Ep.68- Want to Own a Bird Scooter? Here's Where to Buy One for Cheap
Read Time: 5 Minutes.
If you live in a major U.S city, you probably have spotted people riding these black or green E-Scooters. The most popular company behind this service is Bird. It’s only getting more and more popular. Three weeks ago, on September 17th , Lyft and Bird also joined the competition in Santa Monica. So watch out, all other cities!
But did you know none of these companies (Bird, Lime, Uber, Lyft) actually makes these E-Scooters?
IF NOT BIRD, WHO MAKES THESE E-SCOOTERS?
Xiaomi and Ninebot are the two main brands that manufacture these E-Scooters. Both them are Chinese companies. Are they competitors? Hardly so . As a matter of fact, according to CrunchBase, in the Venture round of funding, Xiaomi invested in Ninebot in 2015. In other words, Xiaomi profits from Ninebot’s success.
Xiaomi and Ninebot are no strangers to the world. You probably know these two companies by their other products.
Xiaomi is better known as a phone brand, currently the #3 brand in China. It’s commonly known as a budget phone brand. For example, in 2017, Business Insider ran a story that Xiaomi’s Mi A1 is a copycat of Iphone 7, for 1/3 of the price ($235). Perhaps the biggest news lately is that, according to the Verge, Xiaomi overtook Samsung at the biggest brand in India in 2018.
Ninebot’s full name is Ninebot-Segway, as it purchased Segway in 2015. It’s actually quite an ironic story how Ninebot survived, and thrived. Ninebot was originally founded as a copycat of Segway, but it grew bigger than Segway itself. In fact, Segway used to file complaints against Ninebot for trademark violation. Well… Ninebot is in China, so none of the complaints became action. It’s pretty ironic the copycat of Segway absorbed Segway, and now becoming the innovative brand it is now.
HOW MUCH DO THESE E-SCOOTERS COST?
It depends on where you are in the world. The price in the U.S is at least $70 more expensive than when it’s sold in China.
If you were to buy a scooter in China, Xiaomi’s E-Scooter costs $290 (1,999 Chinese Yuan), Ninebot’s E-Scooter is even cheaper at $260 (1,799 Chinese Yuan).
If you were to buy a scooter in the U.S, Xiaomi’s E-Scooter costs $390-$650, depending where you buy it. Comparatively, Ninebot’s E-Scooter is quite the bargain going for as low as $330.
BUT THERE’S ONLY ONE PROBLEM… FINDING THEM IS NOT EASY
The real challenge is finding these scooters for retail. In fact, as of September 2018, you can’t even find Xiaomi E Scooter anywhere on Amazon or in Store. As for Ninebot, it’s been out of Stock on Amazon since day 1.
It’s hard to find, but not impossible. In fact, depending which brand you want, you need to go to different websites to get the best deal, and neither is Amazon.
IF YOU WANT XIAOMI, BUY ON EBAY FOR $390
The cheapest place to buy a Xiaomi E-Scooter is on Ebay. You can get a 4ah battery black E-Scooter for $389.99 with free shipping. Here’s how you do it.
Go to Ebay
Search “xiaomi m365”
Filter on “Buy it Now”
Filter on minimum price of $300
Sort Results on “Price + Shipping: Lowest First”
You should find your result.
IF YOU WANT NINEBOT, BUY ON ALIEXPRESS FOR $330
As for a Ninebot, avoid Ebay, because on Ebay, the lowest price you can find is $499 for the 1st generation, and $649 for the 2nd generation. Alixpress has the better price, saving you hundreds.
On Alixpress, you can get a 5.2ah battery black Ninebot ES1 E-Scooter for $330 with free shipping. ES2 only costs $380, significantly cheaper than $499/$649 on Ebay. If you have not used Aliexpress, you should know you can trust it, as it is the western facing arm of Alibaba. It’s secure, and even better, it is in English. I’ve personally used it to purchase products without a problem over an over again. The one downside is that you won’t get 2-day shipping. Since it’s coming from China, it may take up to 2 weeks for the product to get here.
Here’s how you do it yourself, if the link above no longer works.
Go to Aliexpress
Search “Ninebot es1”
Filter on “free shipping”
That’s it. You should see results there.
TL;DR
Xiaomi and Ninebot are the two brands behind all the E-Scooters you see on the street in the U.S. If you want to buy a Xiaomi brand, you should go to Ebay, which costs you $390. If you want to buy a Ninebot E-Scooter, skip Ebay, buy on Aliexpress, for $330.
Well… too bad, you probably don’t live in China, because these two products only cost $290 and $260 over there .
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