Its unfortunate that many people are simply naive to the truth because they are told that their stocks are ringfenced in their name, it states so on the website and they may even be given printed statements showing so called proof of ownership. They are basically lied to. For many of the less credible wine investment companies, this is a deliberate ploy to obfuscate or even in some cases be purely fictictious, if the wine does not even exist, if the order was never placed to begin with. In other words a ponzi scheme. Many large bonafide merchants offer client storage facilities as a sundry service and this is not how they operate at all. Personally, even though it may cost a little more, there is nothing as secure as having your own bonded account soley in your name, of which you pay the storage on monthly or annually by direct debit, and of which the bonded warehouse can only take instructions from you, not any third parties.
In Oeno’s case, they were offering free storage. With hindsight, many regret taking that option, but most smaller investment tickets did.
The cost of storage (and the wider cost of carry) needs to be better understood and talked about. It’s the cost of doing business if you want to buy wine that ages. Full stop.
I am left with one question: why does the market have so much faith that the wine is actually there?
Its unfortunate that many people are simply naive to the truth because they are told that their stocks are ringfenced in their name, it states so on the website and they may even be given printed statements showing so called proof of ownership. They are basically lied to. For many of the less credible wine investment companies, this is a deliberate ploy to obfuscate or even in some cases be purely fictictious, if the wine does not even exist, if the order was never placed to begin with. In other words a ponzi scheme. Many large bonafide merchants offer client storage facilities as a sundry service and this is not how they operate at all. Personally, even though it may cost a little more, there is nothing as secure as having your own bonded account soley in your name, of which you pay the storage on monthly or annually by direct debit, and of which the bonded warehouse can only take instructions from you, not any third parties.
Well said.
In Oeno’s case, they were offering free storage. With hindsight, many regret taking that option, but most smaller investment tickets did.
The cost of storage (and the wider cost of carry) needs to be better understood and talked about. It’s the cost of doing business if you want to buy wine that ages. Full stop.