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KingSong Notice about buying EUC on Ali express

Milli Zhao

By Milli Zhao
in King Song

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US69 Grand Master

US69

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, mrelwood said:

When buying the KS-16S I was only able to find one local price, 1650€. At Ali I paid 957€ including shipping and all. Werkstatt was out of stock. I'm thinking of a KS-18L or a Z8/10 for next year, but there really is a serious danger that with EU prices I won't be buying anything. I'm sure I'm not the only one. How is that good for business?

Plus one on that!

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LanghamP Grand Master

LanghamP

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, mrelwood said:

When buying the KS-16S I was only able to find one local price, 1650€. At Ali I paid 957€ including shipping and all. Werkstatt was out of stock. I'm thinking of a KS-18L or a Z8/10 for next year, but there really is a serious danger that with EU prices I won't be buying anything. I'm sure I'm not the only one. How is that good for business?

Heh; there's a term for people who look for the best bargain.

Bottom-feeders.

Interestingly, most if not all of the larger manufacturers already have a supply line devoted to those customers; it's called "refurbished".

While most customers view refurbished as "used goods returned" most goods sold as refurbished are actually new goods sold with the bare minimum warranty and packaging at a lower price. In other words, most manufacturers realize the grey market is lucrative and want a piece of it. You get to sell high to the high-end market, and you sell to the bottom-feeders who otherwise wouldn't buy from you, and you can even tailor it by selling various extended warranties which when you think of it is just insurance anyway.

I have no problem with Ali selling KS wheels, with the already sparse warranty. I mean, you buy a wheel these days and you're probably not looking at much of a warranty. What does irritate me is KS actively preventing Ali from selling wheels.

You can, of course, get around that by simply going around and asking various Ali sellers if they sell wheels not listed, and buying "through the backdoor" so to speak. You'd probably even get a lower price that way. 

As always, the fewer choices consumers have the higher the prices they pay.

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Marty Backe Grand Master

Marty Backe

Posted
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8 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

I always wondered this about your name! Also, how to officially pronounce it, like the German "Backe" (which means cheek, btw), or in English pronunciation.

You can use Google translate to have it read the English and German pronunciations to you (more or less accurately, as you'll see from the English one):

https://translate.google.com/#de/en/Backe (German)

https://translate.google.com/#en/de/Backe (English)

Press the little speaker symbol in the left text field.

edit: this stuff is way too fun :efeec46606: https://translate.google.com/#ru/en/The quick brown Marty Backe jumps over the lazy ACM. let it read that to you, and try some other languages for the accents!

(Sorry for OT)

edit2: to stay on topic, let it read that to you: https://translate.google.com/#it/en/Kingsong wheels feel way too overpriced in Europe!

I never noticed that you could get Google translate to pronounce anything you wanted. Cool.

This would be the closest to how my name is pronounced: https://translate.google.com/#en/de/Marty Backy 

Fun stuff 

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Marty Backe Grand Master

Marty Backe

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1 minute ago, Snurre said:

While we're off topic: "Backe" means "slope" in Swedish so for me, @Marty Backe will always be "The Martyr of the Slope"! ;)

Have I mentioned before that I'm 1/4 Swedish :D

My father was half Swedish and half Norwegian. My mother was full German. We think that when my grandfather immigrated to America in the late 1800's he changed his name to Backe from Andersen. Apparently people changed their names a lot when immigrating during that time period.

Maybe we should start a new thread ;)

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ir_fuel Grand Master

ir_fuel

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Posted
2 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

My father was half Swedish and half Norwegian. My mother was full German. We think that when my grandfather immigrated to America in the late 1800's he changed his name to Backe from Andersen. Apparently people changed their names a lot when immigrating during that time period.

 

As a certain "Drumf" did? :P

 

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mrelwood Grand Master

mrelwood

Posted
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On 26/09/2017 at 6:15 PM, LanghamP said:

Bottom-feeders.

While the term has a negative ring to it, there's no point in me denying that I am one. The pension for a disabled person here is probably around one tenth of the average salary of us forumeers, so for me the cost of the 16S even from Ali was two months' salary. I was hoping to get the 18L for three months' salary.

On 26/09/2017 at 6:15 PM, LanghamP said:

Interestingly, most if not all of the larger manufacturers already have a supply line devoted to those customers; it's called "refurbished".

I'd have no problem purchasing a refurbished, or even a slightly used wheel. Haven't seen "refurbished" KingSongs for sale yet though.

On 26/09/2017 at 6:15 PM, LanghamP said:

 You can, of course, get around that by simply going around and asking various Ali sellers if they sell wheels not listed, and buying "through the backdoor" so to speak. You'd probably even get a lower price that way.

That's a good tip, I might do just that for the KS-18L.

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gotmotion2016 Community Regular

gotmotion2016

Posted
Posted

The apoggebuy store sells the ks 18s for say $1700.

That is in euro say E1450,-, that is including all the coat like shipping, taxs etc.

That's about what i paid on ali express for the ks 18s, so i can live with that prices.

Ewheel Belgium ask fotr the same wheel E2400,00, almost E 1000 more than outside europe.

A shop in Germany sells the ks 18 for E2300.00, still the 1200 watt version  :o

I think most at least dutch people won't sell a wheel in europe.

Because we are cheap, going dutch etc etc is there not because we like to pay too much then neccesary  :unsure:

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Trey Lewis Collaborator

Trey Lewis

Posted
Posted
On 9/25/2017 at 1:46 PM, meepmeepmayer said:

Oh, I see, so the sales tax would have to be federal if it ever comes.

 It's a bit unfair to b&m stores, and thinking, even as a EUC dealer, you fuck yourself up by having a retail operation (e.g. @Trey Lewis), that's just sad. Punishment for the amazing investment of having a real world EUC store.

