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Shipping Update USA/CANADA, South Pacific, EU

11/17/2017

Hello Backers,

Firstly, we would like to apologize, its been a bit too long since our last blog update but that does not mean that things have not been moving along. As was talked about in a previous post the bikes for the USA, Canada, and South Pacific have finally been loaded and sent to the shipping terminal to be shipped out to all the backers in these respective areas. When we talk about dates, these are the dates we have received from our counterparts in China, and sometimes they tend to be inaccurate by a few days due to numerous issues that pop up along the way. We had originally stated that the USA and Canada bikes would be loaded for the 15th, the reason they were not was because the carrier (whom has been paid in full) at the last minute decided that he wanted to add on an extra 25% to the price for what they called Duty fees. It took a day to sort this out as there are no Duty fees for electric bikes when they enter the USA. This was frustrating for us as it would mean an additional cost to our backers which is totally unacceptable.

We finally managed to fix this issue by politely reminding them that we are fully ready to move to another shipping carrier and they could refund the nearly 30.000 USD that they were paid for the shipment. After this and showing them quotes from other carriers, they finally agreed to ship the bikes as originally agreed. This is unfortunately how things work in China and we are learning as we go. Fortunately for us, there are literally dozens of other carriers that were more then happy to take this shipment for us and this is what was ultimately our key negotiating point.

Below you will see photos with descriptions of what you are looking at, the shipment to the USA and Canada are not on the same boat as are the shipments to the South Pacific. The South Pacific (cook islands, fiji, new zealand, australia etc) were sent the following day (Today actually) on a boat that is destined for these locations. From what we have been told by our carrier, the shipments to the pacific islands will first arrive in New Zealand, which has regular ferry service to these islands and go from there. Very important: All of you backers on the islands have been contacted already but just to make sure, you need to be there at the terminal to pick up your bikes as our shipping agreement only covers delivery to the port.

Some might ask why we have not air shipped to these islands instead of boat shipping, quite simply try as we might, no airline carrier would take these bikes with the batteries in the box due to what they term hazardous goods due to the high energy storage capacity of the batteries. We have certification of the packs that they are safe and that they are built with the highest quality Japanese battery cells however this didnt seem to matter to the carriers.

Furthermore, we dont have very many backers in the South Pacific ( as of yet anyways) and the costs for sending these via air were astronomical.

EU SHIPMENT

We were originally told that the EU bikes would arrive to the distribution center on the 15th of November and you can see below in the tracking window that was sent to us by our carrier that they are nearly there, they will in fact be there on monday. It seems that the customs clearance took longer then was estimated by our carrier. This is normal and its not something that we can control. As promised however, once they get to the Netherlands to the distribution center, we will finally receive tracking numbers for each box and from there they will go to the end backer.

If you have not paid your customs and duty fees for your bike, they will be held at the distribution center until you do and if it is not paid within an allotted time, they will be sent to EU and then additional shipping fees will be charged to get the bike to you.

We have a record of everyone that has paid, there is no need to confirm and we will contact any backers that have not paid, no contact means no problem.

USA and Canada Shipments

We dont have much information on these right now as the waybills are being completed for each bike by the carrier, once we do we will post another update however the good news is they are now in the process of being sent to California for import. We have paid for everything including import costs and transfer to local carrier and ultimately door delivery for these bikes. Once they land in California and are transferred to the local carrier, we will have tracking numbers for each individual bike which we will update on your account. It will take approximately 3 weeks from what we are told for the bikes to get to California.

There are no customs or duty fees for USA backers however Canada backers will have these costs added onto their shipments and this will be charged by the local carrier (Local carrier is UPS from w we are told right now).

100% Committed To Affordable Electric Bikes

We at Stark Drive certainly hope that everyone knows by now that we are not after fat profits and overcharging people whom are interested in electric bike technology, in fact quite the opposite, our margins are razor thin on these bikes as we have eliminated every single middle man in between the factory and the end user, this in itself comes with complications as delivery times can draw out as we dont maintain any 'stock' or 'warehouse' so to say. Every single bike that is backed on our website is custom built for the backer and this takes time. When someone backs a bike, the configuration goes and aluminum is literally smelted and formed for each individual bike. Besides the vehicle industry, i do not know of any other company that has attempted to control every single point of manufacturing from raw materials to end customer.

For the first backers of stark drive, patience is the key. Please understand, we are not after profits, we are not a scam, we are simple a small group that is trying to shake up the industry in order to get what we think is awesome tech to the end backers and ultimately our goal is to reduce GLOBALLY the prices of electric bike technology so that the industry is FORCED to follow our lead.

AN ALTRUISTIC GOAL IF I HAVE EVER HEARD ONE

Once again, we want to express our thanks and gratitude for all of you who trusted us with your funds in order to make our dream possible.