Propworx Closing its Doors

I'm sorry to hear this but I wish you the greatest of luck in your next endeavor.


KC

Thanks Terry. Yeah it is amazing how one certain person feels the need to attack me and try and make me look bad. What does it say about that person? You are right. No character.

If I didn't reply to you, make sure you get back with me again.

Alec

I am very sad to hear about this. I alwa enjoyed the catalogs and auctions even though I never won anything. I still felt apart of it and a little closer to the movies and shows through the presentation of the props.

Thank you for your work. I still enjoy browsing through the online archives. Will these still be open? It is a wonderful resource for fans.

May your next venture be even more satisfying than the last.

Best,
DBCooper

Yes DB, we are keeping the website up and I even had a very generous offer from someone here to host the site moving forward.

One fo the things we really focused on was archiving and having info for everyone to reference in the future. Now Liveauctioneers and iCollector do a very good job of that. But the system we used for the Battlestar auctions didn't, so it is important to keep that up.

There is a lot of passion in what we do and we are colelctors who think like you after all!

Alec

Sorry to hear about the end of Propworx Alec.

I have only great memories of Alec and the gang at Propworx. From getting a pair of unsolicited surprise BSG prop catalogs in my mailbox to my Adama Cylon War print, Alec and the Propworx group are aces in my book. They exceeded in engaging fans of the series they represented and created an awesome experience for all of us.

Thanks for a great run and all the awesome work you did with BSG for us fans Alec!

-Shiny_Mike

Sorry to hear about the closure, Alec.
A friend of mine in the prop business had the pleasure of meeting you a couple of years ago at your Comic Con booth, and said a lot of nice things about you and your company. I hope the future holds better things for you.

Everyone here is so appreciative of Alec and Propworx. That's really nice. But what about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are owed to Propworx's creditors who will evidently never see a dime? I see not a single sympathetic word to the various companies that helped finance the business, only to get the shaft when things didn't work. Here's the people that Propworx left hanging:



This stuff is public record – anyone can find it.

It's clear that there is bad blood between you two, Don, and I'm sorry that has happened for whatever reason. Infighting in such a community is never a good thing and is most certainly regrettable. Since you have made the accusation of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" owed to creditors, could you please post supporting documentation, such as a copy of the schedule of creditors with amounts that were filed with the petition, so that those that may be interested to learn more can decide for themselves? As a newcomer to the community, and a person that's been around the block a few times while being the unfortunate witness to many public personality conflicts, I've learned that nothing proves a point quite like independent evidence.

I'm afraid that a quick Google search only netted the same vague site that you've screen captured and included, so I'll reserve judgment. That said, if the court finds that any funny business occurred then I'm sure that the petition would be denied and sanctions levied. Otherwise, bankruptcy is a right in this country, both personally and for businesses, like it or not -- I personally don't like it, because I'm a big fan of reaping what you sew to help keep ones moral and financial centers calibrated, but I don't make the rules and don't hold it against anyone that exercises that right.

My dealings/purchases from Propworx proper were nothing but a class act, although my dealings with a person that I understand was once involved with Propworx (not Alec) after the fact has unfortunately left a lot to be desired (as of this post, anyway), but that is the only basis on which I have to form an opinion of Propworx to date. Your mileage may, and almost certainly does, vary.

Don,

Also, my due diligence turned up this Wikipedia article:

Propworx - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It was created on 8-28-2012 and has a rather negative slant in the wording, based only on my opinion, and I mean negative in that someone with an axe to grind typically posts/edits such unbalanced information. To satisfy my own curiosity only, are you perhaps the person behind the pseudonym "Propper von Richthofen" that created the page and wrote the verbiage?

Again, just curious...

TerryMcIntosh said:

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Don,

Also, my due diligence turned up this Wikipedia article:

Propworx - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It was created on 8-28-2012 and has a rather negative slant in the wording, based only on my opinion, and I mean negative in that someone with an axe to grind typically posts/edits such unbalanced information. To satisfy my own curiosity only, are you perhaps the person behind the pseudonym "Propper von Richthofen" that created the page and wrote the verbiage?

Again, just curious...

As you should know by now, Terry, I don't hide behind anything or anyone. I state my views in the light of day, clearly and specifically. And I never state things I can't prove. For your information, my creditor list did not come from the site you mention but from a government database that has more information. Much more. I'll be writing a Blog article about it soon.

newworld said:

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As you should know by now, Terry, I don't hide behind anything or anyone. I state my views in the light of day, clearly and specifically. And I never state things I can't prove. For your information, my creditor list did not come from the site you mention but from a government database that has more information. Much more. I'll be writing a Blog article about it soon.

