Vinfolio Blog

As we add new features and functionality to VinCellar, we’re constantly challenged with how to surface all of the critical data necessary to support these new features while maintaining a clean and usable interface. Our solution to this challenge was to create Display Options. Did you know that you can use context-specific display options to customize your views of My Cellar?

To see all display options and customize your view from the default, simply click on the My Cellar view which you’d like to customize and click the Display Options button. Options in each of the views are unique and appropriate to the context of the view itself.
 
After (de)selecting options, click Update Display to save your options for current and future logins. To revert back to the VinCellar default settings click Reset Options.
 
I encourage you to take a minute to review your options and make sure you’re not missing out on that piece of data you’ve always wished was available.

 

 

The ability to create “Auto-Accept rules” is a new Vinfolio Marketplace feature designed to make it faster and easier for bidders and sellers to consummate transactions.  Initially only available to sellers with wine in Vinfolio Storage, auto-accept is an optional feature for sellers that automatically accepts a bid immediately after it is made provided that the bid price is equal to or above the seller’s minimum price (which is not disclosed to bidders) and other terms of the bid are satisfied (quantity, bottle size).  In the event a bid satisfies the Auto-Accept rule of more than one seller, the determination of the sellers permitted to accept part or all of the bid is made by applying the following rules in order:

1. Seller with the lowest minimum price for the auction item.
2. Seller with the largest quantity of the wine marked for sale in the requested bottle size.
3. Seller who has sold the largest cumulative gross value through the Marketplace since inception.

We’ve made this feature available so that sellers who pre-commit to the terms under which they would sell will be rewarded with first crack at new bids and the convenience of automating the acceptance process.   Bidders are also more likely to get a faster response which creates a better Marketplace experience.

How do use the Bid Auto Accept Rules?
When marking their wine for sale, sellers are able to enter their optional, public ask price and their private minimum price (which is required to create an Auto-Accept rule).  

In VinCellar, you'll need to mark a wine for sale.  To do so, right click the chevron image next to the wine you wish to sell.

       

You’ll need to check the Auto Accept box to activate this feature.

    

And then enter your Pricing.  We highly suggest setting an ask price, as it greatly increases the potential that you'll successfully sell your wine on the Vinfolio Marketplace.

     

 
Can I edit Auto Accept rules?
Yes, simply go to My Cellar, and click on the Marketplace tab

    
 
Then right click on the chevron symbol to the right of the wine name to open up the left action pop-up menu.  
 
Click on the Edit selling details link

    

You can then modify an existing Auto-Accept rule, change the quantity for sale, and change your pricing.   

     

Mark your wine for sale now so it’s listed as "marked for sale" in the Marketplace when bidding commences on July 7th. Vinfolio is offering 10 free storage units for every 10 cases of wine you mark for sale through June 30, 2009. To mark wine for sale, log in to VinCellar. If you don’t already have a Vinfolio account you may register for one here. Your single, free Vinfolio account grants you access to all Vinfolio sites including VinCellar and WinePrices.

 

There are a few, simple ways to mark your wine for sale. Find the one that works best for you and get started.  

Mark all your wine for sale by clicking on the Marketplace tab in VinCellar and selecting "Mark all wine for sale". This option marks all bottles of all eligible wine for sale with one simple click.

 

Mark an individual wine for sale by clicking the “Sell via Marketplace” link on the left action pop-out of any wine in the “My Cellar” Marketplace tab or from any wine detail page.

 

Mark multiple wines for sale at once by clicking the “Sell wine” link under Common Tasks on VinCellar home or the “Sell” button at the top right hand of any “My Cellar” page.

 

When marking individual or multiple wines for sale you will have the opportunity to select how many bottles you’d like to sell as well as set an optional asking price for those wines.  

Mark wine for sale during Import. Simply specify “Yes” in the optional “Marketplace for Sale” column in the VinCellar import template and your wine will be automatically marked for sale when it’s added during the import process.

That's it! Getting ready for bids is as easy as that.

Happy selling!

Since announcing the upcoming launch of the Vinfolio Marketplace, we’ve received a lot of questions about the types of wine that can be sold, if and how international users can participate, as well as questions about our guarantees on the wine.

Requirements

In short, there are three basic limitations on wine that can be sold through the Marketplace:

1. 1970 or later vintage
2. Less than or equal to 6-liter bottle size
3. Physically located within the United States (to ensure timely completion of the transaction)
   

For wines that cannot be sold through the Marketplace, we recommend selling your wine through Vinfolio’s buyout auctions. Be aware that after July 1st, we’ll require a minimum $10,000 retail value for buyout auctions. Click here to learn more about buyout auctions and how they differ from the Marketplace.

