Help How do you know your getting a fair trade

If youre happy with the beer you're getting it's a good deal. Honestly most people here in my experience aren't out to screw you. From the list above I don't think you'll be getting ripped off.

 

If you want the beer you're getting more than the one you're giving up.

Also, I don't think any of those are really big-ticket items, you're probably trading for shelf beers or moderately rare stuff like Abyss (except maybe the Hardy's).

 

I'm not terribly experienced with this stuff, but trade value depends on things like availability (year-round vs. seasonal, wide vs. limited distribution), actual cost, hype (perceived value), and oldness. I'm sure there are other factors. As long as you sort of keep with $4$ type things you won't get ripped off, but you can probably get good trades for Heady and some old Hardy's. Those are probably the most sought-after beers on this list.

 

Number 1 rule is that you should really, really want the beer you are trading for. If you follow that, you probably wont get screwed.

 

I'm not sure anybody would want to trade for a 2 year old DIPA.

 

Pretty much what everyone else said. If you want the beer someone offers you more than the beer you currently have, it is a good deal.

Not specifically directed at you OP, but I think trading would be a lot less of an ordeal sometimes if people placed less emphasis on what everyone else valued their beer at, and spent more time thinking about what they wanted out of the deal.

 

Why not? It could have turned into a really good barleywine.

 

OP,

You should be patient. Keep up on posts in this forum and the ISO:FT forum for a while to see what beers are trading for what. Don't dive right in looking for whales. Some of your hoppy beers (Hopslam, Nugget Nectar, Squall), even if from most recent releases won't trade for much because they are way past their prime.

 

agree with what everyone's said.

however, want to point out that squall remains great (if you like it to begin with) for years. it doesn't really age like a barleywine, but it stays really balanced and delicious. very alcohol forward beer when it comes down to it, which i think helps, if that makes sense. to be honest, it's kind of a mystery that a DIPA like that keeps so well.

but yeah, if you want the beer you're trading for more than the one you're giving up, you should be happy.

 

I agree, I had a year-old Squall and enjoyed it.

 

That seems unlikely. I think it's an oft-repeated myth that DIPAs can turn into good barleywines. It might happen with very few, but probably 98% of DIPAs will not taste like well-crafted barleywines after aging.
Anyway, I was simply saying that very few would want to trade for it, which certainly is true. Maybe if Hop'solutely had a reputation of turning into a great barley (which it doesn't).

 

would be game to get a Squall and a couple of the Hardy's off of your hands.

You really do not know until you try the beers. As of right now they are just names.

Will also say what others are saying look for what you want. Not a mystical value.

 

I was being sarcastic. Should have done a better job of indicating that.

 

Honestly, learn as much as you can by just reading and reading and reading. Arming yourself with knowledge is the best way to be able to trade comfortably. Don't rush into it, find some locals/seasonals in other areas that your interested in and trade for those. That will let you learn the ropes of trading and shipping without having to deal with hard to get beers that may not be replaceable if something were to happen.

It's not too hard to find cost/availabilty/etc info by searching on here or Googling. And like others said, if you're happy with the specifics of the trade, then it's a good trade.

 

Indeed!

 

Fixed it.

 

If you don't know the value of your beer, you at least remember what you paid for it right?

 

Start drinking or trading some of those IPAs, value dropping as you read this.

 

Especially considering he also made a post about how much he's sick of drinking old IPAs...would highly question how fresh these beers actually are