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ClassicWines.com Removes Wine.com from Site due to Aggressive Behavior

Written By: ClassicWines.com Team on Thursday, January 17, 2008

A Message to our Site Visitors

The wine community is a very congenial place... usually. It's true that consumers constantly debate the value of wine, new wineries emerge almost daily, and online retailers compete for traffic. At ClassicWines.com we deal with these issues everyday in our ongoing effort to promote wine eCommerce and online marketing for everyone from small wineries to major retailers. Despite these issues, including nationwide legal battles over direct shipping legislature, things tend to be civil in the wine world. That's why Wine.com's recent behavior has caused such a shock wave, especially to those who operate online. (Please visit Vinography.com for a more detailed report.)

We here at ClassicWines.com have decided to pull support and cooperation with Wine.com, who is one of our largest advertisers, due to these recent developments. We do not support illegal shipping, but we do support fair online wine trade practices, regardless of a company's size, and strive to create a level playing field through our website. We know that many of our visitors have been using our site to purchase wine from Wine.com in the past. We encourage you to patronize the many other merchants that are listed on the site and contribute to the vibrancy of this exciting and emerging industry. ClassicWines.com will continue to add product inventory from new merchants to enhance the wine selection and ultimately your shopping experience through our site.

We would like to commend the Specialty Wine Retailers Association (SWRA), a coalition of wine retailers and supporters led by Tom Wark, who collectively work together to litigate for the common goal of a free market in the wine industry. Since their inception, Wine.com has reportedly opted not to become a member. If their decision should change, ClassicWines.com will re-evaluate Wine.com's status on our site and donate a proceed of Wine.com's online sales through our channels to the SWRA.

We thank you for your continued support!



Links
Report: Richard Cartiere's Wine Market Report, ClassicWines.com Dumps Wine.com Over Direct Sales Sting (.pdf)


Report: Richard Cartiere's Wine Market Report, Wine.com Sees Double Standard by States on Illegal Direct Shipping by Other Retailers (.pdf)


Official Press Release: Online Wine Sellers Fight Back

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  Be the first to comment on this article


csoma
Raleigh, NC
Posted on 2/21/08

I was quite surprised by this whole thing.


phantomoftheoffice
,
Posted on 2/15/08

Sweet cartoon. Also, I think we are seeing some positive effects from the efforts of Classic Wines and others. Keep it up.


apples7
Santa Barbra, CA
Posted on 2/01/08

Hilarious... now the are all about supporting the industry. Too little... too late in my opinion - I wont be back to shop until they join the SWRA. ClassicWines.com looks to echo the same sentiment.


kasey_carpenter
Forth Worth, TX
Posted on 1/30/08

check out the new PR from wine.com - seems a bit late and a bit of a scene control issue for them due to the large amount of flack they've been getting from the sidelines. http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61813&Itemid=9


sgriffin
Napa Valley, CA
Posted on 1/18/08

Nice move... Hopefully you will keep adding merchants with even better product selections! I ordered from 67 Wine and Spirits last time here and got an even better value. Wine.com lost my business forever regardless, just glad someone else agreed with my decision! Kudos Mark.


davymarc
Lansing, MI
Posted on 1/18/08

All this decision does is hurt the consumer. The control board of Washington is now not going to go after the shippers, but monitor incoming shipments to their own citizens. Stupid!


ikigai108
Bernville, PA
Posted on 1/17/08

I hope to continue to see changes in law toward open shipping. We can figure out a way to ship and tax without these crazy different state-to-state laws.


apples7
Santa Barbra, CA
Posted on 1/17/08

I have been following this heavily on the blogs and even these issues in court. It's frustrating to see Wine.com has come to the decision and the aftermath for them all over the web, including here.

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