Beer Releases and Ebay Effect

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by yojimbo1, Dec 17, 2012.

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  1. yojimbo1

    yojimbo1 Initiate (0) Feb 26, 2012 Kansas
    Trader

    So now that beer is no longer available for sale on Ebay have we seen a decrease in the absurdity that has become of the typical hard to get, sought after, beer release the way that many people have assumed? The last one I was at was the Cherry Adam and Michael Hotd release. While there were a lot of people there, there was plenty of beer available for all of the people in line and the beer lasted throughout the day for people that wondered in at their leisure.

    Dark Horse recently had the 4 Elf party which apparently was pretty crazy and I heard the Lawson's farmer's market where they released the Kiwi IPA, can't remember exactly what it was called, turned into a snafu. Anyway, I'm wondering if we misjudged the impact that eBay sellers were having on the demand for the big beer releases. What say you?
     
    #1 yojimbo1, Dec 17, 2012
  2. ChadQuest

    ChadQuest Initiate (0) Mar 4, 2009 Illinois

    There are just THAT many more people into beer now. I bet beer geek numbers nearly doubled from 2011 to 2012.

    EBAY is negligible to the line discussion.
     
    #2 ChadQuest, Dec 17, 2012
    SpeedwayJim, MarkIntihar and GrindFatherBob like this.
  3. stupac2

    stupac2 Pooh-Bah (2,031) Feb 22, 2011 California
    Pooh-Bah

    eBay profiteers were always a marginal effect at best. Expecting releases to suddenly start going really well when the fundamentals say there will be a clusterfuck* is naive.

    *Clusterfuck fundamentals include:
    • Thin distribution
    • Low bottle counts for the area (low in rural Vermont is not the same as low in the middle of a city)
    • High anticipation
    • Lack of tickets at one-location releases
     
    #3 stupac2, Dec 17, 2012
  4. yojimbo1

    yojimbo1 Initiate (0) Feb 26, 2012 Kansas
    Trader

    Yeah, I never thought that resale was a huge impact on these things. I thought there could be a small impact but I suppose that, like you say, the increase in the beer geek population simply dwarfs any tiny effect by a few profiteerers.

    If this is the case people shouldn't expect Pliny or Canillon to suddenly get easier to find as many people have suggested in the past. Also, since there is no reason to think the scale of beer trading far exceeded that of ebay, that blaming traders for missing out on the next shelf whale probably wouldn't do them any good either.
     
    #4 yojimbo1, Dec 17, 2012
  5. homebrew311

    homebrew311 Pooh-Bah (2,144) May 19, 2008 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I think distributed releases are just as tough to get as they were when there were Ebay sales. I think it played a big impact in Darkness Day though, last year you had to be there by 7:30, this year, people that showed up after 11 were still able to get a wristband. I was quite surprised by this.
     
    #5 homebrew311, Dec 17, 2012
  6. yojimbo1

    yojimbo1 Initiate (0) Feb 26, 2012 Kansas
    Trader

    Did they make the same amount? Same price?
     
    #6 yojimbo1, Dec 17, 2012
  7. stxSS07

    stxSS07 Initiate (0) Nov 23, 2010 Illinois

    It's more like the one guy posting, "OMGz I gun get too dis releze at 3 days before time" on BA - effect.

    Only takes one to start the idiotic snowball. I saw it first hand at KBS this year...blegh.
     
    #7 stxSS07, Dec 17, 2012
  8. homebrew311

    homebrew311 Pooh-Bah (2,144) May 19, 2008 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Yes they did make more, they handed out 1500 wristbands vs 1200 of previous years which would roughly translate to 1,800 more bottles... but based on the exponential expansion over the previous two years, I expected the cut off to be sooner.
     
    #8 homebrew311, Dec 17, 2012
  9. AxesandAnchors

    AxesandAnchors Initiate (0) Nov 21, 2012 Oregon

    As long as supply can't meet demand there will be hysteria. Social networking sites like this just compound the issue. The trading scene is both a force of good and evil. We (beer geeks) make beers hard to get, not the few who seek to make a secondary profit off it. Plus there has to be a buyer in order for them to succeed, which is yet again one of 'us'. It's just like any other product that has a cult following...there will be winners, and there will be losers. It's what feeds the beast.
     
    #9 AxesandAnchors, Dec 17, 2012
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  10. BigGene

    BigGene Initiate (0) Oct 30, 2010 Florida

    #10 BigGene, Dec 17, 2012
  11. MarkIntihar

    MarkIntihar Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Michigan

    Couldn't have said it better myself.
     
    #11 MarkIntihar, Dec 17, 2012
  12. huskermike12

    huskermike12 Initiate (0) Nov 14, 2011 Vermont

    #12 huskermike12, Dec 17, 2012
  13. krl2112

    krl2112 Pooh-Bah (1,876) Nov 10, 2012 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I think Craigslist took over where eBay left off. One example is the Collectibles section in Chicago. Search for Goose Island and you find a few people asking ridiculous $s for some of these recently release brews. I saw one guy asking $100 for Bolt Cutter the day it was released here. These people irritate me.
     
    #13 krl2112, Dec 17, 2012
  14. jebsinger

    jebsinger Initiate (0) Nov 15, 2012 Minnesota

    I enjoy flagging people on CL who i deem stupid. this guy would be up there. my favorite is a 4 case of normal BCS, now decently attainable in chicago on there for 100 bucks for the 4 pack.
     
    #14 jebsinger, Dec 17, 2012
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  15. tjensen3618

    tjensen3618 Maven (1,391) Mar 23, 2008 California

    If you thought the roughly ~1% of beer that made it on ebay was causing hysteria for the releases, you were just wrong.

    Check the cellaring threads, you'll find a much greater volume of bottles collecting dust in basements than ebay ever had.
     
    #15 tjensen3618, Dec 17, 2012
  16. krl2112

    krl2112 Pooh-Bah (1,876) Nov 10, 2012 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Yeah there is a guy in Lakeview that is selling his entire cellar and asking $85 for 5 Goldne Rings which is in stores for about $15, BT for $100 CR for $175 and so on. I guess if people are stupid enough to buy it well then good for him. But still aggravating.
     
    #16 krl2112, Dec 17, 2012
  17. UnderJoath

    UnderJoath Initiate (0) Jul 29, 2010 Illinois

    Craigslist...ugh

    $400 for Westy brick....OH WAIT. The seller took a bottle and chalice for himself.

    $400 friggin dollars for 5 bottles of Westy and a Chalice. Wish I had fist that can punch through computer screens.
     
    #17 UnderJoath, Dec 17, 2012
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  18. BigGene

    BigGene Initiate (0) Oct 30, 2010 Florida

    #18 BigGene, Dec 17, 2012
  19. stxSS07

    stxSS07 Initiate (0) Nov 23, 2010 Illinois

    $55 for a B1 BA Hi-Fi? I'd buy that right now if I had any cents to my name.
     
    #19 stxSS07, Dec 18, 2012
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  20. MtnBiker

    MtnBiker Crusader (463) Jun 28, 2011 Oklahoma

    Yeah, this is just stupid to me. Did a beer haul from Missouri this weekend, picked up the last Bolt Cutter in the store. It will be drank by me on New Years Eve. Along with a bunch of other awesome finds in that store.

    I've been an Ebay seller in the past, but never brews. Just antique fishing lures, and vintage bmx parts, etc. I can't see the point in price gouging people for "food" grade goods such as beer.
     
    #20 MtnBiker, Dec 18, 2012
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