WinebidReviews of winebid.com

The markup is more than I think is fair, but they are up front about it. It's always risky buying "used" wine, but it also allows me to buy older stuff. Overall, there's no better place to procure old wines and often at a good value.

I purchase many bottles each year from WineBid. Everything has been delivered as expected. For complaints and demurrers I’ve read below...understand this about online wine auction houses: (1) They only make money on the selling of other people’s wine products - they can’t guarantee the validity of every bottle. I believe they try to inspect, but you really can’t tell what you got until the cork is pulled...an inherent risk of being a wine customer. So, yes, you will always take a risk on buying a fake or corked wine from an auction house...we rarely have any other options in the post-Rudy era until ID technology is implemented on future vintages; (2) Delivery make take a week or so..don’t order in anticipation of an event that is around the corner; most of these purchases are people trading from cellar to cellar... (3) Although not always, WineBid wine is usually purchased by people who are looking for bottles where Wine-Searcher did not provide a cheaper retail option from what is typically a CA-FL-NY-IL wine store or warehouse that may or may not ship; and finally, (4) Buyer must always beware in this business. If you are complaining over a couple $100-150 purchases that were too expensive or took too long and then were denied a refund, online auctions are not for you. Look, at least you will own what you win...there’s nothing worse than arranging purchases from third-party suppliers in the business who can’t guarantee to sell you what’s listed on their inventory spreadsheets that are probably from last season. That will p*ss a customer off. I want to give WineBid credit for displaying rather nice big photos of the bottle conditions and being honest about label and capsule conditions. Their photo system provides better bottle photos than most sites. What pains my behind is that WineBid doesn’t ship to my state - not because of wine laws, but because WineBid doesn’t want to got through the licensing process...probably a supply and demand issue where I am on the losing end. That means I pay even more for a shipper in Napa down the street to send my WineBid purchases to me. Otherwise a 5 star situation.

Been great so far.. no issues at all.. Make sure you read the terms and understand them. Shipping is a little slow so if you need your wine asap I would call them.

I've been purchasing wines from this site for over a year, and in total, bought about 70 bottles over the past year and a bit, with multiple shipments. I've drank about 20-30 of them and never had any issues. This is a fantastic site for finding specific wines that may not be in your local store, due to rarity or past vintages. Yes, as stated by others, some wines are overpriced, in fact, many of them are. DO YOU RESEARCH!!! Use winesearcher.com to find out the average price, and if any local stores are selling what you're looking for. Sometimes I find it in a local store, sometimes I get it shipped from non-local store, sometimes I buy direct from the winemaker, and sometimes I use WineBid. Make sure you factor in the now (recently increased) 17% auction fee, and shipping, which is about $25 a case (12), to get to New York from their warehouse. They can also store your wines up to 6 months for free, and it's fairly cheap after that. Customer service has always been fairly prompt. The rules are clearly stated. I'm not sure how one other reviewer on here, Lauren Ranee, couldn't understand how an auction works... and even more so, how she claims to have only ever purchased a single bottle, but has some knowledge that WineBid continually sells spoiled wines, LOL! Some people are just angry inside...

Winebid is an auction site for wine. They have a large selection of wines from around the world and a new auction starts every Monday. Theoretically the consigner is supposed to reduce the price if noone bids. This is a good site if you are looking for a special wine you can't find it anywhere else and are willing to pay the price. However before you bid you should check whether the price is good on a site such as winesearcher. I have found that most of the wines I am interested in can be purchased for less elsewhere. You also have to factor in their 15%buyer's commission, tax and shipping which can add 30% to the cost. I think the company hurts itself by not encouraging the consigners to check sites like winesearcher to see what is the going market price. They then need to price their wine at least 20%-30% below that number since many stores offer case discounts, free shipping and if out of state, no sales tax. As a buyer I get burnt out looking through the wines and when I find something I like find out its actually cheaper at my local wine store. Eventually if buyers don't think they are getting good deals they will stop looking and go elsewhere.