How to Pin Trade

I first started pin trading this year. I had always bought the pins but never traded them.
This is the article where I got all of my information on pin trading:

Official Disney Pin Trading


Here are the main rules that I found on the site:

Guidelines For Guests

"Disney Pin Trading is magical fun for the whole family!  The most important guideline
to remember is to have fun collecting or trading the Disney pins you like.
• The main criteria to judge whether a pin is tradable or not is that it must be a metal
pin bearing a “©Disney” mark on the back that represents a Disney Event, Place or
Location, Character or Icon.
• Pins should be in good, undamaged, tradable condition.
• For a safe trading experience, please trade one pin at a time, hand to hand with pin
backs attached.
• Guests may trade a maximum of two (2) pins per Cast Member, per day.
• Please refrain from touching a Cast Member’s or Guest’s pins or lanyard.  If you need
a closer look, kindly ask the Cast Member or Guest wearing the lanyard if she or he can
bring it into clearer view for you.
• Monies, gifts or receipts may not be exchanged or used in trade for a pin.
• When trading with a Cast Member, Guests should offer a pin that is not currently
displayed on the Cast Member’s lanyard.
• Pins from other business units of The Walt Disney Company (i.e. ABC, ESPN) are
accepted for trade.
• Operating participant pins that show a Disney, Disneyland® Resort, or Walt Disney
World® Resort affiliation are accepted for trading.
• Plastic pins, rubber pins or other non-metal pins are not accepted for trading.
• “Personalized Name” pins are not accepted for trade.
• “Broche style” or “clasp pins” are not accepted for trade.
• Disney Service Award pins, Spirit of Disneyland® Resort pins, Partners in Excellence
pins or Cast Member costume pins (i.e. Host/Hostess Badges, Disney Trainer) are not
tradable"

At first, I was a little nervous about pin trading. I will only trade with cast members because I only trade my Hidden Mickey pins, that most guest collectors probably aren't looking for. The Hidden Mickey pins are the ones that come in a mystery box. You get 2 pins for $12. Then you can trade for the more expensive ones. I always kind of felt bad for taking expensive pins and giving cast members the Hidden Mickey pins, but I got over it when I realized that this was part of their job and that they probably got discounts on their pins anyways.  Here are all of my pins (before my trip in June at least).

This is my lanyard to trade. It is so much easier to have a specific lanyard (or something) to keep track of all of the pins that you have traded for or want to trade with. 

This is my lanyard of newer pins. I have some on here that I traded for and ones that I bought on my last family vacation.

These two are just a random sampling of pins from all different trips. 

This is my oldest lanyard. It has some of my first pins and a couple pins that were my Grandma's but not Disney official for trading. 

I have gotten some pins from E-Bay, but you have to be really careful about scrappers. Those are fake pins that you can not trade at the park. This website has some guidelines about scrapper pins:

Known Scrapper/Counterfeit Pins

I hope that you have enjoyed my guide to pin trading. It really is a lot of fun, and I treat it as kind of a free souvenir. I hope you find some good ones on your next trip!!