Reverse Wine Snob Insider Deal Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Questions about our Insider Deals? We’ve got all the answers and then some. Check out our frequently asked questions below!

Over the past couple years thousands of people have bought our Insider Deals and we’ve shipped millions of dollars worth of wine but that doesn’t mean you don’t have questions about how the program works! In order to answer these the best we’ve can we’ve broken this FAQ into 3 parts, click the links below to jump to each section or take a few minutes and read it all.

Skip to:
General Questions
Shipping Questions
Ordering Questions

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General Questions

What’s the deal with these deals? How are they different than your reviews?

Our reviews are at the heart of what we do, whether they be wines from Trader Joe’s, Costco, Aldi or wines that are just generally available. That said, the biggest “complaint” we here is that people can’t find the wines we review. After all your local stores only carry a tiny fraction of the wine that is made each year, maybe a few thousand different bottles if you’re lucky, which is well under 10% of what’s out there.

In addition, due to the terrible 3 tier system in the U.S. most of what you see on your local store shelves come from the big 3 distributors. There’s very little chance to find the thousands and thousands of excellent wines made from small, family owned wineries.

The reason for these deals then is to unleash the other 90% of the market to our readers!

Is this a wine club?

Absolutely not. Each deal is independent, there are no subscriptions, auto-shipments or commitments at all.

Who picks which wines you offer?

I (Jon) handpick every one of our deals.

Are your Insider Deals rated any differently than your normal reviews?

Absolutely not, both use our proprietary rating system that uses both a Taste Rating and a Cost Rating to get an overall score. If anything we might be even a little stricter in how we review these Insider Deals knowing that our name gets put on them!

Do you secretly work for one of the big wine companies?

No, we are still 100% independent just as we have always been.

Do you make money off these deals?

Yes, of course, this does take a lot of work and we do need to make a living. We use this money to pay for the site and make it ad-free. There’s nothing we hate more than a site that is overloaded with ads.

What does it mean when you say the deals are “Winery Direct”.

Just as it sounds, when you buy one of our deals you are actually buying directly from the winery, not from us!

What are the advantages of our Winery Direct deals?

There are many! Here are just a few:

• Support wineries directly! We can offer wines from any winery. Many of the wineries we work with are small, family-owned wineries that have very little or even no retail distribution. The structure of our deals also cuts out the traditional middlemen – distributors and retailers, who typically each take huge cuts of profit. This means these deals are not only good for you but also good for the winery!
• Low Prices! By cutting out the middlemen and structuring the deals in a flash sale style that allows us to consolidate orders for shipping, we are able to offer some absolutely huge discounts on many wines that are rarely available for less than SRP. To help us do this efficiently we’ve partnered with Wine Country Connect (WCC)
• More Shipping States! Wine retailers are legally only able to ship to about 15 states. (Many disregard this at their own risk.) Wineries, on the other hand, are legally able to ship to about 46 states if they are properly licensed. That means using a Winery Direct model opens up about 30 additional states for shipping.
• The Best Wines Possible! Because our structure cutting out the middleman is good for wineries, we are able to secure their best wines and not just the stuff they are looking to liquidate — which is primarily what you’ll find at a lot of our competitors.

Why are your deals so short (1-2 days)?

See above, this is all part of the model that allows us to offer as low of prices as possible. By consolidating all the orders and shipping them together we are not only to able to offer huge discounts but also extremely reasonable shipping.

When do you publish new deals?

Currently new deals go live three times a week: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The best way to be notified is to subscribe to our emails.

Are all of your deals published on the website?

No, the discounts are so big on some of our deals we can’t even publish them to the website as the winery doesn’t want a “history” of that extremely low price! The only way to get these is to sign up for our emails.

I loved the wine I bought, how can I get more?

Unfortunately, we do not currently offer a way to re-order an expired deal but we do bring many of most popular deals back for a second or even third run, so stay subscribed!

Can I request substitutions in a mixed pack offer?

No. Since we primarily work with small wineries, quantities of each wine are pretty closely managed to make sure we don’t run out of one wine in a mixed pack before the others which makes substitutions impossible. We do often; however, run stand-alone deals on single wines, including those that have been in mixed packs previously so stay tuned for those if you have favorites you are looking for.

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Questions about Shipping

I’ve never purchased wine online, how does shipping work?

We’ve got all the answers to that question in our article How To Buy Wine Online.

How much does shipping cost?

Shipping is just $7.99 via UPS ground. During summer, there is an additional upcharge for summer shipping which includes heat protection (with styrofoam) and 2-day shipping. (The rest of the year we use cardboard inserts.) There is also a summer hold option without the upcharge that delays shipping until October. See more on our summer shipping.

What shipper do you use?

UPS. We highly recommend signing up for the UPS Mychoice service to see and manage incoming packages.

Do I need to sign for my delivery?

