About to finalize a trade for a pre release on the other party's end. Is it customary to ship ahead of the other party obtaining the release or not? I really don't have a problem shipping before the other party has it, but was curious as to the customary practice. Thanks.
No Pre trades are awful but if you are going to do them don't ship until the other party get's their beer. The only reason I can see for shipping before would be if you are sending ipa's or growlers and I would avoid that.
No its not customary to ship your beer(s) to your trade partner before they have the beer or beers to trade you in hand. If its a RTP that you know will get the beers and is 100% percent certain on their end, with the addition of a trade request *accepted* then send away. Otherwise...hold off until all beers are in hand on both ends and trade request is accepted before sending out any beers.
I honestly try to persuade people from organizing pre trades, to many variables and things that can go wrong...
Not necessarily in response to OP's question but related... Are pre-trades becoming way more popular or have I just not noticed this? I mean for example I've seen multiple people/threads some that even live outside the state, offering GBS variants that are not released until this upcoming Saturday. I guess they are very confident they driving to hardywood early. Maybe I just don't get it.
Nothing wrong with setting up a pre-trade, but don't ship anything until your partner has the beer in hand and is ready to go.
Generally you shouldn't ship until your trading partner has the bottles. I usually ask people how confident they are of getting bottles. A repeat trader told me he was a friend of the owners. I was willing to ship first but he preferred to wait. Another guy told me he was a brewer at the brewery. I trusted him & shipped first. (I offered this. He didn't ask me to.) IF stuff had gone badly awry, ie serious injuries or worse to him or close family, I would have shrugged off the loss. IF you're not comfortable doing that then never ship 1st. Always, always let people know if you don't have the bottles in hand, regardless of how confident you are of getting them. Life gets squirrelly when you least expect it. Never, ever assume that shit won't get crazy without rhyme, reason or warning.
Remember too that pre-trades are a commitment. I very nearly closed a pre-trade for a Le Roar Grrz set. He wanted just a bit more than I was willing to part with. Reviews on the set quickly made me happy I'd failed to close the trade. He later told me if we'd made the trade he would have felt like he seriously owed me. But of course he wouldn't have. That's simply a risk of pre-trades. Another guy agreed in 2014 to trade a set for a BVDL. The demand skyrocketed. He made a cheesy excuse & reneged. We'd definitely agreed to the trade but he hadn't hit the trade button so it wasn't formally closed. IF he had then he would clearly have been a bad trader. Pre-trade agreements are binding whether the demand nosedives or hits the moon. It's just part of the risk.
I would like to add as a word of warning that many pre-trades were set up for the latest ANTEAD release, but it turned out to be an online ticketed release and lots of people who would have been waiting in line early missed out. Didn't affect me at all, but it provided a good laugh and a valuable life lesson.
This is exactly why I avoid pre trades. People often think they will surely be getting bottles then they don't
