I simply enter the retail cost of the bottle. I guess the older I get the less I care about things like did I include tax and shipping in the per bottle cost. For me, there is no real value in knowing that data and having it in my numbers.
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That sounds like the worst idea ever. The total cellar value figure is terrifying enough as it is. I need to keep it hidden.
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Price of the wine, anything else is anal, wine math gymnastics. Does a few dollars really matter? Should I count gas cost to buy a wine locally?
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Price + tax + shipping is the only way that makes sense. Tax and shipping alone can be 10-20% of the cost of an order. Some retailers offer free shipping and factor that into their prices, other retailers charge a high amount for shipping so as to keep listed prices low. The only way to make true apples-to-apples comparisons is to use the all-in total.
Of course, I wish that CellarTracker included fields for both listed price as well as all-in price (because leaving it ambiguous pollutes the community average pricing with dirty data). My dream is that CellarTracker builds a tool like what Kayak.com uses for trip itineraries. You simply forward your email receipt to them and it is able to parse out all of the details and do all of the data entry for you. That would be an amazing CT feature.
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I always include tax and shipping. Thats what matters in the end and the best way for me to compare and track over time. It is Europe based thinking as we can order from most European countries where there might be different taxes, shipping cost. Various details use different pricing strategies for transport costs.
Out of curiosity, does it work differently in US (for the cases when possible to order or cross states, sales tax adjusted to your state or some other mechanism)?
For example, if you can by bottle X for 50 (tax included - let’s assume same tax rate as well) from a retailer your state while in other you can by the same wine for 40 (incl tax). However transport from the out of state offer brings up the per bottle price by 15, while for the inside state shipping is included.
Doing the calculation at that very moment - 50 is less than 55 obviously… With time, seeing an off of around 40 will seem like a bargain, but.
I always enter cost to me, all in at the time of purchase. I want to know what the hobby is costing me.
This! I mean, you all pay the taxes as well, right? 
I don’t get the “price paid” vs. “price paid + tax” because “price paid” includes already tax! I’d understand if it was “wine price” vs. “wine price + tax”.
But as noted above, in Europe the prices include all the taxes by default. It would be impossible for me trying to deduct what is the original wine price when both alcohol tax and VAT change from country to country.
When adding a wine to CT, I include my “price paid” which consists of wine price (including all the taxes) + delivery costs (+ possible hammer prices etc). If I’ve paid in other currency than EUR, I convert the price I paid to EUR at the buying date conversion rate. In the bottle note I mark what was the original price (whichever currency it was bought in) before any delivery costs in case I want to check at what price the wine sold in the good old times.
Including all the costs I need to pay to get the wine is pretty necessary for me as I arrange tastings quite often and I need to see how much the wines cost to calculate the costs of the tasting. Leaving the delivery costs and hammer prices out of the equation would mean me making loss. 
I put price per bottle pre shipping or tax to give the best comparison to both others on CT and general retail (since like everyone here I buy from a lot of places and often look for the best price). I agree including taxes and shipping would show the total price, but there’s no avoiding taxes and taxes are subjective based on location. I’m not going to not buy a wine because of my state tax. Same with shipping, if I can’t get it locally or just want to buy from a producer, I’ll ship it. That said, I’ve seen a few Napa producers with sky high shipping that has made me pass on the offer ($60 for 3 bottles, really?).
In the US, the price quoted by a seller (of anything, not just wine) does not include tax. So if one walk into a wine shop and see a wine listed for $50. One will usually end up paying more than $50. The amount of tax will vary by state, as states are the ones that dictate sales tax.
For the most part, one can purchase wine from mosts states and have it shipped to another state (the specifics vary state by state). Whether sales tax is charged, and which state’s sales tax is charged depends on a variety of factors like the state the retailer is located in, where they are shipping to.
So the discussion for US folks is really one centred around which data point is more useful for them to track. If one wants to track total spend on wine, then including taxes, and shipping tends to make the most sense. If on the other hand, one wants to note what price they were offered the wine at so that offer price can be compared to offers by other retailers or future offers (after all, the prices one sees on wine-searcher for US retailers, don’t include tax or shipping); then it tends to make more sense to use the offer price not including taxes and shipping costs. There’s no one right answer in how one inputs price into CT. It really depends on what one is trying to achieve.
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I think this is spot on…and perhaps why it might be useful for Eric to consider fielding out tax, shipping auction premium etc on the purchase screen next to price.
For me, i like to look back and see that now they are offering wine X for $40.00 a bottle, but I was able to buy it for $30.00 a bottle a few weeks back without having to calculate and back out shipping and tax costs (if applicable)… but again that is just me… I don’t think there is a single right answer to this question, just what works best for the way you personally want to use CT…
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Sorry, why do you assume that putting the base price in gives the best comparison to CT community pricing? If this poll is any indication, the average price listed on CT will be 50% “base price” and 50% “price + tax + shipping”, so you will always think that you are getting a deal relative to the CT community pricing.
Thanks Rodrigo!
Actually a few places still don’t charge taxes when shipping to MN. Just wish they had a better selection!
Don’t enter cost or price per bottle in CT
To track my spending I just keep receipts and enter how much is was billed in a spreadsheet
It’s the all in cost. Some lots have no shipping or premium if I pick them up. Most have tax unless I bought them from non retailers
In Australia taxes are included in the bottle price. I’ll factor in Buyers premium if I have bought at auction.
I leave shipping out of it, as I think that provides a better comparison across different sources - shop, direct from winery, auction etc
To me shipping is the price I pay for being too lazy or busy to physically go get the wine - in the majority of cases I could. I’m mindful of the additional cost but I don’t see it as a cost that is intrinsic to the wine.
I might see things differently if I was buying from overseas though as that adds a whole level of expense to a purchase.
Don’t forget the value of your time.
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So frankly I’d thought about that before as well, but when I’ve done comparisons of the “Community Average Value” it’s often right near MSRP. From an analytical standpoint, taxes and shipping vary by state, so the best way for all of us to compare would be to just use price excl. shipping and taxes. But clearly as validated by this thread, everyone tracks it differently (or its more a 50/50 split), so without some coordination we’re left guessing.
The reason I only put the price paid is because tax & shipping are variable depending on location. The one thing I agree with is buyers premium as that is part of the upfront cost per bottle. I want to be able to look at cellar tracker price per bottle and know if I am getting a fair rate versus what others are paying.
What he said.
I just enter the bottle cost and have done. Life is too short, otherwise. I assume the input prices I see on CT vary some by 5-10% on release for the many reasons Berserkers have stated and that’s fine by me. I do like having a ballpark figure of annual spending breakdown and the value of the collection for insurance purposes.
I do pay attention to bigger picture things like substantial appreciation over time as in “Wow, that bottle doubled its’ value” (rare-I tell my wife about these) vs: “Sigh, good thing I appreciate wine, because there’s a lot of it sitting around”.
A lot of the “appreciation” and value is the fun. The chase, the unboxing of long-awaited gems, the joy of a surprisingly good bottle from a place or person hitherto undiscovered, the camaraderie of tasting with fellow geeks.
Punctilious attention to the myriad minutiae of shipping, taxes and annual cellar costs is my definition of “un-fun”, but hey, whatever melts your boat. (Also, if I were to add the annual cost of storage to every bottle I’d probably need smelling salts and a new, cheaper hobby ![[swoon.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f425e8dac3e7344bee264da02e55428971be23a9.gif "swoon"){kind=small}
)
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