Hello all you Magnetic Motoring Badge Fans.

Some of you may have been following the Show off your Motoring Badge Collection... thread and saw SPF ZERO's post about TRADING BADGES. I thought this was a great idea and decided to start a thread about it.

I'm not sure if this would work, but it doesn't hurt to try. For a while, I tried to think of the logistics of pulling this off and maybe set some parameters for doing this. In the end, I just decided that we should just wing it.

The purpose of this thread is to:
1) Gauge interest in doing a badge trade.
2) A place for folks to gauge interest in their own badge offerings so that they can determine a quantity to produce.
3) A place for folks to post their badge or potential badge that will be offered for trading
4) A place for folks to post their personal badge that they might want to sell
5) A place for folks to post their personal badge to give away (*cough* vendors *cough*)

Why would I want to trade badges?
Generally, the idea brings back the days of baseball cards, bottle caps or happy meal toys where we would get doubles in our collections and trade them to get the missing pieces.

But that's not the only reason. Say you're proud of your hometown, you're local club, you're MINI or just love mountain biking, sky diving, your cat, recycling or eating fajitas. Maybe you're having an event that you want to promote. Whatever the reason, now you can get badges and not worry about a minimum production quantity. You can turn 9 or more of the same badge into 9 different badges.

Where can I get custom badges made?
Well, that's a good question. There are quite a few vendors here on NAM that offer badges, but not custom, personal designs. Some of them will produce badges for you but with either or a setup fee and a minimum quantity. Todd, with Motoringbadges.com has made badges for my local club. Ed, with Cooper Flags has made some for our local events and is now offering custom badges with a pretty low minimum order. Whoever you choose, contact them and see if they can work with you. A couple of folks have made their own badges as well.

Who would want my badge?
That's what I'm not sure about. I tried to think about what kind of badges I would like to get from other folks. My personal choice would be:
1) badges from friends I've made on this board
2) club badges
3) event badges
4) interest badges - biking, sports, autocross, etc
5) product/vendor promotion badges - if somebody could get away with producing an Apple Computer badge, I'll trade with you.
6) art badges
7) R50 pride badges (R53 if I drove an S)
8) MINI pride badges
9) Great motoring message badges - the kind that aren't already covered by the badge vendors

Things I would be less interested in:
1) personal badges of folks I don't know
2) Chili Red (or any color) Owners Club - I drive an Astro Black
3) I love SUV badges
4) Politics or Religion (some folks might get into this, though)
You get the idea.

Again, these are MY personal choices and I'm sure others would have a different take on this. Post your thoughts here.

The point I'm trying to make is to be a little more general with your badge choices. That should increase your chances of a trade.

What the heck is a Magnetic Motoring Badge?
Think of them as 'flair' for your MINI. They are a way for folks to swag their MINI's with various messages, but without the clutter of multiple decals. For more info, I can give you links from where it all started to the newest provider.

Good luck and happy trading!

 

I'll start:

I'm probably going to produce a few DD badges (or friend of DD badges) to just give away to anybody interested.

Not sure what to trade.
Opt 1: Since I'm a cycling nut as well, I thought I'd do a "My Other Ride is a [insert bike graphic]"

Opt 2: Since I'm from TX, I thought it would be cool to do one with the local slogan created by the state anti-litter campaign: "Don't Mess With Texas" - don't know if that would trade well.

Opt 3:... still thinking

IF you were to trade, do any of these sound interesting?

 

all sounds good to me... BUT i have none to trade since i have none

 

I was thinking of open-to-most categories, that might connect a larger majority of MINI-ers....

How about badges about "saving the wave" or "Warning: this driver waves at other MINIs" etc. ?

Or perhaps some of the funny MINI adapted avatar types - like the goofy smiley on the MINI wings? Or the Superman symbol on MINI wings...etc.

 

Here's the badge I had made up specifically for trading. My goal is to be able to exchange badges with my friends (or at least those I THINK are my friends)!

 

I'd trade with you - as soon as I get something to trade.

I actually like the idea of a badge for your MINI - especially some of the more unique ones.

We actually tried to do a MINI trading card idea in my local group, but the cost and logistics for putting it together was insane. The hope as to have a pic on the front of each of our MINIs and the stats on the back. At every meet, we'd trade with each other.