Option for International Customers

We also have an option for international customers. Wine stored at Vinfolio’s storage facility in the U.S. may be sold through the Marketplace. So if you have wine you want to sell, transfer it to Vinfolio’s storage facility and mark it for sale. You will also earn an extra 5% on sales because wine sold from  Vinfolio storage is only charged a 15% fee vs 20% for wine located elsewhere!

Guidelines and Terms

Every bottle sold via the Marketplace is inspected against all Inspection Guidelines. So before you sell a wine, check it first. Failure to satisfy any guideline causes the bottle to be rejected, the entire transaction to be cancelled and result in an $8 per bottle cancellation fee. Our guidelines were established to detect signs of bottles with an increased risk of being in unacceptable condition or possessing other attributes which negatively impact value or marketability to a buyer.

Buyers should be aware that all wine is sold "as is" and Vinfolio makes no guarantees on the suitability of a wine to drink. Though Vinfolio inspects each bottle, we can’t guarantee a bottle’s suitability for consumption and it’s the buyer’s decision to bid on a wine that may have passed its useful life (the bid price would presumably reflect that risk). It’s also not possible to determine certain flaws through inspection alone.

Rest assured, we’ll be encouraging bidders with complaints about wine condition to contact our Customer Service Department. Vinfolio will also be actively managing Marketplace activity on both the bidding and selling side to preserve its integrity. We want to create a place where buyers and sellers can participate with confidence.

If you haven’t started marking your wine for sale yet, what are you waiting for? Vinfolio is offering 10 free storage units for every 10 cases of wine you mark for sale through June 30, 2009. Get started.

So, you’re anxious to get started marking your wine for sale in the Marketplace but realize that updating your VinCellar account has taken a bit of a backseat to buying and drinking wine. Here’s a quick overview on how to consume and add wine to your account.

Consume wine

As with many web applications, there are multiple ways within VinCellar to accomplish the same task. You can consume wine in bulk from the “Consume wine” link under Common tasks on VinCellar home or by using the prominent “Consume” button on the My Cellar tab.

You can consume individual wine from the action popout link on all My Cellar tabs or from individual wine detail pages. Upon consuming, all wines are recorded on the My Cellar Consumed tab. To permanently delete a wine from VinCellar consume it with a reason of “Deleted”.

 

 

Add wine

Wines purchased from Vinfolio are automatically added to your VinCellar account. You can add wines from other sources using the “Add wine” link under Common tasks on VinCellar home or by using the “Add” button from the My Cellar tab. View Amy’s previous blog post for tips on searching and adding wines manually.

Alternatively, you can add multiple wines and tasting notes at once using the VinCellar Excel import template. Click the “Import wines and tasting notes” link when you’re signed-in to VinCellar home for a step-by-step overview of the process.

You’ve probably heard by now that the Vinfolio Marketplace launches in July, but that doesn’t mean you should wait to start putting your wine up for sale. In fact, if you mark wine for sale before June 15th, you can earn up to 100 free storage units in Vinfolio’s temperature controlled full-service storage facility.

Storing wine that you plan to sell in Vinfolio’s storage facility gives you the added advantage of lower transaction fees – 15% vs the normal 20%. Plus there is no need to worry about transferring bottles to Vinfolio after your wine is sold. It’s already here so you get paid even faster. More money and faster payment!

Here are a few tips we recommend before you get started:

• Make sure your VinCellar account is updated
• Determine which wines you want to sell and ensure they meet the Marketplace’s inspection guidelines
• Research your asking price using pricing date from Vinfolio’s wineprices.com
• When you’re ready to start marking your wine for sale, just log in to your VinCellar account and follow a few simple steps. Click here to learn more.

Follow the Vinfolio Blog for more helpful Marketplace tips on how to do everything from updating your VinCellar account to accepting bids for your wine.

But again, there’s no need to wait. Make sure your wine is already marked for sale by July so buyers can place bids the moment Marketplace is live.

Happy selling!

Adding label images to your VinCellar is a quick way to make your virtual cellar a little more complete. Use the “Upload Label Image” link on the wine detail page below the missing label image to enter your own shot. A few tips for getting your image quickly approved by the VF Content Team:

1.    Make sure just the label shows – no total bottle shots or other "props."
2.    Make sure everything on the label is legible, not blurry or cut off.
3.    Add the label image only for the vintage specified.

Once your label is submitted, it might take a day to get approved. When it is, you’ll immediately see it in your VinCellar.

TROUBLESHOOTING

An “Upload Label Image” link might not appear for a couple reasons. The most obvious is that Vinfolio already has an image in the database. (Note that for some imported wines, different labels may exist and we can only have one in the database.)

A less obvious reason would be that your wine entry hasn’t yet been verified, which just means that you manually entered the wine and it hasn’t been either matched to an existing database item or added as a new entry. 

Adding label images not only enriches your VinCellar experience, but adds to the total community. Other users appreciate your input, and photography skills, when they see labels appearing in their cellars too. Thanks for participating in our wine community!

