Importing batteries to Canada

[amph1bius]

Has anyone had trouble importing batteries to canada because of customs? I ordered a set of CR123 batteries from amondotech over a month ago and I haven't received anything at all. I emailed amondo and they say its likely in customs, but for 3 weeks? Has anyone had experience with this before?

Thanks,

 

[Unforgiven]

I ship to Canada on a semi regular basis. My experience is plain white letter envelopes go through quickly. GPM envelopes considerably slower and packages can take a very long time. As much as 5 weeks for some shipments.

 

[LumenHound]

I've had more than a dozen packages of various lithium primary cells sent to me during the last few years and never experienced a problem with Canada Customs holding on to them.
Contact Canada Customs and ask if there are any unusual delays at the 2 Canada Post Customs clearing locations.
Canada West Customs clearing is done in Vancouver while the Canada East Customs clearing is done at the Gateway mail sorting plant out by Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario.

 

[Heck]

If Canada Customs held it for any reason, you would've been contacted or the sender would've been contacted.

Saying it's Customs I think is like a generic easy reason to give out, when if you think about it, it's actually the shortest time "where a package stays" of the process. I would think something happened in the mail system. Also, if they shipped it by accident via USPS Economy, that takes 2-3 months...

 

[jlomein]

Contact Canada Customs and ask if there are any unusual delays at the 2 Canada Post Customs clearing locations.
Canada West Customs clearing is done in Vancouver while the Canada East Customs clearing is done at the Gateway mail sorting plant out by Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario.

How exactly do you contact Canada Customs? I've searched their website, as well as the charge slips they issue when your package is charged tax, and it lists no phone numbers. I only have a mailing address.

 

[riffraff]

If Canada Customs held it for any reason, you would've been contacted or the sender would've been contacted.

Saying it's Customs I think is like a generic easy reason to give out, when if you think about it, it's actually the shortest time "where a package stays" of the process. I would think something happened in the mail system. Also, if they shipped it by accident via USPS Economy, that takes 2-3 months...

Amondotech batteries get to me (from California to the Midwest) within four days.

 

[savumaki]

I haven't had any problems getting bats from several sources including AW. Sometimes, depending on value, they can be held up in customs but three weeks does seem rather long for a set of 123's.

 

[GoingGear.com]

I am no amazon.com, but I have shipped hundreds of packages internationally through ebay, and can say that if something gets held up in customs, it is probably either something that is on the prohibited/limited list, or the label does not have complete/correct information.

The prohibited/limited list has some interesting things for some countries. Watches seem to pop up a lot, and anything with potentially hazardous chemicals (like batteries) sometimes raises a flag.

If the shipping address does not match an address in their postal sytem exactly, it can cause a delay while they try to contact the shipper and shippee for the correct address. Also, vague or incomplete shipment information can make them investigate the package further. For instance, if someone said the contents were "gift" or "clothing" or something vague like that, I have seen customs open the package so they can charge you the correct import duties.

 

[selfbuilt]

I too ordered those amondotech batteries over a month ago, still haven't arrived. Amondotech e-mail confirmed shipping March 2.

This is the first time I've experience this sort of problem - I've received numerous battery order from AW and lighthound without incident.

In all my years purchasing online, eBay, etc, (i.e hundreds of items) only had one other item not arrive. This is not looking good ....

 

[PeteBroccolo]

I have shipped stuff to the USA, England and Australia, and received stuff from the USA and Hong Kong. In general, parcels take 14 days to arrive at my home from the USA, or be received in the USA from me, and 28 days to & from UK.

The worst problem I have ever had is receiving something from the USA that was shipped by UPS, when I had to pay their exorbitant brokerage fee, especially given that the seller under-valued it for duty.

To all CPF members, either individuals or those with webtailer businesses - please ALWAYS offer USPS shipping as an option, at least to The Great White North. USPS is very reliable. As long as you declare the proper value-for-duty, let us Canucks worry about dealing with Canadian Border Security Agency regarding the duties payable. Duties payable are generally only the Federal Goods and Services Tax of 6% and the Provincial Sales Tax of whatever it is per Province. If a parcel comes in via USPS, CBSA passes it onto Canada Post to deliver it and retrieve the duties payable, and CP generally only charges $5 as a brokerage fee, which is WAY less than UPS.

 

[FlashKat]

When I shipped batteries to Canada the Post Office told me they do not ship batteries. I mark the package as flashlight parts, battery charger kit, etc. , but NOT batteries.

 

[BugOutGear_USA]

Shipping to Canda is definately slower than most parts of the world(at least from my experience). We've had orders take 2-3 weeks to reach Canada from Massachusetts.

Flavio
BugoutGearUSA.com

 

[LEDninja]

It takes 1 to 5 weeks for me to get my stuff from across the border.

It could be the post office, not customs holding things up. Batteries is in section 6 of Canada Post's Prohibited Harzadous Goods list. I think there is a rule against shipping lithium batteries on airlines as well.

I bought my 1st set of batteries from Emillion together with a flashlight. He listed "flashlight set" on the customs form and it came through. I liked the little plastic box the batteries are in and ordered some more batteries. Never recieved them. Do not know if it's Emillion, the airline or the post offices (Hong Kong & Canada) that messed up.

When ksbmann was doing international shipments he had to list batteries as "flashlight parts".

 

[selfbuilt]

Hmmm, just checked Canada Post's website, and came across lithium batteries under the list of dangerous goods that are non-mailable:

http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGnonmail-e.asp
"Class 4 – Flammable Solids, Spontaneously Combustible, Dangerous When Wet
calcium; cellulose products; fire starters; fuel tablets; lithium batteries (excludes lithium-ion battery); magnesium; matches; moth balls; naphthalene; nitro-oily cotton waste; oil impregnated fabrics; phosphorous; sodium"

Interesting .. so they ban lithium batteries because of the flammable risk of lithium metal, but allow the composition of Li-ion to pass.

Oh, and this tidbit from their General Terms and Agreement:
"6.3 Canada Post shall not be responsible for meeting any service standard or delivery commitment, where applicable, for delays arising from the mailing of non-compliant Items."

So, I guess I can assume there is little hope of those 80 pcs titanium batteries ever showing up. I guess my previous pure battery orders were of small enough size not to trigger the customs evaluation (i.e. under $20, there's no fee). All the other ones I can think of had flashlights included, so I guess the custom tag didn't specify the batteries (would have sucked to have lost my surefire L2 over this - I bought 10 batteries with it). Glad that order showed up!

 

[amph1bius]

Darn... would it be reasonable to ask amondotech for my money back? I was not familiar with the rules of canadapost.