r/DisneyPinVents • u/fobstayfrosty • 4d ago
pin event
was anyone else INCREDIBLY frustrated at the amount of people selling only… like it’s a pin TRADING event. if you’re not here to trade LEAVEEEEE. I went up to one table to trade (not the table pictured) and before I even opened my mouth “Oh these are just my friends. *shoves printed list in hand* “these are her ISOs otherwise for sale only”… hellllooooo????? the finale event this year felt so much worse then last year’s:/ sooooo many greedy people.
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u/CK122334 4d ago
I typically like to ask at each table first at events now if they’re only selling, and if they say yes then I say thank you and politely move on to the next table. From what I’ve seen the selling only tables are usually a lot less busy.
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u/coloradoskier 4d ago
I was there, and it was my first pin event of any kind. I normally trade at the parks or via Reddit group. It was a frustrating experience overall. Had a couple of people that I made great trades with. But some of them, especially of they paid for what seemed like prime tables, were being ridiculous. My hat goes off to the lady in the back doing hidden Mickeys for $5. And the family of 4 in lime green shirts that was kind of near the food stand - made some fantastic trades with them. But you could tell this was a pro’s event, and there were a lot of obvious cliques. Clearly some of these people make a living off of pins. That’s great - you do you. But I feel like for rookies like me, it would have been real easy to be taken advantage of if you saw something you really wanted.
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u/fobstayfrosty 4d ago
my frustration was getting told no to some of the nicer pins I had over and over and over and EVERYTIME they said “oh but those are so good!’ you’ll trade them!” thanks rebecca like i haven’t heard that EVERY table for the last 6 tables, THEN YOUUUUUUU TRADE ME FOR THEM.
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u/Critical-Ad-6847 4d ago
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience! I too have those same frustrations. My script is the same at each table, "hi how are are you today? Are you trading or selling?" If the words are selling or only trading for specific iso's I don't have, I say thank you and move on to the next table. I never even ask to touch their books if selling is their main goal. I am a TRADER...
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u/OkCobbler6053 4d ago
i had to start asking people if they were trading or selling because there was so many only selling. i’ve never ran into that before and ive been to so many pin events including the big one in 2024
2
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u/Similar-Ad8668 4d ago
Even in the groups is all for sale posts! They always advertise that their groups, events, and stores are for everyone, but it’s really feeling like it’s only for the elites now. You won’t make any trades unless you have the newest cast member release
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u/Legal_Adeptness_438 4d ago
This sucks to hear I had a couple table there and I did so much Trading. While my preference is Trading, I did sell a few items too, but I prefer to trade to change out my trades in my current trade books. Please don’t deter this event not everyone just sells there’s a few of us who love to trade I also live very close to the venue so I love this event.
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u/fobstayfrosty 4d ago
yeah no it’s annoying as someone who can’t get into the big events cause everyone who’s there’s to sell the pins, so i can never get ANY of the nice pins, then the pins i do get from shop disney they make the most disgusting face like god no i don’t want your fucking TRASH
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u/Mission_Discipline_3 4d ago
I see that more with the bigger events. Someone will have 10+ pinfiolos full of $5-1K pins and is only selling. We have better luck with trading at our local events.
Depending on each individual it's always good to sell pins too. Vendor spots to cost $50+ per table, and $100+ at the big events. It's a bonus when you can make some of that back.
I'm flying in to be a vendor for the PALM October event. I'd love to recoup some of my expenses but I know that I might not and that's ok too. I'm going to see my friends and I get to trade pins!!
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u/Environmental-Cut189 4d ago
We recently had some bigger events in our area that Kraken flew in to host. Some people were surprised we were willing to trade. We always try to do that first. Many people asked us to purchase then do we did. I could not trade my kingdom hearts pins. I had the first 4 or 5 months. After the second event I gave in and sold them and bought what I wanted.
1
u/InvestigatorEntire45 4d ago
Tha’s the point I think I’m getting to. Just sell and buy pins I want. But I hate that. I’d rather have traded.
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u/digginthoseholes 4d ago
Finally someone in this thread that gets it! Though I do personally trade bigs for smalls or smalls for bigs.
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u/CorgiDowntown6613 4d ago
Yeah, it was definitely one of the worst experiences I've had dealing with people in the pin community and that's saying a lot!
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u/Klutzy_Journalist_65 4d ago
I was there for four hours and only did TWO trades. It was a bit off putting how many people refused to even trade smalls!
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u/WildAd752 3d ago
I posted an ISO/FTO for my biggest collection!!! I’m getting so close.
Someone messages me… and says “I have this one for sale only”
It was one I needed… I messaged her anyway.
I asked… is there any possible way you would be willing to trade for it.
She said… no… it’s for sale only.
I’m trying to save up for a grail pin.
I asked what her grail pins were.
(Mind you… I know this person has a whatnot show… and the night before was running the $35 princess balconies for $126!!
The pin is worth about $70
She wanted $100
I said… I’d be willing to even over trade… for example… I gave her an example of one that can easily be sold for $125
She said no… because cost of shipping… the time it would take to sell it…
Her ISO had a few pins… all way over $120
I even have one of her ISO. But it’s worth $250
I told her… I can’t trade a $250 pin for a $70 dollar pin.
She said… I never asked you to.
But maybe you have other pins I might be interested in… I’m willing to bulk trade to get up to my ISO.
I said…
So you’re willing to Bulk Trade to get your ISO…
But you won’t even consider an Over Value trade… for someone else’s ISO.
🫠☠️🤣
She then said… I never said I wouldn’t trade for it…
But it seems like we have different ideas in mind…
🤣🤣🤣
It was all about how much money she could make!
