I want to find a couple of trading partners, maybe shipping a box every three months or so. Just looking for local beers that I can't get where I live. What is the best way of doing this? Thanks for any help.
A few thoughts... You need to be more specific on both what you can't get and what you can get to trade. Most people aren't going to do research on what you personally cannot get or try to figure out what you can get. NEBCO stuff trade well, tell people what you can get from them. If you're close to Tree House Brewing and/or willing to ship their growlers (especially Julius), mention that. Keep your Wants and Gots updated. It's especially important if you don't have anything specific in mind at any given time. Putting a 3-month or so constraint may not be a good idea. Many rotating beers that people look for come out at no specific time, and many should be drank fresh. Gandhi Bot is pretty well-traded, but no one know when the next batch will be (I don't think) so you want to keep trading window open so that you don't send your trade partner 2-3 month old DIPA. At worse, you ship when that beer comes out and use PayPal + shipping label (gopickupformebro). The best approach is just to post trades in the trading forum for beers that you think people want, maintain good trade relationships with people who take up on your trades, and discuss local beer trades along the way. Good luck!
You can put up an ISO:FT of locals for locals in the trade forum. Specify where you are from and what you can get and mention what parts of the country you would like to get beer from. Also maybe the regional forums
Honestly, good trade partners are found much like finding a significant other. It really can't be planned, it just happens. (No Homo) I have 3 trading partners in MI, just because they are good guys and we transact well. Get on the trade boards and start trading, partners will come naturally.
Totally agree. Trading partners happen "organically". For me, they evolved because of mutual generosity and good, like-minded communication. Many trades are short and to-the-point, but you can tell when you have a "beer connection" with someone. I have three regular trading partners. The interesting thing is that two of those partnerships got off to a bad start -- I accidentally screwed one guy over and another accidentally screwed me over. But those partnerships grew because we're the type of people who believe in making things right and overcompensating. Now we don't even really do trades. We just get good beers and ship them to each other no questions asked.
Generally, a good way to establish a trade partner is contacting them via text when shipping and striking up a convo about craft beer or seeing how they like the beer you traded. As Heatwaves said, they happen organically. The best way to establish a trade partner is to Beer it Foward with a previous trader that you've talked to with no intention of receiving anything back in return. It shows that you want them to try something they can't get and usually they will reciprocate Out of 20 or so trades, I have 3 regular trade partners that hook me up with local/brewery only releases, so the percentage is low, trade often. Good luck
