A lot of people are mad at Seibon Carbon for hosting a circus of a garage sale and the rumors spread thick and fast.
Earlier this weekend Seibon Carbon hosted a blowout garage sale for thousands of their blemished and refurbished items discounted at ridiculous prices, and scrolling through social media, it looks like it was slim pickings to none for most of the people who stood in line. So, if you’re wondering why so many people are mad at Seibon Carbon now, it’s because they invested a lot of time standing in line, some more than twelve hours, and left with nothing. But what really happened?
*Disclaimer* – I wasn’t actually there, I live five hours away from the City of Industry, California, and couldn’t give two s***s about the situation. I’m just blogging about it for posterity’s sake and so people have SOME kind of information if Seibon Carbon deletes their event page where most of the people are venting.
Here’s what I know. Earlier this week Seibon Carbon announced they’re clearing out their warehouses, with some items marked as low as 95 percent off. Seibon Carbon is already cheap stuff so getting cheaper stuff on cheap stuff is a no-brainer.
A couple of days later, they posted up a list of everything they were selling, and boy, some of the stuff they were selling was CHEAP! Keep in mind that these items are either slightly damaged or refurbished so nothing’s 100 percent but word on the street is that some of the more popular items sold were 99 percent blemish free. In other words, God bless Seibon for having standards but people are happy to buy the blemished stuff if the price is right.
Here’s the list linked here and posted below. Prepare to cry, the prices were that good. For example, normally a CF Hood for a 99 Civic would be $700. With a blemish here and there you can pick one up this weekend for $200. Bananas.
The aftermarket wholesale industry being the way it is, best believe people decided to concoct ways to come up on this goldmine of a sale, mainly buying everything cheap and reselling at a higher price AKA Laissez faire economics m’ther f’ckers.
To be fair, Seibon did lay down some ground rules, tenuous at that, mainly to be nice to their neighbors, no cutting in line, limit ten items per customer and first come first serve, which is common sense for any garage sale. But, you know, people still have to be reminded of the rules.
Here’s a taste of how it actually played out. Click through the images below.
Some people camped out the night before, which is natural given a sale as good as this. I wouldn’t be surprised if the first people camped out two days before. Hours before the “doors opened” I assume the line was blocks long.
Seibon Carbon, trying to be organized, handed out 60 tickets to the first couple dozen people in line so there was no line jumping up front. Allegedly, some of the first few tickets were resold for hundreds. Again, allegedly.
When “doors” finally opened, people in line were let in a few at a time to pick what they came for. And, you guessed it, the most popular items sold out quickly. That meant FRS/BRZ/86, Honda/Acura, Nissan, and Mitsubishi build items were gone leaving everyone else who waited disappointed when they finally got to the front.
Then the rumors started. Here’s a list of rumors and what I think is true.
- Rumor: 9K Racing had a crew that was let in to pick out what they want without waiting.
- Fact: 9K Racing’s head honcho, at least, wasn’t there and he was just trolling people online. Also, go f*** yourselves 9K for stirring the pot lol.
- Rumor: Ikon Motorsports brought a semi-trailer and a couple of trucks.
- Fact: They were trolling, didn’t have a semi-trailer, and stood in line like everyone else.
- Rumor: Seibon Carbon let people in before the event.
- Fact: Probably not true.
I think that sums up the rumors.
TL;DR- The people in front of the line, who showed up early or bought a ticket from someone, got the best stuff and everyone else got “screwed over.”
I think this garage sale could’ve been run better.
For one, there should be dedicated staff working the line telling people the truth about what’s left and squashing any rumors that pop up.
I think the tickets being handed out is a good idea. Reselling tickets shouldn’t be a thing but what can you do?
That’s all I’ve got, folks. I just saw a bunch of people upset online and decided to write some words.
Want to leave something in the comments to clear something up or leave your .02? Go ahead! Don’t want to register for an account to comment, shoot me an e-mail at tiremeetsroad@gmail.com.
