Online brew swap?

[Ben]

I am thinking about starting an online brew swap platform for NZ where folks around the country can share and swap beers. A few features I am thinking of: the marketplace would be governed by a points system to allow for individuals to set the 'price' of their brews, you earn points buy making your brews available to others which you can then spend other's brews, and people will be allowed to rate your beer.

Thoughts?

[Nathan]

Wont work.......people will just not send beer...Trust me

[mattd2]

If the idea is pitched the right way they will - instead of the end user being defined as the consumer of the beer, if it is pitched that the main user is the sender of the beer and the reward for sending is feedback and critique - then there is incentive for the user to send the beer. The hard part would then be how to weed out the receivers that will provide constructive feedback from those that just want free beer (without creating a barrier to entry for new reviewers).

[Ben]

Absolutely! It's about getting feedback and recognition wider than your circle of mates and likewise sampling brews you would never get exposed to.

[Ben]

What aspect of shipping won't work? Are you saying that packing up the beer is too big a barrier? The feedback that I've had so far has been positive so interested in your view point

[Nathan]

Its not the shipping thats the easy part...its getting people that will actually get round to doing it

[Peter Church]

something like this?

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/group/nzcaseswap

[Ben]

Hi Peter - yes but building a user interface around it all so it's not forum based

[mattd2]

So this will be more person to person than group based? I like the concept, but you may ned to be a bit cautious with some aspects. Setting a "price" for the beer may raise questions around supplying alcohol without a licence. What I would be better is a rating on whether an individual provides feedback on the beer (and if that feedback is good, bad or indifferent). Basically then you can select those people that have will provide feedback on you beer rather then those just looking for free beer without giving anything back (but also doesn't exclude those that for whatever reason can't share as much beer as others but have really good advice to give).

What is going to be the cost to sign up? or will you cover the costs of hosting/running the site by advertisement?

[Ben]

Hi Matt - to start out it would be an individual based service but it would not be difficult to set up an area where established brew clubs / beer swaps could swap amongst themselves. It is a valid point around setting a 'price' for the brews and hopefully something that is mitigated with a point based marketplace instead of a dollar based one. I am thinking that it will be free to sign up and free to share, but that if you don't have a brew to share then you can purchase points ($1 = 1 point) to shop on the marketplace. That way it opens up the exchange to everyone.

[mattd2]

If you are really set on the marketplace concept I would recommend that you at least read and understand the supply of alcohol legislation. Not sure where this would actually fit into the law but I'm sure the government won't like a website that basically facilitates the sale of home brew. I'm not trying to shoot down your ideas, it iis the opposite really - I want to make sure that if this goes ahead that it doesn't get canned/delayed by a legal technicality.
As an end user I would much rather send my beer to someone that has shown to be a reliable critic rather than someone who has just bought credits.

[Ben]

Good point around the reliability of the user / being a reliable critic.  I'll have a think and see if I could incorporate this feedback.

I have had a lengthy read of the legislation and checked with the HPA (Health Promotion Agency) who administer (along with local councils) the alcohol act.  Their response verbatim was "the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 does not deal specifically with home brewing or its distribution via trading or swapping"

It sounds like it's all a bit of a gray area.

[mark hayward]

Im keen sounds like a good idea to me