Trading for Non-Whales Advice

Just post your own ISO:FT thread offering up some of your favorite local shelf and then target a specific brewery or area for their shelf.

Many of us have done local shelf for shelf trades.

 

Just put a post out in the ISO/FT...you will likely have to ship first but you'll find there are a lot of people out there who are happy to trade locals for locals. List out some of the breweries you can get that are local and not larger distro'ed and start out trying to do a 6 pack for 6 pack trade

 

I'm a novice trader also (only 3 under my belt), I this a six for a six is a great idea, and I'd like to see it more...I'm a little tired of perusing the trade forums to find acronyms that I don't recognize and would never be able to get my hands on

 

I think you don't see a ton of them because a lot of people who have established trading relationships reach out to traders they already know for locals.

 

^^^^ Fair enough

 

But don't let that stop you from posting it...usually the mystery 6 pack for mystery 6 pack locals trade almost always closes immediately on the trade forums.

 

I wouldn't worry about all the limited beers and acronyms. There is a ton of great shelf beer out there and plenty of people that will trade for their shelf beer. Just figure out what you want and post your own ISO targeting it. Like mps said, they usually close immediately. Just be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Those types of ISO can get a lot of responses, just take your time. The great thing about shelf beer is that it is easy to get and you can always circle back later to those responses later.

Shelf for shelf trades can lead to a regular trading partner too, which makes it easier to get more limited beer with out having to give up the farm or wade through all the posts.

 

I agree with the responses here. I only have 12 feedback on BA right now, but I've probably sent or received more than 30 boxes through other trade arrangements (regular trade partners, LIFs, BIFs). My first three or four trades on BA were shelf locals for shelf locals. I set a dollar value with the other traders, established style preferences, and pulled together a box that I was proud to send out (and over the agreed upon $4$ value--my goal was developing relationships AND drinking good beer). Each time, I was blown away by the generosity that the other BA demonstrated in the return box, and my partner seemed to be happy with what I sent. Because of this, I have several regular trading partners, have received a few boxes out of the blue, and am involved with a regular BIF group whose soul purpose seems to be to "hook each other up" outside of the trade forums.

My advice is
1. Be generous--you'll develop relationships, share good beer, and build your reputation
2. Trust--While people do get burned, the overwhelming number of BAers are here for the same reasons--to enjoy beer (especially beer that can't be obtained locally) and to make new friends. And, The BA community seems to be at the ready to more than make up for any negative experiences
3. Use the feedback system--though #1 and #2 are true, the feedback system provides peace-of-mind, builds your credibility, and puts a small safeguard in place for your trade
4. Engage in the forums. I've wound up making more trades because of comments I or others have made in threads than I have through the ISO/FT forum. Engage with the community and you will find that you are part of the community before you know it...

Best of luck, and welcome to the community!

 

The only reason I would say to tread lightly is that IMO locals for locals just becomes very costly and addictive with the end result of you having beers that are probably comparable to beers you can buy locals.

There are exceptions but I probably went too long before realizing that a ton of the beers I traded for were...sort of silly to trade for given comparable styles that were so easily accessible locally. Again, exceptions exist and I still trade for stuff I love that I can't buy, I would just suggest you figure out what that is quickly

 

Tickers gotta tick

 

For sure. The sooner you realize there is ALWAYS a new super cool beer you gotta trade for and you'll never be done ticking...the better!

 

Honestly, it never stops being that way...

 

Last year I did a trade for a sixpack of Grain Belt Premium. It really doesn't get much less whale-ish than that. I posted the trade as "ISO: Grain Belt FT: Oregon beer", and offered a selection of easy-to-get locals. It was a fun and easy trade that got done quickly.

Sure, it seems like the trade forum is full of nothing but insta-whale trades, but that shouldn't stop you from throwing a local-for-local trade out there. SOMEONE is going to see it, and maybe that someone is ready for a quick trade without a lot of whaling negotiations. Good luck!

 

I've posted a couple times just saying FT: Locals ISO: Locals and do a blind box that way, and it's my favorite way to trade if I am not hunting something down. So you can just do that and have someone hook you up!

 

A basic locals for locals trade is my favorite. No haggling or dealing and you often end up with some awesome beers. Nothing like getting some locals you have never even heard of!

Some advice:
1. Set a $ amount each of you will spend
2. Let each other know preferred styles
3. Use seekabrew.com to check out local distribution let the other person know if there are any particular breweries you are interested in.
4. In your initial offer mention where you are located and specific parts of the country you are interested in trading with. Otherwise you may get bombarded with people wanting to trade when you have no interest in their distro region.

5. Keep it simple and don't get greedy! There has been a couple of times when I was setting up a trade like this and somebody would start asking about rare/desirable bottles (in my case SP, Perennial, etc) and trying to expand to include such bottles. I pretty much ended any possibility of a trade right there and told the individual I wanted to do an easy locals trade for a reason. Had they not brought it up or gotten pushy one of those bottles may well have ended up in the box I sent them

 

Quite true my friend

 

@DeadWalkerAir I Live in Louisiana and can bring up a bunch of locals when I head back to NoVa this summer. Bayou Teche, Parish, Nola Brew Co., Abita, and Tin Roof are some locals with various distributions levels. I'd definitely like to bring back some dogfishhead as they don't distribute here.

 

Join the Locals for Locals BIF, it should be renamed Porch Crushers.

Great group of traders and several mini-BIFs and LIFs going on at the same time.