the shipping cost of batteries is Ridiculous at GEARBEST

Yeah anybody shipping batteries for free is either eating the cost themselves, or (more likely) lying to the shipping company about what they’re shipping.

I think GearBest are being proactive with getting around the shipping issues. Others retailers may be free, but with reports of batteries shipments not getting through.

Personally, I just buy my li-ions from retailers in my own country.

Shipping lithium batteries is a logistical nightmare due to their danger.
Most shipping companies have special restrictions, packing rules, expensive prices, or stuff like that.
Buying from online stores located in your country or buying from physical stores is the best option.

We have come a long way since i use to receive batteries in a plastic bag shipped from China lol

It’s still free shipping to Sweden for me.

Gearbest ships them as dangerous goods which is how they are supposed to be shipped! As mentioned others skirt around the rules and disclose them as something other than batteries! last shipment i had was listed as Plastic box’s.

Keep in mind that the new shipping laws require “Proof” documentation that the batteries are indeed real and not fake or clones! This is why so many cannot ship as they can not meet these new requirements.

I also had a shipment turned back by customs last week for improper documentation.

$8.00 is cheap compared to others out there! In many cases $33.00-$50.00 is what many are charging.

Oh, who wants to pay more? Almost no one, for that matter.

However, the other day I had this realization that if something considered as ‘dangerous goods’ declared as something else so as not to pay more and offer free shipping, how’s that to think if you are the one, or member of your family, a close friend, riding in the plane with its cargo hold full of Ultrafires but declared as ’plastic cases?

Scary, isn’t it?

It’s about time we take a serious look after the Samsung fiasco. Very small percentage, that’s true, yet it’s happening.

If something is done to make it safer for everybody for a few dollars more, I’m all for it.

What I don’t get is that GearBest has some li-ions (including NCR18650B’s) in their US-LA warehouse and advertises that they ship within the US for free. In fact, it says US is the only country they’ll ship to. But if you place an order, Customer Service will contact you saying they can’t ship them because of their shipping policy and they have to refund your money. :rage:

Wasn’t there a list or thread on here of countries Gearbest can ship batteries too, they had issues like most do but were adding more countries they could ship too as they found carriers who would ship batteries to each country.
They couldn’t ship to UK on the original list, but now it’s free shipping on batteries to UK

I ordered some Sanyo GA’S from aliexpress, they were cheaper than anywhere else and with free shipping, was impressed how well packaged they were - best packing of batteries I’ve seen - individual wrapped in sealed thick plastic bags, placed two to a box, in proper plastic battery boxes, which were then placed in plastic bags, then bubble wrapped, taped, placed tight in thick cardboard box, which was bubble wrapped then sealed in thick plastic shrink wrap.

They were also correct labeled in bold, with warnings about it containing lithium batteries.
So it is perfectly possible to get good priced batteries shipped responsible with free shipping :slight_smile:

This whole liion shipping issue pops up every year around September through January-ish.

I imagine it will go back to normal in a few months like it has in the past.

There was a thread here about shipping to different countries but I can’t recall seeing it posted to lately, so it may not be currently relevant.

Those who ship LiIon’s free or cheap aren’t playing the game fairly or legally and only luck has kept us from seeing a major catastrophe because of this. Luck always run out at some point and if you think things are rough now you won’t like what happens after that. My strategy is to buy the cells I’ll soon want now so that I’ll have plenty to last me through the time it will take to get things sorted out post-catastrophe.

Local sellers usually follow the proper protocols, hence a higher cost but initially even they will probably be affected when panic-mode sets in among the general public. Eventually everything will get worked out- it always does- but one aspect of that I’m pretty sure of is that prices and availability are going to take a big hit which is another reason I’m buying now instead of later.

I sure wish everybody would do this correctly (even if I have to pay more) but as long as they can get away with cheating then many will do that; greed is a major force in this world.

Phil

i guess we have it good.
mountain,illumn,lion wholesale,ect.
reputable dealers with good prices and safe fast shipping.
if any of them carried the liitokala 26650 i would have got them from one of the above.rather than banggood.
are there really no good dealers in canada?

Not as far as I’ve found. There are a few suppliers, but selection is really limited. Small EDC lights usually have very strict battery requirements (length) for 18650 or 14500 cells. I haven’t found selection in Canada to be good enough. So, I’ve resisted the urge to get into lithium-ion flashlights, and have stuck with designs that use Eneloops.

Zebralight SC5, Manker T01 are good 1xAA lights that can give you about 500 lumens output. That’s good enough for me. Sure, I’d like a Zebralight SC63, but what’s the point if I can’t depend on easily getting cells for it in the future? (Or even now!)

For 1000 lumens, I use 4xAA lights. The larger diameter reflector required for throw makes this a good size anyway.

I think there is an 8xAA light that does 2000 lumens, but I think it caps out around there. If you require more output than that, you’re forced into lithium-ion lights.

I recently bought batteries from from liionwholesale.com

Fast shipping,good pricing, very reasonable shipping charge

Go to liionwholesale.com

Buy there be happy!!

Canvape is the only one I have found in Canada that is worth a look.
Best of luck.

During the last flash sale at GB, I ordered LG HG2 cells, China to USA, @ $4.27each net, plus $ 3.94 shipping, so I paid a total of $ 38.12 ( 8pcs), shipped to USA.

So exactly $ 4.76/cell shipped to USA.

Not bad at all.

I paid $25 for 4 blue 26650s shipped from Gearbest. Sounds pretty fair after shelling out for Keeppower 5200’s

Its quite normal as the shipping cost keep change due to custom restriction.
A lot online seller not longer ship out or ship with DHL/Fedex with shipping cost more than US50 and above.

I think Gearbest and Banggood tried their best to provide cheaper solution on battery related product.
I also wish to have free shipping if possible

If you are in the US, I see no sense buying name brand li ion batteries from China. Plenty of shops in the US that have comparable prices when you apply the BLF discount, and you get your stuff in a couple of days instead of a month. My last several battery orders have been from imrbatteries.com.

But I guess it’s not as easy in Canada.