The Pro's Closet at it again

[Baron Blubba]

Speaking from a northeast US perspective, the bike business doesn't boom during the holiday season. Definitely not enough for a business to say with any definitiveness that they'll be able to make good on debts after New Year's.

Kinda OT here, but every winter I'm a like a broken record telling people 'winter is not the best time to ride a bike, but it's the best time to buy a bike,' and offering year-best discounts. But very few folks take our shop up on the offers...then visit in May asking what's on sale/when's the sale.

Originally Posted by prototoast

It's not a great sign if they're cash constrained, but if you look at the timing, it's possible they've stretched themselves thin stocking up for the holiday season, and could realistically expect to have the money for payouts 60 days from now.

[RoosterCogset]

Don't they really have an issue in considering to buy anything with an 11s Shimano crankset, and possibly the other way around, trying to figure out if they can legally be selling bikes with recalled cranksets?

[Hilltopperny]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

Speaking from a northeast US perspective, the bike business doesn't boom during the holiday season. Definitely not enough for a business to say with any definitiveness that they'll be able to make good on debts after New Year's.



Kinda OT here, but every winter I'm a like a broken record telling people 'winter is not the best time to ride a bike, but it's the best time to buy a bike,' and offering year-best discounts. But very few folks take our shop up on the offers...then visit in May asking what's on sale/when's the sale.

Same here! Bikes are now stocked up, but sales are already dwindling down. Usually mark down around Thanksgiving and get a few out the door, but definitely slow to dead on the complete bike sales.

Sent from my SM-S127DL using Tapatalk

[peanutgallery]

But for years...and even now. Bike companies beg you to load up on inventory over the winter and then inform all your customers to swing by an get 20% off on the first nice day in March. Bastards

Heck, in 2023 stuff was marked down before you took delivery. Specialized

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

Same here! Bikes are now stocked up, but sales are already dwindling down. Usually mark down around Thanksgiving and get a few out the door, but definitely slow to dead on the complete bike sales.

Sent from my SM-S127DL using Tapatalk

[KJMUNC]

Originally Posted by Kyle h

Anyone sold anything to TPC lately? A friend I quoted about selling his SuperSix and the offer was decent but they said they aren’t doing payments for 60 days. Seems wildly sketch.

I sold them my Factor O2 about 6 weeks ago and noticed it finally showed up on their site. I wasn't thrilled with the offer, but it was fair enough for a rim brake bike with some condition issues. I would be completely shocked if they sell it for the asking price of $1700, as mine sat on the market with little/no interest at that price and lower.

https://www.theproscloset.com/products/2018-factor-o2-l

[reuben]

Originally Posted by Kyle h

Anyone sold anything to TPC lately? A friend I quoted about selling his SuperSix and the offer was decent but they said they aren’t doing payments for 60 days. Seems wildly sketch.

That sounds like a cash flow problem, which is never good.

[Heisenberg]

huh, interesting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cycling/com...e_pros_closet/

tl;dr, guy ships them an Aethos to sell, arrives with a broken frame, presumably damaged in-transit (guy has photos of bike before shipping), TPC says it was packed perfectly and this happens all the time, but they're not willing to file an insurance claim with their shipper and promptly ship the bike back to the guy leaving him high and dry.

Back when I did returns for a big publicly-traded internet cycling retailer, this would've been a NQA "take care of the customer" moment, especially given the guy has a history of purchases with them. But also, salty grains, it's a Reddit post.

PE money baaaaad

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by KJMUNC

I sold them my Factor O2 about 6 weeks ago and noticed it finally showed up on their site. I wasn't thrilled with the offer, but it was fair enough for a rim brake bike with some condition issues. I would be completely shocked if they sell it for the asking price of $1700, as mine sat on the market with little/no interest at that price and lower.

https://www.theproscloset.com/products/2018-factor-o2-l

Yeah, $1700 seems pretty optimistic for a 5 year-old frame that you can get new for $2700 now.

(Cinch bike?)

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

Yeah, $1700 seems pretty optimistic for a 5 year-old frame that you can get new for $2700 now.

(Cinch bike?)

Perhaps they believe that it will sell in their retail location, and it's posted on their website just because why not?

I know at my shop we sometimes charge above typical 'book value' because customers are willing to pay for the peace of mind knowing that they are buying from a shop that meticulously cleaned, polished, repaired, and tuned their new used bike before putting it up for sale, and that if there is a problem in the future, they have a relationship with the shop they purchased it from and perhaps even a service plan to fall back on. If that $2700/$1700 Factor frame is in good shape, why not save a grand and get all of the above with it?

Answer: No manufacturer's warranty.
Rebuttal: A lot of people don't make purchases based on optimal outcomes to worst-case scenarios --and that's actually often a smart way to live, I think.

[buddybikes]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

huh, interesting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cycling/com...e_pros_closet/

tl;dr, guy ships them an Aethos to sell, arrives with a broken frame, presumably damaged in-transit (guy has photos of bike before shipping), TPC says it was packed perfectly and this happens all the time, but they're not willing to file an insurance claim with their shipper and promptly ship the bike back to the guy leaving him high and dry.

Back when I did returns for a big publicly-traded internet cycling retailer, this would've been a NQA "take care of the customer" moment, especially given the guy has a history of purchases with them. But also, salty grains, it's a Reddit post.

PE money baaaaad

How is this any of their fault. Broken is broken, unless it broke when they removed from box and dropped it. Insure it if shipped DDP (which one would assume)

[echappist]

Originally Posted by buddybikes

How is this any of their fault. Broken is broken, unless it broke when they removed from box and dropped it. Insure it if shipped DDP (which one would assume)

If the tale is to be believed, TPC is refusing to file an insurance claim, and the person who sold the bike has no standing in filing that claim, b/c claims are filed by the entity who paid for shipping.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by echappist

If the tale is to be believed, TPC is refusing to file an insurance claim, and the person who sold the bike has no standing in filing that claim, b/c claims are filed by the entity who paid for shipping.

They wouldn’t file a claim because there was no damage to the box, so filing a claim is a waste of time.

[LJohnny]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

They wouldn’t file a claim because there was no damage to the box, so filing a claim is a waste of time.

I have to say that I did not know that an insurance claim would not be considered if no damage to the box is found…
Let’s say a box is dropped, from certain undetermined height. The impact is enough to rattle and perhaps damage the contents, but because of the way the box landed, let us say completely perpendicular, did not cause any damage to the box….
Also, it is not implausible for lateral force to press on the side of a box to create enough pressure to damage carbon, without permanently deforming the cardboard.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by LJohnny

I have to say that I did not know that an insurance claim would not be considered if no damage to the box is found…
Let’s say a box is dropped, from certain undetermined height. The impact is enough to rattle and perhaps damage the contents, but because of the way the box landed, let us say completely perpendicular, did not cause any damage to the box….
Also, it is not implausible for lateral force to press on the side of a box to create enough pressure to damage carbon, without permanently deforming the cardboard.

The idea is that if there is no damage to the box, it wasn't subjected to anything harsher than routine handling. Anything that breaks during routine handling is deemed to have been packed inadequately.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

The idea is that if there is no damage to the box, it wasn't subjected to anything harsher than routine handling. Anything that breaks during routine handling is deemed to have been packed inadequately.

While that may be true, if I were TPC, I might have at least filed the claim so that the shipping company could have been the one to deny the customer, not me.