Question for the Vets

There's different ways to retrade;
1). Post an ISO for a beer then post that beer as FT.
2). Get a beer as an extra and post it as FT.
3). Give some sob story about how your old black lab was named Tuesday and she was born in 2009 and so you'd really like to land an 09 Black Tuesday... And then after landing it, you "change your mind" and post it as FT.
4). You trade for multiple bottles of a beer only to discover you don't like it. So you offer the others FT.

Scenario 4 is the only one doesn't bother me in the least.

#3 would royally piss me off if I saw it, as would #2.

The first scenario happens all the time and there is no stopping it, but if you do that then prepare for a few people shitting in your threads because there's no stopping that either.

Many people are of the mindset that once you trade a beer to userX, that beer now belongs to userX and he can do whatever he'd like with it-- drink it, pour it out, bathe in it, spray it all over a stripper, retrade it, or sell it.
There's also a large number of people who see trading as sharing beer with people who don't have access to it and would like to try it... And in this view, retrading violates "the spirit" (if not the law) of proper trading etiquette.

Personally, I think that if you engage in scenarios 1-3 then I probably wouldn't want to trade with you again... Sure, it's your beer and you can do what you'd like, but you won't be laying hands on any of MY bottles to help you along.

 

The problem is if you are trying to "trade up" over and over and maximize value. If you "trade up" it is because someone hooked you up and "traded down" to help you out. They didn't do it for you to flip it over and over just to maximize value.

 

i don't want to get too political about it, but the problem is that a lot of people hold these contradictory ideas:

1) everyone should try to maximize the value of everything they possess at all times, and maximize their self-interest at all times (which, incidentally, is identical to maximizing the value of one's possessions)

2) it is wrong to trick or exploit people

they truly believe that when they act on (1), they're not violating (2). when they sweet talk someone out of their beer, they somehow think that in virtue of being (1), it can't be violating (2).

in their mind, there's some version of (2) that can be violated, maybe by breaking a law or probably by violating some personal moral code they've dreamed up. however, when you're just being a "sensible person," and acting out of (1), it's somehow foolish or weak to even consider that (2) might be an issue.

for a final concrete example, the same person who might outright lie to you to get a beer (stuff about economic hard times, associations with the beer or brewer name, etc), would genuinely feel guilty if they stiffed you on a package--in fact, they wouldn't stiff you, because that violates (2).

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if i'm getting my point across and people agree with me that this kind of person exists (in droves), it should strike you as pretty weird. i won't go into my speculation as to why it's the case, but i'm 100% convinced that it is the case.

 

If you really take care of your partners in "locals" trades, they will/should want to trade with you again. Texans get more desireable beers than you think. I know several Texas traders who can get pretty much anything they want from regular trading partners. This doesn't happen overnight, as with any relationship the quality you get out of it is directly related to what you put into it.

Edit: Save those RR sours, in a year or so you will kick yourself for parting with them!

 

If you are giving "trade value" then I think there's no problem re-trading. If you're playing on someone who is hooking you up and going $4$ for beers that could be traded for more then re-trading, you might expect the person to get miffed.

 

I believe many of these people don't fill out their gots. Some of these guys do have beers that would fairly trade for something they want, but they don't want anyone else to know that. They will throw up ISOs over and over, gradually improving their offer, until someone hooks them up. They feel they must come out ahead in every trade.

 

yeah. another red flag would be

FT: specific beer
ISO: specific beer

responder: "i'll take that deal"
OP: "let me get back to you"

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re: gots/wants, mine aren't filled out b/c

1) lazy
2) i never use ISO:FT forum. i might again eventually, but when i do i'm always pretty specific.

p.s. note for noobs, don't be like me. traders want to see your wants so they can hook you up. i have my reviews to look at, but still.

 

Is this frowned upon?

 

I still get unsolicited offers even with my gots on google spreadsheet. At least now you can see when the other person left the convo, so if someone sends me a dumbass offer they will see that I am not interested by my name being crossed out of the convo.

That trading up with no gots filled out that I mentioned seeing... I don't see that activity from you or from every person with no gots. It is just a trend that I noticed with the people trying to maximize value and trade up over and over. They never have their gots filled out and it is likely because they don't want a fair counter offer. They want to keep offering as little as they can to get a bottle... a bottle that they will probably try to flip anyway.