Hi guys
I need some advice, after a big cellar clean out I have a few hundred bottles bound for auction!
I have tried email Langston’s but have found the process cumbersome and they don’t actually come back very quickly, if at all...
What are my options? Which auction sites get the best traffic?
Thanks!
First time selling at Auction.
Re: First time selling at Auction.
Langtons, MW Wines and Wickman's would be the three I would consider. If you're in Perth there is Sterling as well.
Langtons probably have the best traffic, but everything they do is slow and cumbersome, plus generally the highest selling commssion. You have to submit your list a few times before they reply I found, but if you call them they are better to deal with. They'll send a courier to pick up if the value of the lot is decent enough, otherwise you have to send yourself, or drop off at a few Dan's or their Syd/Mel offices. I've heard they're slow to pay out as well.
Wickmans has great service and realised prices seem similar to Langtons, commission is also lower, but I suspect traffic much lower, although it's on the rise and their clearance rates seem pretty good on the classic Aussie stuff. Definitely the place to go if you want to avoid the corporate bohemoth.
MW I"m not so sure of, my guess would be they're in between these two, but others will have direct experience....
What kind of stuff are you selling, just out of curiosity? Tastes changing?
Langtons probably have the best traffic, but everything they do is slow and cumbersome, plus generally the highest selling commssion. You have to submit your list a few times before they reply I found, but if you call them they are better to deal with. They'll send a courier to pick up if the value of the lot is decent enough, otherwise you have to send yourself, or drop off at a few Dan's or their Syd/Mel offices. I've heard they're slow to pay out as well.
Wickmans has great service and realised prices seem similar to Langtons, commission is also lower, but I suspect traffic much lower, although it's on the rise and their clearance rates seem pretty good on the classic Aussie stuff. Definitely the place to go if you want to avoid the corporate bohemoth.
MW I"m not so sure of, my guess would be they're in between these two, but others will have direct experience....
What kind of stuff are you selling, just out of curiosity? Tastes changing?
Re: First time selling at Auction.
Not so much tastes changing as tastes expanding!
A few things at play;
1 - In the early phase of collecting, like many others, I bought into a lot of amazing vintages, high scores and killer deals... loads of 6’s and 12’s .. I now want more diversification in what I drink... so want to offload a fair bit of my Pennies, and some other mainstream stuff.
2 - My tastes are actually developing so I’m keen to get some old world, some champagnes, some ages Riesling and a few other things .. I’m hoping off loading some excess can help fund abit of this
3- Running out of storage and want to really start to focus on quality over quantity.
4 - I went fairly long on 2012 being our wedding year and now my cellar is imbalanced and I have s cliff coming in a few years, so keen to rectify that too!
So all in all lots of very reasonable $20-40 bottles with3-7 years on them that are coming into their prime, a few special wines where I bought 6’s or more, and some stuff that I personally wouldn’t drink but am sure someone else would see as a bargain!
A few things at play;
1 - In the early phase of collecting, like many others, I bought into a lot of amazing vintages, high scores and killer deals... loads of 6’s and 12’s .. I now want more diversification in what I drink... so want to offload a fair bit of my Pennies, and some other mainstream stuff.
2 - My tastes are actually developing so I’m keen to get some old world, some champagnes, some ages Riesling and a few other things .. I’m hoping off loading some excess can help fund abit of this
3- Running out of storage and want to really start to focus on quality over quantity.
4 - I went fairly long on 2012 being our wedding year and now my cellar is imbalanced and I have s cliff coming in a few years, so keen to rectify that too!
So all in all lots of very reasonable $20-40 bottles with3-7 years on them that are coming into their prime, a few special wines where I bought 6’s or more, and some stuff that I personally wouldn’t drink but am sure someone else would see as a bargain!
Re: First time selling at Auction.
Practical tip - not sure where you are, but if at all possible, leave your wines with the auction house in your own city, ie somewhere you can drive to to drop off and if need be, collect. I've dealt with most auction houses extensively over the years, still do, and have found through hard experience that freighting/dealing interstate inevitably leads to problems. For example, some of your wine may not sell readily and you may decide to take it back rather than accepting a crap price for it - far easier to drive around and pick it up from them.
Think carefully about reserves - the auction houses will have guidelines and top limits some of which may not be reasonable or acceptable in your view - negotiate and be politely insistent - it'll be clear enough, if something doesn't sell after a few auctions, that you're asking too much. Some wines fall out of favour and you may have to accept a (hopefully small) loss on some.
By and large all the auctions are run by honest and helpful people. If you do decide to go with Langtons, contact this guy:
anthony.doube@langtons.com.au
Think carefully about reserves - the auction houses will have guidelines and top limits some of which may not be reasonable or acceptable in your view - negotiate and be politely insistent - it'll be clear enough, if something doesn't sell after a few auctions, that you're asking too much. Some wines fall out of favour and you may have to accept a (hopefully small) loss on some.
By and large all the auctions are run by honest and helpful people. If you do decide to go with Langtons, contact this guy:
anthony.doube@langtons.com.au
Re: First time selling at Auction.
A shame Mark Wickman doesn't post here any more - he came across very well and I always thought that reflected well on his business.
Re: First time selling at Auction.
Mark Wickman's operation is excellent - transparent with careful attention to the condition and provenance of the wines sold. Smaller than the other auction houses, but it's nice to easily and directly talk to the owner/manager/operator, which Mark is.
Re: First time selling at Auction.
The comment above about dropping off the wines is sadly an important factor to consider. In addition to freight I recall auction houses also "recommended" insurance though it has been a while since I used one. With freight plus insurance plus sellers premium, their share of the total price really started to get up there. Hence I always used to pick up and new purchases when Langtons was privately owned and operated large warehouses for their Sydney location based auctions. After being acquired by Woolworths, they dropped the idea of a Sydney auction or a Melb auction.
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JamieBahrain
- Posts: 3754
- Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:40 am
- Location: Fragrant Harbour.
Re: First time selling at Auction.
I wouldn't buy at auction unless it were for Mark's provenance policy.Mark S wrote:Mark Wickman's operation is excellent - transparent with careful attention to the condition and provenance of the wines sold. Smaller than the other auction houses, but it's nice to easily and directly talk to the owner/manager/operator, which Mark is.
"Barolo is Barolo, you can't describe it, just as you can't describe Picasso"
Teobaldo Cappellano
Teobaldo Cappellano
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Mike Hawkins
- Posts: 2747
- Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 9:39 am
Re: First time selling at Auction.
I sell 100+ bottles through Langtons each year. They pick them up for free so long as they're correctly boxed. This avoids most of the hassle for me. I then set reserve just under last sale price.