Anyone ever bought a bike from Taobao?

Anyone ever buy a bike from Taobao? I'm looking to buy a cheap bike I can use on/off road around Guangdong for now. I keep looking at this "CQR250" with an original Shineray 250cc engine on Taobao:

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...19712752695%7D

I am looking at this one in particular because the seller appears to have sold quite a few of them and has more comments than any other sellers of similar biles on Taobao. I'm guessing I can't get it legally plated? When I chatted with the seller (via my Chinese wife) he said I could get the license plate and everything from Chongqing for RMB1300. Is he bullshitting or what? When I asked how I could be sure it wasn't fake his response was, "Traffic police". I've been cruising my scooter on the outskirts of Guangzhou for a year or two (Baiyun, Zengcheng). I used to ride bikes when I was a kid until my teen years but it's just recently dawned on me how much I truly love it. I can't sleep at night anymore and all I can think about is getting on a new bike and heading for the hills and somewhere off the road and the beaten path. I live downtown half the week and the other half in the boondocks where I also work, so it actually gives me something to look forward to when I head out to the boonies to work... I just don't want to spend a lot of money on anything right now because my wife has pointed out that I have a bad habit of getting obsessed with toys for short-term and then moving on to a new toy/thing and burning cash... So, basically, she won't let me spend too much...

Any thoughts or wisdom anyone can share with me on the seller/link I posted? I expect the bike to have some problems, being so cheap, but I'm wondering if I can indeed make it legal?

Looks very nice,

Great price also.

Now you have me thinking.

I guess one of these could be registered in Weifang.

Gra.

Well keeping in mind every province is different... many of the bikes on TAobao are not Legally registerable but again TIC... so there usually a solution. Be sure to check and double check with the seller, who will probably tell you what you want to hear but at least try to confirm that plates are available... Better yet have th seller plate it and only pay your deposite until you pick up the bike, fapiao and plates...

be careful and double check

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Originally Posted by Shanghaifingers

Well keeping in mind every province is different... many of the bikes on TAobao are not Legally registerable but again TIC... so there usually a solution. Be sure to check and double check with the seller, who will probably tell you what you want to hear but at least try to confirm that plates are available... Better yet have th seller plate it and only pay your deposite until you pick up the bike, fapiao and plates...

be careful and double check

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This is what I want to know. Has anyone bought a bike from taobao like this before? This stuff is so confusing. My residence permit is in Guangzhou, so where would I go to get a driver's license? It seems most posters on here are from Shanghai/Beijing. I don't want to get plates if it's impossible for me to get a DL.

Pope

Sorry to break the news, but I don't think you'll be getting plates in Guangzhou either. There are some very active MCM posters in GZ, and a lot of this ground about licensing and plating and insurance has been covered in earlier threads.

cheers!

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Originally Posted by euphonius

Sorry to break the news, but I don't think you'll be getting plates in Guangzhou either. There are some very active MCM posters in GZ, and a lot of this ground about licensing and plating and insurance has been covered in earlier threads.

cheers!

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I'm wondering if I could get the plates in my wife's hometown not far from GZ? Maybe even take the test there? As a last resort, I guess I'll have to just buy this throwaway bike on taobao and ride it unlicensed and unplated like I do my scooter.

Speaking of Taobao dealers, and I have one question.

Are there any Taobao dealers in Chongqing, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Nanjing... who can do business with the customers from abroad without intermediaries, and deliver bike in a box to shipping company in their cites?

I'm absolutely sure there must be a way to do this. I'm just not sure if I have the energy, patience and fortitude....

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Originally Posted by ThePope

I'm wondering if I could get the plates in my wife's hometown not far from GZ? Maybe even take the test there? As a last resort, I guess I'll have to just buy this throwaway bike on taobao and ride it unlicensed and unplated like I do my scooter.

