Pedal Republic – "roadtest" of the new free cycling marketplace.

PedalRepublic is free to use, easy to sign up and designed to help raise your profile.  So does it work?  The free cycling marketplace platform has been built to bring the UK’s local bike shops together to give cyclists the best deals and offers.  Despite being completely free for cycling shops to use, it’s immediately clear no corners have been cut in putting this platform together.  When you first land on the site the look and feel is one of quality and you instinctively feel it was designed and built specifically around cycling with all categories and sections comprehensively covered.

Sign up and login and you are presented with an intuitive dashboard for listing and selling, with options for you and your customers to live-chat, take offers on items you are selling and run your own auctions for those special items.  You can take online PayPal payments if that’s more convenient or there’s an option to click and collect, letting your customer pay when they come to the shop.

What’s different about this site from others that have been and gone?

• Most importantly - there are no commissions to pay when you sell and no membership fees.  There are no catches and no upselling of any kind.  The platform really is completely free for all to use.
• It actually boasts 4 websites in 1.  Splitting into road cycling, mountain biking, BMX as well as a dedicated vintage section.  Making these worlds separate means you are able to dedicate your ads to a specific buyer’s pool with a concentrated goal of finding the right buyers and targeting sales more effectively.
• You get what’s called a My PedalRepublic “area” which is in effect your own shop within the site.  This can be modified with your logo etc and shared as you see fit on social media and so on.
• Unlike others that have come before, PedalRepublic offers all the selling tools of eBay: Auction/Classifieds/Make Offer/New & Second hand catared for.

The final phase of development for the site took place with local ACT shops based in the northwest, where the team that built it are based.  Paul Hewitt Cycles said, "we first met Andrew and Richard during 2018 when they came to us to discuss their idea which they had to put together.  An online platform specifically designed to help the smaller bike shops.  We immediately saw the perfect place to sell things like end of season and clearance items.  It’s a website that offers everything eBay or Bike Exchange provides but obviously without the monthly costs and commissions. Ideal!” 

The intention is to create in effect a bike shop collective, where as a group the shops would be better able to compete online with the likes of Wiggle.  Offering a wider variety of products with the lack of fees allowing better prices.   As the collective builds, it’s a fantastic opportunity. 

The idea is to cherry pick items which will attract the eye of the customer which is what it’s all about, rather than spending hours uploading all of your stock.  Using the site as a spring board to your shop in effect.  You also find you’re less likely to clash with other shops and their offers. 

The site is a genuine grass roots product, put together by cyclists who have recognised the tightrope small independent bike shops are walking and are aware that it’s only going to get more precarious.

As the site goes into “soft launch” PedalRepublic are inviting independent cycling shops around the U.K. as well as teh general public to sign up and join this revolution in online market places.  Being the first to offer such a rich platform that can genuinely transition your business into being online completely free of charge.   Why pay to use other platforms like Bike Exchange?  Finally here’s an online option that isn’t just finding another way of adding to your overheads.

So does it work?  Sign up and give it a try.

Useful links

• My ActSmart
• Services
• Join now

If you have any other queries please contact us.