could be good or bad, i always say its worth a try, I used to buy things from china, i also had a friend that speaks mandarin and i speak a little cantonese so i could actually call them.
the best case for you would probably be that these kites are made by the same people who make gastra or whatever, or maybe very good rip offs.
or they could be bad.
anyway, this is my way of saying i dont know.

i was about to post saying dont do it but just changed my mind, mainly because of his good feedback.
XTC was dodgy apparently but not because of bad quality (not great of course), it was because the guy who ran it ripped people off by not sending kites and stuff.
looks to me like this guy got a good deal on leftover stock and is selling it, i say go for it

To go a little left of topic, you got to love china products. Just bought a Honda water firefighter pump now Honda claims they don’t make these things in china... they do... ditto with a Yamaha 4wd 250cc bike... can buy three china branded clones for the price of one of these and funny enough in the same factory are three different "color branded" bikes related to several countries... anyhow.. Back to your boards and kites.. It’s probable that a few brands out there are already using the same factory or if not will soon be.

It started with Rolex watches to a degree - when they (the companies) realized they couldn’t sue china manufacturers because patents outside china are not recognized in china they had not much choice but to use the Chinese factories to manufacture their brand - for competitive cost reasons as much as the principles of cant beat them join them..

next time you buy any kite or windsurfing gear have alook at where it is made.
all of it comes out of china, india or thialand . one factory makes many of the popular brands and than puts the special brand that make them unique. where do you think retail outlets get stock from ? so if you get a chance to save by buying direct go for it . Here is an e.g of how much you can save. i have bought direct out of china 3 kites 1 bow 1 hybrid 1cee the first 2 came with bar,lines and kite all o7 under $400 each and cee was $300 complete . i was a bit unsure as to the build of them but once i got them i could see they are as good as any thing you can buy here . the only problem i can see is what i'am i going to spend the $5000 i saved

there are other kite dealers in qld with strong SA accents

eric from catapult but its mixed with every other accent under the sun some how

nope, hes back 4 u 2 enjoy-got a shop in lennox heads or some were that sounds like that

Can someone please post some links to the boards and kites sellers that they are happy with in China.

Thanks

Just an update. I made my final bid 2 weeks ago and purchased the board mentioned in my original post. Paid via Paypal and the board arrived in a week!

The board I received was different to the one listed in the auction. Instead of a rebranded Gaastra Satellite board I received an actual Gaastra board but the Sky-Pro version with Jonah Lepak branding on it. Looking up a few archived website it seems the Skypro RRP was ~500EURO while the Satellite was ~400EUROS.

The board in the auction was suppose to be a 135 x 46cm board. Received a 132 x 41cm board. Although I wanted the wide board for high winds I'm still pretty happy with the size of the 132x41 as it seems like a good all round board.

Was in as NEW condition as stated. Although the pads had defects they are sending me a new set free of charge. Overall I'm very happy with the purchase epsecially since I got an NEW board (that's better then the one they listed) for $305.