Your New Favorite Wine Store? eBay.

Choose from 11,000 bottles. Happily.

April 28, 2016 9:00 am

For many people, buying wine is a harrowing process.

Then there are those who know exactly what they want, but run into the issue of local availability (or lack thereof) is an issue. You can buy online, but that’s kind of a hassle: as of yet, there’s no great one-stop-shop for vino.

This is where eBay comes in.

The auction giant has actually been selling wine for years. But this week, they launched a dedicated store, eBay Wine, which organizes and sells 11,000 wines from 30 different countries and 500+ different wine regions, in collaboration with Drync, a mobile wine-delivery platform.

It’s really about organization. Something eBay lacks at times in other departments, but seems determined to get right when it comes to reds, whites and sparklings.

Aiming for both “rare, one-of-a-kind, fine and everyday wines,” vino sippers can shop eBay Wine by variety, region, vintage and price point.  Plus, there are “tastemaker” buying guides, assorted price-saving wine bundles (e.g. 12 bottles of a Sauvignon Blanc for $99, or about 25% off a single bottle pricing), a range of wine accessories (from aerators to full-on cellars) and curated wine gift shops (see: Mother’s Day).

At first glance, this seems to be eBay’s attempt to develop categories (a la Amazon) and provide a much easier, familiar structure to buying vino. It does maintain some of eBay’s more annoying idiosyncrasies: tasting notes seem to be up to the wine sellers, and like most eBay listings, it was hit-or-miss on the info provided.

Outside some of the rarer bottles up for auction, about 90% of the wines have a “Buy It Now” option. As with any online wine merchant, state laws apply for delivery (which may include in-store pick-up at some point).

That said, we found a pretty wide range of prices at first glance. Topping the list: a $16,872 bottle of 2004 Chateau Lafite Rothschild Bordeaux 6.0 L (Imperial) RP—95.

At the other end of the spectrum? Try a $3.99 bottle of Arbor Mist Mango-Strawberry Moscato.

Maybe a reverse auction is in order for that.

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