Christie's Signature Cellars
- Website - fairly easy to search, and I recall has some reasonable watching and tracking capabilities
- Selection & Price - limited for Port and other smaller styles.
- Condition & Photos - I haven't bought much through this auction, but the small number I've bought were in great condition. I don't recall any photos for my purchases last year, but it looks like they have them now.
- Openess - You don't get to know who you are bidding against, but you do know if there is a bid or not.
- Premium - ~22%
- Shipping and Service - Expensive and difficult. I've purchased in Christie's in-person auctions for which they use Wine Cellarage for off-season storage and shipping and had this go smoothly with reasonable shipping costs. However, with the Signature Cellars auction, I had to jump through hoops to get them to store stuff and then ship it via ground carrier. Even when we did manage to get this accomplished, the shipping seemed much more expensive than I'm used to.
- Website - reasonable search capabilities, but not great; there currently is no way to store a watch list for tracking. I understand they are working on new features, but they aren't there yet. I end making my own tracking spreadsheet, and this makes for a lot of work.
- Selection & Price - Not the most abundant, but you will find a decent amount of Port and other smaller styles. Pricewise Zachy's seems to fall in the middle of the pack, in my experience.
- Condition & Photos - I wouldn't put the bottles in the top tier for condition, but most have been decent and as described. Most bottles are not photographed.
- Openess - You don't get to know who you are bidding against, but you do know if there is a bid or not.
- Premium - ~22%
- Shipping and Service - Very good. They've stored stuff for me until it is safe to ship and been friendly in various contacts. Shipping for me was FedEx ground and reasonably priced. My last shipment of 4 cases and a 3 magnum shipper was $176 as I recall.
- Website - Recently upgraded, the new web site is pretty nice for searching and tracking. It is a little slow.
- Selection & Price - They seem to have a good amount of Port and general variety. I've bought all sorts of stuff from them. They also have some really good bargains in my experience.
- Condition & Photos - I've received really nice bottles (even with bargain prices), and I've also picked up bottles that weren't in great condition at all. I put Acker at the bottom on my general/average condition scale. Website has no pictures, and while defective conditions like a wine-soaked label are described, I find the descriptions otherwise sparse.
- Openess - You get to know who you are bidding against, and if there is a bid or not.
- Premium - ~22%
- Shipping and Service - Very good. They've stored stuff for me until it is safe to ship and been friendly in various contacts. Shipping has been reasonably priced.
- Website - Probably the best in my opinion, with good search capabilities and tracking features.
- Selection & Price - They seem to have a good amount of Port and general variety. I've bought all sorts of stuff from them. I don't usually find the bargains I find at Acker or sometimes Zachy's, but there are plenty of things at good prices.
- Condition & Photos - Just about everything is photographed, and they seem pretty meticulous in noting every defect, like a nicked label. Not every bottle is beautiful, but I'm pretty confident in what I'm getting.
- Openess - You get to know who you are bidding against, and if there is a bid or not.
- Premium - 15%
- Shipping and Service - Good for me. Getting them to delay shipment over winter seems more like an exceptional condition than the norm, but they've done it. Shipping has been reasonably priced. In the service area, Brad's recent experience paints a very different picture, and I intend to boycott them now.
- Website - Good search capabilities and tracking features, in the middle of the pack in my opinion.
- Selection & Price - Some Port, but not a whole lot. I have found the prices to be good in many cases.
- Condition & Photos - Just about everything is photographed, some with 360 degree views. Defect noting appears good, but I haven't received anything yet to confirm.
- Openess - I don't think you get to know who you are bidding against, and there is no distinction between unbid items and bid items--everything starts with a "Current Bid."
- Premium - 15%
- Shipping and Service - I can't really comment yet, as I've just started buying here. They are storing my winter purchases, but I haven't had them shipped yet.
What other places are out there? Can anyone offer other options and opinions?