The ins and outs of a Tongxin group buy...

[1967geezer]

I was thinking today and I wondered what the problems and pitfalls would be of a group buy of motors from China.

I can think of a whole host of problems... ,

DOA engines, and the cost thereof. For a 5 off purchase, maybe 6 motors are bought and each buyer pays 120% of the price per motor, with the 20% over going to pay for a possible DOA. If there are no DOA's, the surplus motor is offered for sale and the proceeds split. But if there is a mixed bag of motors required how to choose which type the spare is?

Gathering the money from participants. Paypal, all up front or 50% down? If all up front then the participants are placing absolute trust in the organiser. If 50% down then the organiser stands to lose if a participant reneges because he will obviously have to pay full whack to the seller in China up front.

Customs and excise charges. How to calculate and charge? I guess there is a website somewhere that would tell you the rates. but some shipping companies charge a 'fee' for processing import duties, leaving the final cost variable.

Logistics of delivering to the participants once the motors are in the UK, with all the insurance problems that one normally gets with Royal Mail etc. I know from past experience that they WILL NOT pay out if they can at all wriggle out of it.

Testing the motors. should the onus be on the organiser to test the motors before posting them on the the participants?

Problems of trust between members of the group and the buyer who may all be relative strangers to each other.

I put this out there for general discussion. I'm not keen on being the organiser myself, but there might be someone out there who fancies giving it a go. Or not

Chris.

 

[jerrysimon]

Chris,

My personal view given all the issues you raise is for indivuals to order seperately assuming you can find someone who will sell in small numbers (see below).

I suggest ordering at least two motors. You will find that carriage is one of the highest components of the purchase and is very similar for 1 or 2 motors. In fact when I enquired an additional motor was only about $30 extra for carriage.

My supplier only accepts bank or western union transfer which offers limited/no protection. When I paid by westen union transfer people told me I was nuts and I would never hear from him again. I struck lucky, plus I knew there was a german group buy going on through the same guy. He had been recommended by Frank another well known supplier to them as well. Anyway he seems an honarable chap and my purchased went ok. He continues to email me to see if I want to buy more. I am also in discussion with a second contact about making single purchases of Tongxin's more easier/safer but returns/warranty would be difficult. He is speaking to Tongxin about becoming a distributor although its early days. Also as you are aware they are currently celebrating Chinese new year, so I don't expect to hear much back for a couple of weeks.

The purchase direct from China as I did is risky and I think when you order as I did you have to be willing to except that you may lose your money/get a dud. There really is no recourse to return the motor if DOA, the worng one or if it fails during any guarantee period given the cost of shipping back. The other issue is there are language barriers dealing direct and its easy to mis specifiy exactly which motor your want. At least through my experience people now know not to order one with a Roller Brake fitting Having said that I think even the Germans ended up with these unknowingly it being a misunderstanding of the supplier.

The alternative is to contact The Electric Wheel Compant or Cytronex (the only two British companies that seem to use Tongxin motors) who may be able to supply just the motor or of course ones built up in wheel/kits.

I guess their higher price is justified by the risk they take in ordering and of course the peace of mind you have in that they will deliver and provide a 12 month warranty service etc.


Regards

Jerry

 

[flecc]

It was johnp in this forum who did bring in a few but found problems with them not being wanted as much as at first seemed, though he eventually managed to clear them.

Since then Tongxin made it clear they would not deal with individuals any more and insisted all inquiries go to UK agents, so it's probably a non-starter now.

Here's the link to johnp's last post on this subject:

johnp's pedelecs Tongxin import
.