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Why do many Chinese eFoil and jetboard brands fail in Europe?

By Andreas Lakeberg · Updated 9 October 2026

Most Chinese eFoil and jetboard brands do not fail in Europe because of their product. They fail because of their approach: mass emails without prices or terms, certificates that are named but never shown, no test units, no plan for warranty and spare parts, and retail prices calculated without dealer margin and VAT. Avoid these five mistakes and you stand out immediately.

What is this guide based on?

E-SURFER has been a specialist dealer for eFoils and jetboards in Berlin since 2019. Since then we have kept 287 emails from 149 suppliers who wanted to sell us their products, 117 of them from China. Among them are 44 makers of complete boards, 38 of them from China. We evaluated every one of these emails.

One limitation first: these are the emails we kept, not all the emails we received. Over the years many more were deleted as advertising without a second look. That alone says a lot about how these offers arrive at a European dealer.

How has the market changed?

Until 2022 most suppliers offered components: batteries, motors, controllers, foils. In 2025 more than half of all offers were for a finished board. In 2025 alone, 11 new makers of complete boards contacted us for the first time. The bottleneck is no longer production. It is access to the European market.

Mistake 1: prices without a calculation

Only 7 of the 44 makers of complete boards named a price at all. Minimum order quantities appeared in 2 offers. A dealer who cannot calculate does not reply.

Where a calculation was offered, it usually skipped the expensive part. One manufacturer proposed a purchase price below EUR 2,400 and a European retail price of up to EUR 7,999. The calculation left out certification, warranty handling and spare parts in Europe completely.

Mistake 2: certificates named, never shown

13 makers of complete boards named certificates such as CE, RoHS or UN 38.3 in their emails. We did not receive a single one of these documents. For a European dealer, a certificate that is only mentioned does not exist. The dealer carries the risk if the product is not compliant.

Mistake 3: mass emails instead of a relationship

11 of the 44 makers addressed E-SURFER by name. Only 2 referred to anything we had actually published, such as our board comparisons. One offer of Chinese boards from a European trader was not even addressed to us, but to another shop.

The few emails that stood out had one thing in common: the sender had read our content, referred to it and asked a concrete question.

Mistake 4: no test units

Only 6 of the 44 makers offered a test unit. European dealers rarely list a board they have not ridden themselves, and customers rarely buy one they cannot try. Without a test unit an offer is a data sheet, and data sheets all promise the same.

Mistake 5: no plan for service and spare parts

Hardly any offer explained who handles warranty claims in Europe, where spare parts are stored or how fast a broken board is repaired. For a dealer this is the most important question, because the customer comes back to the shop, not to the factory.

8 of the 44 makers were looking for a distributor to solve this. But national distributors are rare in electric water sports. Most brands have to work directly with specialist dealers and need their own answer to service in Europe.

What do the successful ones do differently?

1. They send a price list with delivery terms, dealer prices and recommended retail prices that leave room for margin and VAT.
2. They attach the certificates and test reports, not just their names.
3. They write to a few dealers personally and refer to what these dealers publish.
4. They offer test units and accept that the first season is about trust, not volume.
5. They have a partner in Europe for warranty and spare parts before they sell the first board.

Questions and answers

Are Chinese eFoils worse than European ones?

Our data cannot answer that. None of the products in these offers was tested by us. What the data shows clearly is that the approach to European dealers is the main obstacle, not the product.

How many Chinese makers of eFoils and jetboards are there?

At least 38 Chinese makers of complete boards contacted E-SURFER between 2019 and 2026, and the number of new makers grew every year from 2021 to 2025. The real number is higher, because many emails were deleted unread.

How can a Chinese manufacturer get help entering Europe?

Specialized consultancies such as Lakeberg Marine in Berlin help manufacturers with a market assessment, pricing, certification questions and finding dealers in Europe.