General Information
Buying wine by auction is an exciting, convenient and (usually) cost effective way of stocking your cellar with a wide range of interesting wines. It is also one of the few ways to access aged examples of many wines.
MW Wines conducts regular internet based wine auctions, offering hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of wine for sale every month. Each auction catalogue typically offers a huge range of wine, from cheap and cheerful, to the iconic wines of the world. To bid on wine at our auctions, you must be registered as a bidder. To register as a bidder, go to the SUBSCRIBE SECTION and complete all the details. There is a once off charge of $27.50 including GST to register as an eligible bidder. The email address you register with will be your initial username for logging in. We keep all registration details strictly confidential.
You must also be of legal age to purchase and consume alcohol in your state/territory or country.
Bidding on Auction Lots
Once registered as a bidder, you are free to bid on any lots at any of our auctions. To understand how our auction system operates, we strongly advise you look at our HELP TOUR. This will help you to understand how to search our auctions, select which lots you want to bid on and place bids.
Photographs of a selection of older, interesting or imperfect bottles will also be provided online to help guide you in our decision making process. Prospective buyers are also welcome to inspect bottles in person at our premises during business hours.
For any lots you are successful in securing, the price you pay for the lot will be the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium. MW Wines current buyer’s premium is 15%, inclusive of GST.
All estimates and bid amounts are per unit or bottle, therefore the total amount bid is the bid amount multiplied by the number of items in the lot plus the buyers premium.
Five minute right of reply
If there is a new bid on a lot in the final five minutes of the auction any active bidder on that lot has a full five minutes to re-bid on the lot in question. This extends the open time of the lot. This extension of the lot open time continues to be reset each time there is a new bid. The re-bidding on the lot is only available to any losing bidder who has placed a bid in the preceeding five minutes. If you are outbid after the official auction closing time (usually 6:00PM) you will receive an outbid notification. Bidding on the lot will only close once five minutes has elapsed without a bid.
Paying for Wines Successfully Bid On
Payment terms are strictly 7 business days from the date of auction close for any lots won. Payment in full is required before any wine can be collected from auction. Please note that we do not accept part payment of auction invoices. MW Wines accepts payment by Visa, MasterCard, EFTPOS, EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) and cash (in person only). Credit card payments can be made either online or in person. Cheques are only accepted by prior arrangement.
Receiving Wines Purchased at Auction
Auction purchases can be picked up from our premises at 125 Cambridge Street Collingwood VIC 3066 at any time during our business hours from the SECOND day after the close of the auction. For example, if an auction closes at 6pm on a Wednesday evening, auction purchases can be picked up from 8.30am on the Friday. Payment can be made either before or at the same time as wine is picked up.
Alternatively, we can freight your wine at our standard freight rates. Information on our freight arrangements can be found here FREIGHT, HANDLING & INSURANCE. Insurance is compulsory on wine purchased at auction that is freighted, and is currently charged at 1% (including GST) of the auction invoice total. Insurance covers loss or breakage of auction purchases and covers the total price paid for the damaged goods (Hammer price plus buyers premium). Insurance does not cover spoilage of any wine or cork failure.