Are you looking to sell whisky but don’t know where to start? In this guide we’ll help you explore all of your options on how to sell your bottles. There are four main ways to sell your whisky:
- Selling through auction
- Selling through a whisky broker via private offer
- Selling through the Mark Littler Ltd shop
- Selling to a retailer
- Selling through a traditional auction house
There pros and cons to every option and in this guide we’ll help you find the best option suitable for you. Before we take a look at these options though it’s important to see how the market behaved in 2021 – 2022, and how the whisky market is set to evolve in 2023.
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The Market For Selling Whisky In 2023
The market for bottles of rare single malt whisky remained buoyant throughout 2021 despite the difficult social and economic situation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 we saw record prices set for bottles in some series and while the latter half of 2022 saw corrections for some of these, certain bottles have remained resilient thanks to a dedicated consumer base.
As you are probably aware by now, the market for single malt Scotch whisky has grown dramatically over the last decade, and like most markets it has periods of growth and correction. We have seen trends over the last few years, with 2018, 2020 and 2022 seeing significant growth, with the intervening years seeing some slower growth or correction with some bottles. As such while we might not expect to see sky high growth in 2023 we would expect this to be a great time to buy the right bottles based on the patterns seen over the last few years.
A good example demonstrating just how much the market has grown is Macallan Private Eye. This bottle was first released in 1996 with a retail price of £36. The release was a limited run of 5,000 bottles and was advertised for sale very widely across national newspapers.
An excerpt from an online price database showing the sale of a bottle of Macallan Private Eye in 2002.
Just 11 years after release (in 2007) the value had jumped to £240 at auction – quite a healthy 566% ROI. Jump forward another 10 years to 2017 and the auction price had jumped again, but this time to £1,500 (a 4,000% ROI).
The market then took a real leap and in October 2018 prices for Private Eye reached a staggering £4,000 (an 11,000% ROI). This moment also marked a turning point for the market. Prices then began gently falling to £3,500 in May 2020 as the market became saturated with bottles.
However, 2021 saw the value of Macallan Private Eye rise dramatically. In April 2021 a bottle of Macallan Private Eye sold for £5,100, the first time that Private Eye had ever surpassed the £5,000 mark at auction. In May, two more bottles sold for £5,100 and £5,200 respectively. This was a huge jump in price from the previous £4,000 average. In 2022 the Macallan Private Eye averaged between £5,000 – £6,000 at auction for bottles in good condition. In January 2023 prices have maintained around £5,000, showing the market is resilient in the economic uncertainty of the time – for the right bottles.
In 2022 we expected the market to remain buoyant in the light of whisky bottles becoming a more popular alternative investment. This was certainly the case, we saw interest in whisky investments grow significantly and record prices were achieved for some bottles. In 2023 we do not expect to see the unreliable growth of the likes of Macallan Folio one across the market, however we believe that whisky will remain a go-to alternative investment for people looking for a data driven alternative to standard investments.
With distilleries such as Brora back online, and Port Ellen and Rosebank set to follow in 2023 the likes of Diageo and other big whisky industry players will continue to drive marketing which has a knock on impact on the secondary market for bottles. Furthermore, whisky bottles continue to be positioned as a luxury asset through collaborations and high-end releases and this too will continue to generate interest in the industry and help maintain prices via driving buyers who may have missed out on the initial release.
Macallan Private Eye is not the exception to the rule. Many bottles of Single Malt Scotch Whisky are worth considerably more than they were 10 or 20 years ago. So if you want to cash in the bottles at the back of your cupboard what is the best way to sell whisky online? Here we will guide you through all of the main avenues for sale so you can find the best way to maximise the value of your bottle when you come to sell.
An excerpt from an online price database showing the sale of a bottle of Macallan Private Eye in 2017.
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Selling Your Whisky Online and the Licensing Act 2003
The first thing you need to know is that you can sell a bottle of whisky online, but you cannot sell it yourself. You have to go through someone with the relevant licences. This is for one simple but important reason:
Alcohol is a controlled drug and the sale of it is highly regulated by Government.
