Being a data wonk, I found this article FASCINATING! Pretty comprehensive. Thanks for the link.

interesting...

Highly flawed, and debatable at best 1) I question any study that doesn't publish it's data 2) There's a court case in Michigan pending over a man who bought a 'rare' beer on eBay only to discover that the Black Imperial Stout he thought he had bought for $300 had been replaced by a fizzy pale gold lager (he contends it was Budweiser) 3) There's a court case pending in New York State over one particular brewer (mentioned in the article) starting an auction, and acting as a shill for several (16 to be exact) auctions of their own beer thereby artifically inflating the price. The fact that they have limited their data set also suggests several data constraints making the study fishy at best. Why didn't they add other non-US based brewers. Many of the auctions for the beers they included go unsold (about 20% in the last 12 months) while breweries like Westvleteren and Struise have a much higher sell rate (and when calculated on a per auction basis - a much higher return). This is a poor analysis by any statisticians measure.

Why buy a beer on auction when you can call a friend living in that area to get you a bottle? or fly/drive to get there? Better still...............what makes people think that there's a beer worthy enough to be the recipient of such reveration. I've had a lot of great beer (and spent a chunk of change on it), but none would make me pay through the nose to get it. No beer is that good! $265 for a bottle of Russian River Depuration? Had it, wasn't worth the $8 I paid for it 3-4 years ago.....certainly not a sure '5'. Same with Flossmoor's Wooden Hell....a beer I had several times as it's a good beer, but it wasn't a great beer. They must be 5-6 years old by now. Beer is nice...............but none of it is certainly worth blindly spending $100 and hoping you get what you paid for (including the hype).

quote: Originally posted by treborius Highly flawed, and debatable at best 2) There's a court case in Michigan pending over a man who bought a 'rare' beer on eBay only to discover that the Black Imperial Stout he thought he had bought for $300 had been replaced by a fizzy pale gold lager (he contends it was Budweiser)

I don't think the guy has a legal leg to stand on. The auction is not for the beer, but for the bottle. The assumption is that the beer inside matches the label outside, but there is no guarantee there. The bottle is what you are buying. Plain and simple. As far as eBay is concerned, I don't see any reason why I couldn't drink a Westy 12 (for example) and then sell the bottle full of Coors Light for auction. Or even no beer at all..."Sorry, the auction clearly stated that you were bidding on the bottle for a expensive/rare beer." Was there a mention of the contents in the listing? That might be the only way he could argue against such a practice.

quote: Originally posted by lenusik Beer is nice...............but none of it is certainly worth blindly spending $100 and hoping you get what you paid for (including the hype).

A-FRIGGIN'-MEN!

quote: Originally posted by jlozier quote: quote: Originally posted by treborius Highly flawed, and debatable at best 2) There's a court case in Michigan pending over a man who bought a 'rare' beer on eBay only to discover that the Black Imperial Stout he thought he had bought for $300 had been replaced by a fizzy pale gold lager (he contends it was Budweiser) I don't think the guy has a legal leg to stand on. The auction is not for the beer, but for the bottle. The assumption is that the beer inside matches the label outside, but there is no guarantee there. The bottle is what you are buying. Plain and simple. As far as eBay is concerned, I don't see any reason why I couldn't drink a Westy 12 (for example) and then sell the bottle full of Coors Light for auction. Or even no beer at all..."Sorry, the auction clearly stated that you were bidding on the bottle for a expensive/rare beer." Was there a mention of the contents in the listing? That might be the only way he could argue against such a practice.

I suppose that if the caveats included the statement that the bottle had never been opened (as many of them do), then the fact that something was in the bottle other than what should have been would suggest that the auction was not on the up and up in the first place (i.e. telling a big whopper about whether or not the bottle was opened). At the same time, the article implies that many people participating in these auctions are RateBeerians or BeerAdvocates (I'm sure Beerpals would NEVER auction off a beer) and that some people could be trading with the less knowledgable to get a beer for cheap to auction off for a pretty penny. Meaning that if a person switches the contents of a bottle before auctioning it off....might he not do something similar with the people he trades with (replace an AleSmith Speedway Stout with a far inferior stout for example).........all the more reason to have a bad traders/bad sellers warning for such people so that naive beer geeks don't get taken advantage of (even if it is the American Way)

i listed a several year vertical (individually) of Anchor OSAs a few years back. most of em went for $5-10, but two guys happened to be missing one particular year from the 30+ year run, and my bottle went for something like $55-60. bottom line, i was happy, they were happy. i'd never screw anybody, but obviously not everyone has that standard, and there often isn't anything in the descrisption that would make a seller legally liable for the contents (just the bottle), or lack thereof. i've also bought beers on there. nothing near $100, but a couple $50 splurges for a Dark Lord, and a little less for Hunaphu. My 2000th beer was from a 4-pack of KBS I got on Ebay, and this year a 4-pack of fresh outta the brewery Hopslam. No regrets whatsoever. DL was worth it. Hunapuh...kinda, but I was willing to take that chance. I know there's a possibilty to get screwed, but I've yet to be in several years, and I avoid the really high $ auctions where shady sellers would be more tempted to do just that.

quote: quote: Originally posted by cyrenaica quote: quote: quote: Originally posted by jlozier quote: quote: quote: quote: Originally posted by treborius Highly flawed, and debatable at best 2) There's a court case in Michigan pending over a man who bought a 'rare' beer on eBay only to discover that the Black Imperial Stout he thought he had bought for $300 had been replaced by a fizzy pale gold lager (he contends it was Budweiser) I don't think the guy has a legal leg to stand on. The auction is not for the beer, but for the bottle. The assumption is that the beer inside matches the label outside, but there is no guarantee there. The bottle is what you are buying. Plain and simple. As far as eBay is concerned, I don't see any reason why I couldn't drink a Westy 12 (for example) and then sell the bottle full of Coors Light for auction. Or even no beer at all..."Sorry, the auction clearly stated that you were bidding on the bottle for a expensive/rare beer." Was there a mention of the contents in the listing? That might be the only way he could argue against such a practice. I suppose that if the caveats included the statement that the bottle had never been opened (as many of them do), then the fact that something was in the bottle other than what should have been would suggest that the auction was not on the up and up in the first place (i.e. telling a big whopper about whether or not the bottle was opened). At the same time, the article implies that many people participating in these auctions are RateBeerians or BeerAdvocates (I'm sure Beerpals would NEVER auction off a beer) and that some people could be trading with the less knowledgable to get a beer for cheap to auction off for a pretty penny. Meaning that if a person switches the contents of a bottle before auctioning it off....might he not do something similar with the people he trades with (replace an AleSmith Speedway Stout with a far inferior stout for example).........all the more reason to have a bad traders/bad sellers warning for such people so that naive beer geeks don't get taken advantage of (even if it is the American Way)

I'll be as nice as possible with my thoughts, as to not upset the apple cart. eBay is for people who don't mind spending outrageous amounts of money for that hard to find misprinted C-3PO pez dispenser, the one-eyed Judy Garland stamp, and the ultra hard to find Ron Jeremy penis Monopoly piece. Yes, I know...there are other small business opportunities, but that's eBay at it's heart. The worlds largest electronic garage sale. I sold a 5-year vertical of Dark Lord that I had acquired that paid for a family vacation to Disneyland 2 years ago or so. Some idiot beer geek actually paid me for this, maybe to consume, maybe to resell to another idi...uh...geek in 5 years. Trading beer is one thing, and it can be entirely addicting especially when you have great traders involved. But IMO, plunking down $$$$$$ for beer, when you probably have access to something very similar seems a little...extreme.