r/DisneyPinVents

This post was declined in the Facebook group where this keeps happening, which feels like a misstep on the admins' part where they could have allowed a dialogue to call out poor pin trading behavior. I've been ghosted on several trades in progress the past week. People are reading my messages and just not replying, even though pins have been chosen from both sides and next step would have been shipping. I want to give people benefit of the doubt, but it feels so inconsiderate to not send a courtesy message of "I've changed my mind" after a consistent back-and-forth conversation. Especially when I'm trading you the ISO you posted...that makes absolutely no sense. At this point it feels like in-person events are the way to go. Appreciate this space for letting me get it off my chest!

Just a general observation from what I’m seeing in Facebook groups and Reddit. Does it feel like a lot of people are in selling mode? Maybe it’s a symptom of the economy or people overindulging in the hobby? Maybe it’s both. Just feels like there’s a lot of pins for sale right now. Could impact pricing as time goes on in my opinion.

Pins have become so costly these days, it sucks man! I buy 5 and they add up like what 400$ its crazy! Sometimes i feel exhausted, i love pins but i get all overwhelmed with the crazy prices!!

Its like im either fomo buying cause if i dont some scalper will and literally double the price! Ive gone over budget like way too many times, i have to save up money but u know who doesn’t want a pin mail:/ i so hate myslef for that, i always try go stick to budget but ik for sure ill break it cause pins add up quick!

I've been wanting to have a 200$ budget but guess what nothing fits in it :/ Sometimes barely 1 pin 😭 either buy of fomo and go over budget or stay in budget and when i buy next its already 5× or 10× the price so i have to spend even more to get!!

WHAT TO EVEN DO?

yeah i sound irresponsible, pls dont judge, im just pissed, wanted to vent out! Ive no clue how are people affording 500$ a pin , grail after grail pins , muliple of 50$ PIN haul , insane!

Does anyone else face this too? Or is it just me:/

Why are the people who say “Will look at anything” hardest to trade with. Especially when they have pagessss of Mystery box/HM. It’s either no one agrees on values, one person ghost the other, or they just all give the same “Sorry I’m not seeing anything for me! “ Every week I feel like it becomes more and more of a task to trade online…to the point where I’m about to just start holding my pins for events/trading in person. No one wants to trade for trading anymore it’s become such a money centered hobby. I have access to MOG etc but still crazy how much some of these people are instantly flipping these pins for, it’s not right. Like the hobby has become such a mess over the past year. And I grew up at Disney because both of my parents retired from there so it’s not like oh pin trading has always been like that. It really hasn’t it’s the past year and a half with all the “pinfluencers” and whatnot.

i just bought some pins in the mail and one of them was one of the winnie the pooh hundred acre wood set and the pin just got here with no backer card and i’m honestly super disappointed because not only do i like those cards but the seller did not disclose that the pin did not have a backer card and i want to say it’s not a big deal because it’s going in our frame but like i paid over retail for it and i just wish i had been told there was no backer card because if not i wouldn’t have bought it. on the other hand i just did a trade with someone and one of the pins came without a gem on it and the trader also did tell us that it was damaged. it was a multi pin trade and she did send us photos but looking back on it now it’s super blurry and again i just wish she would’ve told us. everytime i make a mistake on my end i always try to fix it but i honestly don’t know what to do with both these situations.

There has been a lot of speculation about bypass links in the pin community. Based on information that has been shared with me by someone I trust, I believe they are real. You can decide for yourself what to believe, but I wanted to share what I've learned. To protect my source, I won't be naming any individuals or groups.

A bypass link is a direct link to the purchase form for a pin release or event, allowing users to skip the general queue. From what I've been told, these links are generated by reverse engineering the standard access link. There also appears to be more than one group capable of creating them.

Before surprise drops became the standard, there was usually enough time between the link’s release and the form opening for these groups to generate a bypass link. Those links were then shared with friends or sold to others. I've also heard longstanding rumors that, someone in a high-level Disney position distributed these links to a small circle of people, helping maintain scarcity by ensuring many releases sold out quickly. I have no way to verify whether that rumor was ever true or if anything like that still happens today.

According to my source, there are now private Discord servers, some reportedly run by cast members, where bypass links are shared among members. Most of those pins are resold, while some are kept for personal collections or trading. To be clear, this is different from legitimate cast member Discord communities that simply verify employment and share the normal release link.

The good news is that the surprise drop system appears to be making bypass links less effective. Because the purchase form isn't available until the drop goes live, there's much less time to generate and distribute a bypass. That said, if a bypass is created quickly enough, it may still allow some people to enter the form ahead of others who are waiting in the normal queue.

I know some people will ask why I don't simply expose everyone involved. The reality is that allegations without evidence don't accomplish much. My source has explained that the people involved are extremely cautious—they avoid texting about these activities and instead communicate over phone calls or in person. Without concrete proof, there isn't much that can be done publicly.
If you have firsthand information or evidence of abuse, you can report it to Disney Guest Services. They likely won't tell you whether any action is taken, but submitting credible information is still worthwhile.

If others have knowledge they would like to share, please add on. I'll answer whatever questions I can, but I also need to protect my source. At the end of the day, no collectible pin is worth putting someone's safety at risk.

Feels like a weird question - but do y’all keep all of the Hidden Disney pins from a set even if they don’t go with your main/permanent collections?
Part of me loves having a complete/almost complete Hidden Disney series, but I feel like the pins that don’t go into my main collections look out of place.
For reference, I have all of my main collections grouped together on their own display boards. So my “leftover” hidden Disney pins just end up jumbled on one board.
Maybe it’s just my ADHD/OCD that makes me feel like it looks weird 😅
I go between getting those leftover pins off of my boards and adding them to my traders or keeping them for the “complete set”

Hopefully it goes back to what it was!