Confluence? LOL
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Still down for me
Edit: back up
still down for me
Maybe some significant others signed up for that new winebid-blocker.com service
I didn’t want to start a new thread on this but is there a preference between buying on Winebid vs K&L? I haven’t used either of them yet.
they are both really good. I’ve had some really nice finds on K&L. The rare wines hand off and shipping is good and the 10% buyers premium is very reasonable.
I had a good experience with K&L as well. Only used them once. Using rarestorage was a bit wonky but it all worked out great in the end.
KL provenance probably slightly better on average. But ultimately if you pay attention to provenance notes on WineBid you should be ok, or at least I have.
Biggest knock on KL for me is the buyers seem way more enthusiastic and fully loaded prices tend to exceed WineBid on stuff that I follow. That may be a result of the rotating auction structure where the landing page shows all the stuff you can snipe someone on.
K&L gets excellent consignments but their interface is much harder to navigate and use than Winebid’s. My landing page on Winebid is my favorites list so I can see every category I might be interested in in one place rather than having to run searches through “Red Bordeaux” and whatever. If K&L does that I have no idea how to set it up, while Winebid has the most intuitive and user-friendly interface in the business. The random closes on K&L are also inconvenient. Not interested in setting up calendar alerts to monitor auction closes.
I just noticed Winebid now shows the total price, including buyers premium, below that current bid price. I’m guessing that’s a reaction to the class action lawsuit claiming people didn’t understand there was a buyers premium. In any case, it’s a convenient add to show what you’re really paying.
It always was shown prior to making a bid.
Chiming in to say I have had really positive experiences with both Winebid and K&L. I’d never even been to an auction my 65+ years on this planet and certainly had never taken part in one online . . . until I tried out Winebid a couple of years ago. Good provenance on everything, so far. I just recently dipped my toe into the waters at K&L, but feel pretty confident those wines, after they arrive this fall, will be very rewarding. Great prices, both places. 
Yes, it’s always shown the buyers premium before making a bid, but now you see the total price, including buyers premium, when just browsing. It’s nice to not have to do the mental math to see what the real price when just browsing.
Math is hard
WineBid has the best user interface in my eyes but inventory is getting worse over the last few years and prices tend to go for more than they should.
K&l has a user interface that is good enough, good inventory but as someone shared, the prices tend to go over what they should making the whole exercise a bit pointless for my needs.
Being in nyc, the new k&l location makes logistics very favorable for me. They don’t charge a fee to move the wine from California to nyc.
A question for you all…do you see wine auction sites primarily as a way to procure wines for better prices or as a way to procure rare bottles and willing to pay a premium for the opportunity?
A good place to get wines you wouldn’t want to commit to off a list and try a bottle. Sometimes great deals on wines I know popped up. I used it for a couple years to hone my personal tastes. Backed away for now but I think it’s a great platform for a variety of reasons. There’s not really such a thing as rare bottles any more but you can at least get some wines with some age from lists you might be interested in.
I’ve purchased a lot on both platforms. The main issue I have with WineBid is their premium and handling charges and then my state tax then shipping all in about 33%. So a $300 bottle is really $400 which is often a deal breaker for me, and there are few easy finds in the lower echelons. I feel WineBid prices are like retail, and then I have to add 33% so don’t often purchase unless it’s something esoteric.
K&L overall I think does have better provenance. I do wish it was easier to search but I’m learning. Like WineBid, you get photos of all the bottles so you can see the condition.
OK, that said, I have given up on the major auction houses and other large auction sites. No one cares about provenance any more. Mid and low shoulder fills, bottles stained with drips from dried seepage, etc. I purchased a case of wine recently from a top international house in NY. Suprise! No shipping. “oh, we’ve outsourced that”. So another website, and another form and $125 to pick up the case and transport it and fax this signature and… Case arrives and one bottle clearly damaged and leaking, three with dried wine drip stains, low fills, etc. Surprise! All the photos of the “sample bottles” looked perfect. Cryptic description acronyms supposedly should have informed me of the fact, but case still went for top dollar. Most other lots didn’t even have pictures. So no provenance, no “selecting”, no shipping and no customer service (I suppose unless you spend $100K and up). So no more! Happy with WineBid and K&L.
Yes
As David mentioned below, I’m looking to try wines from various producers without committing to a list or minimums. I’ve gotten a few allocations from mailing lists in the last few weeks but for wines I’ve never tried. Hoping to not get kicked off if I don’t order this go around. Not sure if that’s a real risk with these producers though.