Auction alternatives in NYC area for small quantities

WINE TALK
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Some friends who have used Acker Merrill’s auctions to dispose of small quantities of wine were asking about alternatives. I’d suggested they not use Acker, given its role in the Rudy K scandal and the recent scandal involving is sale of fake high-end bourbon in very sketchy circumstances. (“Posh NYC wine store fined $100K for fake bourbon sales — but hasn’t fired anybody over scandal”)

I know that Chambers St., Flatiron, Grapes, the Wine Co. and Zachy’s all offer wines from private cellars at least on occasion. But one of the friends said:

[F]or the occasional mixed case or two to sell, I can’t find anything easy. … I fear the other places wouldn’t want to take random bottles of mid-to-lower tier bottles that I no longer want.

Any suggestions?

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Commerce corner here?

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I’ll second that.

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If they had success with Acker in the past why not use them?

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The problem with selling on commerce corner is that it’s illegal. John - you might have your friend check with RSquared, Thatcher or Baron wines. The latter two tend to deal in more high end stuff. While I haven’t used them all, I have it on good authority that they are easy to deal with. Also, most places will offer you two prices - consignment and outright purchase. So there is a lot of flexibility for a seller.

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Selling through Acker isn’t the same as buying through Acker. Acker is great for sellers, but I don’t know how that translates to mid-to-lower tier bottles. For those, I’ve used Spectrum and Benchmark, most recently Spectrum, which will auction or purchase outright. Within the past year, I’ve sold to Spectrum and through Acker, and was happy with both experiences.

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Because that have a 15-year record of dishonest behavior:

  1. They continued to sell fake wines made by Rudy K for a year or more after they had had to refund millions (yes, millions) of dollars to buyers in earlier auctions who had discovered the wines were fakes. Acker had advanced Rudy $7 million against future sales in the late 2000s, so the store kept selling more of his wines so he could repay some of what he owned them.

  2. Now they’ve been busted for selling large quantities of fake bourbon acquired in dubious circumstance by several employees.

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What does that have to do with selling your wines there? Do you think they’re going to steal them and replace them with fake wines?

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No. The issue is whether you want to support a business like that.

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to the actual question as opposed to the virtue signaling acker issues, it really depends on the wines.

if they’re high end/cherry burgs or other hot items, then you can negotiate low or zero seller commission at most houses which changes the calculus. hammer pricing should net the seller the most per bottle in most cases.

if you’re selling or consigning to a reseller, they will take a larger margin because they need to sell “at market” give or take. but if the wines aren’t as in demand or the seller is more interested just selling the entire lot vs maximizing each bottle, that’s likely more convenient and the payment terms may be better / faster. if you go down this route, there are many more options imo.

so, (1) depends on the wines and (2) depends on how much work the seller wants to do. but yeah, no one wants lower tier bottles because they’re a pain to sell and aren’t worth much.

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I couldn’t care less, if they for me the best price. If I was going to sell high end wines I’d probably use HDH because I think they’ve had the best results but I’d certainly consider acker. I’ve bought some wines from acker retail that have been fine. Most people are supporting companies much worse than acker in their daily lives,

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I think it’s extremely disrespectful to refer to people’s beliefs in this way, whether you agree with them or not.

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Why not call a spade a spade?

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Chambers and flatiron both seem to do a lot of large lists with somewhat random lists of wine, so I’d think either could work?

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And you are free to do so.

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That’s a snotty post. Is it “virtue signalling” to suggest people shouldn’t support a business that has a long history of dishonesty? I’m not trying to send any message about myself.

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i think you’re right - it was snotty. i’ll leave it since i’m happy to own it, but appreciate that it may be an issue for some people. as if it matters, i generally agree re: acker’s rep, but i suppose i was interested in the actual issue of the post and tried to provide useful info sans noise.

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Examples of companies people are supporting much worse than Acker?

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yeah the argument “it’s fine that they are a dishonest amoral company because others are worse” seems like a ridiculous argument but, as others have said, to each his own…

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BASF is the world’s largest manufacturer of surfactant which is used in most soaps and detergents. Propublica details the increased cancer risk to locals that their plants cause in this article.

BASF was also part of IG Farben in the past which was a major contributor to the holocaust.

Many petrochemical companies also have plants elevating cancer risk, contributing to climate change, and prop up authoritarian regimes.

There’s numerous other examples.

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