So I'm new to trading and wanted to jump into a BIF, but it seems like everything in that forum is just gambling. Whether it's who's gonna win the Super Bowl, or the WWE Royal Rumble. My understanding of a BIF is to fill a box with X amount of beer and ship it to a random person, then receive a box with X amount of beer from a different random person. No gambling needed. Do these exist?
Yea, but most people in the BIF forum don't label it at such, and I can't seem to find any real BIFs in there.
Keep checking back & someone will start another one that isn't related to gambling. I'm in one now that will be finishing up in the next couple of weeks that is exclusively dark beers so there are plenty that don't require gambling
Just wait they will come around, the first BIF I did was literally called NooB BIF and just required sending a minimum amount of locals, got some awesome beer though and paid it back on my next one. Keep a lookout for "NBO" in the BIF forum as this will be a new offering and you can check out the requirements to see if it will work for you. Good luck.
Also, I'd go ahead and make a few small trades on the front end. It will get you comfortable with packing boxes and you'll see how others pack too. Most BIFs require sponsors for Noobs, so the more you've traded beforehand, the more likely you'll be eligible.
Some are gambling, others are not. The Super Bowl and the Royal Rumble ones only had the winners of said contest receive boxes, so in a sense that was gambling, others like you mentioned are where you ship a box with X amount of stuff in it to someone else and you get one in return, most of those follow some sort of specific guide lines, dark beers, sours, shelf beers, locals, glassware, etc.
One just got put up yesterday--Noobs welcome. Have fun! http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/nbo-straight-up-bif-noobs-welcome.158332/
