Auction Overview

While auctions can seem intimidating to the uninitiated, the fact is that auctions are fun, easy, exciting experiences that connect you to wonderful, fine, and rare wines and spirits.

Acker has been the largest fine wine and spirits auction house for nearly two decades. It is our duty and pleasure to bring you up close and personal with the bottles you’ve been searching for – from everyday drinkers to the bottles to mark life’s biggest celebrations.

Our auctions famously feature:

The hard-to-find wines you covet for your collection
Go-to bottles for everyday drinking
Investment grade cases, verticals, and horizontals
Lot sizes ranging from single bottles to multiple cases
Mixed lots containing various bottles, producers, vintages, and formats
Varied price points to suit your palate and your wallet
A constantly refreshed cache of wines up for bidding 365 days a year

The Acker Auction Starter

Two Types of Auctions

Acker hosts two types of auctions: a traditional “live” auction that takes place on a set date(s) in a room with an auctioneer (or “live online” with an auctioneer via web-feed); and web auctions, which are digitally conducted with all bidding placed online or via mobile app.

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Traditional Live Auctions

Traditionally, ‘live auctions’ feature an auctioneer calling out bids, and then a physical hammer fall indicating the sale of each lot. Live auctions can span multiple ‘sessions’ in blocks of predetermined hours across multiple days – for example Acker’s April DE auction Session I (April 2nd – 10AM ET); Session II (April 3rd – 5PM ET).

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Global Web Auctions

Acker’s web auctions open every Monday morning at 12AM ET and remain open for a full week, closing Sunday evenings at 8pm ET. Web sales conclude at 8PM ET time, with the highest bidder at the time of the auction’s close winning each lot. (There are tiebreaker instances, but more on that later.) Web auctions are always open – 365 days a year, and new lots are added each week.

View Web Auction

The Acker Mobile App

All auctions typically “launch” (meaning they are published on Acker’s site and open for bidding), a week to two weeks prior to closing, and all accept pre-bidding. The fastest and easiest way to bid in any open sale is digitally, using Acker’s web-based platform, Ackerlive, or the mobile app.

View The App

Auction User Guide

An approved account with Acker Wines is the first step to bid at auction. Registration is incredibly fast and simple, and you will only need to do this once to be approved for all auctions!

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SET UP YOUR ACKER ACCOUNT

To set up an account, simply click LOG IN at the top right corner of the banner, located next to the shopping cart icon.

When the log-in pop up screen appears, click SIGN UP and enter your information. All fields are required to identify you and approve you as a bidder in current and all future sales.

SECURE

• Get to pre-bidding faster by adding in your payment method under My Account.

• Once you are logged in, click the body icon next to the shopping cart and the My Account dropdown will expand.

• Go to the Payment Methods tab, and enter a form of payment to secure your bids.

SEARCH & BID

• All Acker auctions can be accessed on our website. View every open sale, and search by keyword, vintage, or any number of filters.

• (Your first time entering an auction, if you didn’t complete all the fields in your new “My Account”, you’ll be prompted to enter a payment method to secure your bids. You’ll be able to see this when you enter a sale and each lot says “ENTER CREDIT CARD TO BID” beneath the lot minimum bid.)

• Once your credit card is entered and your account approved, this button will change to “PLACE A BID” – and you’re on your way!

HELPFUL HINTS & TIPS

In the event that a lot has matching bids in a live auction, preference is given to the earlier of the bidders.

In the event of active bidding on a specific lot between two or more parties in a web auction, an extended bid period just for those active bidders on that specific lot extends for a few minutes – a form of “overtime” to record the last bids and determine the winner. The rest of the auction is closed.

There are loads of new features releasing across all of our platforms, so sign up, download, search, and explore! You can track your bids with a watch list, set maximum bids and have our system bid for you, get outbid notifications, and more!

Rare Spirits Auction

For spirits lovers, we proudly present Acker Distilled, our dedicated spirits division and rare retail department, with individual spirits auctions opening every month. These auctions feature the world’s finest and most highly coveted Bourbon, Scotch, and Japanese whiskies, to rare tequila, fine rum, and more.

Never Miss a Thing

You can sign up to receive notifications when new sales launch, information on special featured auctions, retail offers, events, and more. Just enter your info in the “Join Our Mailing List” in the footer of our site, including below on this page, where you’ll also find links to our many social channels.

You can find many common answers to bidding questions in our FAQ section,
or by contacting our Auction Department at auction@ackerwines.com.

Enjoy your search, please reach out with any questions – and Happy Bidding!