Interesting topic, and one that comes up with friends occasionally as well. As with everything perhaps the answer is it depends. Depends on what your buying and how fast you want it and how much of it you need. Easy to use all available data instead of one source.
1-WineSearcher Pro-may have to filter for pre arrival, (tariffs)taxes, state shipping regs and where is a good place to ship from with current temps.
2-WMJ auction data-filter by years (20-21 super hot market so not as indicative of current market), filter by auction house and location. Some houses are 20% others are 27% plus 10.5% tax plus credit card fees bringing you to 40%- the specific vig really matters. Then you have to decide to include foreign auction houses and the current tariff issues and added shipping costs and delays.
3-local retailers and collectors may have price insight for you and are usually happy to share what they know.
If I am buying Fourrier Gevrey VV new release WS Pro can get me most of what I need and likewise if I am looking for something like 1990 Rousseau Beze WMJ clearly the resource for that.
I buy a decent amount of wine, and I will say that for the wines I typically buy, I typically pay close to wholesale and less than all in auction pricing on most of the stuff I buy. A large amount is from private sellers, some on here, some are from retailers with high value coupons, and some is from auction, but very selectively. I also buy a lot overseas, but a bit less in the tariff era as deals aren’t quite as good.
I take it this is about CC offers? I haven’t been a participant, but…
Seems to me the whole point of buying at auction is to save money (all in, delivered to your door) compared to retail. That’s what I get in return for making the effort to participate in the auction. Assuming the wine is available both places. Most of my auction buys have been wines that aren’t available to me at retail.
I’m sure there are those who find entertainment in the auction process itself. That complicates matters. I’m not one of them. Theoretically, I would even be willing to pay a small premium over all-in auction cost to avoid the hassle and get the wine now. But one never knows for sure where a bottle will hammer.
From a practical perspective, this is the heart of the question:
It’s easy enough to find out. A rational buyer (that’s not everyone!) will check. A seller on CC would be wise to check as well, but maybe they’re looking for that irrational buyer or simply have an unattainable amount in mind below which it’s not worth it to sell.