Buying beer from ebay?

Has anyone ever purchased beer from ebay?

I've been trying to track down some pliny the elder for a christmas gift, and it seems my options are coming down to this. Most of the stores that sell it online do not ship to Texas, and the 3 or 4 that do are completely out for a month at least.

Unless anyone want's to let me buy some from them (pm me). I'm probably going to try to buy some from ebay.

Morewines.com | There's More to Wine

Buy it there. They shipped all the way to NYC for me, looks like it's in stock, too. Happy Holidays!

I thought selling any alcohol was prohibited on e- bay

bmick said:

Morewines.com | There's More to Wine

Buy it there. They shipped all the way to NYC for me, looks like it's in stock, too. Happy Holidays!

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They're out of stock, but thank you.

baddad said:

I thought selling any alcohol was prohibited on e- bay

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It is. They say that they are selling it as a collectible, because the bottle is worth more than the liquid inside. They are all never opened, but they say they are selling it as a collectible.

Here's a tip about Pliny that you've probably heard before. BUY IT FRESH. If the bottle you're buying wasn't bottled recently, it's not worth the time. It's an awesome beer, but he huge punchy hop aroma fades fast.

Pdeezy said:

They're out of stock, but thank you.



It is. They say that they are selling it as a collectible, because the bottle is worth more than the liquid inside. They are all never opened, but they say they are selling it as a collectible.

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Does this mean you have no recourse to complain if you find that the bottle has been opened or re-capped? If you are not supposed to be bidding on the contents what happens when the contents are not what you expected?

Here is a link to my thread were the wife ordered me up 4 PTE. Post 3 has the link. It looks like that company is out of stock atm but they may get more??? https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/really-neat-gift-swmbo-213593/

SenorPepe said:

Does this mean you have no recourse to complain if you find that the bottle has been opened or re-capped? If you are not supposed to be bidding on the contents what happens when the contents are not what you expected?

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+1000 this is the reason I would NEVER buy from e-bay...

So glad I live in SoCal just picked a bottle at lunch $6.

trent said:

So glad I live in SoCal just picked a bottle at lunch $6.

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This is why I miss living in Carlsbad.

SenorPepe said:

Does this mean you have no recourse to complain if you find that the bottle has been opened or re-capped? If you are not supposed to be bidding on the contents what happens when the contents are not what you expected?

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Probably, but then the seller probably wouldn't have hundreds of positive feedback selections from previous buyers who would have paid 20 bucks for 2 empty bottles.

trent said:

So glad I live in SoCal just picked a bottle at lunch $6.

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Sweet, what's your pay pal account? Send me some.

Pdeezy said:

Probably, but then the seller probably wouldn't have hundreds of positive feedback selections from previous buyers who would have paid 20 bucks for 2 empty bottles.

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Right obviously feedback is a different, important tool you can use to check sellers, I was just wondering about the strict legality of it and whether that means you're SOL if you do get duped some way.

SenorPepe said:

Right obviously feedback is a different, important tool you can use to check sellers, I was just wondering about the strict legality of it and whether that means you're SOL if you do get duped some way.

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Well strictly speaking, yes, I'm effed if it shows up with pepsi in the bottle.

Give Gary at Blackwell's Wines & Spirits a call - 415.FUN.WINE. He's in San Francisco and always has Pliny in stock. I'm in Georgia and have ordered boxes of beers from him several times over the last 6 months - once you order from him, he'll put you on his 'Blackwell's Beer Run' e-mail list. He sends out updates to folks on his list every week with the new beers he has in stock. Just last week I managed to pick up a couple of Deschutes Abyss in my last order along with some Pliny and FW Double Jacks (my new favorite beer)... stuff you just can't get down here.

lol right. Wasn't trying to be a dick I'm just kind of curious. I've been using ebay for a long time and have never been burned or anything (knock on wood)

jmark said:

Give Gary at Blackwell's Wines & Spirits a call - 415.FUN.WINE. He's in San Francisco and always has Pliny in stock. I'm in Georgia and have ordered boxes of beers from him several times over the last 6 months - once you order from him, he'll put you on his 'Blackwell's Beer Run' e-mail list. He sends out updates to folks on his list every week with the new beers he has in stock. Just last week I managed to pick up a couple of Deschutes Abyss in my last order along with some Pliny and FW Double Jacks (my new favorite beer)... stuff you just can't get down here.

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I just sent them an email, thanks.

SenorPepe said:

lol right. Wasn't trying to be a dick I'm just kind of curious. I've been using ebay for a long time and have never been burned or anything (knock on wood)

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Lol, it's been a long week.

