Must be having some ongoing issues. Site is still very laggy today.
The site was awful last night and I had to figure out how to place some bids 30min before closing but luckily was able to get in. Never had this problem before but it was very frustrating.
They use a different model from a traditional auction that contributes to this. They’ll initially list at a higher starting price and gradually reduce it over a series of auctions, instead of a single auction that starts at a price where items are predicted to sell.
I agree with @Keith_Levenberg that “… they’re usually pretty accurate about pricing the reserve …”. In my experience, it’s been rare that the minimum bids have been reduced before the lot was sold. I do recall one occasion where the bid was reduced, but there ended up being multiple bidders and it sold for well over the original reserve price.
I’ve watched any number of bottles not sell for several weeks, then see the price drop a notch, someone bids, and the wine(s) end up selling for more than the initial price lol. Not always, but it happens.
Winebid’s pricing is, perhaps aside from some wines that are in obvious demand, usually fairly conservative on the low side. Frankly, I wish more retailers would do this, instead of just sitting on stock for months or years, but winebid’s is a different kind of business, they don’t own most of the wines that are being sold, so there is no margin to worry about. I sell (and buy) there because it is easy, efficient, the web site is good (notwithstanding the apparent glitch yesterday, but in my experience that is very rare). It’s a great place to help lower your cellar inventory, or rebalance your cellar. I have seen my share of wines get bid up, though most sell for less than I originally paid. That’s the cost of having someone else do all the work for you. But there is no way I could sell everything I’ve sold on winebid through commerce corner here, handle the shipping, risk of collection and shipping, etc. You will pay for the service, and for me it’s worth it.
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Happens a decent amount, I’d say. With the current reserve algorithm that’s probably the game theoretic optimal strategy.
I wonder if they would yield better returns for their sellers if they just went No Reserve for highly-desirable items. Or allow people to bid under the reserve.
It’s $10 for bottles hammering at $124 or lower.
My understanding is its a $10 minimum for the seller. If youre at a 20% fee, thats a $50 bottle.
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That would be a roughly 8% commission for bottles hammering at $124. I’m not familiar with Winebid’s commission structure, but that sounds low to me.
My understanding is the same as @Max_S1. A consigner has a set commission for their consignment, but there is also a $10 minimum commission for a lot. For example, if the seller’s commission rate is 15%, they would pay the minimum $10 fee on any lot that sells for $66 or less, as 15% of $66 is $9.90, less than $10. If the lot sells for $67 or more, the commission is 15% of the hammer price. If the hammer price is the previously mentioned $124, the 15% commission would be $18.60.
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Commission is tiered by value of total consignment. It was recently reevaluated for 2026, but I don’t have the numbers offhand. Even the lowest tier is higher than 8%, IIRC.
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What do some other major auction houses charge? I know WB commission is somewhat on the higher side, but always felt that the ability to consign low priced bottles and pickup service outweighed having lower commission rates.
Its really variable. KL was pretty similar.
That’s gone now with the 2026 changes, IMHO. The German section has 10-20% of the listings it used to have, and some of those are carryovers from the 2025 rates. It’s a very unwelcome change. No real way to get rid of ‘lesser’ bottles now, other than selling yourself which is a huge hassle and not really worth it.
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Didn’t realize they had made changes in the past few months. So no more $15 bottles? In the past they would usually take a few if the rest of the consignment was higher value stuff.
There have been some $15 bottles very recently, so maybe currently. Some had lowered to that point.
Unfortunately not. Some of the most interesting bottles I’ve gotten, ironically, were $15 bottles I took a chance on.
Those are almost certainly holdovers. A $15 bottle under 2026 rates would go almost entirely to Winebid. Maybe $1-$2 to the consignor. No point.
There are hundreds of $15 bottles currently up for bid.
Can you bundle bottles into higher-priced lots?
K&L does that, and winebid has sometimes sold case lots if I recall, but they don’t seem to ever bundle wines into 2 or 3-packs, or “tasting lots” the way others do. I suspect their logic is they have to handle, pack, and ship every bottle, so they price that in to their accounting model.
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I’ll check in with you in six months.