Trend toward no extras?

I'm fairly new to the trading game, but have loved every second. Extras are a huge part of the excitment. th as t feeling of opening the box to see what you've got. I always added extras, usually locals or something I know the trader can't get and I enjoy.

personally, I think this should be apart of the rating process, when you look at a traders feedback you usually see that they have offered up extras. if they do I always put that in my comment. I'm lucky, I've only had one trade without extras, and that wasn't through BA.

 

Extras are great, but a big no to having this as part of feedback process. Extras are just that, extras. Also, some people agree to no extras ahead of time. I used to trade a lot more and always included extras, but have been doing agreed upon no extras trades lately, I already have too much beer and am making very specific small trades so agree ahead of time not to do extras.

 

Had a bad "extra" experience today, and wondering what you guys think. I love sending local, quality extras with all my trades, but I had 2 trades in a row where I sent great extras and received nothing in a row. Because of this, I now always ask the other trader if they would like to include extras so I don't get hosed. It has worked well so far and almost everyone always says "of course"!
This most recent trade, we specifically agreed upon "a couple of local extras". I went out and searched for a fresh bottle of Pliny the Elder and I also sent a barrel aged sour from Alpine I got not too long ago. I'm not necessarily expecting things like that in return, but when I opened my package today, the only extra was a single 12 oz can, a pale ale from a brewery I had never heard of that was dated from February (3 months ago) and was clearly pulled out the back of his fridge.
So I have never given anything but great feedback, but I almost feel that since we agreed upon "a couple of local extras" and he only included 1 12oz can of 3 moth old bullshit, I should maybe give less than great feedback. What do you guys think?

 

If they're an agreed-upon part of the trade, then they're not extras.

Extras are just that: extra, in addition to the trade. IMHO an additional positive note may be warranted when someone goes above and beyond w/ extras, but poor (or no) extras should never result in negative or neutral feedback.

 

Well I would slightly disagree, and say that there can be such a thing as "agreed upon extras". The difference between those and the agreed upon bottles you are trading for is that you know which bottles you are receiving with those, but the extras are a surprise.
In my case, we agreed upon "a couple of local extras". Therefore, in my opinion we agreed that there would be 2 more beers in the box along with the agreed upon bottles. So I understand that if I received 2 shitty cans of beer that would not be breaking the agreement, but since I only received one I feel that he did not deliver the agreed upon trade.

 

Extras are just that, extras. It sucks you got hosed on extras, but if you got all the beer agreed upon in main trade you can't ding them in feedback.

 

An extra is an extra, that's it. You shouldn't worry about having a couple trades in a row where you didn't get any in return. Just feel good that you tossed in some great ones and that person will get to enjoy them. Never expect extras unless you talk to the person ahead of time and each of you say you'll toss in 3 extras a piece or something. In all my trades I've never expected them or been upset when I didn't get them. My focus is the main trade beers getting to me first and foremost.

 

This is a tricky situation since you stipulated 'a couple' of extras and only received one. The one extra being a turded up pale ale is a separate but not unequal issue. Personally, I'd be a bit ticked about it but would move on. However, I would gauge to see how the other party reacts when they get their box and see that you won the trade with better extras. If they're apologetic or at least slightly embarrassed and said something to the effect of 'You got me this time but if you want to do another trade in the future, I'll get you back', I might consider trading with them again. If they are completely oblivious, simply leave positive (but not glowing) feedback, avoid them going forward and know that you're the better trader. There are lots of great traders out there and I'm sure you'll find 'em - you seem to have the right attitude, anyway.

 

To be fair, this is the letter of the law from Todd's rules post:

• Basing your okay/negative feedback on the lack of extras; unless extras were part of the agreed upon trade.

Tough call. I personally just move on from stuff like this, and frankly laugh when turd extras show up in a box. I feel sorry for people who send shitty extras.

 

Maybe it's just semantics, but somehow "a couple" seems less official than "at least two" when it comes to extras. Would "a few" = at least 3? I don't know, but I'd let it slide and just leave positive feedback with a comment that hopefully gets your feelings across. Even if the quality of the extras was low I don't think that's cause to not give positive feedback either. The fact that it was an old IPA is bad but being from an unknown brewery isn't automatically bad. I love sending out bottles from my local brewery that nobody has heard of; most only had a bottle count of 24 or less and I think they're delicious.

