How to buy a scooter online

If you are looking to buy a scooter, ATV, dirt bike, mini chopper, motorcycle, moped, electric scooter, kids scooter or go-kart online, it can be a frustrating and costly experience. You may have heard some horror stories about scooters that fall apart after one hour, shipping damage, inability to find spare parts... If you are not careful, your online scooter shopping experience can turn into a real online shopping nightmare. This page is aimed at giving you pointers on what to look for when selecting a scooter and an online motor scooter store.

Obviously, we want you to buy your scooter from us at http://evosales.com, but if we do not carry the item you are looking for, or in the extremely rare situation you find a better price, these scooter buying tips may come in handy.

There are many Chinese scooter factories and only a few body parts manufacturers. The result is many models that look exactly the same; the internal parts however are not. Many scooters look alike but they are not created equal. Unfortunately, there is no way to distinguish between the good and bad quality scooters looking at the pictures online.

1. Search for your scooter online. When you see a model you like, write down the following information:
   • Scooter type - gas scooter, electric scooter, mini chopper, pocket bike, super pocket bike, dirt bike, mini bike, ATV, motorcycle, moped, go kart...
   • Engine type - electric, 2 or 4 stroke for gas scooters.
   • Engine size - cubic centimeters usually indicated by cc i.e. 110cc for gas scooters and watts for electric scooters - usually indicated by a number between 200W and 1500W.
   • Transmission type - automatic, semi-automatic or manual clutch, 3, 4 or 5 gears
   • Price
   • Shipping cost.
   • URL of online store offering the scooter. This is important because there are many sites offering many bikes, you may not remember where you saw the one you really like or the site that offered the best price.
   • Beware of the specifications given by the website. For example, if you find the same scooter and one place says it will do 40MPH and another says 65MPH, one of the 2 sites is wrong. The better online scooter stores will make an effort to give accurate specifications.
   Once you are done with your preliminary search and selected a few models you like, go back to your search engine and perform a more detail search, for example, if you found a mini chopper 110cc you like, enter 110cc 4 stroke gas mini chopper in your search. This will insure you are comparing apples to apples. Don't get stuck on one body style, we understand you want to get a scooter you like but giving yourself only 1 choice may be a big mistake, be flexible.
   
   Most online scooter stores assign their own model number to each item so searching by model number is useless. You should also know that some scooters come with different engines, the picture looks the same but the engine is different.
   
   
2. Compare the prices and make sure you include the shipping cost. Do not assume shipping is free if the site does not clearly state: "free shipping" on that particular model. A good online scooter store will show you the shipping cost up front. Please note that shipping can account for up to $200 of the purchase price. Please be careful with this one; some scooter.com sites advertise free shipping but then charge extra for residential and lift gate (can run more than $120 extra). Others give free shipping but only to the closest terminal; you may end up having to drive 100 miles + to get your scooter. You should also check if the shipment is insured or if they charge extra for insurance.
   
   
3. Carefully read the online scooter store's warranty and return policy. What you can expect is a 7 day return policy if the scooter has not been used and 30 day warranty. Make sure the warranty also covers labor (or at least part of it). Check the refused and cancel order policy. See if there is a restocking fee and what your are responsible for.
   
   
4. Pay special attention to the shipping damage policy. Scooters are prone to shipping damage; some company hold the buyer responsible for shipping damage. If there is shipping damage (about 5 to 10% of the shipments get some kind of damage), you should note that DHL, UPS and FedEx do not pay the claims on scooters (shipping insurance only works if they lose the package or if they totally destroy it.) If the online scooter store holds you responsible for shipping damage, you may be out of luck. They will tell you to make your claim with the shipping company, this may take months and in most cases, you will not get paid. If the online scooter store you select ships via an LTL trucking company (such as we do at http://evosales.com) as opposed ot the common carriers (UPS, DHL and FedEx), you have much less to worry about as LTL shipments are insured in most cases and the carriers will pay the claims for damage 95% of the time. Most people do not take the time to read the policies before buying; this can be a big mistake. It's only an investment of 5 minutes of your time and can save you lots of money and headaches. You may also want to print the warranty and policies and keep it as a record.
   
   
5. See if they offer part and product support. Don't be shy. If you have questions or concerns, call or send an email to the online scooter store and ask them. Some online motor scooter stores do not have any parts and are not able to get them.
   
   
6. Check the store's references. For example, see if they have a Better Business Bureau report. Go to bbbonline.org/consumer/ and enter the company's name and zip code. Many companies have a BBB report even if their website does not display the BBB logo. Try to do a search for the company name on your search engine. If a company has more than 3 complaints with the BBB, they can't signup to become a BBB member.
   
   See if the store has a rating on bizrate.com, shopping.com, pricegrabber.com and other shopping portals.
   
   
7. Pay by credit card or paypal. If you have a debit card, pay by check or wire transfer, you have no recourse if you do not receive the right merchandise (or do not receive any merchandise). If you pay by credit card or PayPal, you are protected so long as you follow the policies as shown on the online scooter store. Please note that if you don't have a credit card, you can open a PayPal account and pay by check even if the online scooter store does not accept checks.
   
   

We hope this information useful. If you have any other buying tip or suggestion, please use our online contact email form.

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