In the UK the laws which govern the sale of alcohol are outlined in the Licensing Act 2003. To summarise a very lengthy document; it is illegal to sell alcohol to those under the age of 18. And in order to sell alcohol you must first have a personal licence (obtained by passing the BIIAB Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders) and a premises license (issued by your local council after a public consultation period).
If you attempt to sell your whisky bottle of whisky yourself and get caught without the appropriate licenses you can face a 6 month spell in one of Her Majesty’s hotels (prison) and a £20,000 fine. With this in mind, let’s take a look at what options are available.
In 2020 Mark Littler LTD sold this vertical of Macallan 18 Year Old which made international headlines
Selling Whisky via our Auction Coordination Service
Following the rise in the value of whisky, coupled with the need for a legal way for the public to sell whisky online, a few entrepreneurs set up specialist, online whisky auctions. They started to appear around 2010 and grew in number each year. As of 2022, there are over 20 specialist online whisky auctions and they can be a great place to sell your whisky online. The main of the specialist online auctions is to help you sell whisky online, but how do they achieve good prices when they only sell whisky online?
These auctions cater only to the sale of whisky and as such are able to be very targeted with their marketing. This had the result of opening up the whisky market to the world as the sale and purchase of rare bottles of whisky became more accessible and user friendly. The significant increase in the value of whisky from 2010 onwards can certainly be attributed, at least in part, to the rise of online auctions, but arguably their most important asset is the fact they are completely legal!
We have partnered with one of the leading online whisky auction houses to provide a service that helps our clients get their bottles to auction quickly and efficiently. Once your bottle is at auction you can watch live as bidding commences and your bottle passes to the hands of a new owner.
If you are interested in selling your bottle through our service then please email some images of your bottle standing upright to [email protected]
Why sell whisky online through our Auction Coordination Service:
- Your bottle is marketed very widely to a specialist community of buyers.
- Fees are generally low: Whisky Auctioneer charge a 6% commission
- Astronomical prices can sometimes be achieved if two buyers get stuck in a bidding battle.
Specialist online auctions are a great place to sell your whisky if you are not risk-averse. They can achieve prices well over the market averages, but as a note of caution can sometimes also deliver underwhelming prices. The main drawback with auctions is that you have no control over the selling price unless you set a reserve, which has its own issues.
Selling Whisky via an Online Broker
Selling your whisky via a licenced whisky broker is a legal alternative to selling via an online auction. A broker helps you find a buyer for your item – in this case whisky – and charges you a commission on the sale price of the bottle. It is therefore in the broker’s interest to get you the best possible price.
Mark Littler Ltd. were the first specialist whisky bottle brokers to set up in the UK and have been trading since 2015. We find buyers through our network of national and international buyers and we have brokered millions of pounds worth of whisky bottle sales for our customers.
Selling whisky through an online broker gives you much more control over the sale of your whisky compared to an auction. If you don’t agree with the offer price you simply keep hold of your bottle and keep looking for a buyer.
We make the process of selling your bottle really simple. You just send in a few images of your bottle standing upright. We then forward the images to our clients and send you the highest offer we receive. The offers are without obligation so if the offer is not right for you then there is no need to proceed.
If you want to proceed then we send you out a contract and you send us your bottle. We even have a subsidised and fully insured courier service that you can use where we send specialist packaging material and a pre-paid returns label. We then complete the sale with the buyer and send you the proceeds minus our commission (10% inclusive of VAT) and courier charge if you use it (£20) via BACS.
We have hundreds of five-star reviews on Google, Yell and Facebook and are really proud of the level of customer service we provide.
Are you wondering how to sell your whisky? At Mark Littler LTD we are here to help every step of the way.
Pros of selling your whisky with Mark Littler Ltd.:
- The sale price is agreed in advance so you know exactly what you will receive into your bank before you commit to sell.
- We have a fully insured postage service which takes the hassle out of delivering the bottle to us.
- Bottles are marketed in an ultra specialised way to buyers all over the world.
- Payment is fast – as soon as the sale is completed we send the proceeds to you.
Cons of selling your whisky with Mark Littler Ltd.:
- As the price is set in advance there is no chance the price will exceed the agreed price.
