Delivery and collection

Encave is a marketplace, not a warehouse. The wine never passes through us, is never stored by us and is never shipped by us. The buyer and the seller arrange the handover between themselves, in the order thread, and the seller's payout is held back until it has happened.

In practice that means one of three things: the seller posts it, you collect it, or — for wine sitting in a bonded warehouse — the stock is transferred inside the warehouse without anyone moving a case.

• Wine is heavy, fragile and alcoholic, and most couriers restrict it. Use a carrier that accepts it, and a proper moulded wine shipper rather than a box of paper.
• Insure it for what it sold for, not for what the courier offers by default.
• Send the tracking number through the order thread so both sides can see it.
• Hot weather is the quiet risk with fine wine. A week in a van in July can cook a bottle that survived forty years in a cellar — both sides can agree to wait.

Sellers have a window to dispatch, and a missed deadline is recorded against the seller's account and shows in their reputation. Nothing emails either of you about it yet, and the countdown itself is shown on the seller's side of the order rather than yours — so if a lot goes quiet after you have paid, raise it on the order rather than waiting: Encave records the sale and holds back the seller payout until you confirm delivery.