Shipping Laws

Found this in the USA today. It is only wine though: usatoday.com/news/nation/…

When I ordered my bottle one of the people in charge sent me an email because I live in Canada. He said that they have had troubles shipping to Canada before but recently it's been better. He said though that if the package can't get to the destination that I can either chose to return it and get a refund, or have it shipped to a house in the states, and a third option he said was returning that bottle and trying to ship me something else. I think that if you sent an email to royal mile whiskies they might be helpful and tell you what you need to know.

@michaelschout Thanks, I did send them an email describing the situation. Ill keep ya'll posted on the answer.

@bobsterman91 You will need to look for online retailers and either check their website for shipping terms or call them and inquire if they ship spirits to SC. A favorite online retailer I use indicates that SC is a state they ship to. shoppersvineyard.com/store/pc/…

Bob, I don't know what the law is in SC, but VA doesn't allow spirits to be shipped. This, however, didn't prevent me from receiving a package from Royal Mile just last month, and another from Masters of Malt. It seems the only real issue might be at customs. If they're on their game, you may have to pay the associated duty.

@AlanR are you receiving them via the post office? Did you have to pay any import tariffs?

@RobertH One of them shipped via Post Office for sure... Missed the original delivery attempt, and had to pick it up. Not sure about the other, as my wife was home to receive it (Probably also USPS). Didn't have to pay any tariff or duty on either.

And just putting this out there... I am not a lawyer, but it is my belief that it is incumbent upon the shipper not to violate the law. I tried ordering some items from domestic sources, and none of them would make the attempt. The overseas vendors may think themselves out of your state's jurisdiction (which is probably accurate).

@AlanR "... but VA doesn't allow spirits to be shipped". You must be talking about spirits not being shipped out of VA because there are plenty of online vendors that do ship spirits into VA. One just needs to shop around, inquire and get a few quality watering holes identified and bookmarked.

@HP12 That's not my understanding. Apparently, a vendor (in or out of VA) may apply for a permit that would allow them to ship beer or wine (up to two cases per month; excluding distilled spirits) to recipients in the state of VA (abc.virginia.gov/enforce/shippinginfo.html/…). That's not to suggest that there aren't vendors willing to do so anyway... I'm sure there are plenty. None of the ones I've tried to use were willing to do so (admittedly, I've only tried a few).

@AlanR I know what you are saying and have read the VA statute which is gray at best. If I am looking for an occasional bottle that is highly regarded and can't get it thru ABC, then I'll look for it on the outside. Many of the online sites state shipping policies with explicit mention of which states they do/don't ship spirits to. So some do, some don't ship to VA. Whether they are in compliance with licensing is up to them to administer.

@AlanR and HP12, what I think is the relevant VA law is here: leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe/…. I read this a little more closely today.

The law is relatively clear that for beer and wine vendors apply for permits from VA and then may ship beer and wine into VA. It is my understanding that VA did this as a quid pro quo so that its burgeoning winemakers could ship product to states that allow for reciprocal shipments. If you click on the exceptions for beer and wine in Para B and C you'll see the requirements to get a permit to export beer and wine to VA.

As to liquor, Para. A seems to squarely place a penalty on the shipper for shipping liquor to VA. I'm not sure if there is also the potential for a penalty on the receiver of product. However, I could see that a person with a wine/beer permit might ship liquor as well, who is going to know what's in a cardboard box anyway, could be wine? And it is not realistic for some VA inspector to sit at the border and look into every package sent from out of state. The difficulty in catching an out of state company and the minor penalty lead me to believe that enforcement is not a very high priority.

All that said, I think Para. A is silly given what Para. E clearly says which is that you are permitted to bring in limited amounts of alcohol in your own possession into VA. If you can do that when driving from MD or DC, why should not you be able to pay an agent (that is UPS or USPS or Fedex) to do it for you?