Poor people should just stop trading...

Not an entire trade worth. Maybe a filler beer ( one that i could easily go to three different stores and buy a case of) but definitely not the beer the trade was based around.
I would just feel weird doing it any other way.

 

Why do we have so many smart BA like lawyers, doctors, engineers, scientists, professors... and we still cannot figure out a way to prevent bad trades happening? Can we all pool the talents together and come up with a solution?

 

The solution is expensive - i.e. use an intermediary who holds the goods in escrow. Short of that, you're always going to have problems with peer-to-peer transactions.

 

Drink local?

 

You're never going to stop all the bad stuff from happening in the world. Half the time the purported cure (i.e. our addiction to legislation) is worse than the underlying problem.

 

I budget myself as so: I pay all the bills, wifey pays for occasional entertainment and puts the rest in savings. Whatever is left over from bills, I get to do whatever I want beer-wise. I get my hobby, and we pay cash for a house in a few years. All is good.

 

Would the escrow get to keep 1 oz of each beer held as payment? Extracted via pipet?

 

Artifact trading?

Such a tough choice here, do I mention something about the artifact being carbonated Angel's Share? Or a piece of rare coral?

 

Yeah - in theory it works great. People use escrow-style systems for all sorts of large/rare transactions. The problem is most beer trades are well below the cost that it would be worth it. Now, if you were trading $500 worth of rare beer all at once - then it might easily be worth the extra $20 from each side... But that happens extremely rarely.

 

To reduce extra shipping, we can always have "BA Trade Representative" networks around the country. Folks can nominate reputable trader local to vouch for the content and back up the trade. In case some people live in remote area, they may have to ship to the nearest representative. We only need an intermediaries when we deal with new traders or the trade involving many valuable beers or required by the partner( $20 box local may not need reviewed unless two party insisted).

I do think that a trade feedback system similar to other site will help tremendously. Apparently, they have less bad traders overthere than BA .

 

We may never stop all the bad stuff but at least we can reduce them to certain level. Kind of mitigating the risk.

 

Although I had some great beer experiences that came from trading, I would trade every single millisecond of memory I have about them in a heartbeat for the $5,000-$10,000 I sunk into the hobby (between shipping, extras, and the cost of beer).

I am lucky enough to have paid off the debt I accrued doing it, and have also hit a financial roadblock that woke me up to the stupidity of it all and thus has taken away my desire. I hope that everyone else can say the same thing soon.

 

Because education doesn't equal morality. There are tons of smart, unethical people in the workforce. There are tons of bright people that just get lazy. The business world breeds narcissism and psychopathy. A study published last year said that 1 in 25 corporate leaders is a psychopath.

 

Borrow books, buy beer. Priorities.

 

As someone who spends within my means, I honestly don't think that $5k-$10k is a terribly high price for a couple of years of something interesting to do. It's a lot cheaper hobby than most honestly, and the social aspect is great.

That said, if I was broke, I certainly wouldn't be trading beer, and would probably not even be drinking much. All about living within one's means.

 

The first rule about psychopath club is. . .

 

One of the only times I've ever agreed with you.

 

God, we need to hang out sometime and NOT talk about beer! Haha

 

The 'other site' has an excellent mediation system where there's a third party actively involved in the proceedings. They're invested in making sure bad trades don't happen whereas it's practically the wild, wild west over here. (On the flip side, the other site has a quite a bit less traffic in the forums...and probably many fewer newbie traders.)

 

first off...love the 0.0 ref!

2ndly...what i've seen/read (and this is a generalization so obviously doesn't apply to all) is that many college age kids have student loans and simply apply that cash to whatever they are feeling they need to spend it on. it really pains me when i see people blow it off as it will just be paid off later.

it is a sad state of affairs, but in my mind college loans are the next phase of subprime mortgages to our economy (that was one of the big gripes of the occupy movement if you were able to hear an interview from anyone that actually knew why they were there - aside from the party). i have plenty of peers who make a great living and are struggling because they graduated with big debt. as much as i hated working 3 jobs in college and having to take out 1 of the 3 books that my professors' made available at the library to study for exams...it was that kind of behavior that allowed me to graduate from college debt free and now own a home and support a family.

agreed 100%. i know suze orman says 6 months is what you need, but 6 months goes pretty fast if you lose your job. 2 yrs is what the advice should be and even that is probably not enough. things happen. normal wear and tear on home ownership is crazy expensive (had to put about 20k into my house in maintenance in the past few years in replacing a boiler, AC and other necessary repairs - and know i'll be looking at a roof replacement within 5 years or so)...not to mention what happens if someone in your family has a medical issue? trading is fun, but comes at a cost and it is not insignificant.