I checked it out last night when most of it still had 6 hours to go. Some of the amounts bid even then were daft. 🙄

Story on BikeBiz…

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/600-planet-x-items-sold-at-auction-earlier-today/020356

I bought two sets of carbon Knuckleball bars and an El Guapo Corto stem from their sale yesterday and it was all delivered today.

I wouldn’t touch any of the frames or forks or own brand stuff inc jobsworth – QC concerns are well documented – but capmpag stuff, fulcrum wheels etc would have been worth a punt.
How long before a mountain of ‘bargains’ appears on eBay?
That looks like a lot of stock but without knowing their typical/average inventory it’s hard to assess whether or not it represents a significant disposal.
Is there an underlying story?
If Dave Loughran stripped away all of the crap, stopped buying dead brands with warehouses full of old stock of variable quality, slimmed down the range of product offerings and got on top of the QC I think there would be a decent business there which could regain credibility but…..has that time now passed?

but…..has that time now passed?

5, 6 years ago maybe I’d say… Certainly I think the writing is firmly on the wall!

Just clearing out old stock, ex team stuff, returns etc, it is what it is. it’s the cheapest way to shift dead stock, and that’s the long and short of it.

There’s a value to all this stuff and the best way to deal with it is to let the market decide.

No point having it sitting on the shelf when the cash it represents could be transformed into new shiny parts, new models and future offerings.

Yeah right sq…. 🙄

I worked in retail long enough to recognise a company falling off the cliff…

As soon as I saw this I knew there would be a 16″ 29er parkwood with green graphics listed. Good chance that is the one I had returned due to a dodgy weld when building it up for a friend.

If only there was some way you could shift that stock ??

mmmmm

Like maybe a sale ?

you know, give it a snappy title like – The we can’t be arsed / pre stocktaking / daves gone mad / End of the World / It’ll be reet / Buy one get 6 free / got the receivers in / etc etc etc

Try it, if it doesn’t work, do a new one every 2-3 days ?

I don’t understand how selling all this stuff in an auction house gives you more chances to sell?
Very limited audience as you need to live close enough to collect.
What is the point?

They probably don’t have the staff to deal with it all since they got rid of a load

I wonder what did the most damage? QC, customer service, falling out with Shimano, or paid postage under £50.

Having a shed load of tat probably.

If you want choice go anywhere else.

If you want something cheap go to PX.

newrobdob – Member
Yeah right sq….

I worked in retail long enough to recognise a company falling off the cliff…

I suspected much the same, so I went on their site to have a look.

The decent stuff isn’t reduced much – it’s just the odd bits left over, so I think it’s probably just a good way of clearing dead stock and returns that you don’t want comeback on.

BTW managed to spend a tenner while I was there. 🙂

PSA for singlespeeders and 1x types – the stainless steel chainrings are £8 now. I can recommend them, I’ve been trying to wear one out on my mud bike for 5 years… (So I bought another – should see me out)

What is the deal with that ebay golf shop? Always have loads of PX stuff on there, but its listed as a separate business of some kind.

I don’t get all the hate on this particular auction. Sure, I’ve had my issues (and also great experiences) buying from PX/OO, and there may very well be underlying business issues with the company, but an auction like this really is a standard way to clear old stock. If I were management at PX I’d definitely would have looked at an auction to get rid of a lot of one-off items, especially given their website/ordering system/business model doesn’t really lend itself to selling off a random mix of items.

especially given their website/ordering system/business model doesn’t really lend itself to selling off a random mix of items.

That is exactly what their business model and website does.

Surely they are just selling off loads of damaged stock or warranty returns? Some businesses would just weigh them in….. but why not get a few quid for them on a no comeback basis? Personally I wouldn’t touch one of these auctions myself without seeing the items I was bidding on to check for damage etc.

Also the old clothing must be worthless, probably costs more in staff time to pick pack and process orders than they will make.

Boxes and boxes of low value stuff they probably paid next to nothing for, why not shift it out (probably at some small profit) to make room for decent new product lines with better margin?

Most of this stuff would cost money to dispose of, so why not shift it if someone wants it?

This is not really helping with their “brand image” on STW, but I’m sure they thought about the impact of that – they aren’t Specialized …..

If they are warranty returns by selling them at auction “sold as seen” they don’t have to provide a warranty. So if a £500 RRP frame 😆 that has a dodgy weld is sold at auction for £200 they’re quids in, as opposed to writing it of for £0.

TBH I’d expect them to have a warranty in place with their suppliers/manufacturers so if it was faulty they pass it back to the supplier/manufacturer. Maybe they can’t be bothered.

PSA for singlespeeders and 1x types – the stainless steel chainrings are £8 now. I can recommend them, I’ve been trying to wear one out on my mud bike for 5 years… (So I bought another – should see me out)

Cool – I’ll grab one of them for my new build 😀

Exactly what Jeffl said.

Plus this

“The Rotherham-based company employed 118 staff, and is run by founder Dave Loughran. Its last accounts show an annual turnover of £18.3 million, and profit of £109,689. In 2015 the company made a loss of £86,594 on a turnover of £20 million.”

Something very wrong there.

Not sure I’d want a load of defective frames with my branding on kicking about, and possibly turning up on eBay or the classifieds with no warning of potential issues.

+1

Some companies would have more pride.