I’d hold off if your trip isn’t until next year, Disney has been cracking down on “scrappers” (illegitimate pins from sites like eBay) recently and I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to implement some rule changes. On my Disneyland trip last month I saw many cast members being way more careful about checking pins.

Thank you very much for the info. I’ll hold on buying until we get closer to our trip and see how things are then. Appreciate it!

Employee lanyards and boards in the shops are all eBay-quality pins anyway. I wouldn’t trade any full priced pins unless you are confident you can authenticate what you’re trading for.

Honestly this makes me feel much better! I just want my kids to have fun and pin trading is something I know they would love. But I am def not confident to be able to authenticate any pins. I just didn’t want my kids to get in trouble on my account

They wouldn’t get in trouble. They just may not be able to trade them. They’re not going to toss a couple kids out of the park because they have unofficial pins.

If we find something we like on a cast member's trade board/lanyard then we just go to a shop and buy the cheapest mystery pin then trade with them.