Xoxide.com Going out of Business Sale!

[mDust]

I just ordered enough Cffl tubes to light vegas.

Aha! I went to place an order for about a dozen (a few each of several different types) of those. Turns out they all sold out between the time I loaded the sale page and placed my order (~10 minutes). I think the worlds most luminous mod should be in store to justify the theft of my ccfls right out of my shopping cart!

And after reading their story: I'm amazed at how successful they are at their age. I'm also amazed they shut down a $30 million dollar a year company. You know you're successful when you see 30 million as a failure and a waste of time. I'm also surprised they shut it down without selling it. I'm sure a bunch of large PC manufacturers would have considered it since they've been buying up all the boutique and custom-PC companies in the last few years.

[nevermind1534]

And after reading their story: I'm amazed at how successful they are at their age. I'm also amazed they shut down a $30 million dollar a year company. You know you're successful when you see 30 million as a failure and a waste of time. I'm also surprised they shut it down without selling it. I'm sure a bunch of large PC manufacturers would have considered it since they've been buying up all the boutique and custom-PC companies in the last few years.

They are auctioning it off. Just not with any of their warehouse space or inventory.

[mDust]

Just not with any of their warehouse space or inventory.

So they're basically just selling the Xoxide.com name then. I would imagine it would have been much easier and more profitable to sell the company and simply change ownership while maintaining business as usual.

[d_stilgar]

I think the problem with business as usual would be that the guys who started Xoxide run other companies out of the same warehouse. I think it's just less hassle to sell off the goods in the warehouse then ship them all to whoever buys the domain (esp considering that they may just want the domain and not the business).

[slaveofconvention]

I'm also amazed they shut down a $30 million dollar a year company.

It's one thing to be raking in $30m in sales - but if you aren't making an appreciable profit after all of your costs, it might as well be $30k or just $30. It isn't unusual for a company to become less profitable as it gets larger - while economies of scale suggest that it should become more profitable, other costs increase and some may increase at a substantially higher rate. I've never personally run a $30m dollar business (unfortunately) so I may be wrong but sales are a lot less important than profit when it comes to running a business, especially a retail one.

[Crazy Buddhist]

OOPS ... seems the "green shoots" of economic recovery missed them out

EDIT:
Ah ... here's the clue to what is really going on:

Today Xoxide operates eight different online stores, and offers everything from beauty products (Misikko.com) to bird supplies (BirdGuys.com) to auto parts (CorvetteGuys.com and AmericanTrucks.com). The automobile industry, in fact, will very likely play a leading role in Xoxide's future growth, especially considering that the company estimates 80 to 85 percent of its current revenue to be a result of sales placed on AmericanMuscle.com, a site that only sells parts for Ford Mustangs

AmericanMuscle.com is not having a closing down sale as far as I can see ... I think the guys are just pulling out of computer parts.

[slaveofconvention]

Low volume high margin as opposed to high volume low margin makes sense to me.... Same money, less work :p

[mDust]

Low volume high margin as opposed to high volume low margin makes sense to me.... Same money, less work :p

The smaller they make their market the higher risk they are taking if the market changes. Losing 10,000 out of 100,000 sales is better than losing 20 out of 30. A company can go under pretty fast if they have to rely on high prices to make a profit.

It's one thing to be raking in $30m in sales - but if you aren't making an appreciable profit after all of your costs, it might as well be $30k or just $30...

I'm sure they were making bank.
I just saw http://www.xoxide.com/letter-from-ow...ocation=rotban. So I guess someone made an offer for the company and they took it to pad their pockets with a thick layer of benjamins. They are young and freakin rich! I'm jealous. Who wants to start sonofxoxide.com with me?

[nevermind1534]

I'm sure they were making bank.
I just saw http://www.xoxide.com/letter-from-ow...ocation=rotban. So I guess someone made an offer for the company and they took it to pad their pockets with a thick layer of benjamins. They are young and freakin rich! I'm jealous. Who wants to start sonofxoxide.com with me?

They're selling to the highest bidder.

[NightrainSrt4]

Unless the bidding really skyrockets between today and tomorrow they aren't really "lining their pockets". It is only at 10k$ right now for the business, but that is essentially just the website at this point. Though we all know how fast things can skyrocket in the last day/hours.

They made quite a lot from xoxide, but their other projects are just more profitable right now. As much as I love pc's and modding, I would probably move on to, and focus on, whatever niche was making bank too.