Living in Europe (Sweden) I have stopped buying cells from China.
I now get all my batteries/accumulators from https://eu.nkon.nl
Prices are comparable with Chinese sites.
Shipping is not free, but very reasonable.
Best of all: delivery is fast and I donāt have to worry about fakes nor customs inspections or fees/taxes.
Itās true that eu.nkon.nl is a good solution (for EU at least), but itās not a Chinese e-shop and fast shipping to Greece is very expensive: e.g. for a pair of 30Q, normal shipping (up to 4 weeks delivery) costs the reasonable amount of ā¬2.83, but fast (with full tracking) costs ā¬22.39.
Is there any shop that ships 18650 to the Philippines? Im seeing that kaidomain offers to ship some but i have nit tried it.
Banggood, Gearbest and fasttech CANNOT ship batteries to Singapore.
The normal (cheap) shipping to Sweden only takes about 4 days and tracking isnāt really necessary within EU.
Only 4 days for delivery with normal (cheap) shipping is a great delivery time! :+1:
Youāre luckyā¦ Sweden is near to the Netherlands.
I usually prefer tracking even for domestic mail, but thatās up to everyoneās choice. Iād certainely not pay ā¬22.39 for a pair of 30Q that cost half that amount! :sunglasses:
Donāt any Chinese vendors have EU warehouses? I thought Gearbest did?
For some reason they donāt seem to stock batteries in the EU warehouse.
But they do have some in their US warehouses.
VTC5, 30Q, 25R, NCR18650B and HE2 can be ordered from the US-LA warehouse; only in quad packs though and the prices are 10-20% higher than from China.
Maybe make a request for them to stock cells at the EU warehouse? But i guess no point because then the price will equal out?
As I wrote, my goal āis that the feedback from this thread will be the reason to make the known Chinese e-shops that donāt offer free shipping for batteries to our country understand that their shipping policy is wrong. They must find the way that some of their competitors already know, in order to offer competitive prices for good batteries and free shipping (or/and $0 to small charge for tracking nr) at the same time, as Iām sure weāre not buying from them only batteries/flashlights/chargers, but many itemsā.
I donāt aim for a solution to the shipping cost only for my country, thatās why Iām asking feedback regarding BATās free shipping from various e-shops and as many countries as possible. This thread could be a way to put some pressure on those e-shops, making them understand that āwhere thereās a will, thereās a wayā.
Unfortunately, so far the feedback is under my expectations. I donāt believe that BLF members (most of them flashaholics with big battery needs ) donāt care about BATās shipping cost. Maybe the thread is in the wrong place, maybe I didnāt express the right way whatās itās purpose, maybe I was aiming high and expecting too much, maybe most members are buying batteries cheap and with free shipping, maybeā¦ who knows what elseā¦
Yea i also have to pay extra shipping so i understand. But batteries i only buy every so often and i usually buy a lot at once. Either way it will always be cheaper to buy from China then From an Australian seller. Plus i always pay for extra fast shipping usually only a few dollars maybe $4 dollars.
I donĀ“t believe there is a lot these shops can do. They donĀ“t make the rules for air shipping.
I ordered some batteries from DX, they emailed me saying they ācannot be shipped lonely in one packageā and to order something else with them. So I did. Then I got the message my order āhas failed to pass the airline security check as it contains lithium batteries/knivesā and they āswitched it to another delivery channelā. I didnāt pay anything for shipping.
The other items arrived separately from the batteries. The batteries eventually arrived in two separate shipments.
Iāve read almost the same before and my answer was this :
As Iāve also wrote, some of these e-shops offer free shipping for batteries (same BATs sold at similar price), some donāt.
PS:
Can we please stay on-topic to the thread and provide the feedback for whatās going on to your country? :sunglasses:
I wouldnāt be surprised if a lot of these charges are based on a percentage of what they think they can get away with. Also remember that they are managing a complex balancing act with multiple shipping agents and shipments sent, not only from their own warehouses, but also direct from many different subcontractors.
The one issue is. free shipping comes at a price. The batteries are not declared so I have now had customs seize some. Some times they not even leave port. It depends on luck I guess.
Was it China or Australian customs that seized them?
GB, BG and Ali ship me for free to Germany
The other stores probably too
So far not one of the battery package had a proper lithium battery warning label
Bump
This is becoming a mute point , the shipping of lithium batteries. There are international laws in place that dictate the shipment and proper procedures for shipping of lithium batteries. These are in addition to ones own countries regulations and individual carriers regulations.
In order to ship these batteries legally the retailer must jump through so many hoops and have proof of documentation proving amount of lithium in cell etc and āthat the particular cellā in question is part of those tested.The testing cost alone is $4000.00-5000.00
If any of you are interested in why it is becoming so difficult you only need to go on line and read the UN regualtions , Transportation Regulations IATA in addition to the myriad of conditions from as mentioned individual carriers.
The reason you will not receive the $40.00 gift card is because he is correct! Suppliers are pulling back due to heavy fines that are being handed out. In addition they do not have the necessary paperwork to support the documented tests. This becomes especially true when it comes to āClone Cellsā which simply cannot pass and are the leading problem in terms of failures which is not to say that legit cells are not prone to failure! They to have had their issues as well.
The other fact is these batteries must be shipped as āDangerous Goodsā which in of its self has a higher cost which Vendors are incapable of absorbing. Those doing so are not following the regulations and are not sending the batteries via āDangerous Goodsā
These regulations are having a tremendous effect on the market for the small vendors that already make nothing on the batteries as it is and who cannot afford the cost to properly ship these items in accordance with UN and international dangerous good legislation.
This will only get worse before it gets better in terms of shipping costs! The goal being to buy in bulk with genuine suppliers with document proof of genuine product while paying a dangerous goods surcharge on shipping. The most we can hope for is that the charges come down in price with proper verification of authentic products and proper packaging by vendors of the individual cells that would diminish potential accidents.