Anyone Buy an EUC on AliExpress

[Vam Monaco]

There's a lot of GotWay Begod wheels for sale on AliExpress. I've purchased many things on AliExpress and often the product they send is generic or fake. Are these listings legit?

https://www.aliexpress.com/af/gotway-msuper-pro.html?d=y&origin=n&SearchText=gotway+msuper+pro&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20210723101724

 

[mrelwood]

They are legit, but one needs to be quite picky choosing the seller. Some of them have zero (or even negative) customer service, while some of them promptly offer free spare parts with free shipping as a warranty.

 At least the Wheel Tech Store (Twheels) is one of the best sellers, while Green Fashion And Travaling has turned from one of the best to one of the worst during the last year or so.

Edited July 23, 2021 by mrelwood

[conecones]

35 minutes ago, mrelwood said:

while Green Fashion And Travaling has turned from one of the best to one of the worst during the last year or so.

Can you expand a bit on this? I bought a wheel from them back in March and things worked out great. They are one of the few sellers that stock the international version KS wheels so I have checked their Aliexpress and Chicway.shop stores regularly for any price drops since I'm learning towards a KS for commuting use.

[Chriull]

14 minutes ago, conecones said:

Can you expand a bit on this? I bought a wheel from them back in March and things worked out great. They are one of the few sellers that stock the international version KS wheels so I have checked their Aliexpress and Chicway.shop stores regularly for any price drops since I'm learning towards a KS for commuting use.

They are the bigger alieexpress sellers, seem to look for their reputation, but as all other aliexpress sellers they have no legally enforcable customer protection/warranty somehow comparable to a local reseller. Aliexpress somehow "just regulates dead on arrival" everything happening afterwards is just goodwill.

These sellers used to offer real good prices for this "discrepency" which is not really true anymore nowadays.

If one got a wheel which worked out one saved maybe some money, if there was something easy and cheap to replace like a motherboard they'll most likely send a new one for self replacement once something more expensive happens like bad batteries after sone month one has most likely just lost ones money for some promise not fullfilled.

At least this is my expression from the reports posted here - i have no personal ecperience ordering euc's from aliexpress.

 

[WIZARD]

I urge the greatest of caution. Boarding on Warning not to use them.

Because of their advertised Cheapest price I really, very seriously considered them.

Human nature to just ignore all the bad stories and go for saving 3 or 4 hundred bucks.

After it gets here you'll be sorry.

You were warned by old timers and experienced people.

It is random luck and thats Not Good Enough.

[KPul]

2 hours ago, conecones said:

Can you expand a bit on this? I bought a wheel from them back in March and things worked out great. They are one of the few sellers that stock the international version KS wheels so I have checked their Aliexpress and Chicway.shop stores regularly for any price drops since I'm learning towards a KS for commuting use.

I have experience of "green and fashion travaling shop" which I think is the same as Chicway. They are fraudsters and liars. I have waited for 5 months, after being promised they had the wheel in inventory before I ordered. They have said that they sent the wheel several times and then when nothing happened "just wait a few more days, friend".

 

However, this is not only about whether you get your wheel or not and how after service is. It is also a question of whether you want to support fraudulent sellers. 

[mrelwood]

3 hours ago, conecones said:

Can you expand a bit on this? I bought a wheel from them back in March and things worked out great.

It’s no surprise that they still want to sell, although lately I’ve heard a few very bad experiences on that part as well. Just like the one from @KPul above.

A local bought two wheels, first arrived broken (crashed) after 4 months, yet Green Fashion refused to provide any warranty.

 Refunds can take up to 6 months despite constant reminding, customer service is often very hard to reach and when they finally reply they are very impolite, downplay obvious warranty issues, dangerously advice to charge up clearly damaged battery packs, and so on. The stories have really turned very bad lately.

Not worth any amount of price drop in my books.

[conecones]

2 hours ago, KPul said:

I have experience of "green and fashion travaling shop" which I think is the same as Chicway. They are fraudsters and liars. I have waited for 5 months, after being promised they had the wheel in inventory before I ordered. They have said that they sent the wheel several times and then when nothing happened "just wait a few more days, friend".

 

However, this is not only about whether you get your wheel or not and how after service is. It is also a question of whether you want to support fraudulent sellers. 

