Non-Ebay Deals/Bargains

Yeah I have wondered the same.
The reviews do seem to be very mixed, although there does seem to be plenty of folk with no problems at all.
fwiw I've had one SS wheelset before, 26" wheelset for my dh bike about 10 odd years ago and I couldn't fault them. Ragged them for years and don't remember even re-truing them.

I can only guess they bought containers of rims/hubs/spokes and it still pays to build them into wheels, even if the return is miniscule?

I'm guessing that this is basically it. I think they were buying hubs/rims literally in the tens of thousands and then probably not making a huge margin on them? Pretty much all of their hubs are rebranded Novatec.

It's worth noting that that these recent discounted wheelset are probably being sold on at a loss or maybe only just breaking even.
I'd read somewhere on STW that they sold the wheel making side of the business recently and wont be selling any more wheels going forward.

In fairness, most bad reviews I’d read back in the day said ‘they then fixed it’. Obviously given they’re shutting down, you can assume for £37.50 a wheelset they aren’t going to offer lifetime truing (clearly entirely reasonable). I think I got more than a bargain at c£50. But it’s all moot given their withdrawal from the market.

If you want quality wheels at quality prices, buy hand built from a reputable wheel builder. Otherwise see the ‘which wheelsets’ thread if you can only afford cheap factory built… Though personally I’d just browse the superstar rims selection (only 66% off..) and supply them to a local builder, or pick something relatively easy like 32 hole with 2x or 3x lacing and try it yourself.