ISO / FT threads that state 'contact for ratios'

Agree with this, but mostly wanting to put an offer out there that is fair and will get bites. Obviously I am not looking to overpay greatly, but information helps to make a good offer.

 

Not very difficult to get an answer to your questions. There is a Pipeworks running thread in the Great Lakes forum. Just make a post asking for price & availability. As you mention it comes in 4 pks of 16 oz cans. Price is 9.99 per and is readily available. One caveat is that given this is the first run of it, it will probably sell out within a week or so. However they will make it again soon and it will be more than easy to get then.

 

I think the point he was making was the fact that this information used to be shared freely in the trade forums themselves. Now you see absurd posts and have to take additional steps to gather information you could once glean at a glance.

 

With all due respect, it's not very difficult to do what I suggested above i.e., make a post in the regional forum asking about price & availability.

 

It's not really about difficulty as much as its about convenience/user experience.

 

I guess this is a way to do a an auction behind the scenes. However, what if OP has say a (insert whale... Ba Abraxxas, DBH, MD).... and wants quantity of say fresh IPA's. How does the OP present it. "I want 2 cases of IPA's?, Or as mentioned before a case of Heady. On big beers like those it may be easier to take offers via BM. He isn't asking for or does he even want anything specific. Just playing devils advocate.

 

I've responded to a couple of these types of trade offers recently. Both conversations went something like this:

ME: What are you thinking for ratios?
Them: What do you think is fair?
ME: I don't know, you're the one that put up the damn offer!

As others have stated, these types of posts can sometimes be innocent but usually not

 

Absolutely auctions. All of them

 

Took me less than 30 seconds to run a google search and find a price and other release details

 

Lol. Exactly my response. I tell them its your trade, what did you have in mind....... then the "well ive had several people offer me blah blah blah, what can you offer?"

At which point I check out, sometimes with choice words, ha.

 

Scenario...

FT: VR x 1
ISO: HT x 24*

*Quantity negotiable

Maybe this adds a little transparency?

 

I've been fortunate enough to post in the ISO and get what I want and I don't believe I've mentioned ratios until the trade talk has begun, like 2:1 or 3:1 for a bottle. There is definitely a lot of millennial trading going on, nonsense offers and people spraying you with ratios of he said, she said to make it happen but it takes two to tango. Trading beer is a lot of fun and it can be addicting when the fruit is ripe, we've all been there. Its a niche! Be friendly, assume less, don't settle and just get what you came there to get without succumbing to auctions or shoddy traders; bites are bites though for better or worse. There was a criteria for posting when I joined in October and I believe I was flagged in the beginning for incorrectness. So, my advice, make a couple criteria designs and send it to the Bros, the worst they could say is "No, thanks." I haven't seen a solution presented yet but instead, we're just drinking beers in front of our computers and sharing complaints amongst ourselves. We forget though that this place is ever-changing.


Side note: Do I think TG/SP offers are insane? Yes but good for them and whoever wants to have a go at it. Be my guest!

 

You posted this ten seconds before me and I stand corrected!!!

 

I'm truly not bothered by the vague, perceived auction-like posts (note: I do not post this way myself). Ultimately, there are going to be private messages exchanged between parties that only 2 BAs will be privy to--in any scenario. You can offer exactly what an OP is ISO and you might get outbid anyway and receive a possiible [I took the first offer I received; you weren't it, I decided to hold onto my bottle(s) for now, etc.]

We never know the true intention until the said trade is agreed upon and delivered.

 

and that's the conversation you should report to the mods. minus the choice words.

if people are seeing these things in conversations and *not* reporting them, then they are part of the problem. we don't want to hear about how tough it is (srsly? click the report button in your conversation) or how you don't want to be perceived as a rat and possibly limit your future trading options or whatever your excuse of the day happens to be.

if the community doesn't work to police itself, most of the policing won't happen.

too often, *perceived* auctions are reported without any evidence or support. we're not going to spend our time tracking down every post that *could* be an auction and trying to bait the OP into something.

at *best* posts with a "BM for ratios" will be taken down and the user notified that their post was not specific enough. those aren't likely to garner warnings. if you've got something more, tell us. otherwise, deal with it and don't trade with people whose ISO style you don't like. it's not that hard.

 

Beginning to seriously think about this comment. For 10 years I've been guilty of "feeling/being percieved" as a rat so I've never reported anyone other than myself (on more than one occasion) and a troll that absolutely tried to ruin every ISO by threadshitting on every offer.

I'm not saying I'm going to run out and report every small offense but if someone starts pulling this auction crap, hell with 'em. Since they're trying to screw me over, I have no problem returning the favor. As F2 mentioned, if we don't say anything about it the problem won't fix itself.

 

the biggest problem is i can be 90% sure a trade is an auction (someone i've tried dealing with before, etc), but if i report the post, the report gets rejected for not having proof. I'm not going to go into an in depth conversation with every post i think is an auction...so i have mostly stopped reporting posts because they generally dont result in anything happening. I dont see why not having concrete proof is an issue...if someone is being vague theyre being vague, and "bm me for ratios" is essentially the same thing to me as "make me an offer" in most cases. if they have a concrete ratio in mind, then post it! if not it's being vague, which is in the rules as part of the "no open ended, vague, auction-like offers"

 

The rule of thumb I operate by is this: the person who posted the trade thread sets the initial terms/ratio.

If I decide to respond to a ISO:FT post that includes "BM me for ratios", my first question is "what ratio did you have in mind?" Their subsequent answer can often go a long way to determining if they are running an auction and will sometimes provide the more concrete proof that the site needs to enact disciplinary measures.

And I would likely report both the examples that @evilcatfish and @TheVicster gave as responses they've received. One is a little more explicit than the other, but both seem sufficient to determine that the person who posted the trade request is trying to compare offers of multiple responders to his post--i.e., auctioning.

 

If you're not willing to take the action needed and be part of the solution, go about your business and shut your yap: you have zero to complain about.

If you can't understand *why* we need evidence to take action against people, I really can't help you. That's a basic requirement for taking any kind of punitive action. Otherwise, the situation is he said/she said. Acting purely on accusations and reports without objective evidence gets you into fun situations like the Salem Witch and McCarthy Trials.