Secondary Market Facebook Pages Shutdown

[Conquistador]

Could this be the beginning of the end of the secondary market for liquor sales? Hopefully this ultimately means wider availability for a longer period of time, for the limited edition bottles for enthusiasts.

http://thewhiskeywash.com/2016/04/19/facebook-issues-last-call-whiskey-secondary-market-groups/

[Richnimrod]

I'd like to hope that you have at least some semblance of a leg to stand on with your suggestion that this might be a good thing for us, and a bad one for the flippers; but, I think I'll wait awhile before being very upbeat about it.

Never having used any form of an electronic 'secondary market' (or any other kind for that matter), I really don't have enough information about 'em to be hopeful.

Also, those who hoard the less available, more sought after offerings do us no good either.   Some of us are probably guilty of this; I hope not too many, or to a very large extent; but some do, I fear, and to some extent, also.

This behavior isn't controllable, other than by the person who has such an opportunity and doesn't avail himself, or herself to a large extent.    We all want the experience of tasting, and the pride of owning some of these brands; but I question how much pride (or whatever) is increased with owning MANY bottles of a certain brand.    I personally, am happy as a pig in poop to HAVE OWNED, EXPERIENCED and SHARED a few of 'em without bunkering multiples of 'em.

[Conquistador]

Richnimrod, I read you loud and clear. I'm probably wishing against all odds that this helps the enthusiasts, but under the current boom conditions, that's about all I can do. Limited stuff out here in southern California doesn't even make it out onto the shelves anymore. It is either raffled off (which I'm OK with), or it gets diverted to other channels. Now with some of the gray market sites shut down, maybe the flippers will be stuck with a lot of inventory and will be cash-strapped, such that they cannot finance the next big liquor purchase. Hopefully, that makes product more available. If more retailers limit purchases of limited items (i.e., not allow shelf-clearing), then maybe these limited editions will make it into more hands of different enthusiasts. Again, I realize that I may be just dreaming.

[IanShafer]

I doubt this will slow the secondary market at all. There's just too big of a demand for bourbon and too many people willing to pay ridiculous prices for it. Even if FB is shut down there are still other sites for buying and trading (we all know what they are so I won't name them.) Flippers will simply use these other sites or come up with another way to charge laughable prices for pappy to people who don't know any better than to pay it. That's my two cents...

[ken_mays]

It may take your casual flipper out of the game. 

[berto]

Ain't nothin gon change.  If not fb then somewhere else.  The market always wins.

[beasled]

I'm certainly not expecting to see Pappy on the shelves any time soon...

[dcbt]

It's a moot point, as they are back up and running again.

[jvd99]

5 hours ago, dcbt said:

It's a moot point, as they are back up and running again.

Super

[fenderbender4]

I don't know anything about the secondary market or where to look, but does this mean that Facebook hasn't shut them down?  Or did they just find a way to circumvent the new policy?

 

As to how it will affect the market, I'm not sure, but I do think, if all online outlets for the secondary market are closed off, I do think it will have an impact.  Convenience is one of the top things when it comes to humans and if it becomes more difficult to sell, that will weed out some of the resellers.  Combined with the fact that it's not a complete black market because, of course, liquor stores sell the items.  Will it wipe out the problem completely?  No.  And as others have mentioned the "hoarding" mentality will always affect availability as well.

[amg]

3 hours ago, fenderbender4 said:

I don't know anything about the secondary market or where to look, but does this mean that Facebook hasn't shut them down?  Or did they just find a way to circumvent the new policy?

 

The policy hasn't changed. It's just a matter of Facebook's interest in enforcing that policy.

[The Black Tot]

If Facebook makes enough of a splash about this, enforcement may be interested in the other operators.

 

The backpedaling today (most of the sites, even the smaller ones, are back on) doesn't make it look like it will stick, but Facebook could just be regrouping and agreeing to discuss the matter further amongst themselves.

 

At present, Facebook probably cares about their operating within the law more than the authorities care about enforcing it. Probably the difference between having money to burn and being systematically defunded. But if the story makes it into semi-mainstream media they could get shamed into taking action.