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If your wife's town is motorcycle friendly, that could be a very elegant solution. But if you don't yourself have residency there, it may require some finessing.

cheers

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Originally Posted by euphonius

If your wife's town is motorcycle friendly, that could be a very elegant solution. But if you don't yourself have residency there, it may require some finessing.

cheers

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I have four months left on my residence permit, and won't be able to renew that until I it is renewed in June. Maybe I'll start with trying the driver's license in my wife's hometown first.

Original question- Anyone buy a cheap bike like this off of Taobao and get Chongqing tags?

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Originally Posted by ThePope

ride it unlicensed and unplated like I do my scooter.

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another foreign moron that thinks he is above the law while in PRC.....

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Originally Posted by euphonius

Sorry to break the news, but I don't think you'll be getting plates in Guangzhou either. There are some very active MCM posters in GZ, and a lot of this ground about licensing and plating and insurance has been covered in earlier threads.

cheers!

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Also, yes I'm aware that the licensing issue has been beaten to death, but I'm still confused! The bureaucracy is absolutely mind boggling...

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Originally Posted by ThePope

Also, yes I'm aware that the licensing issue has been beaten to death, but I'm still confused! The bureaucracy is absolutely mind boggling...

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The bureaucracy is what it is. It varies significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If you really want answers, you need to go engage the bureaucracy. Go to the Vehicle Management Bureau in your district and ask. Simple as that.

If your residence permit is in Guangzhou, that's probably the only place you'll be allowed to take a driving test if you still don't have a license. And if you apply in Guangzhou, it seems there's little chance of you getting the D or E endorsement that is necessary for riding a motorcycle. I've always thought there must be some remote suburb of Guangzhou that is still issuing motorcycle endorsements, but the ban there is pretty extreme so maybe not. Your wife's town is an option for registration, if she has kin there who could help out, but if you can't get a legal C1E or C1D license you're still not out of the woods.

Go bang on some doors, and good luck!

cheers

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Originally Posted by TB-Racing

another foreign moron that thinks he is above the law while in PRC.....

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Thanks, you're a real winner... Did I say winner? I meant wiener...

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Originally Posted by euphonius

The bureaucracy is what it is. It varies significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If you really want answers, you need to go engage the bureaucracy. Go to the Vehicle Management Bureau in your district and ask. Simple as that.

If your residence permit is in Guangzhou, that's probably the only place you'll be allowed to take a driving test if you still don't have a license. And if you apply in Guangzhou, it seems there's little chance of you getting the D or E endorsement that is necessary for riding a motorcycle. I've always thought there must be some remote suburb of Guangzhou that is still issuing motorcycle endorsements, but the ban there is pretty extreme so maybe not. Your wife's town is an option for registration, if she has kin there who could help out, but if you can't get a legal C1E or C1D license you're still not out of the woods.

Go bang on some doors, and good luck!

cheers

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Thanks buddy, I'm digging right now. I'm thinking this may all be too much hassle for me really. I may just buy this throwaway on taobao and be done with it - stick to the areas around Maofengshan and in Baiyun that I drive around frequently and have never had any problems. At least temporarily...

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Originally Posted by ThePope

I'm absolutely sure there must be a way to do this. I'm just not sure if I have the energy, patience and fortitude....

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TIC... Everything will drive you to the edge of insanity, but you will feel so special when you finally reach your goal.

You will not get a motorcycle license or motorcycle registration in Guangzhou and will only complicate matters if you get a car license. Go to Jiangmen, make friends with a bike shop (hundreds there), file a temporary residence permit, get license, register bike and be done with it.

Cheers!
ChinaV

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

TIC... Everything will drive you to the edge of insanity, but you will feel so special when you finally reach your goal.

You will not get a motorcycle license or motorcycle registration in Guangzhou and will only complicate matters if you get a car license. Go to Jiangmen, make friends with a bike shop (hundreds there), file a temporary residence permit, get license, register bike and be done with it.