I found some from a company in CO. The wine underground. I just got off the phone with April, she said they got a case in today. If anyone is interested:

An Online Wine Shop & Online Beer Store - Wine Underground

or you can give April a call @ 303-766-0575. There is a 2 bottle maximum.

With shipping i think it came out to about $28 for 2 botles. Steep I know, but this is a christmas gift, and we've been waiting to get our hands on this beer for a while.

I did buy some alpha king from ebay though. I just got the 6 pack in yesterday. It was awesome. Worked like a charm, even though I paid $27 for a 6 pack. Haha

One of the bartenders at Russian River told me that they ship Pliny cold and won't sell to any retailer that won't keep the cold chain. This is why they pulled out of BevMo. Keep in mind that if you get Pliny shipped to you from a retailer, it will most likely have been taken out of refrigeration. But it may not matter now that it's winter!

supermoth said:

One of the bartenders at Russian River told me that they ship Pliny cold and won't sell to any retailer that won't keep the cold chain. This is why they pulled out of BevMo. Keep in mind that if you get Pliny shipped to you from a retailer, it will most likely have been taken out of refrigeration. But it may not matter now that it's winter!

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That's weird because I was in a store a couple weeks ago and they had Pliny on the shelf out in the open. Another place keeps it behind the counter. That's two stores that don't have it in the fridge so I wouldn't worry too much about it unless they are shipping in very hot conditions.

neko said:

That's weird because I was in a store a couple weeks ago and they had Pliny on the shelf out in the open. Another place keeps it behind the counter. That's two stores that don't have it in the fridge so I wouldn't worry too much about it unless they are shipping in very hot conditions.

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That is weird! What the bartender told me could very well be more anecdote than data.

I did a search online. I'm not talking out my butt after all:

Where Pliny the Elder in bottles can be found today - Bottoms Up -

That article is a few years old, so maybe policies have changed.

Pdeezy said:

Probably, but then the seller probably wouldn't have hundreds of positive feedback selections from previous buyers who would have paid 20 bucks for 2 empty bottles.

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I have always wondered about this too. Not that I would ever do this but a homebrewer could brew a Pliny clone, fill the original bottle with the homebrewed clone version, and sell the bottle on Ebay for some chunk of change. I don't think the buyer would even know the difference since Pliny is somewhat rare. Again I would NEVER do this but it does make you wonder.

I bought the Pliny from an online retailer.

I did buy the Alpha King from ebay though. The seller was located in IL, and had very good ratings from buyers. Everything seems in order so far (bottles seemed unopened, and had original caps, but I haven't opened a bottle yet as it was a gift.

I guess I will know if it's BL inside this weekend.

Sorry to dig up an old thread - but I thought I'd rather do this than start yet another fresh one.

That said, I hit up MyBeerBuzz.com today and saw that they had a poll going about this very thing - buying beer on ebay.

http://mybeerbuzz.blogspot.com/
Do YOU Buy Craft Beer on eBay?
The results seem to go:

• Yes (17%)
• No-I don't trust the quality. (11%)
• No-I think it's Illegal. (12%)
• No-I don't like how it affects the brewer. (7%)
• No-ALL of the Above (42%)
• Maybe-Depends on the ber & seller. (15%)

I'm curious what you think about buying beer on ebay - especially in respect to hard-to-find things like 2006 120min IPA, Kate the Great, Dark Lord, etc.

I've thought about it but shipping makes it pricey and it's hard to know how it has been stored by the seller or prior possessors.

Sorry to reply so late, I've been away for a while. - Vague? Lol

Anyways, I can't comment on anyone else's experience, but mine was pretty great. I purchased Alpha King, which is hard to come by in TX, but readily available in IL. The seller had great ratings, and this is a beer that they make year round, so I wasn't really worried about it sitting around for a while.

I would be slightly more worried about buying a beer from 2006 because you have no idea how the seller has handled the product, and there is no recourse if the beer is skunked, or flat.

I would stick to looking for things that are region specific, and produced year round so you have a better chance of getting something fresh.

By the way Alpha King is rated as the #1 Pale Ale on ratebeer.com for good reason. Great, great, great beer.

Don't waste your time with stale Pliny. This beer more than any other really loses it's magic after being unrefrigerated even just for a few days.

I found out that a co-workers nephew sells rare beers on Ebay. I guess he is able to make a couple thousand dollars selling them. He gets them from a local high end liquor store. As for the legality.??

Soma said:

Don't waste your time with stale Pliny. This beer more than any other really loses it's magic after being unrefrigerated even just for a few days.

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That may be so, but I haven't found any online vendor that can hold on to Pliny for more than a day.