Batteries not being mailed from china

[RetroTechie]

Seems a few 18650's I ordered from DX, got through alright. Makes me wonder how much of that is " better shipping procedure", and how much of that is "ignore rules, plain old luck". :thinking:

 

[Changchung]

From a spain forum, 4 18650 3400 just received from banggood shipped 11/17 China to Spain

 

[Holiday]

but my battery order from wallbuys is OK, I can track my order online in 4th December

 

[Kueh]

Should the topic be changed to "Batteries not being mailed from Fasttech" ? Seems like Fasttech has ruffled someone's scales.

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

 

[nightowl66]

Ordered a couple 18650's from Fastech 4 weeks ago. Just got email that my money was refunded. Every time I checked tracking the past few weeks, they were in Hong Kong

 

[RIX TUX]

Ordered a couple 18650's from Fastech 4 weeks ago. Just got email that my money was refunded. Every time I checked tracking the past few weeks, they were in Hong Kong

try ebay seller r-lsales
they are in the US, I have ordered other types of batteries from them with no shipping problems

 

[nightowl66]

try ebay seller r-lsales
they are in the US, I have ordered other types of batteries from them with no shipping problems

couldn't find a ebay seller by that name

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

couldn't find a ebay seller by that name

r-lsales (134,506 Feedback)
Positive Feedback (last 12 months): 99.8%
Member since: Jul-04-99 in United States
eBay Store: RL-batterydepot

(Never purchased from him, but he is there to be found.)

 

[DellSuperman]

Has anyone bought from WallBuys?
They currently ship li-ion batteries but only a pair per shipment..
Plus their prices are much lower than Dealextreme.

- JonK

 

[RetroTechie]

Received a packet from DX yesterday, containing 3 pcs 18650's and big letters "BY AIR MAIL" on it. Appears to have been mailed in Shanghai (SH Post). Took <3 weeks from placing the order, and tracking info showed no delays/problems with customs whatsoever. Should have a 2nd packet from DX here shortly, with (among other things) also an 18650 in it.

Not sure what's going on here... :thinking: Have the rules changed in the meanwhile? China customs officials turning a blind eye? Simply a lucky break?

 

[Lightning Bub]

I bought twelve unprotected NCR18650B batteries from Amazon(sold by Urban Source, fulfilled by Amazon) last week. When they arrived yesterday, the three little cardboard boxes had opened up inside the shipping box, and all twelve of them were just bouncing around in the box. It's a good thing they are flat tops, or they most assuredly would have shorted out and could have caused a fire.

 

[degarb]

I bought twelve unprotected NCR18650B batteries from Amazon(sold by Urban Source, fulfilled by Amazon) last week. When they arrived yesterday, the three little cardboard boxes had opened up inside the shipping box, and all twelve of them were just bouncing around in the box. It's a good thing they are flat tops, or they most assuredly would have shorted out and could have caused a fire.

I think the DX.com batteries I have recieved in the past came in protective stiff plastic 18650 holders. These holders are not manadatory, since the shell would offer short/crush proofing to a degree?

 

[DellSuperman]

I bought twelve unprotected NCR18650B batteries from Amazon(sold by Urban Source, fulfilled by Amazon) last week. When they arrived yesterday, the three little cardboard boxes had opened up inside the shipping box, and all twelve of them were just bouncing around in the box. It's a good thing they are flat tops, or they most assuredly would have shorted out and could have caused a fire.

Thats awfully dangerous, i tot these people would have been more careful with packing li-ion cells after what happened..

And all my batteries from Dx/FT came in those plastic cases. At least i know they won't be bouncing around inside. Haha..

- JonK

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

...Not sure what's going on here... :thinking: Have the rules changed in the meanwhile? China customs officials turning a blind eye? Simply a lucky break? ...<snip>

What was your package declared as? Superficially, I think the burden is on the local post office employee who accepts the package to examine the customs declaration to see if the item being mailed is safe or not. (Legally, I think the burden is always on the shipper to know the laws, and not mail any illegal or unsafe items.)

I haven't been paying close attention lately, but DX did use the highly descriptive word "Various" to describe the latest flashlights that I ordered, even though they were all of the same make and model. But, as I recall, DX is especially fond of the word "Gadget" to describe a wide range of their products.

