Pin Trading Confusion

[Duchess99]

Now, I know I'm new to the pin thing, but I'm still a bit confused by it all. I only buy pins that mean something to me and therefore would never consider trading them. Is it worth it to buy a bunch of pins you don't care about to trade for ones you like? And will cast members trade for any old pin or for one they want as well.
I'm not really getting this whole thing

[disneymom15]

I would buy some pins you don't want to keep. As far as trading pins with cm's, any pin that they have and you want can be traded. You would pick one of your unwanted pins and trade it with the cm.

[vamaggie]

I can get confusing but oh so much fun! My DS got into it when we went in 01 when he was 4 and has hooked us all now!!! Before our trips I usually buy a lot or 2 of pins off ebay (about 60 or so total) so we have them to trade. Buying off ebay I can get the lot for about $2.50 per pin inc shipping. Usually my kids find a few in the lots that they like to keep so we end up with about 50 pins to trade in the parks. We don't take our "keeper" pins at all. We only take the trading ones each day. CMs can take any pin in trade as long as it is a Disney pin and they cannot refuse to trade one with you unless they already have it on their lanyard. Some CMs only trade with kids-they have a special colored lanyard (can't remember the color but I'm sure it's posted somewhere) We have also been approached by other guests while waiting in line and traded with them too (guests don't have to trade with you--nor you with them-if you don't want to) PM me if you want to chat more about it. Have fun!!

[tinksmom02]

I have to agree with vamaggie it is so much fun! I bought pins off ebay for DD4, but only about 10, because I wasn't sure how she would do with it. She traded about 7 of them (she wanted to keep a couple) and I ended up buying a ton more. And watch out, it can become an addiction, Disney.com offers free shipping on select pins on Mondays! She has three lanyards full of pins now LOL And it's all me, I'm the one scouring ebay and disney looking for pins I think she'll like LOL

It was a really nice experience for her, and although the pins she got as trades are probably common and not worth much, they were the ones she wanted and that's more important to me.

By the way, I think the kid-only CM lanyards are green.