Personally, when I'm looking at trading with someone I read the trading history comments and don't just look at the score. It's pretty easy to see a pattern of whether people are saying the person provides "awesome extras" or if they don't.

That said, I do feel like the quality & quantity of extras I receive when trading have gone down over the years. It seems like less and less thought is put into them as well. I live in Wisconsin; why are you sending me something from Milwaukee Brewing that's not even in your distro? And yes I do know the answer is that he's forwarding on an extra he received that he doesn't want.

I've always felt like I win the trade when I send better extras but that's only really true if I think the other person actually realizes it and feels the same way. If it's someone who is just trying to win trades in the typical sense and treats beer trading as a commodity then my sending better extras is just helping them in their quest and that sucks.

Thankfully I mainly just swap random boxes with one RTP because almost every time I do a trade with a new person these days I'm left feeling a bit cold by the whole experience.

 

I recently had a BA trader ask up front if I wanted to exchange extras or not. I replied back yeah extras sound good.
So I went and bought a bomber and a tall can, nice fresh local IPAs. Upon receiving his package, I only got the beer that was part of the trade, no extras.

I didn't leave okay/negative feedback because it was an 'extras' issue, not a big deal.

But now reading this I guess I should have...

 

You really can't drop a neutral or negative but you can make sure you don't trade with them again. When they start burning everyone they trade with and have no repeat trades it becomes apparent, Karma its a real thing.

 

I definitely get what you saying, but to me "a couple of local extras" is pretty clearly more that 1. In fact, 2 of the 5 words in that phrase clearly indicate more than 1. Couple means 2, and Extras with an s making it plural. But you are right, it would seem to make it more official if "2 local extras" was stated.
Can we all at least agree that if you are specifically asked if you want to include a couple of local extras and you say yes, and then include 1 12 oz pale ale that is over 3 months old, that you are clearly an asshole?

 

Yes, that I can most definitely agree with. I think the problem/confusion for me is having "extras" being a part of the agreed upon trade. I think of extras as "extra" and therefore not mandatory. I suppose there are times when I've done trades where someone was supposed to add some additional shelf bottles of their choosing to even things out $4$ but those to me aren't "extras." Semantics I suppose.

 

I always include extras, if I ever did an IP trade, and it was with a local, I probably wouldn't. One thing, if you are going to include extras, make it something local, or hard to get. Nothing worse than cracking the box open to see that you go S/N Pale Ale and Torpedo as an extra

 

Beer trading isn't what it used to be. Hell, the beer community in general isn't what it used to be. A couple years ago, trading wasn't about getting the latest hyped beer but rather sharing/wanting to share good beer with good people. I've seen the community turn from mostly generous people into a newer generation of people who try to outbid one another. When it comes to extras, I always & have always believed in sending more than what I agree upon. I want other people to have the opportunity to try some new beer that they couldn't try without having to trade for them. It builds a good relationship with people & if you're lucky, they'll reach out to you & talk about how they enjoyed the same beer that you enjoy.

Beer karma is a real thing. Hopefully the newer people within the community can read through this thread to get a better understanding of what we're about. No, extras aren't necessary because they are in fact "extras" but imagine it this way. If a friend came by to help you move, would you share a beer with him? Probably. So if a guy is willing to send a box across the country, why not throw in some awesome locals as a thank you?

 

I'm having a hard time remembering the last time I got some extras, let alone some nice ones. Think I'm at the point where I'm just going to ask for 'no extras' and just get the base trade completed.

 

Send me a BM & let's talk. I'd gladly hook you up with some locals.

 

Can we at least all agree to stop saying the now cliche "extras are just that: extra"?

 

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. Extras have been hit or miss for me lately (mostly miss). I shipped my last box first with a 6 pack of extras. The extras I got back were three of the six I sent and nothing else. Count me in the "confirm extras or not" before shipping group from here forward