Gearbest

[letsavit]

I got a dispute with gear worst at the moment, I'm a fair man but screw me for a pound and ill screw you for 2.........

[markus]

Nov 18, 2015 22:00:10 GMT letsavit said:

screw me for a pound and ill screw you for 2.........

If I ever decide to "bat for the same team" I might take you up on that offer

[goneforagasper]

The friendships on this forum are more important than falling out over Chinese vendors

[robby]

UK vendors will come and UK vendors will go but there are always more every year, it`s a normal process especially in a relatively new market where lots of new businesses and new business owners appear and virtually all of their stock comes from China. Without China there would be a lot less vapers, a lot less UK vendors and a lot more people still smoking. That`s my take on China.

[charliehorse]

Nov 18, 2015 23:28:59 GMT robby said:

UK vendors will come and UK vendors will go but there are always more every year, it`s a normal process especially in a relatively new market where lots of new businesses and new business owners appear and virtually all of their stock comes from China. Without China there would be a lot less vapers, a lot less UK vendors and a lot more people still smoking. That`s my take on China.

That's a very very valid point. Buying from a local UK vendor is great in theory, (and I do buy stuff from the UK as well) but if you can stand the wait and be prepared for time differences and language barriers if things go wrong, then China offers very good value.

 

[robby]

Nov 18, 2015 23:42:10 GMT charliehorse said:

Nov 18, 2015 23:28:59 GMT robby said:

UK vendors will come and UK vendors will go but there are always more every year, it`s a normal process especially in a relatively new market where lots of new businesses and new business owners appear and virtually all of their stock comes from China. Without China there would be a lot less vapers, a lot less UK vendors and a lot more people still smoking. That`s my take on China.

That's a very very valid point. Buying from a local UK vendor is great in theory, (and I do buy stuff from the UK as well) but if you can stand the wait and be prepared for time differences and language barriers if things go wrong, then China offers very good value.

 

I am pretty sure I would be smoking now if it wasn`t for China and getting kit cheaper. The hobby aspect of vaping has been a major part in my quitting smoking. Without it I would be back on the ciggies

[thatguy]

To be totally honest, the markup of most UK retailers is huge, partially due to the costs imposed by our dear govt and the cost of renting/buying and paying rates on B&M shops.

It really gets up my nose when so many shops sell $4-$5 ce4 ego kits for £10-£20. That is doing more harm to vaping than anything else at the moment. Some of our UK vendors are great, offering decent prices with fast delivery and good customer service, but these are in the minority. I've still to find a b&m store I'd go to before our chinese vendors mainly due to the fact the only stock the most popular devices (I'm a mech and genny man, so I'm stuffed if I wanna find a tank or mod locally) and those that do stock my kinda kit, stock the worst and cheapest possible clones.

All this being said, I do tend to source my mixing gear from the UK (chefs, juice jooce, dark star and just vape 247). Both Uk and Asian retailers have their place in our market.


We are at a point where we need either Uk prices to fall and choice to increase or Asian delivery too be faster or CS to improve if things are gonna change or improve.

[lancashirescott]

The thing is if I went to all the trouble, time, money to invent a new innovative deck, tank whatever and then all of a sudden its cloned in China for peanuts in a sweat shop I would be a little bit miffed, there has to be some moral stance to buying snides in China or am I on my own?

I'm not having a go at anyone, as far as China is concerned if we didn't carry on buying from them I'm sure India is going to be the next sweat shop manufacturer of cloned this & cloned that, have we not learned what happens when the market is flooded with cheap alternatives, just look at the state of the British Steel Industry?

Also whats the legal situation of buying all these clones of someone else's idea?

[robby]

The legal situation is if you dont have a patent you will never have a case.

A device that has a coil in a chamber vaporising liquid via battery power is a very simple device. You can wrap it up differently and charge as much as you like but it will never be worthy of a patent except in exceptional circumstances. The man widely regarded as the inventor of modern ecigs was Hon Lik in China in approx 2004.

You could argue that everything that came after is a clone of his invention and he should be payed accordingly. The majority of innovation since he invented it has come from China and that continues today. If you create a new deck or atomiser you are stealing Hon Lik`s idea and you will know before you do that that it will be cloned and you dont have a hypocritical leg to stand on.


As far as buying from China, it has risks, it has delays and it always will. If that is going to be a problem for you personally then dont buy from China. It`s not just ecigs, it`s right across the board depending on how clued up and perceptive the company that you buy from is. All of the B and Ms in the UK know that and put up with it because they know, at the end of the day, they will make a healthy profit.

[geordie_vaper]

orderd 3 subtanks from them a wile back

on one of them the rba base didnt work

on another the afc holes are diffrent sizes compared to other subtanks

one was fine haha

were cheap enough so meh

[robby]

I would quite often have to fiddle with kit to get it right, but you learn to expect it. It`s the price you have to pay for saving money and the same kit with the same problems is probably on the shelves of a lot of B and Ms in the UK at 2 or three times the price. You CAN take it back in the UK but no guarantee that you will get satisfaction.

[fry]

Have placed a lot of orders with Gearbest. Most have gone o.k without a hitch mostly the ones from the EU warehouse but quite a few from the China warehouse have been shipped late, cancelled/refunded and have had a couple not arrive at all still waiting for two orders shipped in September that haven't turned up, luckily they were for smaller items. In future I won't use their free postage option and will always purchase the added tracking number. I have been shopping online from abroad for years and Gearbest is the only place where stuff has got lost in the post. I will still shop there but one has to be patient and take the quoted ships in x days with a pinch of salt and be prepared that one might have to cancel. I have also had the offer of extra points to post positive reviews a few times so you can also take them good reviews with a pinch of salt.

[robby]

Very wise to always pay for the tracking number fry if your order isn`t big enough to get it free. As for the "insurance" option, I would never get it alone. Tracking number should be more than enough in any disputes. I dont know what exactly happens to a package when you dont have a tracking number, but I did it with a few orders from Gearbest, Focal and Fasttech and they all took in the region of another two weeks to get to me.

[Deleted]

It takes me to the fair when I hear people criticising those who don't give their hard earned cash to local B&M shops but buy direct from the large "stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap" warehouses .... Do these people think like that when they are shopping at Tescos rather than the local village shop?

[Deleted]

just saying ....no offense ... what is the point of having 100 modes or clone modes ???---colection ?? --- just to be there to be prepared for armageddon ?? With the money spent for 3 clones or 4 (and maybe only 1 is working good) we can buy a genuine one for example aqua fx . Of course is normal for a 4 years vaper to have at least 4 modes or more , but for a beginner who just start to vape few months ago and 0 knowledge about battery safety ,wicking materials , ohm law , difference between genny ,clearo , carto etc A BIG NO . I also start with an expensive ego kit (50 euro) and i consider i loose my money ,.. after that i loose more money buying defective chinese clones , but this was happened to me few years ago when my experience was 0 and not visiting any vape forum to learn. At this time we have more advanced stuff than before and better quality, one more reason to buy only a few kits for using at home , out for a beer or at work . For all new vapers i have only one message : If you are happy with your mod don't spend your money investing in cheap and defective clones. For armageddon i recommend a mech mode and a dripper , an almost indestructible mod which can serve you many years. Except the fact chinese vendors are mostly liars ( only my opinion ) the real problem of vaping cheap is the liquid. Everything is on the market have extremely huge price ( only few exceptions ). An advice for new vapers : instead of buying to many modes and spending to much money on ready e-liquid spend some time learning about rebuildable atty's and how to made your own juice....