Going to be a lot of Disapointed Kids who don't get Hoverboards for Christmas

There's going to be a lot of disapointed kids who don't get hoverboards for Christmas.

With all the media hype about hoverboards exploding and catching fire, customs has understandably clamped down on allowing hoverboards through. Many self balance scooters will not make it through because they lack certifications, while others who do make it through may not arrive well into January or February because of all the delays.

It's rumored customs is literally going to open up not only every container holding hoverboards, but will literally be opening up every box. With a container holding 700 or more boards, that's going to take a whole lot of time to open up and inspect all those boxes.

To really illustrate the scale of how long this backup is going to take, there are some single importers with over 100,000 units held up in customs and that can be one importer, so times that by however many other importers are out there and you get a picture of how long all these will take to clear.

US Customs doesn't seem to be as strict as the UK, however a recent news story talked about out of 89,000 Hoverboards waiting clearance in the UK, only 9,000 actually were approved and made it through.

We did an article yesterday titled "Why Hoverboard Prices Could Triple By Christmas" and this post today really illustrates the point of why that soon could become a reality. 

Amazon urges customers to throw away their hoverboards

Amazon to customers: dispose of your hoverboards

Customers who have purchased hoverboards for Christmas gifts have been told to "dispose" of them and take a refund, after three of England's biggest retailers stop sales of the chinese made Self Balancing Scooters, better known as Hoverboards.

Reportedly seen in an e-mail by the Telegraph, Amazon, the internet retailer asked customers to take their self balancing scooters aka hoverboards to a local recycling point for electronics and electronic equipment. Two other retailers, Argos and John Lewis had also stopped selling Hoverboards after reports came out about the popular toy of the year catching fire and exploding.

Guestimates suggest that around half a million people in England have bought hoverboards as Christmas gifts. Another million or more are considering purchasing them.

Many people thought only "cheap chinese made" hoverboards were the ones with fire risks, however it's recently emerged that Swagway, one of the leading brands have also caught fire.  The truth of the matter is all of these are chinese made and mass produced. Though a varying quality of boards can be found, there really hasn't been one company who's emerged as having a safe, reliable and well built product.

A spokesman for Argos said customers with concerns about its Nevaboard products, which it has taken away for testing, could obtain a full refund no matter when they bought the products.

Amazon customers with models suspected to be faulty will be issued with automatic refunds for the full price which can range between 200 pounds and 500 pounds, which for our USA readers is over $750 will be issued a refund within days.

One person recently interviewed regarding this issue said...

"I wasn't expecting to get a refund – my hoverboard has had no problems and I've had it for four months.

"I don't use it that much any more anyway – it was fun for a while then just gets boring. Like most trends I think this time next year hoverboards won't be on people's Christmas lists."


Amazon has stopped selling all hoverboards while it investigates. It confirmed that it had sent the emails and would be processing refunds, but declined to say how many customers were affected.
It has removed all hoverboards from its website, including Swagway models.

Why Hoverboard Prices Could Triple By Christmas

Why The Price Of A Hoverboard Could Triple By Christmas

For those of you out there who are last minute shoppers and planning on buying a Self Balancing Scooter as a gift for someone, you may want to act sooner rather than later.

There are going to be huge shortages on Hoverboards and that is sure to cause prices to soar, if you're even able to get your hands on one.

Why Hoverboard Prices Could Triple By Christmas!!!

It's no secret hoverboards have been in the news recently for catching fire. The Feds are actually opening a investigation into the issue. This has caused customs to clamp down on not only hoverboards but really anything with a lithium ion battery. Any hoverboard which does not have all the proper certifications is going to be refused entry.

After speaking to a few importers and wholesalers, many I spoke with have anywhere from 700 to as much as 100,000 units or pieces of merchandise held by customs. They said "if" they get through, and that's a big "if", there are sure to be fines. 

Both the shortage of available inventory, as well as the importers being fined and having to make up that money, are sure to drive hoverboard prices through the roof. 

This is an industry that moves quickly. We saw hoverboard prices a few months ago which were typically $700 to $2200 drop down to as low as $259 with Free shipping from New Egg and many other large online retailers so we saw pricse quickly slashed. That said there are now shortages and the cost to bring hoverboards over is increesing which means the price to the consumer is also going to increase.

Now saying they are going to triple in price is probably on the high end but I would not be at all surprised to see a standard original hoverboard with no bluetooth going for around $600 or more in the week leading up to Christmas.

Is it too late to order a Hoverboard and get it in time for Christmas?

If I Order a Hoverboard will it arrive in time for Christmas?

Many people have been sending me online listings for Hoverboards lately and asking me if it's too late to order and hope to receive it by Christmas? 

Most people are inquiring about buying from China. Hoverboards bought from China will be significantly cheaper than those already imported into the USA, hoever they will also take longer to arrive. 

Personally I have received some orders in as little as 8 days and had others take over 44 days. I would say 2-3 weeks is average.

All this having been said, if you order now will you get it in time for Christmas. It's possible but also likely you will not. You are really rolling the dice with that purchase. If you do want to save a few bucks message some sellers and inquire if they can gurantee if your item will arrive in time for Christmas. Some sellers promise fast Fedex and wind up shipping Air Cargo or EMS which is cheap and slow. It really depends on if the sellers has the boards made already or assembles them with each order as well as how quickly they ship out after receiving your payment. 

If you want to order, message some Ali Express sellers and ask if they can gurantee Christmas Delivery.