Amazon is a fantastic place where you can buy anything from body lotions to Doritos to home appliances. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become the new mall where you can browse freely and do the shopping from the comfort of your own home.
Now, when the pandemic isn’t as harsh as it was, you would think that Amazon has returned to being the place you buy the thing you cannot find otherwise, but you would be wrong.
People have found that it is easier to have things delivered, so pandemic or no pandemic, Amazon is going strong.
Ordering alcohol online has become the new shopping for party treats, which brings up the question, can you buy alcohol on Amazon?
Buying alcohol on Amazon is not an easy task. Amazon needs to confirm your age before you can buy alcohol, as you need to be of legal age to be able to buy alcohol on Amazon. However, even then, you may not be able to buy alcohol on Amazon.
Alcohol is subject to harsh licensing procedures. Moreover, there are countries that don’t grant online alcohol-selling licenses at all, so even though you may meet the other conditions, you still won’t be able to get your alcohol delivered from Amazon.
The problem isn’t as much the lack of alcohol as it is the potential risk of legal consequences. Alcohol purchasing and delivery is a very sensitive transaction worldwide, but it is especially tentative in the U.S.
So, while you may easily find and purchase alcohol-related items on Amazon, alcohol itself is a tricky subject.
Therefore, in this article, I will tell you everything about buying alcohol on Amazon and what you can do as an alternative if you cannot get your alcohol delivered through Amazon in your state of residence.
Amazon Alcohol Delivery Rules
Alcohol is subject to a very strict set of rules, and this goes not only for Amazon but for other online shops too. The alcohol delivery rules are strict and exhaustive for all countries worldwide, but the U.S. runs a remarkably tight ship.
For a regular person to order alcohol from Amazon, they have to be of legal drinking age, which is 18 for some U.S. states and 21 for others.
However, even then, you may not be able to order alcohol from Amazon if the state’s rules don’t allow for this to happen.
Nevertheless, if your state allows for you to order alcohol from Amazon, you will need to comply with Amazon rules. You will need to prove your age with a legally valid document, such as I.D., a valid passport, a valid driver’s license, or a military identification.
Furthermore, Amazon can deliver alcohol to certain regions, while Amazon Prime is more flexible, but again, it depends on the country.
If you want to order alcohol through Amazon Prime, you don’t have to be an Amazon Prime member; however, you will be required to pay the delivery fee.
However, if the state in question allows ordering and delivering alcohol through Amazon Prime, the consumer has the right to choose whether they want it delivered to their home address or designate a place where they can pick up the order.
If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can have the alcohol delivered free of charge, but you will have to pay the monthly Amazon Prime membership fee.
If you want to order alcohol through Amazon Prime, your category will be grocery delivery. In addition to Amazon Prime, you can use other Amazon outlets to order alcohol. Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, and Whole Foods also perform such services.
At the moment, the residents living in these regions can use the Amazon alcohol delivery services: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Forth Worth, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh, Richmond, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Tampa, Virginia, Washington D.C.
Amazon Liquor Store
Amazon offers a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. It is very easy to use as everything is neatly listed in categories. Each category offers a variety of alcohol-related items, such as glasses or flasks, as well as the alcoholic beverage itself.
The categories you can find on Amazon are beer, cocktail mixers, spirits, and wine. These categories further branch out into several sub-categories displaying the particular sub-type of the drink.
Below are some brands of alcohol sold on Amazon. As you can see, the list contains beer and wine, as the spirits and cocktail mixers are way too extensive, to sum up. Also, the spirits category encompasses a large number of drinks, each of which you can find on Amazon.
Also, beer and wine seem to be most popularly purchased on Amazon, so it is a good idea to have your choices narrowed down a little.
The most popular representatives in the beer category are Athletic Brewing Company.
Guinness Pub Draft, Blue Moon Belgian Wheat Ale, Lagunitas Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Bud Light
Peroni, Stella Artois, Bitburger, Coors Light, Pilsner Urquell, and Heineken.
The wine category is mostly visited due to these wines: Three Wishes, Josh Cellars, Cloudveil, Areche, Underwood Cellars, 19 Crimes, Apothic, Line 39, and La Vieille Ferme.
Why Doesn’t Amazon Sell Alcohol
The problem isn’t that Amazon doesn’t sell alcohol, but rather that not all countries grant the opportunity for Amazon to sell alcohol in them. There are states where Amazon alcohol selling is allowed, but there are also those where it is prohibited.
To order alcohol from Amazon, you need to be 18 or older, which you can prove with an I.D. document. Furthermore, Amazon alcohol purchase is subject to licenses, so you need to have the proper license for the particular type of alcohol if you are buying the alcohol for commercial purposes.
Selling alcohol in the United States is a very complicated business, and the states need to abide by the general legal requirements as well as their own regulations. This means that they are obliged to adhere to two sets of regulations.
With this in mind, many online stores choose not to sell alcohol in the U.S. as it is very exhausting and, generally, expensive. Amazon is luckily still holding on and sells alcohol to the locations designated as eligible.
Alternatives To Use
Many think that where Amazon doesn’t sell alcohol, they can use alternatives to have their alcohol delivered. However, the search for alternatives is futile, as the same rules apply to any online alcohol delivery.
If the state allows for alcohol delivery, then the online store isn’t the issue. If it doesn’t allow, again, no matter the online store, you won’t get your alcohol delivered.
Nevertheless, in addition to Amazon, you can purchase your alcohol from totalwine, wine.com, cwspirits, drizly, uptown spirits, Berevita (for Europe), etc.
Can You Sell Alcohol on Amazon?
In theory, yes, you can sell alcohol on Amazon; however, in practice, things are not that simple. Selling alcohol is subject to many requirements, licenses, and conditions, and you do need to meet them all to sell alcohol on Amazon.
However, even if you do everything right and have everything ready on your part, you may still not be able to sell alcohol on amazon as the state you want to sell it in may not allow for such a thing.
Also, it is much harder for a retailer to sell alcohol on Amazon compared to a wholesaler, as you wouldn’t be as eligible to do so.
There are also a lot of costs involved you need to settle on your own before you become an Amazon alcohol seller.
How Many Bottles of Alcohol Can you Order on Amazon?
There is no restriction in regard to the number of bottles of alcohol you can order on Amazon. As long as you pay for all of them, nothing is stopping you from ordering as much as you want to.
The delivery may take a little longer if you order a huge amount of bottles, and you may not get all of them at the same time, but those are some of the technicalities, and they don’t impact the order itself.
Resources:
- https://www.government.nl/topics/alcohol/the-rules-on-selling-alcoholic-beverages-to-young-people
