Why so few lots on WineCommune these days?

As winestores in Michigan have been mostly successful at eradicating Burgundy from the shelves here, I have been browsing WineCommune at least weekly for years to see if there are any good buys. Usually the auction listings for Burgs goes for 4-5 pages, mostly JJ Buckley stuff, but from others as well. Northern Rhones have also been good for a couple of screens of listings, too.

But as of July-ish, it seems like the listings are WAY down. Burgundies not quite filling one page, and Northern Rhones counting 5 bottles.

I thought that maybe they slowed down for the summer months, even though I don’t remember reduced lots last year. But they certainly haven’t picked up since the calendar turned to September.

Anyone have any explanations or insider knowledge?

It is an interesting issue, as one would think that people are liquidating a bit more during this economy, to free up capital for more purchases (or paying bills, I guess). It seems that during the consumer boom, more people were buying AND selling - now things have settled down on both sides. I notice far less activity in Commerce Corner than when the economy was hitting on all cylinders as well.

A look at commerce corner showing all the Rhys bottles available at cost implies that the economy is not exactly roaring, eh?

What I find strange about WC is that about 80% of the listings were from the parent company, not individuals, and that is what seems to have dropped off. I am not trying to start rumors, but just asking the question, Is JJ Buckley winding down?

One thing to remember is that the auction market slows down in the summer months due to the warm weather and not wanting to ship.

Another factor is the economy has taker a toll on the auction market and prices realized. It’s a catch 22 on listing with or without reserves. I personally stay away from auctions with reserves but in this market it’s the only way to protect yourself as a seller from getting creamed. Unless your selling only a handfull of wines you can count on people viewing auctions now as a way to try and steal stuff. I’m torn because I like to both buy and sell via auction but it’s definately a buyer’s market.

Not picking up after the summer. Today has only 1 screen of Burgs.

I think WC has become more of a Wine Retailer … the explosion of other Auctions has given those looking to lighten their cellars more options and the market has become more saturated.

Within the past few years Acker, Zachys, Sothebys, HDH & WineBid have been joined by Wine Gavel, Heritage, K&L, Spectrum …

WineCommune site down today. Hmmmmm…

http://winecommune.com/

Prob because of Wine commune question - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

The power of Wine Berserkers?

Errol, Ive noticed this as well and do not recall if this was a summer phenomenon or not. Ill remember to ask when I pick up my wines in the fall.

I don’t really know why this is in wine 101, in fact I thought I was in wine talk and was wondering why such old topics were coming up! However, I almost posted about this awhile back. People used to poo poo WC, but there was a while where JJB put a ton of wine in the weekly auctions that would go for unreal prices. I found some dogs, but mainly I used to clean up on decent wines at about 1/3 or less of the next best deal. I am sure it wasn’t the most effective selling strategy and always wondered how they could keep it up. These weren’t consigned lots, they were large lots of wines that JJB still sells to this date in many cases. I cleaned up, for instance, on large lots of Thomas Morey burgundies, recently discussed on the JJB clearance thread, at prices even better than those offered at the sale. I think maybe a lot of what they did was shift to private sellers and seasonal clearance to unload, giving them better price control. I don’t know, but I do miss some of the deals I found, and wish I’d bought more.

Michael, I agree with your last statements and also am grateful for many deals over the past few years I took advantage of having. OTOH, I bought too many dogs from outside JJB and paid the price literally for highly oxidized wines until I learned to be more discretionary about who I bought from. I have even bought a few from JJB that were over the hill and misrepresented as to ullage and condition, but that has not happened in the past year or so as far as I know although I have many wines in summer storage and will not know the outcome until pick up or delivery.

Blake, yes there were some definite risks there, and some sellers who offloaded a lot of problem wines. It didn’t take long before I stuck to the house lots.