Buyer's Premium, Handling and Shipping

At Brentwood Wine Company, we are committed to keeping our overhead as low as possible and getting wine to you at the lowest possible price.  As part of this effort, we believe we have about the lowest buyer's premium and handling charges in the industry. 

Buyer's Premium

The buyer's premium is the amount added to the winning bid on auction items.  In many cases it represents the sole profit that Brentwood Wine Company makes on the sale of an auction item.  Our buyer's premium for new bidders starts at 12% of the hammer price. It declines 1% for each $1000 of auction purchases that you have made at Brentwood Wine or AuctionVine auctions in the previous 12 months, to a minimum of 6%. We do this to honor our frequent buyers.

There is no buyer's premium on items from the Wine Shop.

Handling Charges

The following rate is added to each shipment to cover the shipping material and handling expenses.  We believe this to be among the lowest such rate in the industry. 

Wine

Each magnum (1.5 liter bottle) adds $5
Each 3-6 liter bottle adds $18
Each 9 liter bottle adds $30

Handling for each wooden box  is $6. We only ship these if available and requested, except where indicated in the description. Except in very rare cases, all bottles are removed from wooden boxes and shipped separately for safety.

In the spirit of recycling, to reduce waste and keep our rates low, we may utilize used shipping material, which has been inspected and determined to be in excellent condition, unless you request otherwise.

Due to state law, New Hampshire will impose an 8% sales tax on all wine sales. Also: We cannot ship to these New Hampshire towns: Brookfield, Ellsworth, Landaff, Millsfield, Monroe, Randolph, and Sharon.

Riedel Crystal

A handling charge of $5 is added to each complete Riedel "packing unit" - generally 1 decanter, 2 "Grand Cru" glasses or 4-6 other glasses - to cover the cost of shipping and packing materials.  This is prorated for partial packing units.

Other items

A handling charge of $5 is added to other fragile and/or bulky items, including decanters and large items to cover the cost of shipping and packing materials.

A handling charge of $2 is added to any order of Private Preserve that is not shipped together with wine.

There is no handling charge for small, non-fragile items such as corkscrews or books.

Shipping Charges

We endeavor to ship auction wine in the way that maintains the quality at the lowest reasonable shipping cost to you.  The methods we use vary by location and time of year.  You can view the Current Shipping Policy here. We can follow specific shipping instructions outside of these normal methods, if you prefer.  Contact shipping@brentwoodwine.com. Note that USPS will not ship wine.

On average, each 750 ml bottle of wine weighs about 4 pounds with its shipping material. Each Riedel wine glass weighs around 1 pound with its shipping material. You can use the cost calculator at: http://www.ups.com/using/services/rave/rate.html to get a good estimate of what a shipment will cost if we can use UPS. You can calculate approximate UPS transit times at: http://www.ups.com/using/services/transit/timetran.html

We always endeavor to ship as quickly as possible and will Email you with a UPS tracking number when the shipment has gone out.  In general, wine usually ships within 7-10 days of auction close or of ordering, Riedel glassware and other small wine accessories generally ship within 1-2 business days and wine racks and cabinetswithin 3-6 weeks.  Please allow 6 additional business days for UPS ground to reach the Eastern states, fewer for locations closer to Portland, OR.

Customers in the Portland, Oregon area can arrange to pick up items at our West Linn location by calling (503) 638-9463.  There is of course no shipping cost in this case and handling will only be charged if we need to utilize specialized packaging. We must verify identification on all pick-ups. 

Partial Shipment Policy

We generally hold a shipment until it is complete. If you would prefer that we ship partial shipments where we are still waiting on one or more items, please contact us.

Expedite Charges

Besides 2 or 3 day UPS delivery discussed above, we are often able to expedite shipments in other ways in order to meet a specific goal delivery date. Where we incur costs beyond those associated with our normal business (such as expediting shipping from our vendors) we reserve the right to pass these on.  In these cases, we will attempt to share the costs between involved customers and we do not mark up such costs.  We will also endeavor to inform you of these in advance.

Gift Wrapping

While this is not our forte, we can gift wrap items for special occasions when shipping to a third party.  The normal cost for such service is $5 per box.

Damage

We package each shipment carefully and often use specially designed shipping material to get your orders to you in pristine condition.   Occasionally damage does occur, however.  If you receive a shipment from us with damage, please contact us immediately.  Please save the broken item and packing material as UPS has the right to inspect any damage valued at over $100.

All shipments are insured for their replacement value and we will handle all paper work. Where a replacement is available, we will ship it to you.  Where such replacement is not possible, such as for rare wine, we may refund all costs of purchase instead.

Please note that UPS insurance does not cover damage due to heat or damage. We endeavor to ship in such a way as to avoid such damage, but in questionable circumstances will attempt to contact you about alternatives. Please notify us immediately is you believe such damage has occurred.

Confiscation or refusal to cover replacement

We are acting as your shipping agent and you represent that you are asking us to ship product to you in accordance with all applicable laws. In the unlikely event that a shipment is confiscated or insurance coverage is refused due to a violation of the law, we reserve the right withhold a refund or replacement.