eBay and Beer Sales

You have a middleman who has zero involvement in making the product and zero interest in consuming the product jumping in between the producer and consumer just to drive the price up so they can make a profit.

That alone should be enough to make any BA or brewer sick.

Imagine walking into a store, you see a product you want to buy, the store wants to sell it to you. But some person who has no desire to buy the product grabs it before you can and decides they are going to auction if off to highest bidder. The store wants to sell it to you for price on the bottle, you want to buy it but some person who doesn't know the difference between a PTE and a Bud Light is now involved in the transaction.

 

You could well be describing a distribution company

While I would never had been interested in selling beer, I will miss not being able to snag a beer I want on ebay, if I want. I've bought beers I wouldn't otherwise be able to buy or trade for. Sometimes it was just easier.

 

People who think they need to try everything. Everything...anything. What's the difference? Until such time as there's some kinda 10 Commandments of the Beer "Community", I simply find it amusing that everyone presumes their way of viewing things is the way it should be viewed. I'm of the opinion that every single person in THIS, the BA community, is of such means that we all get to enjoy good beer. Excellent beer. Lots of it. On many occasions. All over the damned place. Quite simply, it's irritating in a lot of ways, to hear people bitch regardless of their stance on the situation.

 

This describes every beer transaction in the state of Texas, since we have a mandatory 3-tier system which prevents brewers from selling their own beers and requires they use distributors, who jack up the price.

Agreed. For a long time I felt like I needed to try EVERYTHING new and unique and cool that came out. Now I think differently. Maybe its because I'm running out of room for storing beer, but now I pass on lots of things, and save myself for those things I REALLY want instead. Works for me.

 

What a multitude of you seem to not comprehend; beer trading and beer selling are one of the same. Neither enhances the "community". If you think you're helping the community by trading your gravely mistaken and really fairly ignorant. I'd pass you a beer to cheers if you weren't so high up on your soap box. You're no better.

 

What the difference with "scalping' on EBAY, and guys on this site trying to trade for stuff looking for a 3-4X dollar 4 dollar? Or more.

 

The Brewers Association's page on Self-Distribution laws says that Texas law, Alcoholic Beverage Code Title 3, Ch. 12 allows for self-distribution by breweries with barrelages of under 75,000 bbl./yr.

Wholesalers do "jack up the price", of course- a portion of that their profit but much of it typical business costs of warehousing, labor and transportation- all expenses that the brewers themselves then do not have cover. And a multi-brand beer distributor will probably be able to do it more efficiently than if individual brewers all had to deliver their beers separately.

 

On ebay you have no one selling for face value. On BA you have people trading at face value.

 

Some at face value, not all. I've been hit up for 3-4x $4$ on many occasions and you have to pass. You can't ignore there's profiteers trading here too looking for beer instead of money. But in doing this they're basically EBAY in that regard.

 

But can you not list them as bad traders then?

 

You can absolutely ignore the profiteers on this site. The problem is, many of you don't, and you give them the juice they need to feel what they're doing is A-OK and an accepted practice.

 

Your absolutely right. But guys who trade with profiteers have the ways and means to acquire what they want regardless of the money, same as EBAY. As long as there is demand for rare brews this will happen price be damned. I find it less annoying when you look at the EBAY pricing for say a GI Rare for 150 bucks, then look on this site for the asking price in trade.

 

To each their own. I feel like with the limiting of ebay sales, that forces 'scalpers' to modify (lower) their asking price on BA, as we all see what happens to the waaay out of whack trade threads here- they get ripped apart.

 

I hope your right, but I don't think EBAY pricing sets the market on this site, rarity does, but I may very well be 100% wrong. But time will tell. As long as retailers keep splitting 4 pks of KBS and selling bottles for 10 bucks or more a piece this stuff will exist. I know of an online store looking for KBS at 17 bucks a bottle, as in 17, FBS for 14, it's not quite stealing because guys believe it or not are willing to pay it, but it's insane. Sometimes you just have to say fuck it and say no.

 

I stick to my price limits and just say to myself, self they are lots of other great beers out there.

 

Except that's a bunch of BS because people aren't buying beers on eBay that they could pick up off the shelf at their local store. People buying beer on eBay are willing to pay a premium because the sellers are providing them with beer that they couldn't obtain otherwise.

 

Self distribution, yes, but no sales. If a brewer wants to take the time to drive all over town, dropping their beer off at hundreds of stores, they can, but the majority of small brewers simply don't have the time or staff to be able to do this. Jester King does some self-distribution to a couple of stores, but otherwise most find it unfeasible.

What isnt allowed is for brewers to SELL their own beer on site - no growler fills, no bottle sales, etc. So prices are always higher because the distributor jacks them up, and then the store jacks them up (or just the store jacks them up if they're self-distributed)

 

These two statements contradict one another:

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So, you really don't feel that wholesalers and retailers should not "jack up" prices? They aren't charities, and they deserve to cover their expenses and to make a profit. Expenses that the brewery is saving by NOT self-distributing and/or retailing.

In the states that do allow brewers to sell direct to consumers, the prices at the brewery are often equal to or even more than those that the local retailers charge. Why? Because most breweries don't want to undercut their real "customers" - the wholesalers and retailers who sell the majority of their production.

 

Actually a few here tried that and they almost had to close down there tasting rooms. Now there about a buck cheaper than the other places. free market ruled again here...

 

Agreed. I should have been more specific and said "basically require" since its economically unfeasible for brewers to self-distribute, although the option exists for some.

I didn't say whether they should or shouldn't - thats not the issue. What I was saying was that the 3-tier system is what accounts for the increase in prices here. I've talked to brewers who've told me that they would sell their beer at a lower cost than stores currently sell it if they COULD sell it themselves, on site. Even if it were sold at the same price, I'd prefer my money go to the brewer who has done the hard work, all things being equal. I'd at least like the option to make that decision, but I don't have it.