Second-hand buyers may be looking for mature wines which are no longer available first-hand.
First hand wine auctions are usually arranged by wine industry organisations, and fill promotional or charitable purposes, or are used to gauge the market.
An example of such auctions is the annual wine auction held by Hospices de Beaune in Burgundy, where Burgundy wines from vineyards donated to the Hospices de Beaune are auctioned off by the barrel, and often bought by négociants who bottle and sell the wines to the consumer market.
Second hand wine auctions are arranged by many major auction houses, such as Zachys, Acker, Hart Davis Hart, Christie's and Sotheby's.
In 2018 the total sales for online wine auctions was $74.9 million.