I bid both early and late. If it is an average wine that doesn’t get a lot of distribution I bid early but if it is a special bottle I really want, I’m not above sniping.
I agree 100% with every word in your final statement.
I place my max bid…immediately get buyer’s remorse and periodically check e-mails hoping I get outbid!
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My strategy is to thoroughly research the wines I am contemplating bidding. If they pass my filters, I set a price point and set an alarm on my phone for 9:55 pm. Then I bid, if I win, it I get it if I don’t “oh well”. In the end, it’s grape juice.
Two other points: first my wife is into it and always asks me Sunday night, “did you bid on anything.”, and I really enjoy the research that goes into determining whether or not to bid.
Monday morning I wake up to an email from WineBid.
Step 1: Consume a few bottles of wine throughout the day (gotta stay loose)
Step 2: Choose the right entrance music (every combatant worth their salt has killer entrance music that lets the crowd know you’re ready to kill)
Step 3: Randomly bid up anything remotely close to wine you think you enjoy. Or wine you think someone else would enjoy and your bid would deprive them of said enjoyment (the goal is not to make friends)
Step 4: Continue to pour wine throughout the process.
Step 5: Do not pass out. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Remember your training and stay focused.
Step 6: Win every battle you engage in or make it a pyrrhic victory for those you fight.
Step 7: Rest easy knowing you left it all on the field of battle.
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I’m with Chris. A long time ago I was taught to bid the most you’re willing to pay for an item and leave it at that.
Consignors choose one of two options:
Option A: set their own reserve and have that reserve hold for 8 weeks. If unsold after 8 weeks, the pricing reverts to automated WB algorithm. (Consignors can pull bottles any time)
Option B: automated WB algorithm. Pricing is based on prior auctions/comps/etc.
If you see a new bottle show up and reserve does not change for a while, it’s probably option A.
Speculation on my part: The algorithm might keep the reserve unchanged for some bottles but the % of bottles where this happens is going to be small.
I haven’t listened to it yet, but this popped up on my podcast feed - an interview with Winebid’s CEO
A strange game.The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?
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As I understand it, option A can also be used when the consigner accepts the reserve price determined by WineBid’s “automated WB algorithm”. IIRC, there used to be a way to tell if the reserve was set using WB’s numbers or set by the consigner. I’m not seeing it now, but sometimes it’s easy to speculate. For example, in this week’s auction there are 2 lots of 3 packs of 2018 Screagle. One had a reserve of $9k and the other has a reserve of $10.5k. Since the former appears to be based on recent results, I’d guess the latter was set by the consigner.