Selling bottles in 4 steps.

Step 1. Adding a bottle to Marketplace

There are two ways to select your bottle on Marketplace:

    1. Go to the bottle page in Whiskybase and click on Sell your own.
    2. Go to Marketplace > Sell a whisky and choose the brand, bottler or vintage to find and select your bottle. It is also possible to fill in the whisky-ID, barcode or url on the left.

After you selected the bottle you fill in the state of the bottle and packaging; here you also provide the filling level of the bottle.
We recommend you do this as accurately and honestly as possible: you will be rated by you buyers. Obviously a higher rating will help you to sell more bottles. It is difficult to get rid of a bad reputation.

Add clear (detailed) pictures of the bottle to the status page to prevent misunderstandings between you and the buyer. You can also add other specific information about the bottle here.

A few examples: 'Label is torn 2 cm in the right hand corner' or 'Seal is damaged'. But you can also add details like 'Original signature of distillery manager on label!'

On the next page you select the selling method and fill in the price. There are 2 selling methods:

          1. Direct sale You decide the asking price for the bottle and the bottle will be put in the 'shop window' with the price on it. To help you decide on an asking price the minimum, maximum and average price for this whisky are provided on the right hand side of the page.

          2. Auction  You select auction and fill in an end date for the auction. Also fill in a minimum price for bidding. If the last bid is made within 5 minutes of the end of the auction, the auction will be prolonged for 5 minutes. This ensures that the final price will not be determined in the last second of the auction. This is favourable for both you and the buyer. Warning: only Whiskybase members from the countries you selected will be able to participate in the auction.

Step 2. Your whisky has been sold

When the bottle is sold through a direct sale, the bottle has been placed in the buyer's shopping cart and paid using Paypal. You will receive a message as  soon as the payment is done.

When the bottle is sold on the auction the highest bidder wins the bottle. The buyer has been notified and has paid using Paypal. You will receive a message as  soon as the payment is done.

You can follow your bottle to see whether the bottle has been sold and paid for on My Marketplace > Dashboard. The number below 'Unpaid' indicates the number of bottles that have been sold (either through direct sale or auction), but have not been paid for yet. Keep a close eye on the status. Click on the number to see which bottles have this status. As soon as the buyer pays for the bottle the status will be changed to 'Paid'.

Step 3. Sending the whisky

After the whisky has been paid for you will ship the whisky as soon as possible. That is what the buyer may expect you to do. Offering good and speedy service will help you to establish a good sellers reputation on the Marketplace.

- Packing and wrapping

You pack up the whisky and its original packaging (box, case, tube etcetera) very well to ensure it will not be damaged during transportation. Use a strong box that is big enough for the bottle. Make sure the bottle does not touch the sides of the box and the box is not bulging. Wrap the bottle in bubble wrap and fill up the box with a filling material. Close the box with good quality tape and mark the top side of the box using arrows. Do NOT write on the box what is in the box, this prevents others from getting too interested in the parcel.

- Bottle in original packaging
When you pack a bottle in the original packaging make sure there is no room for the bottle to shift within its original packaging. Wrap both the bottle and packaging in a way that helps them stay in perfect condition.

- Address label
The address label has to be clearly visible on the parcel. Make sure it is printed in a big and easy to read font. Also add the telephone number of the buyer so the shipping company can contact the buyer if necessary. Your address, as sender, has to be on the parcel too.

- Registered and insured mail
Always send the parcel through registered and insured mail. Check the insurance conditions to see if the value is covered and if there are any restrictions. Provide the buyer with the tracking code you received from the shipping company. Fill in this code on the order page in the pop up that appears after you click on 'ship order'. The buyer uses the tracking code to track the parcel.
For the buyer it is very convenient if you can send him a link (URL) which leads directly to the tracking page. An example of a tracking link: https://tracktrace.postnlpakketten.nl/search/searchbasic.aspx?b=CD026806880NL&lang=en

Step 4. The whisky has arrived
When the whisky has arrived the transaction is nearly completed. The buyer can choose to accept the whisky and finish the transaction or he can cancel the transaction. When cancelled the buyer has to send the whisky back to the seller. There are several reasons for a buyer to cancel. How the transaction continues and who will have to pay for what is explained here: The purchase is cancelled.

Rating the buyer
After the sale has been finalised and you have received your money you have to rate the buyer on Marketplace. Rating is done on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high). You give a rating for the following 3 aspects of the transaction:

• payment: how fast did the buyer pay for his order?
• troubleshooting: if there were any problems at all, did the buyer help to solve the problem?
• agreements: did the buyer do the things you agreed upon?

As soon as you have rated the buyer the transaction is completed. The only thing left to do now is remove the bottle from your personal collection.