Does anyone know of sellers that don’t pay GST to the ATO?
I don’t know the ins and outs of it but it would give them a competitive advantage. In my limited online travels I’m thinking that Fasttech and the Convoy store on AliExpress could be two that don’t.
I am looking to draw from the BLF brains trust and ask what is the most cost effective way of getting torch-grade lithium ion batteries to/in Australia?
Battery packs (laptop, power tool) would be completely fine depending on the quality of the cells inside.
I like Tech Around You for 18650s - they sell Samsung 30Qs for $8 each including postage if you order two or more. Based in Melbourne, delivery has always been very fast for me.
Very disappointing I found. Dull blue emitter, poorly controlled zoom, spongy switch, rough and sharp threads. Gave mine to Vinnies after a couple of weeks.
May be ok if you crave a 3D Maglite, but don’t expect the Mag quality of finish.
Thanks for the input so far, no “gold standard” for obtaining new 18650s in Australia it seems, since the restrictions on transporting lithium ion batteries by air.
eBay sellers (and their websites) sound like the best way to go. And maybe a power tool battery pack (eg. Ozito, Workzone) if they’re discounted heavily enough.
auplazaplace seems to have good prices on local stock as well. Sofirn sells batteries with low shipping, no GST and 10% coupon for first order but I haven’t tried a test order.
Did I mention ecocell earlier? They were pretty good.
So far there’s:
Tech around you
Supersports600
Ecocell
AUPlazaPlace
I’m hesitant to add Lanplus as they were where I got my first 30Qs from which have turned out to be… somewhat less than genuine, or at least highly suspect (discovered long after purchase).
I just put an order in at Liitokala store for some 26650 and 21700s the shipping was only a few bucks.
You can pickup some decent lights now at Bunnings for a good price look for the clearance items and brands like Eiger and Teller they always go on sale. The ones i have bought have a mix of LEDs one was a XPG2 another was a XML2 U3 another was a XPG3.
I picked up a car bonnet light it does 700 lumens for $10 its rechargeable great for the shed.
I didn’t see any batteries on the Liitokala AliExpress store with postage that low to Australia unfortunately. Lowest was US$7.37, most were US$11.58. Maybe I could keep looking, I notice that battery packs have only US $3.16 postage (untracked).