Winebid no longer allowing pickup in Illinois

Well, looks like I may be no longer buying from Winebid. It appears that they’re shutting down their Chicagoland warehouse, so if I buy from them I’ll have to pay for shipping from Napa, assuming they will still ship to Illinois. Here’s the email I just received:

We wanted to let you know about an upcoming consolidation of our operations to begin on Monday, December 18, 2017. Wines will no longer be available for pickup or shipment at our Chicago warehouse (see below for transition details). All wines will now be stored and shipped directly from our Napa Valley warehouse. A new small office will remain in the Chicago area to receive wines for consignments only.

• Effective with the auction ending December 17, 2017, all wine will remain in our Napa warehouse for storage or shipment according to the delivery preference on your account.

• This will better allow for customized packing requests and quicker consolidation of your purchases for shipping.

• Any bottles currently in storage at our Chicago warehouse (View Unshipped Wine) can be scheduled for pickup from that location until January 12, 2018. A specific pickup date of no later than January 12, 2018 must be scheduled online in Your Account or by contacting Customer Service.

• Beginning January 15, 2018 we will route all wine back to our Napa warehouse for continued storage.

• Your account preferences will be changed to ship via Ground, weather permitting, once you request shipment online or by contacting Customer Service. If you would prefer an expedited shipping method please contact Customer Service to assist. Shipping rates and transit time for each shipping method can be found via our Shipping Calculator.

Please feel free to contact Customer Service directly if needed to discuss or confirm your account preferences in light of these changes.

We appreciate your business.

One of the reasons that I liked buying from them was that I didn’t incur shipping cost from the Napa warehouse, because they transferred the wine to the Chicagoland office at no cost to me. Now if I have to pay shipping, on top of the buyer’s premium and probably the sales tax (because of the small office for consignment pickup), their pricing will have really skyrocketed.

This sucks.

This does suck. I will now be going there soon to pick up all my bottles.

May not be a buyer anymore. I pay about 25% over bid right now for me to pick up the wines in Chicago. No value for me if I have to add a couple more percent to have them shipped.

That’s pretty much the last straw for me too.

I’ve been becoming less enthusiastic with Wine bid over the last year for a variety of reasons but, living on the East coast, this is probably the last straw. I recently got 3 cases I had in storage there and only have one bottle left there. I may just have it shipped and be done with them.

Is this really the vendor ‘consolidating’ or is this Illinois making things so complicated for shipment that they simply can’t take the risk of their clients wine getting stranded there?

I can’t but help think is driven more by the craziness in the Land of Lincoln.

Illinois has become Camden on the Mississippi.

How so? Do you think that other states won’t allow shipments from Illinois because Illinois won’t allow shipments from those states?

I really liked the fact that I only paid ground shipping out of Chicago and would get the wine in two days. It also allowed me to ship in small windows without a problem. The change is definitely a deterrent.

Unfortunately, I’m with you.

I’ll try not to take that personally.

Don’t most people pay shipping on wine bid? More like its now competitive!

For some reason I thought there was a fear floating around that Illinois was stopping outbound shipments too. It never made sense to me (but nothing about 3 tier and shipping is logical to me) but there were some threads about it.

While it may be downsizing to remain competitive/lucrative, there may be other factors. The difficulties of “shipping” and/or “compliance” may have come into play. Vendors in CA can’t ship to Ill or 41 other states. Those states have sued UPS and FedEx, putting pressure on them to be their enforcers. The idea of having a physical presence in Illinois allows for shipping within Ill and until recently cheaper shipping to the east coast and central America. If they can no longer ship outside Illinois because UPS and FedEx won’t accept shipments, why pay for a presence in Illinois? Look for future purchases to be shipped by a third party with a slight increase in cost.

I’ve not paid shipping because I can pick up my purchases in the Elmhurst, IL warehouse. They don’t charge to transfer between the Napa and Elmhurst warehouses.

That’s the first I’ve heard of it that Illinois might stop outbound shipping. There’s no upside to the state to prevent shipping out of the state, so I think that part of it is just a rumor.

Not just Winebid. I have several cases stuck at HDH as they suddenly stopped shopping to my state. And VA is one of the best states to live in for shipping

According to this site, Virginia ABC requires a shipping license, which HDH and Winebid do not have.

Yes this is the risk I was concerned about. There were some threads here about this a while ago. I dramatically reduced the amount of stuff I’m willing to leave at places either waiting to accumulate enough for a case shipping, or waiting for weather.

The trendlines for shipping wine are getting worse, not better. It’s strange to me.

Colorado also had been one of the easiest states to ship to. Recently, I had to have a case of wine from a major CA retailer shipped via a third party shipper. How long before that option is chocked off too?

Best not to specify merchants and states, on this open thread.