Brentwood Wine Company - Auction Rules

Auction Rules and Tips

Following are the rules that govern auctions at Brentwood Wine Company. Bidding tips are included where appropriate in italics. Make sure you also read Shipping and Sales Conditions.

Registration

To bid at an auction, you must register. It’s fast, easy, free and without any obligation. Tip: You can change registration information and be reminded of your bidder number and password in the Registration section, too. By registering, you are representing that you have read and agree to all Shipping and Sales Conditions including that you are at least 21 years of age and are registering with true and correct information. Tip: If you are under 21, don't even bother trying to register. You're breaking both federal and state laws and we cooperate fully with law enforcement agencies. It's the only area that we're hard-nosed about!

Right to Determine Eligibility to Bid

Brentwood Wine Company reserves the right to utilize reasonable means to determine that you are eligible to bid and will follow the rules of this auction. Brentwood Wine Company will likewise endeavor to protect members' privacy, and to ensure auctions are conducted in a fair, impartial manner. These means may include verification of age and credit card ownership as well as an authorization check on credit cards. They will also include a request for verification of title transfer and assignment of shipping agent status to us by purchasers not residing in "reciprocal" states. We will not ship to addresses in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee or Utah unless they belong to licensed distributors. We also cannot ship to certain international addresses. Tip: If you have any questions, contact us for more information and alternatives.

Brentwood Wine Company reserves the right to deny bidding privileges to any person, without specifying a reason. Tip: Make sure you provide a credit card or alternate payment method within 48 hours of winning wine at auction and notify us of any change in your credit card information. If we do not receive payment in a timely way, we reserve the right to deny your membership and release the wine for other members.

Commitment to Buy

By bidding, you are committing to purchase the wine, if your bid is deemed a "winning bid". If you feel that you submitted a bid accidentally, contact us immediately. Tip: One of the risks of bidding at the very last minute in an auction is that, if you make a mistake, there is not enough time to have it corrected. You may end up winning wine you didn't want, or missing out on wine you did want. Bid well before auction close wherever possible.

Payment

Due to the nature of our business, our formal terms for wine won at auction is payment in full within 2 business days of billing. Billing will consist of an Email invoice generally sent within 24 hours of auction close, detailing items won, and associated costs. We prefer a credit card be on file against which we can post the charges. We also accept bank checks and money orders sent by express mail. Customers who make larger purchases on a regular basis may also opt to pay by wire transfer. If you desire any of these last three options, please contact us. Winners who have registered as Will Call are required to provide a valid credit card number or arrange alternate payment within 24 hours of the close of an auction in which they are winning bidder. Failure to meet payment terms may result in the loss of wine, revocation of bidding status and in extreme cases charges to recover expenses.

Winning Bids

A winning bid is determined from the highest valid bids for a particular item at auction closing time. If a single item is offered, then the highest bid received for that item at auction close shall be deemed the winner. If multiple items are offered, then winners will be determined based on the highest group of bids which exhaust the number of items offered. Note that the number of items bid on within a lot has higher priority than time of bid for determining a winning bid, if bid amounts are equal. Brentwood Wine Company reserves the right to invalidate or refuse a bid and to make the final determination as to winning bids. Tip: If there is even a single bottle in multiple bottle lots is left at a lower bid price, and you want more bottles than at least one of the current winning bidders, you can bid at this low price for a larger quantity of bottles and take them at that price (assuming no one else in turn outbids you.) If you submit a bid that appears to be a winning bid but do not get notification that you won, it is probably because someone had an 'Autobid' in place, and the system automatically raised that person's bid to counter yours. You will receive notification if this is the case. If you want to raise the quantity of bottles that you a bid on, you can likewise do it without automatically increasing your bid. Note that changing your bid in any way updates the 'time stamp' of your bid, which may result in you losing wine in the case of a tied bid price and quantity to someone with an earlier 'time stamp'.

Valid Bids

A valid bid is the opening bid if there are enough items not yet bid on to satisfy the bidders requirement. Otherwise, it one which is at least one bid increment above the current bid. Note that a particular bidder can only have one valid bid for items in a particular lot. A 'bid' means a dollar amount and a quantity of bottles for a particular lot. Tip: This means you cannot bid for, say 10 bottles at $40 and 5 bottles at $50 for the same lot. If this is your desire, place a bid for 10 bottles at $40 and if it gets outbid, place a new one for 5 bottles at $50.

By using the Autobid function, a maximum bid can be specified, and a valid bid will automatically be created to counter competing bids up to this maximum. Tip: Note that Autobid raises the bids on all the bottles you have requested, so if you placed an Autobid for, say 10 bottles in a 10 bottle lot at $100, Autobid will counter opposing bids, raising your price on all bottles even if an opposing bidder only wants, say 1. Note also that Autobid will move up exactly one bid increment from opposing bids, and will not go above your stated maximum. Thus if you had a bid of $40 in place on an item with a bid increment of $5 and an Autobid of $50, Autobid will not beat a competing bid of $46. Note also that if you want to raise your autobid without bidding against yourself, clear the amount in the bid box. Note that changing your bid in any way updates the 'time stamp' of your bid, which may result in you losing wine in the case of a tied bid price and quantity to someone with an earlier 'time stamp'.

Bid Increment

The bid increment is the minimum amount above the previous bid that a new bid must occur. It will usually be based on the opening bid as follows:

Opening Bid	Bid Increment
$1-20	$2
$20-100	$5
$100-200	$10
$200-500	$20
$500-1000	$50
$1000-2000	$100
$2000-$4000	$200
$4000 and over	$500

All bids must be in even dollars. Tip: These bid increments are high on purpose. They give early bidders a distinct advantage. You do not have to bid exactly a bid increment higher. Bidding more than a bid increment above the current bid may defeat an opponent's autobid, for instance.