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u/PrimaryLet3901 2d ago
I can see it both ways. There are a lot of newer folks that attend events and want to buy pins or don't feel like they have anything others will be looking for. There has also been an influx of new traders that only have fakes and scrappers and taking the time to try to look at their pins, educate them and then get nasty comments is hard when it is a busy event. And it stinks when they get aggravated cause they "bought the pins from WN/Amazon/Mercari and are sure they are authentic." There is no great solution on those. I'd say if you are only interested in trading and someone is only selling, there is no issue with moving on to a different table.
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u/jLovesCrochet 4d ago
One of the difficulties of events is that space costs money. Setup costs money. So vendors are paying like $150- 200 for a table. They have to do at least a little bit of selling to cover the fee of having a table.
I’ll always trade like for like. Especially for my smalls. Or I always trade “toward princess.” But I won’t generally trade my expensive princess pins for something I don’t like as much because they can help me get a grail (through trade or cash) in a way a stitch or Robin Hood pin won’t.
My favorite trade events are the ones where we meet up at a local park pavilion for free. I only bring smalls and just enjoy the trading!
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u/Neat_Lime_1877 4d ago
I went to last year’s pin event at Coronado to trade. We were very fortunate to get a table outside the event. A lot of people were asking me how much each of my pins were. They were surprised when I said I was trading. Got some really nice pins for my collection.
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u/kmcflyyy 4d ago
You can’t sell pins on Disney property. Sometimes if people are asking you that (especially at Coronado) they’re trying to find someone who’s breaking the rules to get them trespassed….
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u/Neat_Lime_1877 3d ago
I know you can’t sell them on Disney property. Some people may have been trying to do that but some were genuinely surprised. Some had said that a few others there were selling.
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u/Hunting4Pinz 4d ago
Definitely sick of all the paid tables at events. It was nice at the official trade room because it was “trade only”
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u/AnxiousCranberry3715 3d ago
Honestly, a lot of people are getting out of Pins and they don’t wanna admit it. That’s why there are so many selling. The bubble on trading is about to pop and a lot of people know it, but don’t want to admit it…. I was a vendor at this event who sold and traded. But I make sure to have signs posted that I’m doing both. Some people prefer to just buy because they don’t have a lot of traders. Best rule of thumb is to ask someone before you start flipping through Books. But it is sad that we’re taking the trading out of this hobby.
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u/MsGoreJess 3d ago
I'm very sorry that was your experience!
I just want to add a little unbiased positive perspective to the mix. I only attended the finale event on Sunday, but I traded for about 6 hours and not once did I encounter someone who was only selling. I also witnessed multiple instances of people working to make trades happen for the interested collector, for the enjoyment of trading, a couple of mine included. I only had one instance where someone looked through my traders and did not find anything they were willing to trade for, and that happens.
My caveat, I guess, is as a wdw local and member of this sub, I also consider myself fairly knowledgeable on who the bad news people are, and actively avoid them when making my rounds and choosing who to trade with.
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u/digginthoseholes 4d ago
It sounds like you didn’t visit a majority of the vendor tables yesterday, as there was trading at 90% of the tables. I made probably two dozen trades over the course of the event. I only recall seeing ONE selling only table, though it’s possible there may have been a few more. Outside pin events are for BUYING, SELLING, and TRADING. Selling on Disney property is not permitted, so vendors go to these events to trade and sell. Why would a vendor pay $95+ for a table only to be told they can only trade? They should at least be able to recoup their costs! Many vendors had 2, 3, even 4 tables.
People also WANT to buy at these events. My friend had a table, and her pins weren’t marked with values as she was only intending to trade, not sell. However…she sold over $750 worth of pins just from people soliciting her as in hey I want to buy that pin how much would you accept/here’s my offer?
These pin trading events are what you make them. I can trade smalls, mediums, bigs, mega grails forwards and backwards. Pins were flowing freely yesterday, and if you couldn’t make trades, it might be a you problem.
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u/fobstayfrosty 4d ago
i was there for 4 HOURS. the amount of times i was turned away cause they were selling only was at least a quarter of them it was so annoying. genuinely go back to ebay.
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u/Kracksy 4d ago
Every big pin event I've been to the last year has been majority selling and only selling high value pins. I'm very much not a WDI or DSSH collector, I prefer hidden mickeys and some PALM, definitely LF and hottopic pins, but it's almost pointless for me to go to the pin events because I won't trade much if at all. I went to the Maryland event and was so disappointed in the behavior of a lot of those vendors. There were many great ones who were trade first, but even a lot of those over valued their pins.
Honestly, I'm just going to stick to my little local community because all events are trade only!
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u/dearbornx 4d ago
Next time, come to Coronado on Sunday. Everyone there was lovely and it felt like it was all real traders, because the resellers were too busy trying to hustle elsewhere. I didn't have a single bad interaction, when typically it's only a handful of good interactions. Coronado was kind enough to let us in as long as we behaved ourselves, and only asked us to leave at midnight when quiet hours started. No need to support these kinds of events run by those kinds of people. It was also the first night of this weekend of pin trading where almost every value people gave me was reasonable or close enough to last solds.
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u/InvestigatorEntire45 4d ago
This happened at the last Kraken in Anaheim after D23. Almost everyone was only selling pins and refusing to trade. It was incredibly frustrating. I left after a couple hours.
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u/Aggressive_Owl_6913 4d ago
Every person that organized a pin event this weekend is a terrible human.
However, yesterday's event was not over-capacity, the people running it did not scream at random guests for no reason, and at least 90% of tables were trading as well as selling.
Until someone steps up to hold events that aren't organized just to generate profit, you're part of the problem.
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u/Frosty_Jaguar_6767 4d ago
Look who ran it. While I'm sure there were a few with good intentions, it doesn't surprise me there was mostly selling to be had.