Man who received something else after paying $31K for Chinese sports car had a conditional offer from seller after story went viral

A YouTuber bought a Chinese sports car, sight unseen, on Alibaba.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t receive what he wanted and he got a tiny kei car instead.

The story went viral, which is probably why the seller eventually decided to offer a refund.

But there’s a catch.

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“You’ll get a refund but…”

The Inja, the YouTuber who bought the car, explained what happened in a series of videos on his channel.

He’d bought a Mullen Qiantu, an admittedly striking supercar from China, for $31,000.

The problem is that he didn’t receive the car that was advertised and instead, he received a small kei car in white and pink.

For reference, a kei car is an ultra-tiny passenger vehicle that’s very popular in Japan and also other markets in Asia.

The thing is, kei cars might be cheap and cheerful, but they aren’t supercars.

The Inja said the seller offered a refund but on three conditions.

First, he’d only do it if The Inja agreed to take down the video.

Second, he’d only do it via PayPal, which he also linked to his credit card and not wire transfer.

This is because using PayPal linked to his credit card meant the seller has two safety nets, and can dispute the charge twice.

Third, he only refunded $20,000 out of the original $31,000 the Inja had paid.

Meet the Chinese sports car that doesn’t exist

Mullen has a troubled history.

The original Qiantu was unveiled in 2015, and production began in 2018.

Mullen did build a few production models, but it’s unclear how many still exist.

And trouble didn’t end there for Mullen, because the company’s stock price has since imploded, and it’s now worth essentially zero.

It certainly looked great, but Qiantu was designed and built back when Chinese automakers weren’t good at making cars.

Now, they are clearly quickly getting better.

They’re even making flying cars now.