Anyone ever bought a bike from Taobao?

[ThePope]

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

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...

[Shanghaifingers]

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.

[bikerdoc]

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

:)

[998S]

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.

[ThePope]

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.


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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.

[ThePope]

It took my local motorcycle shop guy around 30 minutes to put together. Here is my cheap bike.
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[ThePope]

Some shots of some nearby local areas.