Project record
"We have used your company before a few years ago."
A returning club, a Cooperstown week, a tight budget — and the threshold that makes sizing down cost more than it saves.
NCCooperstown confirmed
- Quantity
- 1,100 pins
- Size
- 1.5"
- Pin type
- Standard pins
- Process
- Die struck soft enamel
The brief
"We have used your company before a few years ago."
How the design got made
- Beat 1
Opened by naming Cooperstown and the quantity: 1,100 pins
- Beat 2
Said outright they were a returning customer from a few years earlier
- Beat 3
Size ladder quoted at 1,100: 2 inch $1.24, 2.5 inch $2.24, 3 inch $3.24 - a dollar a step
- Beat 4
Budget was tight, and the customer said so rather than going quiet
- Beat 5 · pivot
Offered to give up size and detail instead of quantity
- Beat 6
Settled at 1.5 inch, which fit - but sits below the 2 inch threshold for the free banner and 100 free upgrade pins
- Beat 7
Ordered in December for the following summer
The full account
The opening line
"I am interested in getting a quote for 1100 pins for Cooperstown this summer. We have used your company before a few years ago"
Two years earlier this club ordered 275 pins, one design, approved on the first proof. Now it is 1,100 pins for Cooperstown — and the customer says the reason themselves in the first sentence.
The size ladder at 1,100
| Size | Per pin |
|---|---|
| 2.0" | $1.24 |
| 2.5" | $2.24 |
| 3.0" | $3.24 |
A dollar a step. Clean, and unusually easy to reason about: each half inch costs exactly another dollar per pin at this quantity.
Add-ons on top: spinners, sliders and dangles at $0.65, glitter and gemstones at $0.10 per colour.
Price shown is what this order was quoted at, for this quantity, size and specification, on this date. It is not a current price list.
The threshold nobody mentions
Here is the part worth knowing before you shop on price.
At 1,100 pieces and 2 inch or larger, the order also earns a free 3ft x 6ft vinyl banner and 100 free upgrade pins — all-gold or blackout.
The budget here was tight, and the club did the sensible-looking thing: offered to give up size and detail rather than quantity. Sizing down to 1.5 inch at $0.80 a pin fit the money.
quoted for this order only — quoted for that order only.
But 1.5 inch sits below the 2 inch threshold. So the saving per pin came with the loss of the banner and a hundred upgrade pins — the exact items that would otherwise have been the scarce tier at a trading week.
Nobody hid this; it was stated in the quote. But it is the kind of threshold that is invisible unless someone tells you, and it means the cheapest route is not always the best value.
What actually got ordered
1,100 pins at 1.5 inch, die struck soft enamel, proof D1.
Ordered in December, for the following summer — the longest lead time in this library, and the right way to do Cooperstown. Ordering six months out means no rush charge, no Chinese New Year collision, and room for proof rounds.
Why this one is here
For the threshold, and for the sentence at the top. A club that came back two years later and said so is the only review that matters.
Specification
| Team | Carolina Bulls |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Quantity | 1,100 |
| Size | 1.5" |
| Process | die struck |
| Fill | soft enamel |
| Pin type | Standard pins |
| Banner included | No |
| Event | Cooperstown |
| Event confirmed | Yes |
| State | NC |
| Inquiry | 2024-12-05 |
What this price was quoted under
- $0.80 / pin1.5" · 1,100 pins
- $1.24 / pin2.0" · 1,100 pins
- $2.24 / pin2.5" · 1,100 pins
- $3.24 / pin3.0" · 1,100 pins
Price shown is what this order was quoted at, for this quantity, size and specification, on this date. It is not a current price list.
- Quoted on
- December 5, 2024
- For quantity
- 1,100 pins
- At size
- 1.5"
- Build
- die struck soft enamel
- Excludes
- delivery charge, rush fee, import tariff
The banner threshold
This order sat under the threshold, so no banner was included. At the time the line fell at 1,000 pins at 2.0 inches or larger: the size step cost $0.20 more per pin — $1.07 to $1.27 — and brought a free 3ft × 6ft banner plus 100 bonus gold-metal or blackout pins with it.
Worth checking before you commit to a quantity: the bigger pin is frequently the cheaper total order.
quoted for this order onlyAbout the prices on this page
Every figure here is taken from a real quote for a real order. That is the point of it — and also the reason it will not match what you are quoted.
- Quantity moves the price more than anything else
- Size and build are priced separately
- Turnaround changes the total
- Import tariffs apply and are disclosed on the quote
- These are historical
What the customer said
“I am interested in getting a quote for 1100 pins for Cooperstown this summer. We have used your company before a few years ago”
Customer, Carolina Bulls · 2024-12-05 · on a returning customer opening a much larger order
Questions this order answers
Pins are trading currency there, not souvenirs, and the difference between a pin that gets traded and one that doesn't is size and finish. Two inches is the floor.
Not every player relies on the team's pin. One parent came to us specifically because their team's supplied pins, in their words, 'aren't really sought-after' — and had a single-player pin made for their kid instead.
Build in time. Rosters change between ordering and travelling; more than one design has needed a number pulled late because a player left the program before the trip.
Sourced — Two confirmed Cooperstown orders, 2026 season
Say so up front. Artwork is kept on file, so a repeat order can start from your existing design instead of a blank page, and a reorder that reuses the same die skips the mould charge.
Several accounts here have ordered across two, three and four seasons — and reference to a previous pin is often the fastest way to explain what you want.
Sourced — Multiple repeat accounts, 2022–2026
Two inches or larger is the working floor for tournament trading — smaller pins get passed over. Sizes run from 2 inches up to 6.
One little league's four orders across three years show the migration in practice: they started at 1.25 inches and moved to 2.0. Larger sizes also unlock the banner threshold, which is why the bigger pin often costs less in total.
Sourced — Sizing guidance across multiple orders; Northern Virginia little league, 2022–2026
No. Every figure in this library is what one team was quoted for one order, on the day they asked. It is published as a record, not as a price list.
Quantity and size move it most: the break runs about $0.20 per pin for every hundred pins, and the range here goes from a 1,500-pin corporate run at 1.25 inch to a 3 inch dangler with glitter. Pin type and finish are priced per pin on top of that — a spinner was $0.65 more per pin on one order, glitter is $0.10 per pin per glitter colour.
Timing is separate again. Six weeks ahead of your date carries no delivery or rush charge; four weeks adds a $40 delivery charge; three weeks adds $40 plus a $75 rush fee. The pins are manufactured in China and are subject to US import tariffs, disclosed on the quote rather than at invoice.
For a price that applies to your order, send your quantity, size and in-hands date and we will quote it.
Sourced — Quoted ladders and fee schedule across the AP Pope, Corona Avengers and Brainerd AHA threads, 2025–2026
Heading to Cooperstown?
This order was 1,100 pins at 1.5". Send us your roster size and your event date and we will come back with a price.
Request a free quote