Did you get your money back in the end? I guess it would take a lot less time if you ordered something in an overseas warehouse - it looks like some sellers have warehouses in USA/Poland/Spain where shipping times would be within a week. For wheels shipping from China, they using some sketchy (probably not legal) way of avoiding customs/taxes though so I have a feeling that's why some wheels don't arrive.

As far as I understand, they are all re-sellers and often times the wheels themselves come straight from the factory, no different than a local retailer. For example, a Gotway wheel is still going to be Gotway quality no matter who you buy it from. What keeps me interested is that KS/Inmotion wheels are generally high quality and units arriving with obvious problems are fairly low - therefore it is tempting to get one from Aliexpress. 

Personally I have two Gotways, one from Ali and the other from a local store. The one from Ali actually had much better cable management while the local one was a mess and had a battery that wasn't fully secured because it was missing the foam on one side .

[Freeforester]

3 hours ago, conecones said:

Did you get your money back in the end? I guess it would take a lot less time if you ordered something in an overseas warehouse - it looks like some sellers have warehouses in USA/Poland/Spain where shipping times would be within a week. For wheels shipping from China, they using some sketchy (probably not legal) way of avoiding customs/taxes though so I have a feeling that's why some wheels don't arrive.

As far as I understand, they are all re-sellers and often times the wheels themselves come straight from the factory, no different than a local retailer. For example, a Gotway wheel is still going to be Gotway quality no matter who you buy it from. What keeps me interested is that KS/Inmotion wheels are generally high quality and units arriving with obvious problems are fairly low - therefore it is tempting to get one from Aliexpress. 

Personally I have two Gotways, one from Ali and the other from a local store. The one from Ali actually had much better cable management while the local one was a mess and had a battery that wasn't fully secured because it was missing the foam on one side .

 

Might not the problem you describe in your locally bought one be a manufacturer’s Quality Control issue, i.e emanating primarily from the manufacturer as opposed to the local supplier, or do you think the local store might have been inside the wheel before you got it? Most wheels have ‘security’ stickers placed here and there to alert any repair centre (or indeed the buyer) that it may have already been opened by someone else?

If it was more an example/case of a badly assembled item, I think one should consider which seller between the two mentioned  is the more likely to be of assistance in terms of either honouring the worthiness of the item sold to you, I’m assuming in good faith, and/or putting things right at the least risk, expense and downtime? If the poorly assembled wheel did not function properly, then at least in most parts of the civilised world the consumer is afforded some legal right as concerns fitness of purpose of goods sold and means of refund in the worst case scenario, but where one deals with a far distant vendor of indeterminate ‘bona fides’, or operating within a jurisdiction where local selling regulations may or may not be neither readily enforceable nor adequately balanced between both parties, then it surely takes somewhat of a leap/‘full send’ of both faith and hard cash, and a modicum of good fortune to benefit from/realise the apparent ‘saving’ one may be seeking to make.     That said, of course one may indeed find and deal with an honourable seller over the water, and this is where the prior experience and recommendations of others may come to your aid, but, as may be drawn from some of the experiences already described above, times and attitudes of vendors of hitherto ‘solid’ repute can and indeed have been known to change - caveat emptor!

Might it not also be something more in the nature of a ‘progressional’ issue,  where both of the wheels being made by the same manufacturer (albeit perhaps not on the same assembly line), ie one wheel might predate the other in terms of date of manufacture, and that the company has meantime begun to satisfactorily address the QC/assembly issues you mention and highlight in the one wheel, as witnessed by the improvements remarked on in the other? 

[KPul]

5 hours ago, conecones said:

Did you get your money back in the end? I guess it would take a lot less time if you ordered something in an overseas warehouse - it looks like some sellers have warehouses in USA/Poland/Spain where shipping times would be within a week. For wheels shipping from China, they using some sketchy (probably not legal) way of avoiding customs/taxes though so I have a feeling that's why some wheels don't arrive.

As far as I understand, they are all re-sellers and often times the wheels themselves come straight from the factory, no different than a local retailer. For example, a Gotway wheel is still going to be Gotway quality no matter who you buy it from. What keeps me interested is that KS/Inmotion wheels are generally high quality and units arriving with obvious problems are fairly low - therefore it is tempting to get one from Aliexpress. 

Personally I have two Gotways, one from Ali and the other from a local store. The one from Ali actually had much better cable management while the local one was a mess and had a battery that wasn't fully secured because it was missing the foam on one side .

We are currently in the dispute process, so not sure what the resolution will be.

