Taobao experience

[FarTravel]

Hey guys,

Curious if anyones had any experience buying bikes on Taobao? I live in Beijing which I assume further complicates things with plates and registration. Is there any way around this, any way to import and ride a bike from another province legally?

Thanks in advance

[Desmo]

Hi there FarTravel!

I will copy here a post from Lao Jia Hou from another post about a guy who wanted to buy an unplated bike in one province (shang hai) and then plate it in another (Chongqin) ...

"China does not make it easy to move legal bikes from one jurisdiction to another. Cities tend to have their own unique set of rules, including some cities that simply refuse to allow used bikes from other cities to be registered. Every place is different.

I am not sure about Chongqing, but you probably want to start by talking with Chongqing's authorities (which will probably be a frustrating task). Ask them what is required. Then see if you can get that done in Shanghai.

As one example, Beijing (which is a relatively liberal city with respect to motorcycles) will not allow a "used" bike to come in from another jurisdiction if the bike was never registered/plated in the originating city. Carrying on with this example, if you wanted to move it to Beijing, you'd first need to get all the paperwork in order (plates, insurance, etc) in Shanghai. It wouldn't matter who the original owner was (i.e., the name on the original fapiao), but it would have to be transferred into your name (the large Green Book) before shipping it to Beijing. I don't know how Shanghai works, but in Beijing you must plate a bike when it is new (sold in Beijing with a Beijing fapiao) - if you don't, and the bike becomes "used", it cannot be plated. Perhaps Shanghai is the same, and now that the bike is used it is ineligible for Shanghai plates.

Perhaps your best solution would be to buy one in Chongqing, already plated in Chongqing. And if you want it now, at least you'd be riding a legal bike inside Shanghai, albeit it would be an out-of-province bike (probably a risk of fines - but the bike is legal & insured)."

Hope it helps!