Wine Searcher Pricing

While researching to put some bottles up for sale I noticed an issue with wine searcher. When you search a bottle all the different prices come up but they are incorrect. Once you click the link to the store prices are higher, significantly on some bottles.

some stores adjust prices fairly often, i think WS scrapes overnight.

Every price for every wine I priced was incorrect

If every one was incorrect in the same direction, then it would seem that WS is being used as bait.

I was talking to a well recognized Napa winemaker a number of years ago, and he was expressing frustration about stores posting low prices for his wine on WS, even though they didn’t actually have any bottles in stock. I was a bit surprised to hear it, but he was pretty adamant about it.

Just an example.SQN Lightmotif. Lowest price shows $135. Click on any store and the lowest price is $165. Tough to price wines with prices showing lower then being offered. People think I’m overpricing

I am on regular and when i search for SQN lightmotif i see lowest price $165 from clarets

I don’t see 135 on pro (though maybe in a retailer I’ve excluded?). did you report it?

I know there are a number of online wine shops, of varying size/popularity, that don’t really carry any inventory but strictly order wine as the orders come in. I don’t find anything wrong with this if that’s their business model, but they definitely exist.

you should definitely contact WS. They’ve been eager to hear about stuff like that in the past.

So this one on CT I see the link to WS saying 165. When I go into WS there are is a lower price listed for an auction but also a lower price listed at flickinger (155). I am using WS Pro.

Lowest I see on pro is 165. You probably caught a couple that had raised their price that day. Most listings are collected automatically, not siubmitted.

How many wines and how many stores?

I have been a regular user of Wine-Searcher. Overall I’ve found them fairly accurate, but far from 100%. My main gripe is the number of stores that Marshall Manning mentioned. They don’t have the wine, they may or may not be able to provide it at the quoted price. One in particular says they are in Miami, but their inventory (if indeed they have any) is apparently in Switzerland, so the quoted price is based on paying to move it from Switzerland to Miami and you. Good luck with that as to provenance, final cost, likelihood of the wine ever arriving, and if it does, in what condition.

Wine-Searcher needs to do a much better job of weeding out the sleazes. As I’m ITB and use it for professional purposes, I’ve mostly learned which listings are bogus. When I’ve complained to them, they have replied with requests for exhaustive documentation. As I’m fortunate enough to have a life, I’ve stopped complaining as I have other things to do than document the scammers on their site for them. That’s their job. My purchases through their stores have dropped by about 80% over the past five years or so.

Dan Kravitz

WS Pro shows SQN Light Motif at Flickinger @ 155 as the lowest. Clicking through, Flickinger inventory shows 9 bottles at 155. When WS entry does not match the store, I report it to WS via Report This link. They usually fix it.

CT (via WMJ) shows $150 as the auction price in both 2019 and 2020 so 155 sounds ‘right’.

Average price in 2020 is 150 (46 bottles sold).

:thinking: