E-bikes at Costco ( in Santa Cruz, CA)

While I am not sure if selling eBikes at Costco will be successful in the short term, what I can tell you is that the eBike vendors who will succeed in North America will embrace a very broad distribution strategy that is far above and beyond the IBD. We believe that as the market matures, consumers will demand availability from a wide variety of sources along with competitive pricing. We've put over 600 employees on ebike test rides in the last 120 days and I can tell you that 99% of them haven't visited a bike shop in decades. eBike growth is dependent upon exposure and education. eBikes must be on display and available at many many sources.
 
I wonder if if you buy it at Costco if you get the Costco return policy....I didn't think to ask that!

They had them at my local Costco in Plano Texas (northern edge of Dallas) last month for about a week and I bought one.

I checked at the customer service desk, they said it carries the regular Costco return policy - so it can be returned whenever for a full refund, no hassle.
I asked if it would follow the electronics return policy of just 90 days and they said nope, regular return policy applies!


What's IBD by the way? Just curious, not familiar with the acronym.
I can tell you I definitely bought mine because it was at Costco :)

This is my first eBike, I figured it was pretty low risk to get it from Costco since I can take it back (pretty much indefinitely) if I decide it's not the right fit for me.
I'm excited and surprised they carried it even briefly, and I plan to show it to everyone I know to help get the word out.

I did a bit of shopping around and test rode a couple before buying, I'm lucky enough to have an eBike shop within an hour of home - apparently there's only 2 dedicated eBike shops in Texas.
I know REI and some other bike shops carry a limited selection of eBikes, a guy at my local REI warned me off of them and said nobody likes them, they all get returned, they're plagued with issues - he wouldn't even keep his charged up so people can test ride them.

After a couple weeks on the GenZe, I can say I'm definitely planning to always own an eBike going forward.
I fully expect to upgrade within 3-5 years as they get better, cheaper, and more available.

I think selling them at Costco is a great way to get people exposed and encourage people who are still a little unsure to go for it.
 
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This is just great news. As many of you know I have pushing vendors to their broaden distribution strategy way way beyond bike shops (IBD=independent bike dealer) as this is the only way the market is going to grow. Kudos to Mahindra for forward looking thinking. It will be difficult for Mahindra to be successful at Costco due to insufficient demand, but it signals a willingness of vendors to move eBikes into venues where potential eBike customers visit. Way to go Mahindra.
 
Wow! I recently got an eBike from a local shop here in Chicago, but thinking back we had some electric bike in our Chicago Costco, but I didn't know too much about eBike until recently I thought it was a scam! haha

Man am I regretting not stopping by and talking to them knowing there was a possibility to get the Costco return policy (which I have used in the past and really like!)

Thanks for sharing! I will keep an eye out for next time, hopefully there is a next time! hehe

Take care, ride safe!
Marc V
 
We had a customer come into our shop the other day. He said he'll never buy an ebike from Costco again. He loved the bike he got, but when he had a serious problem with it (manufacturering defect), they couldnt fix it. They gave him a refund, so he was happy overall, but he would have preferred a working bike. They were no longer carrying the bike, so they couldn't replace it.
 
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