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Frequently Asked Questions About Buying and Selling Rare Bottles

To make it even easier for you to explore our site, we list the most-asked questions together with their answers. If you can't find something you need, let us know!

Registration and using the site is free, and watching, adding to your wish list and making a bid cost nothing. Listing on the Marketplace is free (your listing stays online for three months). Running an Auction is charged €5 (excluding 21% VAT), and that is also just deducted from your profit when the bottle actually sells, no cash advance. No seller fees at all. Buyers pay a 12.5% buyer’s surcharge (excluding 21% VAT on the surcharge) at checkout. For more information, take a look at our Fees page.

Each transaction is facilitated using escrow by our certified payment partner, Online Payment Platform. Initially, the buyer’s funds are safely kept without being directly transferred to the seller. Only after the buyer has received the merchandise and been satisfied, the seller will have the funds released. This arrangement is a win for both of the parties. 

Log in to your account and open your dashboard. You can list straight away; when your first bottle sells, you complete a one-time verification with Online Payment Platform, our regulated payment partner, so we can pay you out. Decide which format you prefer Marketplace if you want to fix the price and sell instantly or Auction if you want collectors to bid on your bottle. Then you’ll have to add some bottle details (name, category, producer, vintage, size, ABV, condition) and upload clear fotos of the front label, back label, fill level and seal.

To finish, set your price (Marketplace) or set a start price and time to auction (Auction), then publish.

Changes to your listing can be made when it’s still on pending review, or when the bottle gets rejected, then you can adjust the requested fields and submit again.

As for removal it varies depending on the listing format: you can remove an online Marketplace listing via your dashboard but if you have an Auction listing it won’t be possible to delete it once it is running. Besides that, you can convert an ongoing online Marketplace listing into an Auction with only a few clicks, so basically, no need to redo the entire listing the steps would be opening the Marketplace listing, picking “Turn into Auction”, optionally setting a reserve price, and then publishing.

No, you don’t arrange shipping yourself. When a bottle sells, we provide a prepaid shipping label, so the bottle always goes to the correct address. As a seller you only need to pack it safely and hand it over. As a buyer, you receive a tracking code and can follow your bottle the whole way. Please read our safe packaging guide before sending.

Payout is automatic. Your funds are released once the buyer confirms delivery, or automatically 3 days after arrival if they don’t respond. After release, it can take a few business days to land in your bank account. If the buyer reports a problem in that window, we place the payout on hold until it’s resolved.

If a bottle arrives damaged, is not as described, or another problem is reported, the seller payout remains on hold while the issue is reviewed. Contact [email protected] as soon as possible after delivery. If a refund is appropriate, the payment will be returned according to our Terms & Conditions.

Spirits Treasure brings together collectors from all over Europe, so yes, international deals are possible. Just keep in mind that you have to make sure both the local rules and the laws in the seller’s country actually allow the sale, import and shipment of alcohol. And any customs duties or taxes on an international delivery are for the buyer to cover.

Sellers, yes. Before a seller receives any payout, Online Payment Platform (OPP), our regulated payment partner, verifies their identity and bank account once. Buyers confirm they are 18 or older when they add their details, and age is checked again on delivery. Every listing is checked before it goes live, and every payment is held in escrow until the bottle arrives. That said, the seller stays responsible for making sure they fully comply with the legal requirements for selling alcohol.

Exposure Points are an optional way to put your listing in front of more collectors, through boosts, highlights, front-page placement and homepage features. That extra visibility can push an auction’s final price higher and help Marketplace bottles sell faster. You can pick them up on the Buy Points page.

Spirits Treasure uses safeguards that comply with GDPR and other data protection rules. Your data is handled according to our privacy policy, and it’s never shared without your consent.

If you’d like to close your account, just reach out to customer support and we’ll remove it following our procedures. [email protected]

The very first time can take a little longer, since your seller (merchant) account needs to be fully approved before anything goes live. Once that’s sorted, new Auction and Marketplace listings are reviewed within 48 hours on working days. During weekends or holidays it might just take a bit longer.

The buyer. Any customs duties, taxes or excise duties are the buyer’s responsibility, and buyers should check the import and alcohol rules in their own country before buying.

When your item sells, we create a prepaid shipping label for you through our carrier. You pack the bottle safely following our packaging guide and hand it over. Shipping and delivery stay within the countries we support.