“12 thousand for a jetboard?? I can buy the same thing for half the price on Alibaba!!”
Every sad story starts the same. There is a good Russian proverb
which says “a greedy man pays twice” and today I will show you why.
In this video, I am going to show you How to avoid
scams when buying a cheap jetboard or efoil from China.
Before we start – a full disclaimer – I am not selling any boards and
I am not affiliated with any brands so at the end of the day I don’t
really care what you will buy but it matters for me to warn you
because these scams are ruining the industry for everyone and have to
be exposed.
Also, I have nothing against China – and I am looking at you, Mr. Coronavirus… I have been working with Chinese factories for many years and I even traveled to china personally and visited factories and canton fair so I know what I am talking about.
With that being said let’s get started
Usually when people see a ridiculously high price of the official
jetboards or efoils like 12 thousand they think “ok let the suckers
pay that, I am a smart one. Let me search Alibaba and Aliexpress I am
sure I will find the same for half the price”. If you don’t know Alibaba is
the biggest marketplace in china like amazon in the US.
They go there and search for electric jetboard or efoil and oh my god!
Look at that! exactly same looking boards half or even third the
price! 3000, 2000 for a jetboard. Now we are talking!
With all the excitement you are blinded by the scam and get into the trap.
Let me show you all the pitfalls so you can make an educated decision in the future.
First of all – there are outright scams that simply steal the photos and
videos of legit brands and post them. Look at that… Nothing to even
discuss here. You are not going to get a legit board for this price
and this is blatantly false advertising. Alibaba does not care because
once they sell the unit to the naïve buyer, they re-create the new
listing and keep ongoing.
Secondly, the type of Alibaba jetboard seller is also a scam but it’s not
very clear from the start. They DO have a board and will ship it to
you if you pay so frankly speaking they don’t fall under scam category
however what you will get is a dangerous piece of plastic with a
battery that will leak, rust, and most likely put your house on fire.
Lies, lies, and more lies.
Let’s cover each category:
1. The price. What you see is a lie. This price you see if you
personally come to china and take it from the factory. If you want it
to be shipped add to that a massive 700-1000 shipping fee and a
ridiculous high import tax which can be up to 60% of the product
price.
Let me give you an example. I ordered a 400 USD drone from china. On top
of that, I paid 200 USD shipping (well the drone is not as heavy as a
jetboard). Then out of 600 USD price paid, I paid additionally 396 USD
import tax in EU and spent 2 months collecting the paperwork and
filling endless forms to get the product released from the customs.
Once I got it – you guessed it right, the drone did not even work.
So if you are ordering to Europe or US – start by doubling the price
what you see
2. The looks – I do agree many of these boards look the same as
legit ones visually. The Chinese factories send the agents to the
races and trade shows, take photos and try to duplicate the looks
pretty well.
The devil is in detail – visual looks on the photos mean nothing to a
real rider if your board is leaking, hatches and screws get rusty
after first use in the salty water and the battery sets your house on
fire.
3. Now characteristics – the weight, riding time, etc. Most of
these are blatant lies. You can’t just go to china and verify and if
you do (like our friend Eric did) – his board ran out of battery after
10 minutes and they said oh sorry we did not charge it enough…
Bottom line, all the specs are lies, you will get most likely 10-15
mins of riding time even if you are lucky that the board even starts
4. Quality control and safety – There is a reason legit boards are
heavy. The battery they use passes a lot of quality controls and has a
lot of safety measures, such as putting the board inside the metal
fireproof box which makes it heavy. The scam makers don’t bother, well
the truth is they don’t even test it in the water.
Should I also mention you need European certificates if you try to
import dangerous goods to Europe? Do you really need all that hassle?
5. Branding – Branding is very important. There is a reason
all these Chinese scam boards on Alibaba have generic names and no
brands.
With quality brands like DJI, even if they produced in China, they care about
the branding and don’t release generic products. After-sale service is
really important.
That’s all for today. My final advice – save some money and buy the
legit boards that have service centers in Europe and stand behind
their products. You can see reviews on our channel to get the idea
of what exactly fits your style so you know what brand to buy.
https://www.alibaba.com/
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