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NineBot Rant!


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I'd like to think there are lots of confidential internal discussions and discussions between NB and Ian. Perhaps even some things Ian (and other distributors) aren't allowed to discuss in public. 

Only time will tell. 
 

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Ian's video of the Mini Pro is what decided me to buy - and I hoped to buy from him, but the difficulty in importing one to Australia forced me to go to eBay - I was at least planning to buy some spare tyres from him!  But he was very helpful by email before the deal hit the buffers.

Maybe this is to do with restricting sales of particular models to particular regions?  But at the end of the day you can't stop "leaks" via eBay etc.  Hopefully Ian and other reputable and helpful dealers will be back up and running soon.

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48 minutes ago, Scully said:

How would you go about opening a whole retail store line (like Apple) across the whole of Europe - I can't see them being able to scale it quickly enough. 

It appears that they already have that with Segway.  Everyone in the first world has heard of Segway. There is already a worldwide network of dealers in place.  Hopefully Ian Sampson becomes a Segway dealer, I don't have any idea what a franchise would cost,  But with his reputation he probably has a good chance of securing one.  This is rewarding existing Segway dealers while hurting legitimate resellers.  Likely there will be more training given by Segway dealers when purchasing as was mentioned earlier in the thread, which will reduce liability in the event of injury.  I see Ninebot sales expanding once the Segway dealers have them in their stores.  And think about it, Segway is old news and high priced machines, but with Ninebot the entry level machine, some people will buy the less expensive Ninebot and later buy a more expensive Segway.

By the way, does anyone else think it's weird that the inventor of Segway fell off a cliff while riding a Segway?:unsure:

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45 minutes ago, Ozpeter said:

I was at least planning to buy some spare tyres from him!  But he was very helpful by email before the deal hit the buffers.

I believe he would still appreciate the business, even more so now.

He's not out of business, just not a Certified Distributor at the moment. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm playing devil's advocate here a bit, but......I'm assuming there must be a logical financial reason why Ninebot are doing this? 

I mean as popular as Ian and Speedy' are, I'm guessing if they're confidently cutting off distributors like this I'm assuming there's some business reason behind it - regardless of how successful Speedyfeet seems to be? I doubt they'd casually cut-off a juicy revenue stream unless there was good reason?

Hopefully Ian comes back strong from this....in whatever form that may be.

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Well I sent the following letter of support for Speedyfeet and just got the following reply from sales@segway.eu.com. Taken at face value it sounds positive.

----------------------------

Dear Mr. Tolhurst,

Thank you very much for your feedback.
We as Segway Europe also appreciate all the effort Speedy Feet has been given to promote Ninebot.
Indeed Speedy Feet had been suffering a lack new supplying last two months because of change of control between our Chinese factory and new Headquarter in Amsterdam. Speedy Feet will be having new supply shortly and keep up there business!

Once again many thanks for the kind words for Speedy Feet.

Best regards.
Tom

----------------------

Dear Ninebot,

I would just like to write to you in support of Speedyfeet UK. I have been riding a Ninebot One in the UK for the last year and have found Ian @ Speedyfeet to be an exemplary dealer and brand advocate. He has done so much to promote the Ninebot brand over the last few years and has added so much value (which is respected the world over) with his online resources.

I believe there is some doubt over the future of retaining a dealer or distributor in the UK for Ninebot products? I do hope you recognise and appreciate all of the work that Speedyfeet has done to promote the Ninebot brand and hope very much that he features in your future plans.

Can you please clarify your future plans within the UK, including how UK customers will be able to source spare parts and get support in the future?

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Tolhurst

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well. Just saw this on Facebook, I guess that's that:

https://www.facebook.com/speedyfeetuk/posts/1268812849826113

 

Here's the text:

* Please read and share this post to parties that you think may be interested *

As you may know our supply was cut by Ninebot without notice. After months of getting no valid direct response to the situation it looks as though we finally we have an answer. We are allowed to purchase (why thank you, how kind to allow us to spend money with you), but with no commitment from Ninebots side in terms of any exclusivity or assurance we will be the only reseller, also this supply could AGAIN at any moment be retracted without notice. This does NOT make for good business and quite honestly makes no sense, as such;

We are looking to stock other Electric Unicycles aside from just Ninebot. We deem Ninebot to be the best most reliable all rounder (the equipment that is!), hence why we only stocked that one brand, BUT - we are willing to take on another brand. There are 2 immediate rules, it must survive Ian riding it 1000 miles to prove itself worthy.

If you are a manufacture of such a Electric Unicycle and can send x2 of your models to us (at your cost) we will give you exposure to a market reach of around 1.5 million people worldwide.

We must be granted some form of guaranteed exclusive, we cannot be open to the risk of doing so much work for the brand only to be cut without notice.

Please give us an email at: info@speedyfeet.uk

PS - if in ~6 months we have nothing new to mention, then there was no one out there with a machine that is up to the job.

PSS we wil continue to supply Ninebot product also and still 100% stand behind how awesome the product is.

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Yeah, I just read that today too.  That's too bad, but I'm sure another manufacturer will be Very Excited to have Ian on their team.  I've recommended GotWay and Inmotion.  Both are on the right road to success.

 

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