// startup autopsy

BuyVIP

Spain leading luxury flash sales startup sold to Amazon for 70M EUR in 2010 — Amazon shut it down in 2017 after 7 years, stating it failed to bring in any profit

unit economicsAcqui-kill

Fatal mistake: Business Model

Founded	2006
Closed	2017
Country	Spain
Sector	Ecommerce

50%

// full analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

BuyVIP was Europe leading luxury flash sales platform, acquired by Amazon for ~70M EUR in October 2010 to compete with Vente-privee. The business model — selling luxury brands at extreme discounts — proved stru...

cturally unprofitable at scale. Despite 7 years of operational investment by Amazon, the unit economics never worked. Amazon shut it down in April 2017, stating it failed to generate profit.

Verified lesson

“Flash sales on luxury goods create a structural conflict: luxury brands require exclusivity and controlled pricing, whil...”

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HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

BuyVIP raised €8M before business model ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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