Buy and sell wine from eBay, Amazon etc.

Trading wine online, is here to stay.

In 2012, I was hunting some rare vintage bicycle parts, and of course they could be found on eBay.
Old bike shops in France or Belgium, had the “impossible”, rarer than hens teeth, for sale, and after a few clicks and a few days, the stuff was in My workshop.
I also sometimes looked at wine for sale, but not with intension of buying, just browsing.

Now, 2016, there is even more wine to browse, and I’m getting interested.
Maybe 50% from private persons, and 50% professionals.
Some are direct buys(can often be haggled), others are regular auctions.

I can understand the retailer selling young/old wine, using these platforms to reach a lot of new customers, at low expenses.
The private sellers/buyers, can also save quite a lot, compared to regular auction house tax and premiums.
Of course seller pays a little fee to the platform, when sale is done.
Two people can get in contact, which is not an option when buying from regular auction.(Mail phone or during payment.)
And the sellers are rated hard, by the previous buyers.

I can also see this marked place being swarmed by shady types, unloading boxes of dead wine, or selling their latest creations…

So, in gambling mode, last week, I ordered My first bottles from eBay !
From German retailer, the two André Ziltener burgs. '95 Chambolle M “Les Fueés”, and '09 Clos st. Denis.
French private person sent Me the '82 Batailley(vts.)
the '61 La Rose Figeac(vts), Pomerol, from another German wine dealer.
And the '78 Misserey, Chambolle Musigny, from a French antiques and wine shop.

They have all been shaken a lot by the postmen, but the older ones already look fine and clear, after standing up for some days.
-The shipping cost also has to be low, and wine is heavy… -But it can be done for $12-18.

Do You have any experience with P2P or professional wine-commerce on these big selling platforms ?

Regards, Soren.

Interesting, Søren
Looking forward to read more.

Nice! I’m a gambling man myself and have been known to take fliers on bottles of somewhat unknown provenance from random people here locally (i.e they supposedly inherited a few bottles and are not sure how they’ve been stored).

I’ve mostly been pretty lucky, with the best success story being a 1969 Dom Perignon that I scored for $120, which was an absolutely incredible wine.

I’d probably be a little more hesitant if it was on Ebay…but given the right scenario (bottle, price, seller has a solid transaction history, etc)…I’m sure i’d take a shot at it.

Let us know how the bottles are once you pop em!

…now that I think about it, I used to buy a ton of wine on ebay from the seller ‘hooked on wine’ (retail store is in Washington I believe).

This was about 8 years ago probably when they used to sell all/most of their wine at no reserve auctions starting at $0.99. Scored some killer deals, and always received great customer service.

They’re still pretty active it looks like but sadly those $0.99 no reserve auctions are long gone.

Hey Rich.
The Batailley, and the two Zilteners, all started at €1.00
I got the '95 Chambolle M. 1’er “Les Fueés” @ $37, and the '09 Clos st. D. @ $65, + shipping, for both, $12.00
No experience with this producer, but the price was just right for some awareness.

-Soren.

Nice! Yep, at those kind of prices, why not give it a shot! Let us know how it goes when you open them.

Following this thread out of curiosity

I get contacted about twice a month, mostly by people in Europe, who ordered wine on eBay which never arrived.

I’ve had to threaten legal action against someone selling on eBay claiming that I “authenticated” the bottles he was representing. All with stock photos mind you.

I do not know why anyone would ever buy on eBay. It’s a den of pit-vipers.

I feel like I’m gambling with WineBid! eBay and such would be a whole new level for me!

EBay at least has the feedback mechanism and a guarantee. Doesn’t mean you won’t be sold crap, just means you can at least get your money back.

Maybe eBay in Europe is different, but in the US, if you don’t get the goods, you get your money back.

Same in EU. You sign, when receiving the parcel, and after checking the item, You leave a feedback. -Then the payment is transferred to seller. PayPal holds the money until the deal is done.
If You discover any errors after this point… Then You are on Your own.

Low priced wine, from larger retailers(eBay), can be bought in small quantities, with the same risk as if You order from any online wine merchant. They will of course try to keep their reputation, and keep the customers.

The unicorns being offered here, are a quite different game.
Here stuff are sold , that could be -rejected auction bottles, -refilled or relabeled bottles, -or brand new looking professional made counterfeits.
I would never buy any of these rare and expensive bottles online from anywhere, at all.

Experts most often do a good job when evaluating the wines for the larger auction houses. This gives a feeling of security, which is totally absent on eBay/Amazon and maybe Winebid (no experience here).

But as Don Cornwell. just posted, even honest brick and mortar retailers can have problems with counterfeit burgs.

The pricier the bottle, -the more suspicious one should be.

-Soren.

Exactly. If you pay with PayPal, you can be pretty confident you’ll get your money back if you don’t receive the items. Might be a pain in the ass…but you should get it back.

That’s why I’d the seller has solid feedback and multiple transactions…I’m not opposed to rolling the dice.

Hi Maureen, Lyndon here… I contacted you about TKWines on EBay because they used your name to establish their own bona fides.

Anyway, just saying Hi.