The idea of setting up a centralised second-hand market platform for bicycles and mountain bikes is nothing new. We recently reported on the new portal from the Munich start-up Buycyclevarious other special addresses such as Bikesale, Used bike studio, Re-Cycle or the bike market at MTB News have been around for some time. There are also large classified ad portals such as eBay Classifieds or Quokabut in which bicycles only play a minor role. That's why YouTube star Fabio Wibmer with his flatmate Andrea Maranellithat it was time for a special portal for used bikes, comparable to Mobile.de for the second-hand car market. "As crazy as it sounds, one night I was sitting with Andrea and we were talking about how we get asked all the time where and how to find Buy and sell used bikes can. We didn't really have an answer to this and realised that there really wasn't an all-encompassing platform for this and certainly nothing that was state of the art. That's when we came up with the idea of Bikeflip," says Fabio Wibmer.
Wibmer and the Italian Maranelli brought Innsbruck-based Nikolai Holder on board and want to make it as easy as possible for users to buy the right used bike or sell their own bike with Bikeflip. The search parameters for buyers include make and model, bike discipline, location and price. Racing bikes, mountain bikes (with and without e-bikes) and children's bikes can be found at Bikeflip on the website. Sellers can upload photos, enter detailed information about the model or list equipment - just like on many other platforms. Adverts on Bikeflip are free of charge for private individuals as long as they do not place more than three adverts (valid for 2 months).
The aim of Bikeflip: Replace marketplaces like eBay classifieds
But Bikeflip goes one step further: professional bike dealers can also use Bikeflip. This should give searchers more opportunities to find a suitable bike, while shop owners can increase their visibility on the Internet at the same time. Professional dealers can post their offers via a subscription model. The company subscriptions range from 29-99 euros per month. "Through our strong network of partners and athletes, we want to make Bikeflip the central platform for selling and buying bikes of all kinds and everything that goes with them. With its smart filter and search options and constantly updated database, Bikeflip replaces non-specific marketplaces and makes the bike trade as simple as possible. In other words, the way it should be," promises Nikolai Holder. And that is probably the strongest argument in favour of Bikeflip. Because even if the new platform doesn't seem very innovative or novel at first glance, it will be interesting to see how Wibmer and Maranelli's YouTube and social media reach will fuel the portal's popularity in order to grow quickly.
