eBay and Beer Sales

WHY should we care what the "wishes of brewers" are? The customer is who matters, not the business. What the customer wants should be paramount.

 

If you guys can come to satisfactory conclusions on these issues, please tell Timothy Geithner...he needs it.

 

Neither, I'm ignoring it because it's irrelevant to a discussion of the economics of the issue, IMO.

Whether or not I'm interested in respecting a brewery's wishes (let's say I am... because I am) doesn't impact whether or not they're selling a small quantity of a thing well below value.

The way markets deal with inefficiencies like this is to raise price and supply. Since raising the latter is sometimes impossible then raising prices is the logical alternative.

If brewers choose to ignore this inefficiency out of a sense of egalitarianism then they WILL be creating an incentive for the grey market they so abhor.

It's this difficult reality, that you can't dictate the market, that I am trying to get across.

 

it creates incentives, but implying that this should influence their (breweries') behavior ignores the incentives to, for example, maintain a sense of egalitarianism.

maybe you don't mean to be phrasing it like these economic factors are "more important"? it reads like you are simply expounding on how you think breweries ought to act, in light of market realities.

 

Drinking beer is legal. Human trafficking is illegal -- period. Stupid comparison.

 

http://beeradvocate.com/community/t...p-with-in-craft-beer.31501/page-4#post-394239

 

I'm saying that if eliminating the grey market is the primary concern brewers should act rationally (economically speaking) ad eliminate the incentive for there to BE a grey market by reducing the huge gap in value between what their beer is actually worth and what price they are currently selling it at. Yes, this would create a whole new category of people pissed off at being priced out of certain beers.

However, if brewers insist on egalitarianism then they must accept that there will be pissed off people who see themselves as having been more worthy than others to be one of the lucky few to get bottles and there WILL be a grey market. The incentive created by the extreme demand coupled with limited and inexpensive supply is a far stronger incentive than some percentage of beer drinkers' desire to do right by the brewery's wishes.

Most every brewery is attempting to deal with this issue by hanging on dearly for egalitarian ideals of craft beer, which is commendable if a bit short sighted, I think.

 

It sounds like he's simply saying that breweries, while they can act however they want, shouldn't be surprised by the consequences of their actions.

If breweries want to keep their retail prices down, that's fine, but they shouldn't be surprised and indignant when a secondary market opens up to achieve equilibrium.

Similarly, if they want to cut down on reselling they either have to raise prices (e.g. North Coast's BA stuff) or entirely eliminate the supply of resalable items (e.g. Ephraim), which of course will alienate certain potential customers.

What breweries can't do is have their cake and eat it too - i.e., maintain "egalitarian" pricing models while simultaneously acting self-righteous about reselling. Customer-friendliness (i.e. low prices and convenient take-home containers) and secondary markets are inversely directly correlated - the easier you make it to buy your beer, the greater the chance it will be resold. It comes across as hypocritical when a brewery seems to ignore this obvious economic fact.

 

This.

 

Everybody is out here going Full Ken Doll about all this Ebay stuff. if the doober bought it they can sell it. may not be very nice, but no sense gettin all poopy about it.

 

Thank you both for saying what I've been trying to say so eloquently.

The craft beer industry does not exist in a vaccuum. To deny this fact is to ignore reality.

 

Amen Brother!!

 

I kinda surprised this thread has not but shut down b/c of all the hair pulling, spitting, and cursing. That said, this post nails it. Game, set, match.

 

While I believe the current trading environment has some negative aspects (people, practices, intents)...I feel putting the kaibosh on the whole trading forum would be a colossal knee-jerk reaction and a mistake.

 

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/ft-double-oaked-kate-the-great-iso-ba-stouts.31859/

I want to know how much my beer COMMANDS!

 

So what would happen if and I know it couldn't happen, but if the brewers put their limited releases on ebay and said have at it to maximize their profit? What would people do then? They figure if there is big money to be made why not the brewer instead of a profiteer. Just a question I have been thinking about.

 

Why is profit so evil? A brewer is a profiteer too.

 

This didn't go over too well when Jack White tried it:
http://www.spinner.com/2010/12/01/jack-white-defends-eBay-vinyl-auctions/

 

I'm not saying it is evil. It was just a question I put out there to see what others thought of the scenario. It would basically let consumers do what some of us would like and that is set the value of a beer instead people complaining about $20 bottles and such. If people thought the beer was only worth $2 then that's what you'd pay or $200 if that's what people thought it was worth. Again, if anyone should make a profit it should be the brewers. Just wondering what others thought.

 

http://billybrew.com/the-ins-and-outs-of-shipping-beer

1. What are the laws in your state: Not every state permits shipments of alcohol to residents so if you live in PA, TX, MA, UT, MD, DE, AR, OK, MT, ME, SD, KY, AK, HI, WV or MS then you can’t have alcohol of any kind delivered to you. There are companies out there that do not adhere to or are not aware of laws from state to state and may be shipping to residents of these states which could land them and possibly even the resident in legal trouble. Even states that do permit shipments of alcohol to residents have certain legal restrictions and requirements that must be met. Some states don’t allow anything with an alcohol content greater than a set percentage and many others put a monthly or annual limit on the amount of alcohol a person or household can receive from out of state retailers.

I don't have the hours to look up each states laws. Yet its not hard to find other sites saying its against the law to ship beer to certain states. I just wonder if its a felony or not.