All about Online Classified

With the increase in online shopping stores over the past ten years, so to has the online wine industry, albeit somewhat slower than some other industries. Skepticism behind buying wine from unknown sources has been the main driver behind the slow uptake of online stores.

Over time, there has been more people enter the market with better ideas and better ways to sell wine over the internet. Business models have improved and therefore the level and quality of wine being sold has also improved. This is not to say that there still aren’t some bad ways to buy wine over the internet.

One of the most dubious ways to buy wine over the net is through online wine auctions houses. Many great deals can be garnered by buying through the auction houses with many wineries and wine companies dumping stock that they cannot sell at bottomed out prices. There is nothing wrong with deals like this, although most of the wines are “cleanskins” (no official label) and are usually only labelled by type and wine region.

Ordering cleanskins without first tasting them can be fraught with danger as you really don’t know what you are getting. The varietal of wine matched with the region may seem like a great match and seen as a generally safe option, but this is not always the case. You must ask yourself, “Why would wineries be dumping this stock in the first place if its of good quality?”. Many examples of wines being purchased which have found to be off can be found, with the main reason being the lack of knowledge as to how the wine has been stored. Its quite easy to see a bargain basement price for a $50 a bottle six pack of wine and buying it, only to find its been kept in somebody’s back shed during summer and all the wine is off.

Another type of online wine store to look out for is what is known as “affiliate” sites. These wine stores look like a normal wine store stocking almost any wine you can think of. The bottom line is these stores don’t stock any wine at all. These sites basically take your order, pass them on to the wineries, wash their hands of it and take a percentage commission.

The easiest way to pick these types of web sites is by checking their “Shipping/Delivery Information” pages. You will generally find with these sites that most will ask you to check the shipping costs either from the winery themselves or a special shipping page which highlights the costs within the site itself. You are better off finding the wine you like and ordering it directly from the winery themselves as the service levels will be no different and you are supporting the winery directly. If they are smaller wineries, they will appreciate your patronage more so directly than paying an affiliate a commission.