Cheers!
ChinaV

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Wow, Jiangmen, really? ChinaV, Do they sell dual-sport bikes in any of the shops in Jiangmen? I've yet to run across any anywhere I've been around Guangzhou or the outskirts of. Also, my wife is from the Zhaoqing area. I guess that would be a good place to start. Oh well, you gave me some hope! thanks dude!

ThePope

The Pope, I'll put in my 2c.

You should be able to get that bike for the price quoted on Taobao, and be fairly safe. Mostly Taobao is a safe place to buy with most sellers with history, and the penny has generally dropped that sending what you should be sending for the price quoted in reasonable time is the best way to make money in the medium to long term. Given your location I'd be tempted to get the bike sent with Chongqing plates the dealer can supply, probably real for that price as around my area they are about 400 yuan, if you decide this route, take the documents to the local Gong An, if they are fake send the whole bike back. That means effectively you're insured for a year and can transfer the bike to local plates if possible, although very difficult without the original persons ID. It's not good after a year, because you need the ID of the person the bike is registered to if you want more insurance.

I don't think TB-Racing is being very helpful with his comment. Many people on here who live in SH and BJ seem to have a zero tolerance for people who are not 100% legal. The reality is 99% of Chinese riders aren't legal. Does it mean you should copy them and openly flout the law? Please no. Or talk about being illegal publicly? Also please don't. But being 'as legal as you can be' is the best policy. If you can get a license you should, if the bike can be plated and insured, it should be.

Really though, many of the laws in China are unreasonable, and it seems that the desire is to keep everyone somehow illegal to keep them in their place and have power over them
A few examples of unreasonable laws....

-You should drive a car at 20km/h through a village. It's unreasonably slow, therefore is always ignored.
-The drink drive limit is zero, not even one beer?
-Foreigners with home licenses cannot use them in China, even though their home driving standards are far higher than China's.
-You can legally buy a Yamaha R1 or Ducati, but you MUST ride it on the sidewalk or cycle lane. And give a bureaucrat one for free if you buy one.
-Complete motorcycle bans in cities and on freeways.
-If you are Chinese it's illegal not to love China.
-Empty intersections with very low traffic levels have lights and cameras.

It's hardly surprising with so many ridiculous and unreasonable laws that people then pick and choose the laws they wish to follow.

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

Many people on here who live in SH and BJ seem to have a zero tolerance for people who are not 100% legal.

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spot on!!! we have our fair share of idiotic morons riding all sizes of motorbikes without rego / driving license in Shanghai and please don't get me started on the underaged teenagers (foreigners) with scooters, dirt bikes, etc. near the international schools. just last week witnessed an accident near the German / French school (Shanghai) that involved a silver Sachs Madass without plates and the teenage kid dressed in jeans / shirt (no helmet) crashing into a taxi......

as stated above. I see people riding motorbikes without the proper documents / plates as IDIOTS and MORONS, just ask them if they would do the same in their home country, no plates - no license = stay off the road and / or ride motorbikes on the track, over and out on this issue.....

ChinaV's Jiangmen tip is excellent, if you can make it work. It's a city in Guangdong that still registers bikes.

You'll need to establish residency there, which you do with the local police. So you find a friend (someone in a shop?) to work up a document saying you are renting a room from them, and take the paperwork to the police station (派出所) for that district, and have them issue a Temporary Residence Registration for Foreigners for that address. You'll need to bring your passport and the Temporary Residence Registration for Foreigners for your current residence in Guangzhou. Then use the new document to register the bike in your own name and get it insured.

Then reverse the process to "move back" to wherever you are in Guangzhou. You'll be fully legal with a proper 粤 plate (rather than 渝 for Chongqing), and you'll be able to renew your registration and insurance with relative ease.

cheers

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Originally Posted by euphonius

You'll need to establish residency there, which you do with the local police. So you find a friend (someone in a shop?) to work up a document saying you are renting a room from them, and take the paperwork to the police station (派出数) for that district, and have them issue a Temporary Residence Registration for Foreigners for that address.

