Hill Farmstead policy on eBaying and Ephraim launch

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Our Statement Regarding eBay and the illegal reselling of our beer...as well as the Ephraim Release:At Hill Farmstead, we honor eight generations of Greensboro ancestry by thoughtfully engaging with our heritage and with the spirit of our artisanal farmhouse ales. Decisions that we make are not the sole representation of Shaun Hill - they are the synthesis of Dan, Phil, and myself. We all agree that our decision to try a draft only release of Ephraim is the best thing that we can do for the beer.
Rather than criticizing our brewery for this decision, we encourage beer enthusiasts to look within their own community - the community of enthusiasts - stare at the folks that are hoarding beer until it is far beyond optimal, scowl at the people that are disrespectfully and illegally reselling beer on Ebay in order to gain a significant profit. The detractors from our decision seem to fail in recognizing the quintessential essence of our brewery. If a community ("craft beer") is unable to police themselves, or an individual (or individuals) is incapable of introspection, we believe that it is in the best interest of our business’s mission statement to continually alter the rules governing our enterprise and commerce in order that our beer (which, in essence, is also quite literally our entire "life") is representative of our vision. A community is only as strong as its weakest link.

I see a lot of the baby going out with the bath water here but I actually like the general direction.

Looks like a DONG (draft only, no growlers) which is fine but I wonder if we’ll see a growler on eBay?

And I would love to have eBaying beer disappear altogether, but all trading? That’s the reputation builder, long distance communication, completely doable in terms of quality for many beers, does not illegally profit from the brewer’s handiwork, and usually done with great enthusiasm, passion and respect.

I do like it when brewers add notes, however informal, about time-to-expiration. These notes alone would help reduce any quality issues related to beer swaps by post.

You work for Hill Farmstead now Joe? Or was this signed by someone else? Curious who the "myself" is, is that Bob Montgomery?

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I’m an advocate for drinking local and fresh - it is the superior way to drink beer. OTOH, Mr Hill is taking this a little too seriously. It is beer we are talking about here, let’s not get carried away. I hope this dude’s head doesn’t explode the first time somebody rates a "Facto" style bottle.

I respect what they’re trying to do. They want to see their product consumed in a particular way, according to their ideals and principles, and it sounds like they’re changing the way they offer it to get closer to that ideal.

But in the end, if they make beers that have a demand that far outweighs the supply, you’ll have people going to great lengths to hoard for status, trading fodder, and/or reselling. It’s just the way it is.

I don’t see how they can elimiate it altogether. If I were them, I’d focus more on the fact that my beer is selling well and less about the eBay, but that’s just me.

I will worry about TRADING possibly "old" beer when every bottle shop (or even a significant percentage of them) regularly review their stock for best before/expiry dates and bin all the "not fresh" beers they have for sale.

Right. Ain’t holding my breath on that one.

From Hill’s Facebook I think. (It was passed on to me):
"What is a threat is this: Anyone caught selling our beer illegally on Ebay will be forever banned from our brewery and will be served a cease and desist letter from our lawyer for trademark infringement."

Umm, I’m not a lawyer but cease and desist for trademark infringement? That sounds nonsensical. Can you really not describe a for sale product by stating it’s brand name? Could I be served a cease and desist for trademark infringement from Levi if I sell my blue jeans as Levi 501s?

Originally posted by thirdeye11
You work for Hill Farmstead now Joe? Or was this signed by someone else? Curious who the "myself" is, is that Bob Montgomery?

Originally posted by STLWill
From Hill’s Facebook I think. (It was passed on to me):
"What is a threat is this: Anyone caught selling our beer illegally on Ebay will be forever banned from our brewery and will be served a cease and desist letter from our lawyer for trademark infringement."

Umm, I’m not a lawyer but cease and desist for trademark infringement? That sounds nonsensical. Can you really not describe a for sale product by stating it’s brand name? Could I be served a cease and desist for trademark infringement from Levi if I sell my blue jeans as Levi 501s?

Originally posted by joet

Originally posted by STLWill
From Hill’s Facebook I think. (It was passed on to me):
"What is a threat is this: Anyone caught selling our beer illegally on Ebay will be forever banned from our brewery and will be served a cease and desist letter from our lawyer for trademark infringement."

Umm, I’m not a lawyer but cease and desist for trademark infringement? That sounds nonsensical. Can you really not describe a for sale product by stating it’s brand name? Could I be served a cease and desist for trademark infringement from Levi if I sell my blue jeans as Levi 501s?

What I would like is a piece of software that uses the eBay API to find illegal listings for a brewer and set up complaint filings for them.

You can issue a complaint on any alcohol listing. It’s plainly against eBay’s policy.

One would hope that this would be the most effective way for brewers to deal with this problem -- especially if they get a text message notification, and a link to issue the complaint(s).