Auction Closing

The expected start of an auction close is indicated for each auction. Bidding will cease on most items at this time. Lots that have received a valid new bid in the past 5 minutes will continue to remain open in 5 minute increments until such bidding activity ceases. Tip: Due to delays inherent in internet communication, notices and counter bids may come in later. It is never wise to wait until the last minute to bid, or to assume that just because the auction close deadline has passed you have won a lot. It is much safer and wiser to use Autobid to protect the lots you want up to the maximum you want to pay and thus avoid disappointment.

Buyers Premium

A buyer’s premium of no more than 12% of the winning price will be added to the hammer price of all wine won at auction. See Buyer’s Premium and Shipping Charges for more detail. Tip: For every $1000 you have won in previous auctions in the last 12 months, your buyer's premium declines by 1% to a minimum of 6%. Brentwood Wine Company has the lowest overall buyer's premium of any licensed wine auction.

Handling

We no longer charge any handling for auction wine.

Shipping

Title for all wine sales passes from Brentwood Wine Company to the purchaser in the state of Oregon.

By purchasing wine from Brentwood Wine Company, the purchaser is taking ownership and responsibility for the wine in Oregon. Brentwood Wine Company coordinates shipping of this wine as a service to the purchaser, who represents that he or she is following all state regulations regarding the shipment of wine into his or her state.

In most cases, shipping charges will be applied directly to the purchaser’s credit card on the purchase invoice. See Shipping and Sales Conditions for more detail. Tip: We charge the expected cost of shipping your wine to you. We do not make a profit on getting your wine to you but do try to cover most costs. Shipping costs per bottle are lowest for large portions of a case. Single bottles are the most expensive to ship. Unless you tell us otherwise, we select the shipping method we believe has the best chance of getting your wine to you in optimal condition economically. If you prefer an alternate shipping method, or that your wine be held locally for better weather or to combine, contact us.

Wine Condition

Brentwood Wine Company endeavors to ensure that all wine is of sound condition and is shipped in such a way that this condition is maintained. Where items have been inspected by Brentwood Wine Company, an opinion of the wine’s condition is given in the description. This is only an opinion based on a visual inspection. Brentwood Wine Company makes no representation about the actual suitability of the wine for consumption. Likewise, small deviations in opinion of a particular bottle’s quality are to be expected. General descriptions follow:

Excellent Condition – Most wines offered by Brentwood Wine Company are described as excellent. This indicates a fill level commensurate with the wine’s age (high to mid neck for a wine less than 10 years old, mid to lower neck for one 10-20 years old, top shoulder or better for those over 20 years), no signs of wine seepage or a "pushed cork" and a clean, intact label and capsule without significant damage. For older bottles, a small degree of label and capsule discoloration may occur which is not deemed to detract from excellent condition.

Very Good Condition – Where minor flaws detract from excellent condition, and there is not room to provide a description of these flaws (such as when a bottle is part of a large lot) the term "Very Good Condition" will occasionally be used. This should be taken to mean one or two of the following: A fill level one step below that expected for the age of the wine, a label or capsule with a small amount of damage. Such damage might include a small mark or smudge, modest mildew, a small tear, corrosion, stretching or loosening, moisture damage or wrinkling.

A signature by a winemaker, winery owner or other noted individual is NOT considered a fault. Rather it will be described where present as a potential addition to the wine’s value.

In some cases we may not have been able to inspect a bottle of wine before posting it at auction and have had to rely on a description. If, upon later inspection, we determine that the condition was not correctly represented, we will work with the winner to determine a satisfactory course.

Any dispute about the condition of purchased wine must be received by Brentwood Wine Company via fax or Email within 24 hours of the time that the first delivery was attempted by the carrier. By not taking delivery on this date, or not reporting the problem within this time, the purchaser waives all rights to wine condition, except bottle breakage, and accepts the property in "As Is" condition.

Tip: Provide us with a shipping address at which a person 21 years of age or older is present to take delivery of your wine during normal business hours. Inspect your wine as soon as you get it. Let us know when you'll be out of town so we can hold your wine.

Errors and Product Nonavailability

Brentwood Wine Company endeavors to accurately represent each item it offers and to deliver all such items to winning bidders. Occasionally, however, we may learn that an item is not available or that information that we have received is inaccurate.We may therefore infrequently be forced to remove an item from auction, or modify its description during an auction. In this case, we will endeavor to notify the current winning bidder(s). Likewise, where we learn of this after the close of auction, we will notify winners and of course refund any purchase price if an item is not available or not desired. In the rare instances where the item received by the winner has not been correctly described in some substantial way, we will work to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution or pay to have the item returned to us and refund charges.

Right to Change Auctions and Rules

Brentwood Wine Company reserves the right to modify the specifics of any auction, including end date and items offered. In some cases, we may withdraw an item that is not receiving bids or add items to a lot that is receiving heavy bidding.

Brentwood Wine Company reserves the right to modify the Auction Rules and Shipping and Sales Conditions at any time and without notice. Such changes will of course be clearly posted in this section and the one listed above.

Tip: We are all involved with wine due to the joy it brings us. Please be aware that while we strive to provide perfect service, occasionally human (or computer!) error creeps in. In such cases, we will do everything possible to address the problem. We thank you in advance for your understanding if you are ever involved in such a situation. We'll try to make it right.