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I just registered my bike and needed Residence Registration. When I went to police station the needed my landlords details (id number, phone and so on) I didnt have them so the police lady took my friends (translator) info as my landlord.... so if youre lucky you wont need any documents that you are renting anything that you are not.

Sincere thanks to all of you guys for your help and advice. I'm still weeding through the forum trying to find my answers before asking anymore questions. I also need to get my driving license so I'm planning on taking a trip to my wife's hometown tomorrow and Friday to try and find out exactly what I need (If she doesn't veto that. She thinks I'm crazy and doesn't seem to understand the urgency in any of this :eekers:)... Will update...

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

TIC... Everything will drive you to the edge of insanity, but you will feel so special when you finally reach your goal.

You will not get a motorcycle license or motorcycle registration in Guangzhou and will only complicate matters if you get a car license. Go to Jiangmen, make friends with a bike shop (hundreds there), file a temporary residence permit, get license, register bike and be done with it.

Cheers!
ChinaV

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Hey man, I don't know if you saw where I posted about my wife calling the DL place in Zhaoqing and being told that, as a foreigner, I cannot get a license issued in Zhaoqing without having a MC DL from the states already. Maybe has something to do with new laws passed this year or maybe just that particular town? Do you know if the same is true in Jiangmen?

Thanks,
Pope

I do not know what they will say in Jiangmen, but I can tell you that nobody ever accomplished anything on the phone in China. You have to go have a face to face. Never ASK for anything, TELL them, I am here to get a license and I'm not leaving until you provide documentation showing that what I want to do can't be done.

Good luck
ChinaV

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

I do not know what they will say in Jiangmen, but I can tell you that nobody ever accomplished anything on the phone in China. You have to go have a face to face. Never ASK for anything, TELL them, I am here to get a license and I'm not leaving until you provide documentation showing that what I want to do can't be done.

Good luck
ChinaV

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Thanks again man. That would be the most logical thing to do. It's a bit of a time and logistics issue and an issue with my wife (my translator) really hoping I don't follow through with this plan because she (with good reason) thinks driving a motorcycle in China is absurdly dangerous. Again, thanks...

I guess while provincialy there are some law differences but I am guessing the basics hold true... If you do not hold a vaild motorcycle certificate in your home country then you must go to a chinese motorcycle driving school to apply, learn and test. Or go back home get the license there and convert when you return to China. Using the Chinese school may rquire many weeks of attendance and a difficult written test... Try finding a driving school to talk to you. After all they are in the business of getting licenses.

Just posting this here since Taobao comes up in the search...

Be cautious with some sellers on Taobao.com. Came across a scam with a 'real' motorcycle dealer who has been trading on Taobao since 2008, however just opened a new motorcycle shop several months ago (he had a blue diamond Taobao rating too). Negotiated a deal on a (legal) brand new motorcycle for a substantial amount of money (RMB) I'm not talking a 125cc or 250cc bike either. The deal was part of the opening special for the shop, so all brands the shop carried were attracting a discount for a limited time.

Everything progressed well, until trying to organise the payment. Because of the sum involved we couldn't use a Chinese issued credit card because the dealer didn't want to have to pay the transaction fee. I offered to reimburse for this (e.g add to the price). With the price we had to go to the bank, to make some amendments to the Alipay linked bank account. Done. Then when we wanted to put the money into Alipay the dealer directed us to https://me.alipay.com - seemed odd.

Checked the site, looked convincing, but we were suspicious. Made calls to both Taobao and Alipay (wangwang) and sure enough me.alipay is not affliitated with Taobao, and is not the same as Alipay (wangwang). So no guarantees. Taobao service told us not to use it. A check on whois.com though tends to make cross reference with alipay.com so not as clear as one would hope for.