I guess, in a way, this is like that.

 

Those would definitely appeal to me.

 

To start simple, I plan on doing one of these, which I previously printed a large run of on magnetic inkjet paper and gave away. I have a bunch of others that I also printed and a lot of ideas that I'm going to throw into Photoshop this weekend to see how they turn out.



@dickdavid, The Flying D in your logo would make a great badge all by itself.

Here's another I wear on my car but I figure the interest in this one is a little limited. ;-)

 

Shokk- BOTH ARE VERY COOL!

 

x uh oh x,

We have a save the wave badge. Take a look around and let me know if there is any you would like to see us add.

http://www.cooperflags.com/ProductDetail.cfm?ID=209

Ed

 

I'm sort of with ngweibing on this ... I don't currently have any badges, but I am planning on getting at least one holder, so I will keep my eye on this this thread.

 

we lived in same state... i am in plainville...i think not far form ya... we shoudl hang out

i was tihnking of buying the dual badge holder for the rear or one badge holder for the front..

 

Great Idea, I have been contemplating the idea of having a personal design that I would give to friends just for giving. But the idea of trading Grill badges is great, now I will have to get off the pot and get it done!

 

I'm glad I'm not the only badge nut around here.

What I might do is once folks start posting their available badges, I'll collect them onto one post, listing the owners name and quantity available under each. That way, folks can view them all in one place, contact the owner and trade whenever they want.

 

I would totally trade for a "Don't Mess With Texas" badge

 

Ok, but let's consider this: I'd say we could look into two kinds of "trading."

1.) Trading at events - part of the fun of trading these kinds of things is trading AT events where folks can actually get together and shoot the...um...breeze. These kinds of badges would be the appealing-to-an-open-audience...like the "save the wave" types, or the MINI logo/avatar types.... Or TX stuff (go figure, the Texans really LIKE that one!?! ) Or even your veh/club stats types. The only problem here is that not everybody can GET to the events. I, for one, wouldn't be as interested in the event badges from the west coast, since I can't get out there to participate.... know what I mean?

2.) Trading badges we purchased for our own amusement that we've gotten tired of now. Kinda like "re-gifting" so to speak. These, I would think, would appeal to the online-types, and would be location regardless. Like...trading out some of (in your mind) your old and tired early-purchase badges with someone who just got a new version of the waving American flag....etc.

OH, and shokk, one of the magnetic badges vendors actually has a nice version of that very flag out there! If I remember which vendor I purchased it from, I'll post a link.

 

I'm open to all kinds of trading:

- In person at events
- online with surplus duplicates
- online/in person with tired styles (re-gifting)

I wouldn't even mind if Clubs came on board to sell their club or event badges. At first, like you, I didn't think badges from events that I cannot attend would be interesting. That was until a few friends started bringing them back for me. It was like when my dad would go on a business trip and bring me back a souvenir. Now I'm hooked on those.

BTW, I don't think I've seen a flag as cool as SHOKs. His looks almost photographic and natural.

 

Found the vendor w/ the flag: well, it's similiar, and looks really good in hand, anyway: http://www.cooperflags.com/ProductDetail.cfm?ID=168

 

I have one of those from CooperFlags, but with the Mini printed on it. It really is a sharp looking badge.

 

If I get off my butt (and my computer) today, i'll take a snap of it and post it to my gallery in case you want to see it "real." The one without the MINI is really sharp looking, too. I love American flags, and I like the "waving" ones best.

 

My plan for trading badges is to do it for personal badges of friends and people I meet. I'm not so interested in trading for one that I could purchase somewhere.

 

Same here. I'd like something unique in return for my 18 badges, such as the few that will be made when people order their own batches of 18. They'll be true collector's items.

 

How do you make your own badge? I have no photoshop skills.

 

I totally agree. I just didn't want to leave out those folks who have nothing but their current collection to trade. I'm all about limited edition/collector items - and I hope that's how this thread evolves.

If you've got ideas, you should post them. Maybe one of the many talented artists on this forum will volunteer their help.

 

Great idea!!! I have a few badges from our local clubs events and a visit to The Dragon. I'll have to start purchasing extras just to trade with everyone.