We’re sure you know that iDealwine delivers to 40 countries but here we’re giving the low down on how to get wine delivered to your door, country by country. Due to the different requirements that each country has, we don’t have a single delivery method, so we thought we’d demystify the process for you. But first, let’s look at delivery options that each customer has: deliver directly, put orders on hold, and combine with other orders.
iDealwine order options
When buying your wine with iDealwine, you’ll have three options: deliver directly, put order on hold, and combine with other orders. (There is the option to have your wines delivered to a pick-up point but only for customers looking to have their wines delivered to a location in France.) Once you have confirmed your basket, you are presented with your shipping options.
The straightforward option would be to ship directly to your delivery address but given the great distances involved for some customers, it might make more sense to postpone shipment until you have 12 bottles waiting to be shipped. Or if you’re a keen bidder in our auctions, it might be that you would like to wait and see whether you win the bids that you’ve placed in ongoing auctions before organising delivery. Whatever your reasons are, if you choose to postpone shipment, the next time you place an order, you can then decide whether you’d like the wine to be delivered with an order you’d put on hold. Please know that bottle storage is free for the first 30 days if you put your order on hold and thereafter, a daily fee of €0.06 per bottle is applied. This means that if you keep your order on hold for longer than 30 days, when you come to ship this order, you’ll also be invoiced the storage fees incurred.
Wine delivery
It’s imperative to say that before adding wine to your basket or placing a bid, please make sure your profile is set to the correct delivery country in your account settings. This is important for two reasons:
- Prices are displayed correctly with or without VAT and other duties and taxes
- Once you have placed an order, we cannot change the delivery country.
To make these changes, make sure you’re logged in and click on the icon of a person in the top-righthand corner of the website, and go to ‘My Account’. This will take you directly to your delivery address so you can make the necessary changes.
When changing the delivery country in your profile, it’s a good idea to update your delivery address in one fell swoop – this will save you time later. You can find delivery costs to each country on this page of the iDealwine website. We have not included them in this article as they are subject to fluctuations in the exchange rate.
The EU
Having wine shipped to an EU country is relatively straight-forward as all prices on the website include VAT as stipulated by the country where the parcel is being delivered. Furthermore, you have two delivery options: standard and express. If you chose standard delivery, you can expect the wines to arrive within 3 to 7 working days, while this is just 2 to 5 working days for express delivery. And the cherry on top, iDealwine takes care of any exercise duty that needs to be paid on the wines.
Ireland is a unique country with a unique shipping solution. As we have to fill in some extra paperwork to make sure your wines arrive safely and soundly, please budget 2-3 weeks from order confirmation to delivery.
The UK
iDealwine updated its shipping process to the UK in March 2023 which means that now you pay all duties and taxes to iDealwine when paying for an order and then, there is nothing left to settle when the parcel arrives. It takes about 10 working days from the payment date to delivery but please be aware that occasional delays occur at UK customs which are out of our control.
Switzerland
As Switzerland lies outside of the EU, wines are sold without French VAT and are displayed as such on our website. On the final payment page, the only fees you’ll see are those for delivery. Once your wines arrive in Switzerland, which takes about 3-4 days, our shipping partner will contact you so that you can pay the required duty and taxes, and your wines will arrive at your door soon after.
Hong Kong
There are two temperature-controlled shipment options to have your wine delivered to Hong Kong as you can choose between air or sea routes. You’ll be able to find our shipping schedules in the FAQs on the iDealwine website; simply click on ‘My Order’ followed by ‘Shipping information’. Express delivery by air takes 1 to 3 weeks and seas shipment takes roughly 12 weeks.
As many Hong Kong residents will be aware there is high duty on imported spirits, but we have some excellent news for you! As of 16 October 2024, the law has changed. Duty for the first HKD $200 and liquor priced at HKD $200 or below remains at 100%, while for liquor priced over HKD $200, duty for the portion above HKD $200 is now only 10%! For spirit shipments, please contact our Hong Kong office via email at hk@idealwine.com for more information as these shipments differ from the options listed above.
Singapore
The route your order takes from our warehouse in France to your door in Singapore is completely temperature controlled. Even when being loaded and unloaded onto the aeroplane, your wine is kept in a controlled environment! Delivery to Singapore takes between two to four weeks and you can find the shipping schedule in our FAQs; click on ‘My Order’ followed by ‘Shipping information’, and it’ll be towards the end of the section.
Taiwan, Japan and South Korea
Shipping to these three countries is very similar which is why we’ve grouped them together for the purpose of this article. Once a parcel is dispatched from our warehouse, delivery could be completed in as little as five working days but this, of course, depends on how quickly the duty and tax is paid to our shipping partner. So, if you want to receive your wines quickly, keep an eye out for an email from our partner and make sure you pay the import fees as soon as possible.
Please note that public holidays will have an influence on delivery times so be sure to order wines in advance to receive your parcels quickly.
Australia
Yes, you’ve read that correctly! We deliver to Australia now. After many tests, we launched this service in August 2023 so that our friends Down Under can enjoy fine wine from around the world. It takes about 10 business days for parcels to be delivered, and local taxes and duties are payable to our shipping partner when orders arrive.
The USA
We have recently streamlined how we ship wine to the USA. Under this new system, all local taxes, duties, and import fees relating to an order will be paid directly to iDealwine and we will then organise the appropriate paperwork and payments.
When placing your order, you will now see a fixed fee of €5 per bottle on the final payment screen to cover these charges. This means that when your bottles arrive, all costs will already be taken care of, and you can focus solely on enjoying your new collection.
Our disclaimer
All deliveries to countries outside of the EU are subjected to customs fees, duties and local taxes. iDealwine has no control or oversight over local customs charges nor does it not benefit from them. We wish we could shed more light on possible additional fees, but we are not privy to this information. Charges must be paid in order for delivery to take place and our shipping partners will contact you to arrange payment. Our Customer Service team can indicate the official rate and formulas, but we cannot guarantee the precise amount. The good news is you can shop VAT-free on iDealwine! As soon as your log in and select a delivery country outside the European Union, we will automatically remove French VAT, so you don’t end up paying twice.
We hope this article has shed more light on how your wines reach you and we look forward to seeing you at one of our events sometime soon!