In this case, the dealer had a Alipay account too, but wanted the funds placed into this other me.alipay account. When challenged the dealer just said, he needed the funds into the me.alipay account otherwise he couldn't issue the correct tax invoice needed to get the licence plate.

Seems there is a copy of Alipay called "me.alipay" which looks just like Alipay, but has no affiliation with Taobao that's according to the Taobao, but when we spoke with Alipay.com (wangwang) they acknowledge that me.alipay.com is part of Alipay, but not supported by Taobao. When one signs up for an account via Taobao for Alipay.com, one automatically gets a me.alipay.com account too. Took some digging to find all the interconnected links though.

Whatever, Me.alipay.com is not an escrow type service, meaning funds placed into an me.alipay.com account go directly into a sellers nominated bank account!!! Once that happens you can't get funds back.

After a complaint which both Alipay and Taobao are investigating at the moment, the dealers Taobao shop front have been removed from Taobao, although the dealer is still linked with Taobao. Just cannot see any of his bikes or anything he's selling or trying to sell. We have been advised we will be contacted by Taobao and Alipay at the end of the week long investigation.

You don't have to have completed the purchase on Taobao to make a complaint about a dealer/seller on Taobao.

Just be warned. Be cautious with any seller wanting funds placed into me.alipay.com as this is not alipay.com (called alipay wangwang). The latter is an escrow service meaning funds are placed into a neutral account. That protects both buyer and seller. On the other hand funds placed into a me.alipay.com account go directly from buyer to seller, there is no intermediary. If something goes wrong, there's no recourse for the buyer.

Caveat-emptor

:)

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Originally Posted by TB-Racing

another foreign moron that thinks he is above the law while in PRC.....

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As said before TA Racing when you post repiles with insults . just move on to the next post and do us all favour ??? the word "moron" is getting old hat now .The pope is over 21 and when he gets caught riding a unlicensed bike he will find out what happens he dont need insults from you so please just move on to the next post with a smiile on your face . because most people treat your comment with the contempt they deserve


have a nice day

I have a very positive look at Taobao, and the way they are cleaning up their own house.
Filed a complain after being delivered a 3 year rear motorcycle tire (but sold as 2013).

It was almost shocking to see how often they called us to press ahead, and how aggresively they were taking action against the seller. Not something you see in China very often, if at all.

Interesting to see how they will proceed in this case.

PS. Seems the 'me.alipay' is taken off the web already.

Ok, so here it is... (Hope you guys are enjoying your holiday time off- if you got it....) My head has been in the clouds for the last four days or so. I've lost track of time.

I ordered a bike from a Taobao dealer suggested to me by another member. (PM me and I'll send you the link) I know some of you guys are and have been serious riders the majority of your lives. I rode dirtbikes and quads from the age of about 5 up until I was about 18. Last dirtbike was a 1986 Kawasaki KDX200. This was just casual riding with friends around the woods and the countryside in the American south. I had a 1994 Kawasaki ZX-7 for a short while, but my parents weren't happy about that - not fans of roadbikes - and managed to convince me after just three short months to save my own life and sell the thing, which I did. It's good too, because I was definitely a [U]squid... (More balls than brains or know how:)

Living downtown GZ most of the time, I just wanted something I could go exploring relatively short distances from the place I stay and work a few days a week north of Guangzhou in my spare time. Paid 6000 total including shipping costs and papers to be able to register it, and came with an upgraded carb, inverted forks, and a Shineray 250 engine. My old two-stroke KDX would have eaten this thing for lunch, but I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the quality of this thing for the money, and I'm having the most fun I've had -well - in a while. Man have I missed this stuff! I just kind of put it aside and forgot about it all these years. So I'll shut up and post some pics now.


Attachment 11929Attachment 11927Attachment 11928
The seller told me it would take two days to assemble the configuration I wanted and then another six days for delivery. I ordered late on a tuesday afternoon and received it Thursday afternoon the following week.