Anyone else notice a lot of the top bottles on Rumtrades didn’t meet their reserve price? I had at least 5 in my watched lots that didn’t sell because of this. Surprising given it felt the final bids were pretty solid, maybe market is softening or are sellers just expecting too much?
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Yes, I didn’t noticed here the weakness of the two last auctions at RA. Pretty strong auction. I also noticed the high expectations of some sellers. Did you noticed the quarter empty bottle of Velier Demerara ? How much was auctioned for ? Maybe it’s still good but I can doubt it. Nevertheless the seller put acreserve price on it…
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*a reserve
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I think we can now see market migrating from RA to RT and this makes prices achieved on both platforms slightly lower (I have no economy background so this guess is not even an educated one 
). At first I thought that the reserve prices were greedily high but I realized that the actual bids were pretty low for some sets. Like the Caroni Employees from 5th Edition, the final bid of 1700EUR+fees was lower than I used to see in the past.
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I think this is related to the covid-driven hausse. People were bored at home, money was cheap and there wasn’t much to spend it on. This drove prices to record highs.
But now things have changed, leaving the buy side not wanting to spend that much money and the sell side looking at past prices, not willing to let their treasures go for less than what was achieved during the peak. Ergo they put a reserve on it that buyers are not willing/or able to meet at the moment.
I think this is a general phenomenon, not specific to one or the other auction house. However I really dislike that RT is removing lots that were not sold. RA is more transparent in that regard.
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Do you have a link to the empty bottle?
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Yes, but without price !
I just disagree also with that lack of transparency with rums that didn’t meet the seller expectations.
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*seller’s
Last time I saw it was 430€ which is what ? A lot or a huge bargain ??
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Indeed. Especially when you look beyond Velier. Nobilis for example had one strong bottle (the #2 Hampden), but the rest was pretty disappointing for the sellers, I guess – some even below retail (ex. fee).
Almost a bargain:
450€
210€
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Jesus! Do we need a do not microwave warning on bottles now?
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waren auch noch paar andere günstige Nobilis und Swell dabei…
Bin 1x zum Zuge gekommen. Das mit dem 5 Min. Zeitfenster zieht das ganze allerdings echt in die Länge…
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Interesting, didn’t noticed those. The Rockley was a bargain, even if it’s value is clearly decreasing with time.
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mela, I have received my order from RA, March auction, after DHL performed the customs declaration.
Final verdict is, that I paid exactly the shop price with one bottle and saved 15% on the other bottle. There was only import vat on it and of course shipping and handling. No customs and no additional tax.
Now I might have to drink it or at least wait a few years as selling it again on an auction platform would cost me 40%. But that is always the risk in short term trading. Arbitration is a kind of art. And Rum is a hobby.
I might nevertheless become one of those I don’t like, finding myself in collecting rum.
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Good to know that! Did you bid on “UK” or “UK+VAT” bottle?
Just making sure, you are from Germany, right?
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I am from Germany, correct, you basically bid on UK, there is no +VAT, UK citizens very likely pay +VAT while my invoice was without (export) and I paid German VAT when importing
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How much shipping and taxes do I have to pay to Germany when I buy something from rumauctioneer? I used to multiply by 1.3 and that was approximately the final amount before Brexit.
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Then it is probably so:
(Bid price * 1,10 commission + shipping 30 pounds) * 1,17 + alcohol vat 5 euros + 6 euros DHL settlement fee.
I think it’s around (bid price x1,4 and x1,5).
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*1.19 instead of 1.17 import VAT (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer)
basically the rest is correct, but don’t forget the exchange rate GBP / Euro
there is no alcohol tax on my customs clearing bill
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I‘d like to share my recent impression from RA June auction.
In April I did bid on a bottle Silver Seal Versaille 1986 which went over 1,800GBP, so I was outbid way before.
Now, two bottles have been offered which I both 
won around 600GBP. No battle, no competitive bidding.
My conclusion is either summer time is a bad time to sell (and good to buy) due to lack of competition and presence of investors or, which I am of the impression, the market is coming down on everything not being Velier. Investors seem to focus on those, even the amount of Caroni bottles is massive compared to other distilleries. But even the Veliers’ seem to have come down from the top. Buying trilogy via RA is cheaper then in the shops currently offering.
So guys, drink it
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