It's easy to get started, as everyone has already mentioned. Keep one thing in mind though, the green lanyards on cast members means they want to trade with children only. I went to WDW in May & saw a few of these but the black lanyards still outnumbered the green ones by far.
I got started by accident in 2001. The DS released the 100 years of dreams pins & I was lured in by the stand-up ad in the doorway. Once I got started, I needed more. From there, I've bought from ebay & yahoo auctions. There is also a website for pintrading. You list your wants & tradables & it all goes from there. I've had only a few bad trades through the mail but only a smidgen in comparison to the number of successful trades through the mail. Trading in the parks is definitely much better. I'm a bit on the shy side so I traded with CMs only. I don't have the courage to walk up to other visitors. Still, I got some pretty good pins from the CMs. Maybe it's me but I found the best to be on the CM lanyards at the resort I stayed in. I think maybe other pintraders had food on the brain and missed the lanyards completely. It's a little hint. Have a great time trading.
