A while ago I completed a trade that was partially centered around a highly rated IPA. The brewery had released a batch less than a month before we traded so that is what I assumed I was getting. I will state up front that I never asked how old the beer was, but upon drinking it I knew something was up. It turned out to be a bottle from the previous batch instead of the most recent, which made it over 7 months old at the time. I don't think this warrants negative feedback as the agreed upon beers were received promptly and in good shape. And if it was just sent as an extra my feelings would be totally different, but since the trade centered around this beer I was more than a little peeved. I never would have agreed to the trade if I knew how old the beer was, and because this trader has many MANY trades under their belt all with rave reviews, I didn't expect this to happen. Again, I never asked how old the beer was, but is that really necessary? To me it is poor form on the other trader's part, but I want your opinions. Should I have still given positive feedback, but mentioned the old beer in there as well? Could this be considered a bad trade? Or am I at fault for not for not asking about how old the beer was?
Is the beer from the traders area? In other words, was it a bottle of Kern, or heady topper, or treehouse, and does the trader live in the area and certainly knows exactly when he acquired the bottle? It that case bad feedback is warranted. If the trader is not from the same area as the beer....well........I've said this many times. People shouldn't be trading for Heady Topper when your trading partner lives in California.......or anywhere not close to Vermont. This is particularly crucial when the bottle doesn't have a bottled on or canned on date on it.
Have you said anything to him? Communication after delivery is also important, especially if expectations fell short. Perhaps he shipped the wrong batch by accident. IF he doesn't have a reasonable explanation & doesn't offer to ship you the most recent batch (or an equivalent replacement) at the very least a comment in the fb should be made. IF he won't make it right, I think neutral or even negative fb is warranted if it's a local IPA. IF it's not a local IPA you made a mistake trading for it without getting additional info on exactly what he knew about it. Experienced traders know freshness in IPAs is uber important. Look at all of the grumbling over old IPA extras & those are freebies. Nobody should think it's kosher to trade old IPAs without mentioning the age.
Technically, yes. I always make sure to be upfront about my freshness concerns when trading for IPAs. Yes, it is pretty shady to knowingly trade someone an IPA you know is 7 months old, but unfortunately there are a lot of shady characters in the trading game these days so you gotta take precautions. Also, some people's idea of fresh is a lot different than others. I personally am not a stickler and will gladly trade for an IPA that I know is already six weeks old. If you don't mind me asking, how do you know the IPA was from the previous batch? Was there a bottled on date or just a batch number? Either way, if you're sure they knowingly sent you a 7 month old IPA, I'd probably do neutral feedback and explain why. But, like JavaNoire said, you might want to bring it up to them before doing so. Edit: Considering your last trade was back in July, why are you just now bringing this up?
OP has one pending trade showing on their account. This could possible be concerning that one. It might be current and they're. It sure what feedback to leave perhaps?
If an IPA is the principal beer in a trade, yes I think asking about freshness is certainly a fair question to pose to the other trader. If the beer has a bottling/canning date or a batch number, all the more better as it can be readily confirmed. I would not get offended at all if someone asked me the date on an IPA. It's part of vetting out a potential trade.
You should have asked, but at 7 months old, he also should have told you. I would not be happy with the trade if I were you. You really did not get the beer you thought you were trading for.
My daughter was born July 28, and that combined with how my last trade went (the old IPA trade) made me decide to take a break. Im bringing it up now bc I just started trading again hence the open trade and I was just looking for some honest feedback. Also the IPA had a batch number on the label, so after drinking it and realizing it was stale I went online and checked it out and realized exactly when it was brewed. And yes it was a mistake on my part because the IPA was not local to the trader so I will learn from that mistake and not be doing that again (even though now thinking it through I feel dumb for not realizing that before). But it was a month after the most recent batch so I figured they either traded for it or were in the area it was brewed at some point.
Pretty terrible behavior on the part of the person trading if you ask me. That person should know better. I would not leave negative feedback but like others have said, I would send a message asking what they were thinking. Neutral feedback might be fair if the person was not apologetic or didn't try to make it right. What was the specific beer, by the way? Always a chance someone can help you out.
Say they gave you an old ass IPA in the feedback if you haven't left any yet. Trader deserves to be ousted on that one.
