I appreciate that this journalist actually did a bit of investigation - good to see the mention that this guy is essentially buying a 40$ product from Aliexpress and selling for $200.

I raised this with The Market at the start of the year after falling for this myself - as in, buying an overpriced and useless massage gun which was a dropship from Aliexpress with a dangerous charger.

At first they did not take this seriously thinking I was just another customer who didn't like a product but then I sent this photo to them:

2 problems with that charger - no insulation on the pins and also the charger was made of cheap plastic which fell apart. I also found out the whole thing wasn't insulated causing 240vac to leak into the massage gun while it was charging creating a serious shock risk (I actually got shocked myself off this which is how I found out and did more investigation).

The Market then pulled a whole bunch of non-compliant massage guns and electrical product off their website, hired a safety officer to look for such products in the future and "random spot-check" sellers and also either recalled, or sent out new compliant chargers to everyone out of their own pocket. I got this email from a massage gun for the massage gun that lead to this investigation:

At TheMarket.com we want to deliver experiences that meet the expectations of our customers. Recently we learned that you may have received a product that doesn’t meet those expectations so we want to make it right for you.

 

You recently purchased an Eoqqo massage gun from a seller Catzon (see seller details below) via TheMarket.com. Unfortunately the massage gun may have been supplied with a charger that does not meet New Zealand electrical compliance standards. This means it may be unsafe to use due to the metal pins on the charger not being insulated. Using the charger can result in electrical shock and potential fire if the pins come in contact with flammable objects.

 

Don’t worry, we will send you out a replacement charger for your massage gun. In the meantime, please avoid using the current charger immediately to prevent injury.

 

We will send your replacement charger to the following address:

 

<snip>

 

If you have since moved, or would like the charger to be sent elsewhere, please reply to this email with your updated address.

 

We thank you for your understanding in this process. If you have any questions, please let us know. 

 

Best Regards,

 

TheMarket.com

So seriously even though it took a while, I am glad The Market did the right thing. I actually got a call from the head of products the other day thanking me for raising this.

GSManiac:

 

I appreciate that this journalist actually did a bit of investigation - good to see the mention that this guy is essentially buying a 40$ product from Aliexpress and selling for $200.

 

And if you look at the Myomend FB page he's pretty grumpy with her for it..

I have no sympathy for this guy, he has fouled up by selling unsafe electrical product. Hopefully he has learnt a lesson about his responsibilities in business.

But why the outrage over buying cheap and selling at a huge profit margin? The big retailers do exactly that with their amazing do everything gadgets. The TV infomercial stuff takes the cake for that business practice. I'm reminded of when, some years ago, M10 were selling an amazing slicing and dicing kitchen gadget for chopping up fruit and veg.  Innovative German engineering etc etc. From memory they were charging $120, when you could get them from AliExpress for about $20 with free shipping. [Delivery was only 2 - 3 weeks back then ...]

freitasm: Also The Market is pulling out quite a few of these... Things.

1-day being an offshoot doesn't appear to be, resurrected again

https://1-day.co.nz/products/health-and-co-rechargeable-massage-gun-black-4969-2741160552?sevid=2160 

Oblivian:

freitasm: Also The Market is pulling out quite a few of these... Things.

1-day being an offshoot doesn't appear to be, resurrected again

https://1-day.co.nz/products/health-and-co-rechargeable-massage-gun-black-4969-2741160552?sevid=2160 

Oblivian:

 

1-day being an offshoot doesn't appear to be, resurrected again

Being a USB cable to charge it there isn't a problem here. If it came with a wall charger that wasn't compliant that's another story.

Also Myomend banned me from their Facebook page after pointing out the truth - they're salty.

GSManiac:

 

I appreciate that this journalist actually did a bit of investigation - good to see the mention that this guy is essentially buying a 40$ product from Aliexpress and selling for $200.

 

someone showed me that a sink that costs 100 euro is sold at NZD1600 in NZ at the kitchen shops

you should go after the big boys

colinuu: But why the outrage over buying cheap and selling at a huge profit margin?

gzt:

colinuu: But why the outrage over buying cheap and selling at a huge profit margin?

This was not the source of the 'outrage'. The business owner claimed to have “developed and designed the percussive massage gun”. This claim was clearly false. Additionally, the product as supplied was not NZ compliant. Issues were: False claim + importing due diligence fail.

Fair enough, but the emphasis in the recent article and various posts was more about the excessive mark up I think.

colinuu:

 

I have no sympathy for this guy, he has fouled up by selling unsafe electrical product. Hopefully he has learnt a lesson about his responsibilities in business.

 

But why the outrage over buying cheap and selling at a huge profit margin? The big retailers do exactly that with their amazing do everything gadgets. The TV infomercial stuff takes the cake for that business practice. I'm reminded of when, some years ago, M10 were selling an amazing slicing and dicing kitchen gadget for chopping up fruit and veg.  Innovative German engineering etc etc. From memory they were charging $120, when you could get them from AliExpress for about $20 with free shipping. [Delivery was only 2 - 3 weeks back then ...]

 

Regarding the first point, is seems perhaps not:

From the brands facebook page:

"Of course, though our original chargers have not been deemed unsafe, we are giving you the opportunity for a new compliant charger as stated in yesterdays email."

Umm, not an expert in the area, but I doubt worksafe would have stopped you selling the old chargers if they did not deem them electrically unsafe under NZ regulations...

Also:

"Its owner has also admitted he does not know if the charger plug on another of his products, a testicle shaver, is compliant either."

Also only sounds like the offer to replace the chargers with non insulated pins was only emailed out on Friday after media started asking questions (this is despite being made aware of the issue in or before april), not exactly showing a lot of care for customers safety, not making them aware they had been supplied a non-compliant product until now.

With regards to the profit margin, Yes, fair enough, businesses (unless subject to regulation like law firms, monopolies etc.) can set their own prices, and customers not happy with that pricing can go elsewhere.

The original beef with the stuff article was that it (before revision) falsely claimed that the massage gun was an invention of the business owner, when it was actually a widely available existing product with a brand name added. 

Most of the current round of articles seem to be focusing on the electrical safety aspect which is good (although newshub have chosen to promote the price differential on their Facebook page...)

Still I can see why there were complaints, and issues with failures. It is being marketed as a "professional-grade quality tools", and people are expecting quality that they would get from a $400 branded appliance / tool, not what you get for USD45+GST from aliexpress... 

Scott3:

 

Also:

 

"Its owner has also admitted he does not know if the charger plug on another of his products, a testicle shaver, is compliant either."

 

Man...you would not want to confuse the two products, would you? A percussive massager to the testicles could be...eyewatering. 

Didn't even know about AS/NZS 3112:2000. I have a charger from Aliexpress (Opus BT C3100) which shipped with US plug and the adaptor they provided dosn't have any insulation.

I guess I will replace the adaptor.  

James Bond:

 

Didn't even know about AS/NZS 3112:2000. I have a charger from Aliexpress (Opus BT C3100) which shipped with US plug and the adaptor they provided dosn't have any insulation.

 

I guess I will replace the adaptor.  

 

As you are the importer it only matters if you go on to sell it to a retail consumer. Its the expectation that any item sold in NZ that plugs in will directly operate on the standard household wall outlets without adapters, particularly ones that use an unsafe plug, but to use it yourself in your own house is fine.