This guest series has actually been written by Howard, a reader and frequent commenter/educator here on Thank Heaven for Beer.  Since his experience far outweighs ours, we thought it only fitting to open up the floor.  Thanks Howard!

Beer Value

Most traders like to trade dollar-for-dollar, meaning if they send you $40 worth of beer, then you send them $40 worth of beer in return. They also like to trade rarity-for-rarity, meaning if they are trading a hard to get, or brewery-only release, they expect to get an equally scarce beer in return. So if you really want to get a bottle of Dark Lord, you’re going to need a one day only, brewery released beer (Darkness, Sexual Chocolate, Kate the Great, etc.) to trade. Some people are incredibly strict about this and will only trade for equal rarity. Others are happy to share their beer, and are willing to trade for other stuff that they want that isn’t so hard to come by. Some people will not give up their rare beer at all without completely taking advantage of you.

When you’re trading up, meaning trading regular beer for rare beer, all bets are off. There are no guidelines for what’s fair anymore, and it’s really what you and your trading partner feel is a good deal. If you don’t like the terms, then either try to renegotiate, or just walk away. As a matter of courtesy, once your trading partner has spent money on beer specifically for a trade with you, it’s unacceptable to try to change or cancel the deal.

Etiquette

The most important rule about trading is this: until the beer is in the recipient’s hands unharmed, the sender is liable. If you ship to the wrong address, you’re responsible for making it right, unless you were given the wrong address. If the box disappears during shipping, you’re responsible to resend it. If a bottle gets broken, you have to replace it.

It’s customary to throw in an extra bottle (or several) of beer above and beyond what the trade was setup for. Most people send either local beer or something on the other person’s Wants (we’ll discuss Wants in the next article). My rule of thumb is: the bigger the deal, the bigger the extra(s).

After you complete a trade, you should update your profile to reflect that you traded with that person. People use the profiles to check references all the time, and if you say you’ve completed a trade with user X, they’ll check user X’s profile to see if they have you listed too. You should be checking people’s references before you ship beer too. I usually just check their profile for completed trades, then check those user’s profiles to make sure they list the person I’m trading with as well. You should also add a “+” or “*” to denote that they sent extras in their package. Here’s a shot of my profile so you can see what I’m talking about.

When you’re on the forums, keep your mouth shut about other people’s trades. If you see somebody asking too much (or not offering enough) for a beer, it’s none of your business, just move along and ignore the post. You don’t want to give people buyer’s remorse if they’re happy with their deal, so leave them be.

Written By Howard