Entering your wines into VinCellar is a completely rewarding experience, giving you instant access to reams of useful information from auction/retail prices to community/professional tasting notes and reviews, to label images, drink dates and more.

If you’re having trouble with step one: finding your wines in our database, then the process can be a little frustrating. Follow these simple tips to improve your searches and make adding your wines a breeze:

SEARCH TIPS

MANUAL ENTRIES

If, after following these suggestions, you’re still unable to find your wine, proceed to enter it manually. When doing so, remember that each entry is individually verified by a member of Vinfolio’s Content Team (usually me). Give me as much information as possible in your entry and your wine will be added to the database faster. Some tips for submitting complete manual entries:

1.    Include the full producer and wine name.
2.    Choose the correct variety from the pulldown. If it isn’t listed, choose “Other,” but make note of it in the “Notes” box in the manual entry.
3.    Choose the correct appellation. If you can’t find it, again include the information in the “Notes” section.
4.    Speaking of the “Notes” section, this is a great place to let me know if the wine is a new release, a club only wine, or any other special designation. Many of you have added urls for websites where I can find the wine – very helpful. This section is not, though, for your tasting notes. (Of course I will still read and enjoy them thoroughly!)

Always feel free to ask questions, either here in a reply, on the forums, or by contacting Customer Service. Look for more tips on making the most of your VinCellar experience, including label image uploads, coming soon!

 

The darling of social networking, Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows users to post their latest updates in 140 characters or less. You can read about Twitter almost daily on TechCrunch and according to this Twitter Blog post, 'Twitter is growing at a phenomenal rate. Active users have increased 900% in a year and even though our web traffic is amazing, we see twice that traffic to the APIs.'

Why should you care? 

When you sign up for a Twitter account, you can post updates directly from VinCellar. Let your Twitter followers know what you're buying and drinking and link directly to your tasting notes. Once you've created an account on Twitter, simply enter your Twitter subscription details in your VinCellar My Account and start Tweeting. You can update Twitter from VinCellar in the following ways:

Get Started

Send an AUTOMATIC Tweet on the following

Add wine
From the add wine detail page check the Update Twitter box to post. 

'Added 1999 Margaux at www.vincellar.com/v/199453554'

Consume wine
From the consume wine detail page check the Update Twitter box to post.

'Consumed [sold, gifted, etc] 1999 Margaux at www.vincellar.com/v/199453554'

Tasting note
While adding a tasting note (except from consume wine) post a link to your tasting note and include a portion of your note text (up to 140 character limit).

'Tasted 1999 Margaux at www.vincellar.com/v/199453554...Tasted my retirement. Beautiful. Classic.'

After adding a tasting note you can send this same update by clicking the Twitter icon next to your tasting note on the wine detail page or by selecting 'Update Twitter' from the left action popout of the the Tasting Notes -> My Tasting Notes subtab.


Write your own CUSTOM Tweet

Click the Twitter icon in the upper right of all wine detail pages or select 'Update Twitter' from the left action popout of all My Cellar tabs to open a free text box. Create your own Tweet up to the 140 character limit. The VinCellar wine detail page link will be appended automatically. 

 

Follow Vinfolio on Twitter

For Vinfolio related updates follow @vinfolio, @vincellar and @vinfoliotech AND within the next couple of weeks, follow the feed of all VinCellar community notes @vintweets.

 

Haven't yet jumped on the Twitter bandwagon? 

As always, you can email tasting notes directly from the left action popout of the My Tasting Notes tab or from the My Tasting Notes section of wine detail pages.

With all the recent hype around social media I thought it would be interesting to devote my next few blog posts to highlighting how you can share your VinCellar activities with friends.

I'll start where we started which was by integrating with Facebook. My VinCellar on Facebook launched in 2007. Since then Facebook’s following has grown and so has the number of VinCellar users on Facebook. As a result, we’ve incorporated great feedback on how and what users want to share with friends.

With the My VinCellar application you can:

• View your friends’ recently added wines
• View your friends’ recently removed and consumed wines
• View your friends’ recent tasting notes
• Notify friends through News Feed posts of your recent activities
• Display a box on your Wall showing your recent activities
• Invite your friends to use the My VinCellar Application

Now when friends click on your VinCellar activity from their newsfeed they’ll land directly on the VinCellar wine detail page within Facebook. View producer information, market pricing, community scores and drink dates and user profiles all from within the Facebook experience. See what other users of this wine also own and buy from Vinfolio if the wine is in stock. For example, check out 1999 Guigal, E - Cote-Rotie Chateau d'Ampuis.

View this Forum post for specifics on how to add and configure the application.  If you haven’t already, get started with My VinCellar on Facebook and in the spirit of sharing, let us know what you think!