Having a real store is so time consuming. The retail side takes up so much more of my time but the return is less. Backwards feeling.

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Geoffroy Contributor

Geoffroy

Posted
Posted
On 26.9.2017 at 6:55 PM, Marty Backe said:

 

Hi, 

I am also looking forward to buy a KS-16S/840Wh as my first wheel. Prices in Paris are equal /or above 1650€ KS-16/ KS-16S 840Wh  which is out of my budget. 

Meanwhile AliExpress is proposing 1 033€ (incl. shipping) for KS-16S 840Wh. Do you think it worth the risk ? A refusal of maintenance, or the batterie brand possible difference ? or is there a better pricer, elsewhere ?

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mrelwood Grand Master

mrelwood

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59 minutes ago, Tristan Geoffroy said:

Meanwhile AliExpress is proposing 1 033€ (incl. shipping) for KS-16S 840Wh. Do you think it worth the risk ?

For me, yes. For you, can't say. If you feel confident about doing some possible repairs yourself, then yes. If you already feel insecure with a screwdriver in your hand, then perhaps not.

I've ridden past 4500km with my KS-16S. I have done several modifications, but besides the external charger nothing has broke that would be worth of a warranty.

 

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Geoffroy Contributor

Geoffroy

Posted
Posted
On 10/3/2017 at 12:04 AM, mrelwood said:

For me, yes. For you, can't say. If you feel confident about doing some possible repairs yourself, then yes. If you already feel insecure with a screwdriver in your hand, then perhaps not.

I've ridden past 4500km with my KS-16S. I have done several modifications, but besides the external charger nothing has broke that would be worth of a warranty.

 

Thanks for the sharing. I would be ready to do fixing myself as soon as some basic repair tutorials would be published on the web.

I have read somewhere that "KS" internal parts may not be of same brand that the original "KingSong" : like battery for instance. Do you confirm it ?

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Geoffroy Contributor

Geoffroy

Posted
Posted
On 9/26/2017 at 3:50 PM, mrelwood said:

When buying the KS-16S I was only able to find one local price, 1650€. At Ali I paid 957€ including shipping and all. Werkstatt was out of stock. 

Hi, 

at 957 € was it the 840Wh, which is now at 1033 € including  shipping (black rubbered 840WH)?

Can you push the link ?

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US69 Grand Master

US69

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Geoffroy said:

Thanks for the sharing. I would be ready to do fixing myself as soon as some basic repair tutorials would be published on the web.

I have read somewhere that "KS" internal parts may not be of same brand that the original "KingSong" : like battery for instance. Do you confirm it ?

That's nonsense....

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mrelwood Grand Master

mrelwood

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Geoffroy said:

at 957 € was it the 840Wh, which is now at 1033 € including  shipping (black rubbered 840WH)?

Can you push the link ?

I have the 840Wh version in silver color. I bought it in June, so I'm sure the prices are different now. There are not that many sellers at Ali selling these, I'm sure you already found currently the best deal.

Do note though that buying from the Aliexpress smartphone app does give you a slight discount.

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Geoffroy Contributor

Geoffroy

Posted
Posted
On 10/4/2017 at 9:26 AM, Geoffroy said:
On 10/4/2017 at 12:17 PM, KingSong69 said:

That's nonsense....

I would like to think so but reading the following link ( https://www.electricunicycles.eu/all_faces_of_kingsong_ks16-c__236) that 's what it says : 

"However, not many people know, that Kingsong produces different versions of their devices for European and United States markets, and different for Asia and smaller markets. The other version made for Asia is branded as "KS-Wheel" instead of "Kingsong" (including also the KS-Wheel logo on pads) and is equipped with - among others - lower quality LG batteries instead of Panasonic / Sanyo. Because of this, you should double-check your source and make sure you buy your KS16 from an authorized shop in Europe. At the same time, we inform we obviously have the European version in stock, which is the real "Kingsong" with Panasonic batteries."

So, has someone opened a "KS-Wheel" to confirm the battery brand ? Which could partly explain the price gap (960€/1700€) ?

 

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meepmeepmayer Grand Master

meepmeepmayer

Posted
Posted

While I haven't cut open Kingsong batteries...

Of course a European seller will say the much more expensive wheels they sell are better instead of the imported ones for much less.

Price is due to VAT, import costs, dealer margins, and the manufacturers price gouging us Euros like there's no tomorrow. As you can see from the ridiculously lower wholesale price you found. The parts are the same, and probably the batteries too if I had to bet (and if not, they're the same quality).

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US69 Grand Master

US69

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Geoffroy said:

 

Yes..i have opened my chinese Ks wheels!

again, as i do not wont to write that 10 times, there is no quality difference...and no batterie difference. KS uses Sanyo or LG cells, which are both the same quality kind...SOME sellers try to make a difference out of that...but first there is none, and second you can get each of the brands in european OR chinese sellings...

I have 4 years experience in 18650 cell types because of using that cells for vaping, where high power cells are needed....

The link you showed is especially of a KS seller....this seller is also posting for expample comparison videos of Ks to other brands...guess who allways wins? These sellers are in a need to explain, why they take nearly double the price, and so sometimes going a bit to far....

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Berus Rising Star

Berus

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Geoffroy said:

So, has someone opened a "KS-Wheel" to confirm the battery brand ? Which could partly explain the price gap (960€/1700€) ?

The gap isn't 960/1700 . You should subtract around 35% of import tax+vat(here in italy -this is not gain of the seller) from 1700 ..so the gup is 960/1260. You should consider/discuss about this gup. Gup = (for a regular company) company costs/tax, insurance, 2 years warranty .etc etc ..

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