The Pro's Closet at it again

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Old School

Interesting. I am getting ready to close my store on ebay. It has become untenable. Sales are fine, but the fees and stupid little ebay games have created an toxic selling environment.

I am sure ebay courted TPC back.

But, with ebays refusal to be smart and move to another state (Boulder? Austin? Miami?) like everyone else....


You will now pay California sales tax on that Colnago.......EVEN IF YOU LIVE IN ANOTHER STATE.

TPC pays a big fee to "have a store"

TPC will be forced to accept returns and have the money taken from their "pending payout" with no notice.

TPC will be paid via a "payout", at the whim of ebay, and pay $6 for the privilege. This is exclusive of the fees which make paypal blush.

etc etc etc

No adding..I sold something for the first time via ebay's new 'scheme'...$ into your bank acct. Sold for $99..netted $80..no mas thanks..other ways and places to sell stuff.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

No adding..I sold something for the first time via ebay's new 'scheme'...$ into your bank acct. Sold for $99..netted $80..no mas thanks..other ways and places to sell stuff.

Sometimes it's worth it. I've had items sell for 50% more on eBay than I've had them listed for and gone unsold here. It depends on the item, of course, but sometimes eBay is more than worth its fees.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Sometimes it's worth it. I've had items sell for 50% more on eBay than I've had them listed for and gone unsold here. It depends on the item, of course, but sometimes eBay is more than worth its fees.

Agree. Due to the 1099 hassle, I only sell stuff there that needs a mega amount of eyeballs on it to find a buyer though. I sold a used data monitoring system for an electrical panel, good for parts that aren't available anymore, and took months but eventually I got my BIN price.

On bike stuff I'm done, because other markets exist. But I did purge a bunch of stuff before the $600 1099 rule kicked in, and some of that sold on ebay after it didn't sell here.

[zap]

Have had great success selling cycling items on craigslist for the last several years including a Look KG196 frame set that I shipped to CA.

[old fat man]

I just got an offer for a Crux cx bike - TPC ONLY offered me store credit. No lower cash payout option. Is that common? Perhaps an indication that they want my bike (they have very few Crux on their site currently) but also really need to unload some other inventory.

[Pegoready]

Originally Posted by old fat man

I just got an offer for a Crux cx bike - TPC ONLY offered me store credit. No lower cash payout option. Is that common? Perhaps an indication that they want my bike (they have very few Crux on their site currently) but also really need to unload some other inventory.

I was only offered store credit for a Specialized Fatboy Fat Bike.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by old fat man

I just got an offer for a Crux cx bike - TPC ONLY offered me store credit. No lower cash payout option. Is that common? Perhaps an indication that they want my bike (they have very few Crux on their site currently) but also really need to unload some other inventory.

Yeah, this sure sounds like they are trying to slow their burn rate on cash. Market valuations are down across the board, so a lot of companies are hesitant to go do another fundraising round right now.

Aside from the fact that they only offered a trade in, was the value they offered still decent?

[old fat man]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Yeah, this sure sounds like they are trying to slow their burn rate on cash. Market valuations are down across the board, so a lot of companies are hesitant to go do another fundraising round right now.

Aside from the fact that they only offered a trade in, was the value they offered still decent?

They offered $2100 credit. Based on what they are selling their few Crux models for, I'd guess they would ask $3200 for mine when they go to sell it. I think it's probably worth $2500 pretty easily on the open market - it's 2018, full Sram 1x11 Force with Quarq powermeter. Wheels and tires aren't great but very usable. Weighs under 18lbs with cx tires and pedals.

I have no desire to spend $2100 on their site so I won't be accepting their offer.

[belopsky]

are we still complaining here?
I'll just say that some offers I've had from them I would have preferred to be told "you probably should just keep it"

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by belopsky

are we still complaining here?
I'll just say that some offers I've had from them I would have preferred to be told "you probably should just keep it"

Same here.

[AngryScientist]

I think the reality is the big pandemic induced bike boom is largely over. Ebay seems to have a lot more desirable bikes up for sale, the regular suspects are advertising sales again, parts are more regularly in stock, etc.

Probably the days of TPC buying everything they could just to have some stock to sell are behind us.

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

I think the reality is the big pandemic induced bike boom is largely over. Ebay seems to have a lot more desirable bikes up for sale, the regular suspects are advertising sales again, parts are more regularly in stock, etc.

Probably the days of TPC buying everything they could just to have some stock to sell are behind us.

Plus the value proposition of buying something new or "just slightly used" for a little bit less.

Almost like the used car market if you will, though MSRP kinda ruins that, but cars aren't as elastic a good especially when econoboxes have the crazy jump in MSRP as well.

[Alistair]

FWIW, I just snagged an open-box Force AXS crank+rings+powermeter for the cost of just the powermeter in retail packaging. So, used bike quality notwithstanding, TPC has some good deals, at least occasionally.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by Alistair

FWIW, I just snagged an open-box Force AXS crank+rings+powermeter for the cost of just the powermeter in retail packaging. So, used bike quality notwithstanding, TPC has some good deals, at least occasionally.

I agree with this. TPC has great deals on equipment all the time (usually looks like they get as bulk surplus stock and then sell on the cheap). I've never seen a used bike from them that was worth it for me, but I have spent thousands of dollars with them, and will spend more in the future.

[rice rocket]

TPC framesets seem to be okay on pricing too, certainly less on average compared to what people are asking for on Pinkbike.