My order was from a Spanish warehouse and I asked them to confirm that they had the latest wheel in stock and they did. They still say they have the wheel in inventory (only in China now though) but when I ask them to send me a wheel they say they have none. When the dispute is over I might publish chat logs chat logs so people can read for themselves and decide if that is an experience worth saving some money.

[KiwiMark]

I bought an e-scooter from Wheel Riders Store on AliExpress, it took a while to arrive, but it did finally arrive.  Then I bought an RS HS from the same store and again it took a while to arrive, but did arrive.  I knew I was in for a wait each time because they can't air-freight anything with that amount of Li-Ion batteries.  The scooter and the EUC are both still working fine and I'm pretty sure they are 100% genuine, I'd be willing to buy from them again (except that I've already spent too much money on too many things, like a new laptop and a new TV) and I want to let my bank account recover.

For me, it is about limited availability locally.  There are some things I just can't get, so I turn to AliExpress.

[Vam Monaco]

On 7/23/2021 at 2:14 PM, mrelwood said:

one needs to be quite picky choosing the seller.

I already knew that, but now I really REALLY know it...

THERE ARE NO HONEST ALIEXPRESS SELLERS. If they have the 100% feedback, they're either really slick, a new account, or they just haven't struck yet...
HONEST ALIEXPRESS SELLERS DO NOT EXIST. The platform was build by hustlers and scammers FOR hustlers and scammers. Every single one of them will steal if given the opportunity and know they'll get away with it.

AliExpress doesn't do anything about the scammers... Take a closer look and you'll see why. It's not that they can't stop the con operations, they literally endorse them. To say that Ali "turns a blind eye" to deceptive sales tactics is an understatement - they literally sign off on it. Things like misleading text, doctored pictures and vague terms of service are all part of the discourse.

In not being dramatic. AliExpress sellers are put through vigorous training where they learn how to extract as much money out of Americans as possible, drag a customer along through chat until the return window expires, play dumb and act like they don't understand you... ALL ALI SELLERS SPEAK ENGLISH- it's one of the requirements to be a seller, but they pretend not to when it's convenient. They're not just random dudes selling stuff, like on eBay, it's a tight network of TRAINED HUSTLERS.

On 7/23/2021 at 2:14 PM, mrelwood said:

At least the Wheel Tech Store (Twheels) is one of the best sellers.

For now... They're probably building up their reputation and clientele for one BIG CASH GRAB, just like Green Fashion and Traveling did, but only time will tell. Finding a good Chinese supplier is exhausting and time consuming hard because they're so incredibly tricky. They'll join a forum, rack up dozens of posts, and recommend their own store. As a moderator with 5,000 posts, you're a credible source, but I usually just ignore company praise. I skip over the hundreds of 5-star reviews and go strait to the 1-Star reviews.

On 7/23/2021 at 2:14 PM, mrelwood said:

Some of them have zero (or even negative) customer service...

Sounds exactly like MrRIDE Store.

I bought a T3 from this idiot and the same day it arrived, I asked if I could exchange it and pay the difference for a EX.N and guess what his response was?

So basically, if they sent you the wrong item, a broken item or you just don't like it, too bad. ITEM SHIPPED = NON RETURNABLE.

If MrRide had half of a brain, he'd take my money and upsell me a more expensive when, but if your policy is NO RETURNS, on would think that he'd put ALL SALES FINAL at the top of every listing. If that's your return policy, then say so. Don't just make shit up out of thin air like "The item has been shipped"... That's not an excuse for anything.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Vam Monaco

[Vam Monaco]

If you thought that was dumb, check this one out.

I hope he posts here because he will certainly say something stupid. He's like the Mark Ruffalo of China

Edited December 25, 2021 by Vam Monaco

[mrelwood]

@Vam Monaco, yes, we know you had a bad experience with your seller. But spend a thought into why the vast majority of people who bought their wheel from Ali are perfectly happy with the service. Many even if they require warranty services. Then again, if they’re out to dupe the American people, I guess me and all other locals weren’t in their target group… 

What I don’t understand is, if returns were ok but replacements weren’t, why didn’t you just return the wheel in the first place?

 Another note, you are so busy calling all Ali sellers trained scammers, you may not realize that you claiming to know who created the platform, for whom, why, and how they are trained, are lies. Isn’t that your whole point, to call them out for doing that?

