Shared Allocation as a favor and now buyer is flipping them

I responded to a post earlier this year from someone who was desperately seeking an allocation from a certain producer - I wasn’t going to use it, so figured it was an opportunity to do something nice for someone. And now the buyer has listed them for sale on Commerce Corner, at a hefty markup. No names, not looking to call anyone out.

I sold them, asked for no consideration, sought no detail on whether they were for personal consumption or for resale, and given that, it is none of my business what the buyer does with them.

On the other hand, the whole thing makes me feel uncomfortable - my only motivation was to help someone who really wanted these wines, not to enable a hefty profit on a flip.

Maybe I’m just irked I didn’t ask - had I known they were going to be flipped for an immediate profit, then there would have been a participation fee, or at least some gain-sharing.

I would file this under the heading “No good deed goes unpunished.”

What Jim said.

In this case I don’t think you had to qualify the purchase by asking intent. If someone wanted to buy at cost and flip that person could do it discreetly in another forum or locally. To know that the person bought your allocation on CC here and then reposted it to flip in the same forum, with the likelihood that you would see it, takes major stones imho and is not really in the spirit of the sharing at cost.

I would chalk it up as a lesson learned and cross one buyer off your list in the future.

I laughed about this buyer’s chutzpah and told the tale to my wife. She said, “Crass loser thing for the buyer to have done.”

I would agree.

eh, you gave up the allocation, you weren’t going to use it, they can do what they see fit. Is it kinda weird to ask for an allocation and flip it in a few months on the same board? Yeah

But the question is, was it really sold for an immediate profit with the sole purpose of buying for the profit? I don’t see anything on CC for a recent allocation sale that could be a quick flipper, but maybe I missed it

Why not post this in CC feedback with the name? This clearly is not the intent of CC or such transactions.

Yep.

I was told when I got into the business, and I was surprised by an early tasting note: “once you let a wine out of your hands…” Yes. I get that. Business transactions. Gift-giving. But the intent of the connections we make here go beyond the hard lines. I would not be happy about this transaction at all.

I’m with Charlie on this one. Their prerogative to sell as they please. Your prerogative to continue to transact with them in the future.

I’ve observed that those who behave poorly, for some definition of poorly, tend to get blackballed by the wine community before long anyway.

I agree, so I would like to know who it is. Or do we each have to learn the lesson about this person the hard way?

I would probably choose to believe that something had changed for that person (taste in wine, financial situation, etc.) and that if I had all the details I’d be ok with it.

Sure, it’s pretty naïve, but in this case thinking the best of the other person may be the least effort/stressful thing to do and doesn’t have much downside for you.

Just my 2c.

-DR

I would PM the OP to find out; I’m not confident that outing the counterparty in public fits the “crime.”

This is nothing unethical the buyer turned seller did, it is, however, illegal for an unlicensed person to sell or ship wine in almost all circumstances.

It is unethical. Asking for an allocation of a flippable wine at cost to turn around profit from is both greedy and deceitful in the fact that this intent was not disclosed. The OP could have sold his allocation and taken the profit himself. Instead, he did someone on this board a favor, and his generosity was taken advantage of. I would be upset also.

but OP already said he wasn’t going to buy it. Why is he upset? He didn’t lose anything. If he wanted to he could have bought it and flipped it. That’s what almost everyone does on wines with a hefty mark up.

If he was going to buy it and he decided instead to share with someone, that’s a different story, but that’s not what OP said

I’m personally just curious what the wine is.

The buyer may have run into hard times but if I were the buyer I would have sent an email to the seller out of respect. Common courtesy isn’t so common anymore. With that, I would send the guy an email and ask what’s up then decide whether or not to dime him out.

On the bright side, he preserved your future allocations, right?
I agree that this is a lame move, but whatever.
It doesn’t hurt you.

I wonder if the winery would feel similar to the OP when they gave him an allocation and he did something else with it than what they wanted.

I remember the old Kistler days when taking part of someone’s allocation was a favor to them as they would get allocated so many wines.

I do feel sympathy for the OP however.

Classless move, in my opinion.

Life is too short to bitch about what someone did with the wine after you let the person take your allocation. You were not going to buy. Who cares what they did with the wine? You maintained your place on the list.

There are only 3 or 4 mailing list wines that I will still buy. I let two other people buy my allocations of some of the other highly sought after wines. I really don’t care if they flip them or not. If they didn’t buy them, I would just drop off the lists.