I'm new to the beer trading obviously, but how do you know if you can trust the person you are going to trade with? Is there a way to check a peson's profile to see if they have had bad reviews?
As a new trader, trade with a vet, someone who has multiple trades and references (listed on their profile under info) who has been a member for a while. As a new trader you'll be expected to ship first. Check the references (send them a message asking if they'd recommend trading). In all reality, you'll never know if you will get burned, but start small and work your way up a.k.a. Start with stuff off the shelf and work your way up to a hunahpu/cantillion/newbeeroftheweek. If you start with low risk trades and eventually develop relationships with other traders, you should be alright. Hope this helps.
ask for references if there's none listed. check references. (incidentally, i have never checked references)
Buy a plane ticket to his city. Ask to meet at an airport bar. Share a few beers. Then stand in front of him, facing away, and fall backwards. Trust him to catch you. Or, check references.
I've done roughly 50+ trades over the last year and a half and haven't got burned so far. After awhile you pretty much stick with your regular traders and every so often something will catch your eye and you'll trade with someone new. Check ref's and ship, you'll be just fine.
Since I am really just trading off the shelf stuff and semi-limited beers I don't really check anything. If I were trading whales I'd certainly perform background investigations on potential trade partners.
All the advice above is good but also go with your gut. If the person acts a bit unusual in the forums or in trade talks, i would approach with more caution. Common sense can help a lot. Also, be careful with anyone with a newer join date or offers that seem one sided in your favor.
Too add to some of the above comments, I tend to watch out for people defending bad traders or people against calling bad traders out in the trade forums. If they like to use the term "life happens" I avoid them like the plague. They may be great traders now, but if "life happens" I know where they will end up...
200+ boxes over 4 1/2 years & I haven't had a bum trade yet (knock on wood). Totally agree with the guy above. Trust your gut. I've bailed on trades where the guy was terribly slow responding, or acting unpleasantly in the forums, or for a couple other reasons.
If you do this you will not get burned 99% of the time If someone refuses to ship first my first thought it always "Hmm I wonder why?"
I don't have any whales to trade, so unless someone is really looking to screw me out of a few local beers, I'm not a candidate for scamming. That said, I've only done about 8 trades. When I initially set them up, I offered to ship first to establish I wasn't a scammer. I haven't really thought about not trusting a trading partner. As others said, you can feel them out in how they communicate. If it seems odd, don't do it. I've been very lucky thus far in that all the people I've traded with have been absolutely stand up traders. So no complaints there
Can we trade sometime soon? I've got a 9 year old for collateral. I might include 1 or 2 additional children as extra collateral just in case you need further reassurance.
I usually check to see if they have references listed and that's good enough for me. If I'm doing a trade involving some particularly rare beers, I might take the extra step of following up and checking references. If someone doesn't have many references (< 5) I'll ask them to ship first, and if they have no references listed I'll ask them about their trading histories.