 Your experience and your reaction to it sounds like you have never bought anything else from any eastern shops. You are expecting that they’d have the habits and culture of what you are used to on the US. How could they? They have a very different culture altogether, and it affects buying and selling as well. Even here in Europe, expecting to return a product just because you regret the purchase sounds completely alien to me. After all, it’s not the sellers fault that someone buys a product they don’t want.

 Does all that make Ali a good place to shop? Not necessarily. Does that make it safe? Definitely not. Does that mean that they’re all bad? Absolutely not. Does that make it cool for someone to claim all Ali sellers to be scammers? I don’t think so.

If you know what you’re buying, know what you’re getting into, and read on others’ experiences here, you can definitely find good deals at Ali and be happy with the purchase. I know I am, with every single transaction, EUC and others alike.

 That said, the price advantage has decreased quite a lot over the years, so buying locally often makes much more sense than it used to.

[Chriull]

Dear @Vam Monaco,

Please consider this as your final warning after 

If you buy something from abroad there is noone protecting you, like consumer protection rights simply enforceable for local sales. One has to look for oneself.

It's noones duty to inform you about this - it's solely your decision to inform yourself or not and learn about the consequences.

This chinese reseller has on his website / aliexpress site his conditions stated. It is solely on you to read and try to understand them, or get support if needed.

If you feel betrayed or not rightly treated by the reseller not following the rules, he has stated the place of juristiction to file a law suit against him. Which you accepted by ordering there.

How this resellers organizes his business logitstics is solely in his discretion if you did not contractually agree something else with him.

Another possibility would be to get in contact with politicians and start an initiative to regulate business from abroad to local private persons.

We have let you and others post your exeriences with chinese reseller so others can learn and do not get surprised.

But there is no reason to insult people that set up and stated rules which you have choosen to accept. He followed this rules, you are now mixing up return, replace, used warehouses to create some fiction. This is unfair and not honest.

Like insulting a whole professional group is.

[Mark13i]

I have good experiences with Ali sellers listed above.  in 2021 I bought wheels 3 times (from February to June), all wheels were delivered by a courier within 5-7 days from the moment of ordering.  The wheels were shipped from a warehouse in Poland.  

I did not advertise anything - until today nothing has broken - in total on all 3 wheels I have traveled over 4,000 km in total.  Maybe I was lucky, maybe I was buying in good time.  

I couldn't help but write it

[Freeforester]

There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.

John Ruskin

[Tryptych]

I've placed maybe 50+ orders for small items from AliExpress in the past few years.

I have learned the hard way that there is 0 customer service. To be fair most of the time you get lucky and the items show up without issue, but once and a while one gets lost or something goes wrong and you simply have to eat that cost. They purposely make it near impossible to get help and their 'dispute' system is a joke.

I've learned to only use the site for items less than $50 and I'd never trust it for something like a EUC, there is way too much risk.

[BKW]

You pay cheaper because of the long wait. Other than that, I personally haven't had any negative experiences with it, but something about it seems less legit than places like amazon or ebay.

[KiwiMark]

1 hour ago, Tryptych said:

I've placed maybe 50+ orders for small items from AliExpress in the past few years.

I have learned the hard way that there is 0 customer service. To be fair most of the time you get lucky and the items show up without issue, but once and a while one gets lost or something goes wrong and you simply have to eat that cost. They purposely make it near impossible to get help and their 'dispute' system is a joke.

I've learned to only use the site for items less than $50 and I'd never trust it for something like a EUC, there is way too much risk.

I've had some orders on small stuff not show up - after 75 days I put in a dispute and I've had a full refund each time.  I've had the seller try to suggest no refund as they had sent the product, but after 5 days (I think it is) if there is no resolution then AliExpress steps in and makes a decision - each time it has been in my favour.  I've also had a seller immediately accept my dispute and agree to the refund.

I've also had a wee tumble on my e-scooter and broke the throttle controller off and then later striped a thread on the front brake lever when adding oil/bleeding the brakes - no problem buying spare parts from Wheel Riders Store at a very reasonable price.  Actually the throttle might have been a different store.

Sometimes some cheap thing might fail after a year or two and need to be thrown away, this is disappointing but at the price I'm paying I won't get too upset about it.

I'm pretty sure I've placed orders for 50+ things this year alone.  Here in New Zealand there are more things you can't find anywhere, we are too small a country to have importers/retailers bring in and stock every possible product.

[Gustiazul]

La última experiencia de compra en Chicway Global Store fue desastrosa... No los recomiendo...