While I do not really recommend that anyone purchase low-cost Li-Ion cells from DX (or other similar sites), I do believe that having them shipped together with another 2-3 cheap items will both decrease the chances of them ever being clearly declared as "Batteries" and increase the chances of passing the typically cursory (and, in my experience, increasingly rare) customs inspection when they reach the destination country. (I recommend "2-3 cheap items" because you may be running the risk of having the entire package confiscated.)

 

[RetroTechie]

What was your package declared as?

Category: "Gift" (yeah right :devil: )
Description: "GADGET", below that "18650/16340/A***"

So a customs officer should know this might contain a lithium battery. Not sure, but I suspect some regulations have been bent here. :thinking:

I'm happy with the result, but don't feel good about how these things go. If it's okay to ship a few 18650's in airmail, then just say so, tell how to package safely & ship the damn things! If not okay, don't do it & find another way to send them overseas.

 

[Lightning Bub]

Thats awfully dangerous, i tot these people would have been more careful with packing li-ion cells after what happened..

And all my batteries from Dx/FT came in those plastic cases. At least i know they won't be bouncing around inside. Haha..

- JonK

Amazon sent me a survey on the packaging, and I let them know how dangerous it was.

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

...If it's okay to ship a few 18650's in airmail, then just say so, tell how to package safely & ship the damn things! If not okay, don't do it & find another way to send them overseas... <snip>

I think the regulations are fairly clear, although not necessarily very effective (nor logical). And, of course, these regulations do vary from country to country. However, my understanding is that your "safest bet" (one that will "work" in the most countries), is to have the batteries shipped already installed in some item that they are designed to power. (A cheap flashlight or some kind of "emergency" iPhone charging device comes to mind.) They may still be doing the same sort of thing, but I remember back when NewEgg would always include a cheap cable in with your OEM OS, so that they could legally argue that they only sold such software as a "set" in combination with computer hardware.

Anyway, it seems pretty clear that the way that Lightning Bub received his most recent shipment was unsafe, and could have caused a dangerous fire in some airplane cargo hold.

I bought twelve unprotected NCR18650B batteries from Amazon(sold by Urban Source, fulfilled by Amazon) last week. When they arrived yesterday, the three little cardboard boxes had opened up inside the shipping box, and all twelve of them were just bouncing around in the box. It's a good thing they are flat tops, or they most assuredly would have shorted out and could have caused a fire.

 

[nzgunnie]

It really has nothing to do with customs. The restriction is because of the IATA dangerous goods regulations, and is the shippers responsibility. The carrier shouldn't be accepting the packages for transport since they are no prepared or labelled in accordance with the IATA DGR, so should not be on an aircraft.

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

It really has nothing to do with customs. The restriction is because of the IATA dangerous goods regulations, and is the shippers responsibility. The carrier shouldn't be accepting the packages for transport since they are no prepared or labelled in accordance with the IATA DGR, so should not be on an aircraft.

Thanks for the additional information. I take it then, that the pertinent document is the following?

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Documents/Lithium-Battery-Guidance-2014.pdf

Up until now, I had been thinking terms of Postal Regulations, and I detailed some of the pertinent US Postal Regulations in an previous post. I agree that it is not the customs agent's responsibility to make sure that you don't ship such items, but I have in fact had some items confiscated by Japanese customs upon entry into Japan, due to the fact that they were deemed to be hazardous or perhaps "Dangerous Goods" as defined in the above document. (Of course, they were, however, already off of the plane, and on Japanese soil.)

Here is a photo of the goods in question:


These "goods in question" are little tiny "fire works" that emit a very small "pop" when the string is pulled. (They really are quite small. This photo is enlarged.) There is no real fire associated with these "fire works." (No matches or lighting of fuses involved.) And, there were a total of 10 of these little packages in the shipment. Yet, I was told by customs that these could not be imported in Japan, and not only that, I would have to pay over $700.00 to have such hazardous materials disposed of in a safe manner!

I am a very calm person, but I did explain to them (in the very very polite Japanese way) that they should simply flush the things down the nearest toliet... and, if they tried to actually charge me for "hazardous substance disposal" they would rue the day. (If necessary, I was willing and ready to get a television crew involved, and "expose" their little money making operation. I never heard from them again, but I am sure many others in Japan have been forced to "pay-up" for similar honest mistakes. Also, it would have been a more difficult problem for me, if there had been other, more valuable items included in the same shipment.)

 

[tonijedi]

I'm wondering if Ebay buyers & sellers are experiencing the same problems?

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I have four 18650 batterires on transit, some for just a week others for almost 5 weeks. I think I'll have to ask for a refund for those old ones...