Legality of buying wine privately?

Can a private individual legally buy wine from another private individual? We do it all the time, commerce corner, but is it legal?

So long as federal troops do not appear at your doorway, you should be fine.

Like adultery, it is likely to be technically illegal. I guess that’s why no one ever does either…

The first rule about Commerce Corner…

I think technically you have to have a license to sell alcohol, plus you technically should remit sales tax. But someone selling three bottles of Saxum to another is in that realm of playing $2 ante poker with a few of your neighbors in your basement, in terms of reality, I think.

Just stick with selling olive oil on Commerce Corner

No, it’s not legal in the US.

[rofl.gif] [rofl.gif] [rofl.gif]

Doesn’t it depend on the state?

I’m not sure if my recollection is correct, but I think it is illegal to sell wine without a license in most states. I don’t recall that it’s illegal to buy it from an unlicensed seller

Discoverable.

Olive oil. LOL.

Who can theoretically get in trouble? I would think the seller.

There is also income tax (seller) and sales/use tax (buyer) to consider. Beware the three letter agencies.

I buy it, I drink it, I sometimes wonder when I’ll get around to drinking it but I’m doing my best. I don’t sell it.

-Al

Think of it like a few years back…when you had CD that your friend liked you gave them the CD and they made a copy of it. Was it legal? No. but it wasn’t a big deal because it was one CD. Now if you bought that one CD and copied 10,000 CD’s and sold them to people around the country at $10 a pop that would be a problem. Wine is kind of the same thing, legal? No. selling a few bottles to an acquaintance whether for profit or just to be nice and let them have some of your allocation? I think the Feds are busy with other things right now… Now sell several thousand bottles privately to various individuals or store bottles for them in a legal state and let them cross state lines to come get it for a profit (Pennsylvania a few years back) well then we could have a problem…

As long as you don’t also stand in public place and hold a sign or something as nefarious as that, I don’t think the feds will waste an unmarked van on you.

Where is Nathan Smyth to warn us that we’ll all spend the rest of our lives in the state pen if we so much as think about buying/selling privately?

i came here to post that. damn

It’s only a matter of time…

Plus, we’ll get fined so much that they’ll take away all our fiat electrons.

I do enjoy Nathan, though. He’s a very different cat, but he adds an interesting wrinkle to our board here.

We all know nobody speeds past the posted driving speed either.