Why do people place early bids on Winebid? Question/Rant

[Jason_Crawford]

I bid the minimum on six lots last Monday. I guess I was the only one back filling HSS last week.

[Bryan_Price]

@Frank Murray III

@Bryan Price

After bidding on and winning way too many bottles above my “normal” purchasing plan this past weekend, I once again an perusing for “deals” today. I also noticed on the wines where I was sniped, almost all had high ratings from RP. I forget some people just go off the ratings blindly. I know I used to before I started trying wine.

The sickness continues…

Bryan, at some point if you stay this course you will find yourself with a lot of wine (and an equally large credit card bill). I’m not throwing stones at you b/c I remember a similar course for myself, when I bought a lot of wine from WB a # of years back. Just keep conscious of your tastes being subject to change and how that might intersect with your inventory.

PS…drop me a PM with your email address if you like. At some point, it’d be nice to meet you and see if you want to hang out with some of us down the road and have some bottles here in the south OC.

Hey Frank! Sent you a PM back. I definitely sense my palette will shift as it’s already shifted away from the majority of Chardonnays I used to like, although I still find ones that I love. I know some day in the near future I’ll find yet another variety I love and want to buy vintages and vintages of it as well. How do you find new wines that you like? I try to get to tastings at Hi Time 4-5 years per year and I like using my travel to explore new producers.

The good thing is my wife enables me and it’s a hobby we share together.

[David_K_o_l_i_n]

@Rich Brown

@David K o l i n

Yup

Well then you’re a stronger man than I…but I also have to think that you’re in the minority, especially in regards to people on this board.

If there’s a wine I really want…and I can potentially get it for a little bit more than what I had originally wanted to cap my spend at…I’ll ultimately talk myself into bidding higher. Especially if I have an extended amount of time to think/stew over it. Its a combination of really wanting the wine, and also hating to lose.

…and that mentality is only magnified if I’ve had a couple glasses of wine already

I hear that. I think it helps that I’ve been buying wine at auction since the 70s, which was a very different market. Some, but much less, trophy hunting, no ratings driving purchases and lots of intervening years that have helped build perspective that there is a lot of wine out there. And I think I am built differently than many in this way

[Wes_Barton]

@M.Kaplan

I don’t buy much at auction anymore, but was very active for a time in online and live/online whisky and wine auctions. I usually bid early on what I wanted, with automatic increases to my maximum. Then I quit watching for the most part until the auction ended. I won what I wanted more times than not for the price I was prepared to pay before placing my initial bid.

Seems pretty straightforward; what am I missing?

You’re missing that a lot of people think they’re smarter than your proven record of success.

[Wes_Barton]

@R_Gilbane

I like this thread. I will go through phases when I am fairly active on Winebid and enjoy hearing the different approaches to the bidding process. I enjoy it when encountering bidders who clearly want a particular wine at any cost. It’s most readily apparent when there are multiple vintages of the same bottling. You can drive up the price but they just refuse to lose. I admire that type of blind determination.

Like, when there are a few multi-bottle lots each of several vintages, and they want every single one of them, and you’re only interested in one bottle each, up to a point. So, you test that point on one, driving up the price on all the bottles in that lot. Darn! Not high enough. Let’s try lot another of the same vintage. Hmm. Not high enough on that. either. How about this vintage? Nope? Hmm… I wonder if they autobid this much on every single lot…

[mike_pobega]

Let me add that when I snipe my bid price is usually quite high if there is a previous bid and I really want the bottle, usually something I don’t see anywhere else. I am willing to pay more or be the highest bidder. It’s about getting the bottle not saving $5 but let’s face it, that’s cool too.

[R_Gilbane]

@Wes Barton

@R_Gilbane

I like this thread. I will go through phases when I am fairly active on Winebid and enjoy hearing the different approaches to the bidding process. I enjoy it when encountering bidders who clearly want a particular wine at any cost. It’s most readily apparent when there are multiple vintages of the same bottling. You can drive up the price but they just refuse to lose. I admire that type of blind determination.

Like, when there are a few multi-bottle lots each of several vintages, and they want every single one of them, and you’re only interested in one bottle each, up to a point. So, you test that point on one, driving up the price on all the bottles in that lot. Darn! Not high enough. Let’s try lot another of the same vintage. Hmm. Not high enough on that. either. How about this vintage? Nope? Hmm… I wonder if they autobid this much on every single lot…

You got it. After a certain point I become more curious than anything else and just want to see how far the rabbit hole goes.

[Victor_Hong]

You would think that rich folks would not worry so much about a few dollars more or less, on luxury goods.

[L_e_o_F_r_o_k_i_c]

@Michael Martin

Its called auction fever and I have seen it so many times on eBay, you know it plays out on Winebid too.

Learned my lesson long time ago. I was bidding on this rare stamps from a town of Fiume in the late 90’s and I bid early and often, got into bidding fight, way overpaid, spent a fortune. That’s how I decided/learned to bid on last seconds of the auction not to get into bidding fights and only put a number I was comfortable with while not having time to increase the bid if I got outbid… (years later I found out that the stamps were fake)

But with that said winebid is completely different beast as winebid doesn’t start its auctions at $1 like ebay did many times, starting bids on winebid are pretty much a full price so I place my bids early and for the amount I think it’s worth it to me which is usually starting bid and i do not go to bidding wars there if somebody out bids me.

[Victor_Hong]

@L e o F r o k i c

@Michael Martin

Its called auction fever and I have seen it so many times on eBay, you know it plays out on Winebid too.

Learned my lesson long time ago. I was bidding on this rare stamps from a town of Fiume in the late 90’s and I bid early and often, got into bidding fight, way overpaid, spent a fortune. That’s how I decided/learned to bid on last seconds of the auction not to get into bidding fights and only put a number I was comfortable with while not having time to increase the bid if I got outbid… (years later I found out that the stamps were fake)

Rudy and John were there, too? So sorry.

[L_e_o_F_r_o_k_i_c]

@Victor Hong

@L e o F r o k i c

Rudy and John were there, too? So sorry.

Talking of Rudy, has it ever been found that he sold wines to Winebid? One would think that that would be perfect place for him?

[Victor_Hong]

@L e o F r o k i c

@Victor Hong

@L e o F r o k i c

Rudy and John were there, too? So sorry.

Talking of Rudy, has it ever been found that he sold wines to Winebid? One would think that that would be perfect place for him?

Where he is now seems much better.

[Jayson_Cohen]

@L e o F r o k i c

@Michael Martin

Its called auction fever and I have seen it so many times on eBay, you know it plays out on Winebid too.

Learned my lesson long time ago. I was bidding on this rare stamps from a town of Fiume in the late 90’s and I bid early and often, got into bidding fight, way overpaid, spent a fortune. That’s how I decided/learned to bid on last seconds of the auction not to get into bidding fights and only put a number I was comfortable with while not having time to increase the bid if I got outbid… (years later I found out that the stamps were fake)

But with that said winebid is completely different beast as winebid doesn’t start its auctions at $1 like ebay did many times, starting bids on winebid are pretty much a full price so I place my bids early and for the amount I think it’s worth it to me which is usually starting bid and i do not go to bidding wars there if somebody out bids me.

The full price thing is oftern true. I avoid those lots typically because once you add the BP nd shipping it is very rarely worth it.

A counter example: the ‘71 Figeac I recently won and that looked on the surface to be in decent shape had a $35 opening bid. Possibly an error by Winebid.

[L_e_o_F_r_o_k_i_c]

@Victor Hong

@L e o F r o k i c

Talking of Rudy, has it ever been found that he sold wines to Winebid? One would think that that would be perfect place for him?

Where he is now seems much better.

lol

meant for him to sell

[L_e_o_F_r_o_k_i_c]

@Jayson Cohen

@L e o F r o k i c

@Michael Martin

Its called auction fever and I have seen it so many times on eBay, you know it plays out on Winebid too.

Learned my lesson long time ago. I was bidding on this rare stamps from a town of Fiume in the late 90’s and I bid early and often, got into bidding fight, way overpaid, spent a fortune. That’s how I decided/learned to bid on last seconds of the auction not to get into bidding fights and only put a number I was comfortable with while not having time to increase the bid if I got outbid… (years later I found out that the stamps were fake)

But with that said winebid is completely different beast as winebid doesn’t start its auctions at $1 like ebay did many times, starting bids on winebid are pretty much a full price so I place my bids early and for the amount I think it’s worth it to me which is usually starting bid and i do not go to bidding wars there if somebody out bids me.

The full price thing is often true. I avoid those lots typically because once you add the BP and shipping it is very rarely worth it.

A counter example: the ‘71 Figeac I recently won and that looked on the surface to be in decent shape had a $35 opening bid. Possibly an error by Winebid.

One gets lucky every now and then but in general I have found that there’s less and less good deals on Winebid. Old California from 70’s and 80’s used to be a very good deal but not anymore.

[Bryan_Price]

One thing I feel like I’ve learned from WineBid is if you’re not into the “hot” heavily allocated wines, there sure is a ton available for sale and you don’t have to buy current vintage from wineries at marked up prices.

[Wes_Barton]

@mike pobega

Let me add that when I snipe my bid price is usually quite high if there is a previous bid and I really want the bottle, usually something I don’t see anywhere else. I am willing to pay more or be the highest bidder. It’s about getting the bottle not saving $5 but let’s face it, that’s cool too.

Apples and oranges. You aren’t going to go crazy for a commonly available wine, are you? I’ve been on every single winebid auction and a wine I’d been looking for the whole time came up once, last year, finally. Yes, I got it. There’s a time for patience and a time if you snooze you lose.

[Robert.A.Jr]

@Bryan Price

One thing I feel like I’ve learned from WineBid is if you’re not into the “hot” heavily allocated wines, there sure is a ton available for sale and you don’t have to buy current vintage from wineries at marked up prices.

This.

I routinely pick up very nice wines from all vintages

[Bryan_Price]

Is it jut me or is there a lot of Copain on WineBid this week?!!

[David_K2]

@Bryan Price

Is it jut me or is there a lot of Copain on WineBid this week?!!

An insane amount has been on for at least a few weeks now. Literally cases and cases even of single wines. Not sure where it’s coming from but I have to wonder if it’s not the winery itself clearing out old stock.

For what it’s worth, the descriptions state:

Removed from a professional wine storage facility; Purchased direct from winery; The seller of this collection intends to donate proceeds to the fire relief efforts in the California Wine Country.