Can we ship bottles of wine?

The shipment of bottles containing liquids is highly regulated, especially alcoholic beverages. You don't know how to ship your bottles of wine for domestic shipment or abroad? Whether you are a professional or a private individual, Upela explains everything to you.

How to ship your bottles of wine?

The first thing you should know before shipping your wine bottles is that the transport of bottles and liquids is extremely regulated, as these are products with dangerous risks. They are breakable, potentially flammable and can damage other packages if broken. This is why particular care must be taken with this type of shipment.

As a private individual can I ship wine?

It is very difficult to obtain the necessary authorisations for this type of shipment for individuals, so we suggest that you do not ship any. If you want to make a friend or family member happy by sending a bottle of wine, we recommend that you use a professional wine merchant or wine shop. When you make your purchase, you can ask your wine merchant to send your purchase directly to your recipient, as they will most likely have all the necessary authorisations to carry out the shipment in good order..

As a professional, how can I ship wine?

Restrictions

Before undertaking such a shipment, you should first be aware of the regulations surrounding the shipment of wine bottles. As a professional, you can ship BtoC or BtoB.

To do so, make sure you have :

• Excise duty: Excise duty is an indirect tax that affects the consumption of specific products. Implemented worldwide, this tax targets alcohol, cigarettes and energy products. Products subject to excise duty must also be accompanied by the following documents:
  • Electronic Administrative Documents (eAD)
  • Simplified administrative documents (SAAD)
• Commercial invoice and product label: these should be as detailed as possible, if you don't know how to do this you can list the following information:
  • Description of goods in detail
  • Quantity
  • Packaging specification
  • Brand
  • Origin
  • Alcohol content

Domestic shipping;

You can send one case containing up to 12 bottles (75cl) per shipment.

Shipment to countries in the Schengen area :

If you wish to send bottles of wine or champagne within the Schengen area, you can also send a case containing up to 12 bottles (of 75cl) per shipment.

As a reminder, the countries belonging to the Schengen area are :: 

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

International shipping :

For international shipments, each country has its own regulations regarding the shipment of wine and spirits. For this type of shipment, we invite you to check with local customs before undertaking the shipping procedure.

For example, if you wish to ship one or more bottles to the United States, be aware that each state has its own regulations. However, the first thing to know is that as an individual you cannot ship a bottle of wine to the United States, even if it is just one bottle to please a friend or family member. In order to ship wine to the United States you need a professional status with a license to ship to the United States.

Packaging

To guarantee the best possible transport, we invite you to pack your bottles of wine correctly, firstly to protect them during transport, but also to protect the other parcels which could be damaged if your bottles break. These are particularly fragile goods, and we remind you that when the carriers take charge of the parcels, they handle them in an industrial manner, so it is essential to protect your shipments correctly.

The regulatory packaging for shipping your bottles is a box (cardboard or wood) with compartments. The outer packaging must be sturdy, even if it is cardboard. Each bottle of wine must have its own compartment which must be padded. This cushioning can be done with molded polystyrene, cardboard cushioning, cardboard with fluting.

Inner packaging made of molded polystyrene is very suitable for this type of shipment and is very strong, if you choose this option, you should choose a strong outer packaging, this can be corrugated cardboard, the flaps should close completely and be sealed with adhesive tape.

In order to ship with peace of mind, you can choose our partner Cenpac for all your packaging, buy packaging that meets the carrier's standards and save money with our Cenpac partnership program*.

*This offer is only valid for Upela customers who have an account and have already shipped at least once via our platform.

Which carrier to use to ship your bottles?

In order to ship your bottles of wine, you can use any of our carriers except UPS, which will not handle bottles of wine.

You can use :

DHL : 

• DHL Express :
  • available shipping letters, parcels and pallets
  • available in Europe and internationally
  • pick-up and delivery at home
  • delivery between 1 and 5 days (depending on the destination)

Chronopost : 

• Chrono Classic / Chrono 18 / Chrono 13
  • available shipping letters, parcels and pallets
  • available in Europe and internationally
  • pick-up and delivery at home
  • delivery between 2 and 3 days (depending on the destination)

TNT :

• TNT international
  • available shipping letters, parcels and pallets
  • available in Europe and internationally
  • pick-up and delivery to your to home or warehouse
  • delivery between 24h et 48h from Europe
  • delivery between 4 and 7 days from Europe to international destinations

FedEx :

• Priority Overnight
  • available shipping letters, parcels and pallets
  • available in Europe,
  • pick-up and home delivery
  • 1 day delivery in Europe (depending on destination)

• International Priority
  • available for sending letters, parcels and pallets
  • available internationally, collection and delivery to home or warehouse
  • delivery between 1 and 3 days before 10:30 am

DPD :

• DPD Classic
  • available for sending letters, parcels and pallets
  • available in Benelux
  • available from Benelux to Europe
  • 24-hour delivery

Good shipping!