Interesting Trend at Pro's Closet

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Me submitting a bike to them.... and looking through their listings:

Bro's Closet

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

my biggest irk at pros closet is that they can't be bothered to accurately measure frames. all they would need to do is build a simple jig to accurately and properly measure every frame before boxing it up.

Yeah, you figure with the venture capital investment they've received ($40M in May), they would invest in a setup to quickly measure every darn measurement on a bike frame in a snapshot and just share the photo with dimensions annotated. Heck, market it as some cloud-based GPT-3 powered LIDAR self-measuring device on the blockchain. Investors would throw more money at them.

* cottage industry framebag makers have been doing fine with a telephone lens and analog tape measure, but that doesn't get the bigbucks

[nmrt]

I stopped by that small warehouse a number of times and bought a lot of goodies! Those were the days.

Now, TPC makes out like a bandit. Maybe some sellers do as well. But largely, based on my experience TPC hands out peanuts to sellers and it makes out like a bandit.

Good for them. But I aint buying anything from them with their rocket high prices, poor customer service, and cant even get anyone on the phone.

Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11

I remember years ago when Pro's Closet was run out of a small stall in a warehouse on the north end of Boulder. Vibe was more like a garage sale. I got some cool stuff there and always enjoyed stopping by.

[KJMUNC]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Yeah, you figure with the venture capital investment they've received ($40M in May), they would invest in a setup to quickly measure every darn measurement on a bike frame in a snapshot and just share the photo with dimensions annotated. Heck, market it as some cloud-based GPT-3 powered LIDAR self-measuring device on the blockchain. Investors would throw more money at them.

* cottage industry framebag makers have been doing fine with a telephone lens and analog tape measure, but that doesn't get the bigbucks

well, except that the VC's probably asked them "so how much more $$ does that investment on a bike sizer yield? Oh, it doesn't actually generate more money, but it makes it easier to understand what you're buying.....yeah, no money for that"

They seem to be slinging bikes pretty easily with their janky processes, but I agree it would be nice to have.

[slowpoke]

Oh for sure. There's definitely a sales metric they need to hit now and exacting frame measurements for crusty bikenerds isn't anywhere near their list.

I wouldn't be surprised if they move into other areas of used, high-value sporting goods in the next 18 months.

[RoosterCogset]

Maybe for speed of turnover, they're doing photos first, and only cleaning up once a bike has been sold and needs to ship out.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by nmrt

I stopped by that small warehouse a number of times and bought a lot of goodies! Those were the days.

Now, TPC makes out like a bandit. Maybe some sellers do as well. But largely, based on my experience TPC hands out peanuts to sellers and it makes out like a bandit.

Good for them. But I aint buying anything from them with their rocket high prices, poor customer service, and cant even get anyone on the phone.

I sold them a rim-brake Gunnar (old man) Sport bike when none of the cranks here would buy it

I was fine with it.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by RoosterCogset

Maybe for speed of turnover, they're doing photos first, and only cleaning up once a bike has been sold and needs to ship out.

It gives the new owner time to dream about what epic handlebar tape they will pull the trigger on in order to customize it. Brilliant IMO

[reuben]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

* cottage industry framebag makers have been doing fine with a telephone lens and analog tape measure, but that doesn't get the bigbucks

I own photography equipment that far exceeds the value of my bike equipment, and I don't have a telephone lens. Methinks speelcbeek has struck again. Gave me a good chuckle.

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by reuben

I own photography equipment that far exceeds the value of my bike equipment, and I don't have a telephone lens. Methinks speelcbeek has struck again. Gave me a good chuckle.

Hahaha.. well have you seen the newly announced iPhone 13 Pro?!

[RoosterCogset]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Hahaha.. well have you seen the newly announced iPhone 13 Pro?!

I feel I'm really missing out on the smartphone experience. What does a faster processor do for me anyway? Is this all about game playing?

[klasse]

The situation tells a story about the used bicycle consumer.

My guess is people are drawn to the 'certified' nature of the used merchandise. This is a "certified" bike, safety inspection, etc...

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by RoosterCogset

Maybe for speed of turnover, they're doing photos first, and only cleaning up once a bike has been sold and needs to ship out.

At first I thought this was a ridiculous idea, because if you're going to take the time to fix up a bike before you sell it anyway, why take the pictures first?

But then I looked at the Black Mountain Monstercross bike in the OP.

https://www.theproscloset.com/produc...onster-cross-l

As he noted, no chain, no bar tape, front brake not hooked up (also no cassette). Then I read the description of the bike.

It's listed as coming with new bar tape, new chain, and new cassette.

So you're right, they just take these pictures before they actually clean the bikes up. Very weird marketing.

[oliver1850]

Originally Posted by nmrt

I stopped by that small warehouse a number of times and bought a lot of goodies! Those were the days.

Now, TPC makes out like a bandit. Maybe some sellers do as well. But largely, based on my experience TPC hands out peanuts to sellers and it makes out like a bandit.

Good for them. But I aint buying anything from them with their rocket high prices, poor customer service, and cant even get anyone on the phone.

I never bought from them on location but bought a lot of shipped stuff in past years. Lots of miscellaneous parts and a few frames. No complete bikes that I can remember. Checked my emails and the last thing I bought from them was an Athena crankset, four years ago. I count about 40 payments prior to that - some with multiple items. At this point anything of interest that I come across which turns out to be listed by them I automatically assume it's overpriced.

Always hated their white background photography. Take the stuff out in natural light and the buyer will have a much better idea about what the item will actually look like. But that's not the idea........

[mtechnica]

Maybe they don’t fix the bikes up unless someone buys them.