- We often cannot help with brokering the sale of individual bottles worth less than £150. However, we can help consign your bottle to Whisky Auctioneer.
- As many of our clients are overseas offers can take 3-5 working days to be finalised.
We help you get your treasured bottle from your door to our offices with our fully insured courier service.
Selling via the Mark Littler Ltd shop
In addition to our traditional private brokerage service discussed above, in 2020 we launched the Mark Littler Ltd shop. This platforms is designed to help you sell your bottles in a retail environment, which ensures you can make the most money from your whisky.
This option is for sellers with a bit more time on their hands who are looking to get an above auction premium for their extra-ordinary bottles of whisky.
We are able to sell whisky online as we have all the relevant licenses in place. This means we can help you sell whisky in a way that competes with retailers and as a result means we can achieve a higher price for your bottles.
If you have a bottle of whisky that you would like to sell through our shop then please send an email to [email protected] and someone will get back to you to discuss the options. (Standard 12% inc VAT seller commission applies, premium courier services are usually recommended for bottles over £10,000, this is usually around £100)
Sell Your Whisky with Mark Littler
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Selling Whisky Via an Online Retailers
Another way to sell your whisky online legally is to sell direct it to a whisky retailer. There are dozens of retailers online and they will buy your stock to re-sell on their websites. Although retailers were once a very popular way of selling whisky online the majority are wary of buying stock at the height of the market so they are often quite coy with their offers.
Pros of selling your whisky with online retailers:
- You will likely receive an offer very quickly.
- The sale price is agreed in advance so you know exactly what you will receive into your bank before you commit to sell.
Cons of selling your whisky with online retailers:
- As the bottle is being bought as stock the offers might be quite low as a profit has to be built into the price.
- You will have to post the bottle to the retailer. Royal Mail does not cover the damage of broken bottles so it is very hard to send bottles safely.
Selling via auction is one of the ways to sell your whisky online, but is it the right option for you?
Selling Whisky at a Traditional Auction
We can’t write a guide to selling whisky without mentioning the traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ salerooms, as they were the birthplace of the resale market for whisky. Although they used to have a monopoly on the market, all of the above options have really eaten into their dominance and traditional auctions are now sadly in decline.
High commission rates for buyers and sellers and the lack of focused marketing are the main reasons for this demise.
Many of the traditional salerooms sell antiques and collectors items as their mainstay, with whisky being a small part of their calendar of sales. As such, their marketing budgets for whisky are often not as high as the online options so they do not achieve the same reach to the specialist buyers and often don’t achieve the best prices.
The real nail in the coffin for the traditional salerooms though is the commission they charge both the buyer and seller. Standard selling fees are 18% (inc VAT) for the seller AND 28.8% (inc VAT) for the buyer. What that means is you only receive 53% of what the buyer had to pay for your bottle. The high buyers premium is taken into account by buyers and as such they reduce their bids accordingly.
Pros of selling your whisky at a traditional auction:
- Astronomical prices can sometimes be achieved if two buyers get stuck in a bidding battle
- Salerooms are located in most towns so you can often deliver bottles in person
- Most salerooms publish their sales on antique specific bidding platforms online
Cons of selling your whisky at a traditional auction:
- Prices fluctuate wildly depending on the level of marketing and expertise
- High commission for both the seller and the buyer
Selling whisky online need not be stressful – we help take care of all of the logistics and get you the best price for your bottles
Selling whisky on eBay & Facebook
You cannot sell whisky on eBay or Facebook
eBay was once a good place to sell whisky online. This changed in 2014 when eBay introduced a blanket ban on the sale of alcohol. The reasons for this were simple; by allowing people without the relevant licenses to sell their whisky on eBay they were facilitating the illegal sale of alcohol and were open to litigation. In 2018 eBay allowed certain retailers to list whisky for sale once more but each retailer had to go through a rigorous screening process.
Summary: you cannot sell whisky on eBay and are liable to prosecution if caught.
Facebook then took over as the place to sell whisky online. Dozens of specialist groups soon sprung up and until July 2019 thousands of bottles were sold each month. You could list your bottle for sale with an asking price and people would contact you to complete the sale.
