Many of our wine-loving members are also members of Qantas’ food and wine community, Qantas Wine (formerly epiQure). The program claims to offer good deals on premium wines, and many of our members are also attracted by the proposition of bonus frequent flyer points.
Anyone can order wine from epiQure, but becoming a full member of the community costs $99. The thought of paying this fee has one of our members scratching their head.
Has anyone done a back of the envelope calculation of the worth (or folly) of a PAID membership to Epicure? What’s the consensus opinion?
There are a few advantages to paid epiQure membership, though the benefit will vary from person to person. Namely, full members receive a complimentary bottle of wine on joining, free delivery and a greater Qantas points return on wine orders.
Qantas claims to also offer exclusive member-only events and member-only sales. By most accounts the member-only events are very good, though the exclusive sales don’t appear to happen often. In fact, our members assert that the wine for sale through epiQure is generally no cheaper, or more expensive than what is available at a standard retailer like Dan Murphy’s.
Generally the cost of membership also includes a bottle of wine to the roughly the same value so its not too bad. I use it for the wine events etc that they have which are good fun and only available to epicure members. I have never bought wine as i agree with other posters that its just too expensive and you will get better value elsewhere.
Some of our members believe it is worth hanging out for a free-join offer that Qantas make from time to time. Many also say that they continue using epiQure only because they have had their membership renewed at no cost each year if they made a purchase.
Wait for a free-join offer to come up. Then if you make a purchase they tend to comp your membership the following year.
Others are sceptical that there is any benefit to the program whatsoever. They opine that there is no financial advantage in using epiQure to purchase wine as the same wine can often be purchased cheaper, albeit without the bonus Qantas points, from most retailers. They believe that the price of the joining fee is only a further disincentive to using the program.
My logic is the same. Why would you pay to join a website to buy something online that you can buy at another website just as easily – for less…
I think the only members paying for it are the hardcore QFF loyalists.
Are you an epiQure member? Share your experience HERE.
