eBay and Beer Sales

Good point, I've used a wine retailer to ship my first few trades too, but then he said it wasn't worth his time. If I was a better customer of his I suppose he still would do this, but I don't buy much from this shop. If I could I would do this every time, but it's hard to find an interested party. I've had one Fed EX delivery popped, and reshipped UPS which IMO is easier. Most time UPS doesn't even ask about contents.

 

I know it's a crazy thought, but I think that the majority of people who get PtY or other brewery releases actually drink them.

Traders are a small minority of the beer community. In fairness, Ebay sellers probably are too.

The difference, from where I see it though, is traders have a limit. No trader would really want to buy 20 bottles of every limited release just to trade it away, because that gets extremely expensive. Between shipping costs and diminishing marginal returns on the trades, there is no point to buying that much. But for an Ebay seller? There are no limits. They'll gobble up every last bottle they can get, because it is all the more profit.

I don't have the data, but at any given moment the number of Ebay beer sales were well into the thousands upon thousands. At any given moment there might be what - 500 active trades going on here? (About 1000 ISO's per week, figure 2/3 probably don't get done, then add in a bit for behind the scenes) Probably less than that on RB and everywhere else combined. (Reddit has about 50 ISO posts a week, so if that's even worth listing as a notable trade site, you can see just how tiny the trading community is.) So there might be 1000 trades going down per week, which is certainly way less than the number of Ebay sales going on. Hell, the Cantillon section alone on Ebay often numbered into the hundreds...

 

Cantillon is different as it's distributed widely. Sure, most people drank those growlers of PtY, but many many more were traded than were listed on eBay. There were way more ISO/FTs than the 15 or so reported listings, and that doesn't account for the many that went between trading partners. You can't dispute those numbers.
Most trades between partners go without ISOs. You have every right to not like eBay, but there's just no way that more people were eBaying than trading.

 

I really don't get the brewery worship and the notion that somehow honor to the brewery is involved in not reselling or buying a beer specifically to trade for more than its worth. The honorable thing to do would be to not fleece your fellow customers in trades/sales. The only way honor is involved is in human to human transactions not human to company.

I bought one bottle of Dark Lord on eBay and it was as enjoyable as spending $65 on 22 oz of beer could possibly be. It was easier and less time consuming then a trade would be especially since I never have traded on here and would have had to A) beg someone to trade a Dark Lord for locals B) Spend more on those locals/shipping then I did eBay an C) it would have taken a week to coordinate and agree to all of the above.

Would I do it all the time? Of course not but I'm glad I had the option and that I'll soon drink my DL and decide if it's worth the 4 hour drive to FFF next yr.

 

I'm not sure how you are disputing that so vehemently. If there were 10,000 beer auctions going on at any one time (seriously - the counts were getting massive as almost every single label out there could be found in recent weeks), and only 1000 ISO's per week, are you suggesting that private trades make up 5-10x the volume of public trades? That would only pull the two about equal.

Of course, then we also have to look at the fact that the average Ebay auction runs about 3 days, which means on a comparative weekly basis, we should be counting something closer to twice that active listing number.

You have every right to like Ebay, but I think there is a very strong case to be made that it was much more popular than trading.

 

1. Are you saying that a legitimate, legal market should exist for any and all consumer products for which there is demand? If so, this is a dubious position for you to hold...

2. Your CBS argument is disingenuous, or at the very least, logically unsound. Why do you apply "ebay value" to the CBS but not to the other beer offered in your hypothetical trade scenario? I recently traded a $20 beer for a CBS very easily.

Ultimately, Ebay themselves decided to eliminate beer sales despite the fact that they were making plenty of money from them. I'm sure they made that decision with some brewers' input, but I am also fairly confident that they would not have cut off a lucrative revenue stream without an unfavorable cost/benefit analysis. Ebay has a right to act within the law to protect their interests, so I am not sure what everybody is so up in arms about. Had Ebay determined that their liability risk was acceptable given their revenue from beer sales, I doubt anyone (Feds notwithstanding) could have convinced them to stop listing beer. For the ebay apologists defending the virtues of auctioning beer, I think you're on the wrong side of the debate - but it doesn't matter either way, because ebay doesn't care about my opinion or yours, and they have already made their decision anyways.

 

You missed the point.

 

Fun read:
Shipping Laws State-by-State
http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Shipping-Laws-State-by-State_1049
http://www.wineinstitute.org/initiatives/stateshippinglaws/faqs#5

 

This whole thread is hilarious! Great entertainment. I feel like the people who are happy about eBay not selling beer anymore are the same people who don't go shopping without their reusable shopping bags. Saving the world slowly but surely, one grocery day at a time.

 

Yes, and I remember when many fewer tickets got sold by StubHub, and fewer beers on ebay. IMHO beer selling on ebay is/was in an infancy that in a few years would have had as great an influence as StubHub now does. I hope ebay sticks to their guns and continues the ban, and I wish nothing but bad luck and bankruptcy for both StubHub and Ticket Bastard.

 

As I was perusing ebay to see what progress they have made purging collectible bottles I already found one loophole. For sale is a "list" of how to obtain said beers legally. You actually don't have to buy the "list", you contact the seller and he emails it to you. Pretty clever and no I'm not emailing the seller.

 

Yeah, I try to conserve as much as possible. Nothing cracks me up more than those who call themselves "conservatives" and argue against conserving.

 

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!!

 

The average eBay auction is 3 days now? I thought it was 7? I haven't listed anything (never beer!) in years, but the default was always 7 days back then.
Sorry, I just think you're way overstating it, especially with limited releases. Never really cared about it either way, and certainly had better things to do with my time than constantly search stuff on it to get butthurt about it, but I have proof that PtY it was a mere fraction of growlers and I'm sure if I had the inclination, I could find a few other examples. Yes or no: do you actually believe that at the more well known bottle releases there were more eBay sellers than traders? Does anyone else feel this way? Am I really in the minority on this one? I'm sure there were some sellers who had mules, but even then I just don't buy it.

Edit: just to be clear, I'm not talking about sought after off-the-shelf-from-breweries-with-limited-distribution stuff on the 'bay. I'm just responding to the "well, now all of those greedy profiteers won't be at releases, us true fans will now have an easier time getting beers at them" posts.

 

You're not alone. Traders keep beers out of the hands of lots of locals too, regardless if they think they're morally superior for being an "advocate."

 

I always bought release beers on eBay because paying triple was a small price to pay to avoid a day with the "righteous" beer nerds of said town for said barrel aged beer.

I think you all need to read a news paper and find something else to work yourselves up into a lather about.

**** trading is the same as eBay and all of you **** trade. $4$ always has a factor of rarity in it. You know it, I know it. Tell the truth and spite the Devil. Or trade me a 4 pack of BCBS for 8 Flower Powers. I can ship today.

 

No need to name the beer, but at least tell me its eBay value.

 

I'm not gonna argue how many people and how much beer and what percentage of everything. I am not gonna argue legality. I am gonna make this my final comment on this thread.

Whether it is 5%, 15%, 30%, 50% or more of hard to get beers purchased and sold by ebayers, I am now that percentage happier that they won't have this avenue of exploitation open to their greed for profit.

I was told it's too bad I can't afford to buy the exorbitantly priced beer on ebay, and I shouldn't begrudge or stand in the way of those who can. That was certainly true, and I hope now those who said and agreed with that won't mind me saying

Right back atcha

 

Amazing. I'm using this.

 

I call BS on that unless you're using the $4$/Rarity Factor equation

PS: Trading across state lines is also illegal.