new rules at Winebid

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
Just in case you shop here... after 8/29, no more 6 months of storage for free. You get 1 month unless you buy a membership.

Prices are low but, you know, I buy enough wine elsewhere.
 
As an avowed "bottom feeder" who slowly builds to a full case meriting shipping the value proposition is not good for me. The additional storage costs are too high a percentage of the all-in bottle price. If someone is buying then temporarily storing a $100 bottle it may make sense. But with $10 or $15 bottles not so much.

Makes me wonder who is going to bid on the $10-$15 bottles if storage costs are added on top? Perhaps this is one way for WineBid to cease offerings at these low price points.

In any event, I need more wine like a hole in the head. And there's no lack of potable sub $20 new release wine in the northern New Jersey market.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Marc Hanes:
like a hole in the head
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in that the equivalent of the russian "like a fish needs an umbrella" ? such a violent wine community, this is
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Not so incredibly violent and, perhaps, an old Russian tradition

Mark Lipton
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They probably thought of it as going to the dentist.
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BTW, your Russian aphorism reminds me of Irina Dunn’s famous graffito on a Sydney bathroom wall in the 1970s: “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle”
 
The Winebid CEO often tests his new upcoming “exciting” changes to the business on Wine Berserkers. We are a free consumer survey service for him.

See here.

After 22 years buying there, I’m out.
 
If the CEO is to be believed, they found somebody else to handle the storage because some auction winners can't be bothered to take their bottles away ever. "Our racks are filling up", they sez.

The solution to their laziness, of course, is not to collect fees from the tardy. No, no, no! The solution is to monetize the idle asset by paying someone else (GSN) to handle it and pass along the fees to *everyone*.
 
As others brought up on Berserkers, just about every other wine retailer or similar operation will hold wines for free when the weather is too warm for shipping. Under the new rules, WineBid will not. The CEO has been raked over the coals and rightfully so.
 
Also the “new” wine storage business was set up as a sub of The Winebid parent apparently. Which is hard to square with the messaging.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Also the “new” wine storage business was set up as a sub of The Winebid parent apparently. Which is hard to square with the messaging.
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His response of 3:12 PM today Friday skirts this very issue. I personally can't enter the fray or risk the ire of my employer. But I would be interested in hearing Russ' response to a direct questioning of the corporate relationship between the two entities.
 
originally posted by Marc Hanes:
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Also the “new” wine storage business was set up as a sub of The Winebid parent apparently. Which is hard to square with the messaging.
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His response of 3:12 PM today Friday skirts this very issue. I personally can't enter the fray or risk the ire of my employer. But I would be interested in hearing Russ' response to a direct questioning of the corporate relationship between the two entities.
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Every communication from him suggests his only goal is maximizing profits. That’s fine. But don’t try to sell your profit maximizing moves to me as a positive development for the buyers. That’s what he tries to do every time. That’s like salt in the wound.

And skirting the tough issues, like how WB profits from the storage piece, goes hand in hand with that m.o.

I’m done. I’ve got 10 bottles in free storage until early November. I’ll buy up to 2 more if I find something worthwhile in the next 3 auctions. Then I’ll ship my case in the fall. Then I’ll cancel my 22-year old account. Plenty of wine out there.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
The Winebid CEO often tests his new upcoming “exciting” changes to the business on Wine Berserkers. We are a free consumer survey service for him.

See here.

After 22 years buying there, I’m out.
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He hates it when anyone gives him negative feedback. And I reached out to him with a very serious question privately and he pawned me off on an underling. I would say that I have been a very active customer over the years. I think he just wants to advertise for free.
 
originally posted by Marc Hanes:
Every communication from him suggests his only goal is maximizing profits.
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His stated goal is to turn WineBid into a $250MM business. Said as much to M&B in conversation.
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I don’t begrudge that. But don’t condescend to your revenue base, which in his business is sophisticated. And don’t use WIne Berserkers to find the test subjects within your free consumer test group who will vocalize support and defend your new consumer unfriendly policy: if you are going to inject the new policy in a public forum, defend it yourself.

Robert’s point is also well taken. Wine Boards are free advertising.
 
originally posted by BJ:
I gave up on WB many many years ago based on way too many heat damaged wines.
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I had the same experience - with whites. But I've had good luck with ports and other sturdy reds. (And, His Majesty likes port!)
 
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