Yes, regardless of the shipper, federal laws require you to sign for alcohol deliveries. See our article How To Buy Wine Online for more info.

What are my options if I won’t be home for delivery?

We offer the convenient option of having your shipment sent to your local UPS Store and held for pickup at no additional cost! Simply select this shipping method at checkout. See this article for all the details. Other options would be to either have the wine shipped to a friend or your workplace. After the wine has shipped you can also the UPS Mychoice service to find the options for scheduling deliveries or holding packages at UPS Access Points/UPS Stores in your area. (This may have a cost.)

Why does it take several days for the wine to ship out?

Due to the winery direct structure our deals do take a bit longer to ship than a traditional retailer that has the wine sitting in their own warehouse. Depending on the time of year, it can take anywhere from 5-10 days for the wine to ship. The reason is that once the deal closes, our partner collects the wines from the winery and consolidates all the orders in their warehouse. Most of the year (especially during the summer) they also only ship wines out Monday through Wednesday to avoid wine sitting in transit over the weekend.

How do I know that my wine has shipped?

Once UPS has your wine you will receive an email with your tracking info.

Is it safe to have my wine shipped during summer?

Maybe, depending on your location. Read our article on Is It Ok To Ship Wine in the Summer that includes info on what we do to protect your wine.

Why was my wine shipped in styrofoam?

In an effort to protect your wine during the summer heat, we will ship in styrofoam during the hottest months of the summer (as well as send everything 2-day.) The rest of the year we ship in cardboard exclusively. If you are buying the “Summer Ship” version of a deal then it will also be shipped in styrofoam.

Do you offer a Summer Hold program?

Yes, the 2025 Summer Hold program begins with the 6/10/2025 deal. At this point there will be two products for each deal, Summer Ship and Summer Hold. You must select the one you want at the time of order. We cannot change it after the fact or change any existing orders to Summer Hold. Please read our Summer Hold page for all the details.

Which states do you ship to?

It can vary by deal. Each individual deal will list the states allowed which will be could all available states or just a subset of the 46.

My state allows shipping from wineries but it’s not listed on a deal, what gives?

The states for each deal are dependent on the individual licenses of the offering winery. Not all wineries, especially the smaller ones, are licensed in every state they can be. (Some states have very expensive or burdensome licensing requirements.) If you don’t see your state listed on a deal, don’t give up hope! There’s a good chance the next deal could include it.

Do you ship to Alaska and Hawaii?

Currently no, as we have not determined a way to not lose our shirt on shipping costs. We are looking at ways to charge a more appropriate amount for shipping to these states.

Do you ship to Canada or anywhere else outside the US?

No, current laws do not allow this. For example, Canada does not allow shipping from US wineries.

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Questions about Ordering

Ordering is done through Shopify checkout at shop.reversewinesnob.com. All major credit cards are accepted and Shop Pay, Apple Pay and GPay are also enabled. If you’ve ordered from another retailer using Shopify the system may recognize you so please verify the pre-populated addresses and credit card are correct.

If I’ve signed up for your emails does that mean I have an ordering account?

No, if you’d like an ordering account you’ll need to create one (see below).

If I created a sign in to save my favorites on your site, does that mean I have an ordering account?

Unfortunately no, these accounts are not linked at this time. If you’d like an ordering account you’ll need to create one (see below).

Do I need an account to order?

Absolutely not, no account is necessary. Just enter your info and submit or check out with Shop Pay, Apple Pay or GPay. No account is necessary to save your info for next time.

How do I create an account?

If you would still prefer to have an account simply click here.

Is your ordering system secure?

Absolutely, we use Shopify for our checkout, which is highly secure. You can also click the lock button by the url in your browser to verify.

Help, I can’t login!

Accounts are not automatically created at checkout and accounts from our previous ordering system were not transferred over. This means you probably do not have an account and can either create one, or just check out. (No account is necessary to save your info for next time, just click the button during checkout.)

The easiest way to check if you have have an account, is to simply enter your email here and the system will tell you if there is an account with your email.

What’s up with the phone verification code when I try to checkout?

The phone verification at checkout is Shopify recognizing you and trying to make checking out easier. It is completely optional, you can safely close the box asking for the code and continue to check out by entering your info. As long as you are using the same email on each order, all your orders will save to your account. If you’re not receiving the code on your phone, Shopify may have a different number associated with you from previous purchases at other Shopify sellers. You can change that number by following these instructions.

How can I find my order history?

The order history between the new site and old site (orders before Sept 2023) are separate. If you would like a consolidated view just shoot me an email and I can send it to you. Otherwise, the old ordering site (winedealmaker) accounts can be accessed here and the new Shopify site (shop.reversewinesnob.com) can be accessed here.

What charge will show on my credit card?

The charge on your credit card will show as “SP * REVERSE WINE SNOB”.

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Other questions? We’re just an email away!

Are you a winery who wants to offer your wine to our audience? Contact us!