Disney Pin Trading can find it challenging on how to get started. From where to buy pins, how to identify a fake Disney pin, to storing your pins, it can be a little daunting.
Here are five tips to get you started:
Only Buy Authentic Disney Pins
First and foremost, do not buy scrapper and fake pin lots off the internet. There are many reputable Disney Pin Trading websites and Facebook groups you can join to trade, and online sites such as eBay have authentic pins for you to buy and trade. Our website has a Disney Pin Trading Board that you can sign-up for and trade with others. Online trading and online sales are very popular and keep the pin trading alive after you’ve returned home from you Disney vacation.
Mystery Pin Boxes and Mystery Pin Packs are a great way to start building your collection, as is purchasing monthly pin releases from your local Disney Store. Other stores (such as Hot Topic and Primark) also sell licensed Disney pins.
Scrapper and fake Disney pins are very common and can be identified through a variety of ways. For example, these pins tend to be sold in very large lots and very low prices. If you see 100 pins for $20 and they’re labelled as “tradeable”, chances are they are not genuine. There are lots of YouTube videos out there to show you how to identify a scrapper / fake pin and it’s worth taking the time to watch them to familiarize yourself with way of identifying them.
Decide the Collection(s) You Want to Build
This may be hard to narrow down, but if you have specific themes you want to collect, focusing on those helps you to keep your collection manageable and allows you to target the pins you want.
For instance, some people collect specific characters, attractions, or themes, such as Disney snacks. Although it is not a hard and fast rule that you must specialize your collection, after a short period of time, failing to narrow down what you collect will leave you with a lot of pins, a huge amount of money spent on them, and you’ll start looking at ways of narrowing the collection down to specific themes anyways. Starting early on that will save you time and money in the long run.
Learn Official Disney Pin Trading Rules and Pin Terminology
Understanding pin terminology and the rules for Disney Pin Trading will definitely help you over time with your trading.
Disney Parks Cast Members follow the Official Disney Pin Trading Rules to keep it simple for all of their guests to understand how to trade. These rules only apply to trading with Cast Members, and those governing private trades between guests basically are up to both parties to decide. That said, there are some unwritten rules that apply between 2 parties that include such things as trade a similar pin for similar pin (i.e. a limited edition for limited edition pin) and most pin traders will not trade in scrapper or fake pins.
There are some basic pin terms that you’ll want to get to know to help you understand the lingo used by many Disney Pin Traders. Check out our Pin Trading Terminology page to learn some important terms in Disney Pin Trading.
Decide How You Want to Store Your Pins
People store their Disney Pins in a variety of ways. The most common include cork bulletin boards and binders (sports card pages work extremely well for rack pins and come in different sizes for other combinations of pins).
However, some people use hats, jackets, banners, picture frames, and many other items to keep and display their pins. Your creativity is the only limitation on how you choose to store and/or display your pins.
Just keep in mind that as your collection grows, you will need a place to store all of your Disney Pins safely.
5. Set Yourself a Realistic Budget for Disney Pins
Once you start collecting Disney Pins, it can become addictive and costly. Set yourself a realistic budget (and stick to it). There are a few cost-effective ways to start your collection and to grow it such as buying Mystery Pin Boxes and Mystery Pin Packs, as well as looking for sales at your local Disney Store or the ShopDisney website.
Being honest about the money you have to spend each month on pins and keeping your budget realistic will help to make sure that it remains fun and you don’t spend more than you can afford on pins. After all, they are just pieces of metal (albeit very beautiful ones that are fun to collect).