July 2019 marked another turning point though as Facebook closed all groups that were publicly selling whisky online. Just like eBay, this was to ensure they complied with the Licensing Act 2003 and to stop the illegal sale of alcohol. Following the closure of these groups there was uproar in the whisky community, but when you consider the penalties for selling alcohol without a license are greater than those for selling stolen goods you can soon see why Facebook had to act.
Summary: you cannot sell whisky on Facebook and are liable to prosecution if caught.
We hope you have found our guide to selling your single malt whisky useful. Mark Littler Ltd. offer free valuations and can source offers for you bottle from our network of national and international buyers. Please fill in the form and attach a picture of your bottle to receive your free valuation.
When you are selling your bottles you need to make sure you are selling vai the route that will generate you the highest returns.
How Has Brexit Affected The Industry?
The issue of Brexit may have been somewhat overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is now entering its third year, but there is no denying that Brexit had a huge effect on the Scotch whisky industry.
2020 and early 2021 proved to be very difficult times for the industry. As of January 2021, whisky exports to the EU had declined by 63% compared to the previous year. This was a huge blow for the industry, which depends largely on exports to the EU.
The dramatic decrease in exports was, arguably, caused by a number of things such as the need for additional customs data on parcels going to the EU, additional costs for exporters due to EU-UK imports now being subject to import duty and tax, and the COVID-19 pandemic affecting worldwide travel and shipping.
The whisky market was also drastically affected by US tariffs that were previously imposed on $7.5 billion of EU goods. The Scotch whisky industry suffered greatly under these tariffs which were, thankfully, lifted in June 2021.
As of the start of 2022, the whisky market is showing signs of recovery, with exports picking back up and importers and exporters getting to grips with new legislation. Between April and June 2021, the rate of exports to the EU grew at a very fast rate.
The industry still has a long way to go before they reach pre-COVID, pre-Brexit export levels, and industry bodies such as the Scotch Whisky Association have called on the UK government for more support as the market recovers.
Here’s hoping 2022 brings prosperity to the whisky market once again.
A Note of Caution: Online Fraud in 2023
With the rise in the value of single malt, there have been greater instances of fraud in the market.
Selling your whisky online can be a seamless experience if it is done through a reputable company. Before you decide to sell you should always do your research on the company/website through which you are selling.
Look at the reviews. Are they verified? Are they numerous? Have the people that have reviewed the company done so for multiple other companies? Sometimes a business will buy fake reviews, so it is important to be vigilant.
If in doubt, ask for a second opinion or suggestions from a trusted source, use Companies House as a background check and look for verified reviews from trusted sources.
How Has The COVID-19 Pandemic Affected The Whisky Industry?
There were some concerns at the start of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic that we would see a drop in bottle prices. However, despite some distilleries stopping production the secondary market for rare bottles seems to have continued as normal.
Throughout the pandemic, online auctions have continued to take place, with many realising the potential of online auctions vs traditional bricks and mortar auction houses.
2021 saw many records broken, including Private Eye’s highest ever hammer (not including the gold capsule Private Eye), the Gordon & Macphail Glenlivet 80 Year Old selling for £140,000 (the highest price ever achieved by an independent bottling), and the Macallan Eight Decades of Sir Peter Blake selling for £15,500 and £30,250 in the same year.
As such, whilst the pandemic has hurt the whisky industry in terms of exports, the market within the UK held steady as more and more people began to buy and invest in whisky bottles.
Another factor that has encouraged more and more people to invest in rare whisky bottles is the effect that the pandemic has had on traditional investments. Cash ISAs, for example, have traditionally been a risk-free and simple way to gain a small amount of interest on your savings. However, the economic instability brought on by the pandemic has caused interest rates to plummet, with many cash ISA providers dropping their interest rates to around 0.01%.
These incredibly low-interest rates have inspired many to look for more alternative investments. Whisky bottles and casks are amongst the most popular alternative investments.
Sell Your Whisky with Mark Littler
In order to provide you with an accurate valuation please provide as much of the below information as you can.
