Legality of purchasing Planetary Gearboxes from alternative sources.

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by marshall

I honestly don't know but a simple email/phone call to support will probably tell you. Could they come from China? Yes. Do they likely source them a bit better than the random stuff on aliexpress? I'm going to go with yes. I suspect they have some quality checks that aliexpress doesn't given the markets for both companies.

It's common for people to say stuff like "this thing comes from the same factory in China so why doesn't it cost $ instead of $$$" and it very well might but that doesn't guarantee quality or anything. There is a great book called "Where do underpants come from?" that does a good job explaining some of this sourcing magic as well racism in China. Author also talks about intellectual property theft in China. You can buy Cree LEDs and flashlights for cheap. A lot of them are not using actual Cree LEDs and don't come from the factories that Cree operates. They come from designs stolen by factories that are sub-par.

I seriously doubt these gearboxes are any different than the ones AM sell. This is definitely not a case of IP theft. These gearboxes were available before AM sold them. The price difference is due to AM's value added service of distributing them locally and providing after sales support.

Also, Aliexpress is not a distributor, it's a marketplace backed by one of the largest companies in the world. Different sellers may offer different product. China ≠ bad or fake product, it just often means there is less consumer protection in place to prevent you from receiving a bad product.