Good to know, Don, and since I don't have a PACER account, and have no interest in paying for access, to get copies of the actual documents filed with the court, I'll look forward to reading your blog post for specifics. In the end, at least to me, it ultimately really doesn't matter, at least until all of the facts come to light as you imply, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt to all and assume that there's more going on between you two than has been made public. Otherwise it all seems a tad vindictive. Again, your mileage may vary, and judgment will be reserved (not that my opinion matters either way in the grand scheme) until I have more facts to consider since this interests me for some morbid reason... likely due to naïveté as a newcomer.

I had to check the date to make sure this wasn't an April fools joke. I haven't received a Propworx email in a while. But you would think studios want to sell movie props. If anything to add to the profitability of a movie.

I regret to see Propworx closing. I took part in both Battlestar and Stargate auctions, won my first two props from there, and seeing Alec closing the doors of the place is really sad for me. I was hoping in the future to see you guys doing a Supernatural or Fringe auction, but hey, it was a good time while we could

The best of luck and thank you.

Well, in his typical classes way, Don takes a thread where people say how much they like Propworx and turns it into his usual mud slinging.

My last business sold for $ 16 Million Don. What have you ever created? The average entrepreneurial millionaire fails 2.3 times before he suceeds. Some of us risk and do great things. Others take cheap shots because they can't stand on their own accomplishments and those of us who create make them look bad.

And what did I ever do to Don? I outbid him on a Kirk costume. yeah, he is all bitter that he got outbid.

And not ONE customer ever lost a dime with Propworx. Every customer got their stuff, and as everyone here (at least the classy ones) has said, we treated people well. We had great customer service and people liked doing business with us.

Propworx changed the way auctions are done. our catalogs remain the gold standard, and those who went to the Battlestar auctions will tell you they were the best prop & costume auctions ever. (With the possible exception fo Christie's!) :-)

So go ahead and show everyone what an ass you are Don. I created something amazing. And we all are justly proud. All you have is posting bankruptcy docs. Big freaking deal. Why don't you post the docs showing my last company selling for $ 16 million?

Alec

Very sad to hear.

Linnear said:

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And not ONE customer ever lost a dime with Propworx.

Don't you mean BUYERS never lost a dime? I'd say MGM was a rather large customer of yours and they didn't make out very well at all.

According to your Chapter 7 (liquidation, not restructuring) bankruptcy, Propworx went out of business owing a total of:

$ 401,466.00

And since MGM was one of the creditors (the largest, I believe), that means you took money from buyers and kept it without paying MGM for the goods that you sold. That's quite a business model.

So, again, I say if you're such a standup guy, take some of your millions and pay back your creditors.

newworld you are a little harsh. Businesses fail, the bankrupcy code is to prevent a return to debtor prisons and encourage people to take risk with business.
Still I wonder where the propworx current auction monies will go, and why no creditor has secured the propworx domain, or perhaps some settlement was reached.

It is not uncommon for businesses that are encumbered with more liabilities than assets, and that have no reasonable avenue to earn funds to cover the liabilities, to enter liquidation bankruptcy protection. It's also not uncommon for the intellectual property (copyrights, trademarks, patents, and marketing assets like websites) to remain with the business after discharge if they carry no reasonable value should they be liquidated, just as it's also not uncommon for a business to be allowed to continue doing business post-liquidation. A bankruptcy filing, whether chapter 7 or 11, does not mean that the doors close and the business scuttled.

My guess is that the trustee didn't direct for the intellectual property to be liquidated and therefore they remain with the business... a business now unencumbered with debt which could allow it to rise again.

Some don't like the way our debt relief laws for business and individuals work, and one or more folks that are members of this forum might meet the definition of a stalker were a few of these discussions about a specific business or individual occur offline, but like it or not it's our system and it works quite well.

From what I've read, the current auctions offered on eBay by Propworx are either items that are lingering in their warehouse, consignments from private collectors that wish for their items to be sold under the Propworx banner, or items from Alec's personal collection, so the supposition I'm making that is based on the available facts is that the company was allowed by the trustee to keep the intellectual property (website, name, etc.) and it is steaming forward in some manner.

firstmark said:

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newworld you are a little harsh. Businesses fail, the bankrupcy code is to prevent a return to debtor prisons and encourage people to take risk with business.
Still I wonder where the propworx current auction monies will go, and why no creditor has secured the propworx domain, or perhaps some settlement was reached.

Why are these Propworx auctions are occurring under the ebay name "linnear" and not the ebay registered names "propworx" or "propworx2"?

James

For some reason, some collectors are under the impression that Propworx was something that it wasn't. Here's a different take:

The Myth of Propworx