Massive fraud on 18650s in the Littokala Aliexpress stores!

I wasn’t able to find a test of an MG1 but found a Basen battery test that is said to most likely be a rewrapped MG1. The appearance seems to match what we received and I don’t see any markings on the can that was photographed for the test.

So far, it seems the fakes are coming from the “liitokala Factory Store”.

From what I’ve read, the “liitokala Official Store” has genuine cells. Has this changed? I’ve ordered from “Sunway Store” in the past, and they were genuine.

Maybe it’s just the “Factory Store” that is selling fakes? I don’t think I’d blame this on the liitokala brand just yet, unless people are reporting fakes from the other stores too.

Anyone know if they’ve gone over to the dark side?

Looks like the Factory store is fake, but the Official store is legit.

The Sunway store is legit though, at a minimum of 3$/cell.

It sucks people didn’t get the cells they paid for. But in the end everyone might get free 10 amp cells. Unless the seller agrees to pay return shipping. They can’t expect the customer to pay for it on counterfeits

The only thing that hurts this case is the picture. Before purchasing the picture shows 4 prongs and that is the cells everyone received they can and probably will use this in there defense. Someone mentioned they changed it I’m not sure if they did or not. It’s still deception calling it Samsung 30qs. But I just thought of that. The picture shows the cells everyone received they can say they clearly showed the product before purchase. I hope everyone gets a refund the part that is deceit is calling it a Samsung 30q. If they called it a liitokala 30q they could probably get away with it. Since it would be a house brand name at that point. From what barkuti went through I hope everyone else doesn’t have that much problem. And that the parent cell underneath can be found out. Soon someone with a hobby charger can do a real discharge 5 or 10 amps and see how it handles it. If it is a 10 amp cell I might take some off people’s hands if they don’t want them and can’t get a refund. I have uses for them. I already have 16 new 30qs I hadn’t used yet or I would have ordered these like everyone else. I like to hoard cells especially during hurricane season after being the literal ground 0 for katrina

Yeah, anyone ordering after Barkuti found the 4-prong picture, was knowingly taking a big risk these were fakes.

Still, if these are quality 3000mAh 10 amp cells, that’s pretty good for fakes. Should work fine in the vast majority of lights, and every single-emitter light I can think of. These fakes are way better than an old laptop cell re-wrap.

I do think a partial refund is proper. But even if you don’t get a refund, it sounds like the price was fair for a 10A cell.

By tracking it seems that my 12 30q are in CA now. To be honest I would be fine ending up with real 3000mAh batteries at the price I paid. They are about 2.5usd? each. They can replace those laptop pulls I bought from a fellow member years ago. I am really not too concerned about how high current it can handle, once it is good enough for a zebralight sc600iii.
But that does not mean what the seller did was ok. I will not buy from them again.

Even if we are getting a good price for a 3000mah cell we were told these are real 30q. Not COUNTERFEIT CELLS. Not FAKE 30Q. Not a Sony cell. We ordered Samsung 30q genuine cells. Anything other than that needs to be refunded, and disputed.

I don’t care to buy a Lexus, and then take delivery of a Hyundai, even if it’s a good deal for a Hyundai…. This is wrong.

This is what I’m getting at, it’s not right at all, but once someone with the proper equipment can test a 5 or 10 amp discharge and see what it really is we will know a lot more. And if for some reason aliexpress sides with the seller. The only ground the have to stand on is they showed the product with 4 prongs before purchase and that is what is being received. If they are mg1 cells and people don’t want them I’ll buy a bunch of them for 2.50 a piece. I can use them. For the price that’s a steal. You’d had to buy 1000 from imr to get that price. I don’t condone what they did in anyway and if they are in anyway affiliated with the real liitokala they should be black listed as a supplier to this forum and warned to stay away from their products. Shockli can take their place.

I agree with you completely but your analogy is off somewhat. There calling it a Lexus, it’s painted like a Lexus. But the front end is Hyundai. And it’s priced like a Hyundai. I still believe a dispute can be won though because of the wording. But I’m on the fence because aliexoress sides with sellers more then customers. It’s not like Amazon or eBay in America. If you used paypal instead of alipay you might have more support. The seller I’m almost willing to bet is going to say they showed the product up front with x picture and x picture cell is the one customers received

If you can find barkutis thread he got sold fake cells and more then proved they were fake and Samsung 26f and aliexpress still wasn’t going for it. And wanted him to pay to ship it back and all kinds of stuff. Eventually I believe they gave him a refund. But it wasn’t a quick process by any means.

Looking back at the op’s link of the cells in question, this is the link:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-Original-Battery-INR18650-30Q-3000mAh-20A-Discharge-18650-Li-ion-Rechargeable-Battery-for-E-cigarette/32793497427.html?shortkey=IRn2YVrq&addresstype=600

In one of the descriptions written below the in product page, we will see this:

Packing List:

1-6pcs* LiitoKala Lii-30Q for samsung 18650 3000mah Rechargeable battery

1-3* 18650 box

1* Tracking no.

Features:

Safe and environmental friendly.

100% Samsung Brand New and High quality.

18650 rechargeable li-ion lithium battery.

Suitable for laser pointer, flashlight torch and other electronics products.

So if the aggrieved buyer wants to file a claim, all he has to do is to point out any discrepancy (like the “not as described” provision) and/any other deviation from the product page to Aliexpress and prove it by sending evidences to back it up.

If the only difference in the picture were that the hubcaps had one more or less “spoke” then it would not be reasonable for anyone to expect the buyer to know the difference. If they claim genuine brand they need to deliver genuine brand as described, or take the consequences of selling fake as genuine. THEY are supposed to be the experts, not the buyer, and they are 100% responsible to live up to their claims. The price also has nothing to do with it, they could be clearing old stock at heavily discounted prices, price is irrelevant.

The only correct solutions are refund or supply of genuine. They can offer partial, and those who are inclined can take the offer, but for every person who demands 100% refund they probably got away with 100 sales to people who don’t know they have bought fake. They deserve to be nailed for that, and the demanding customer deserves 100% refund because he did not get what he paid for and had every reasonable expectation of getting.

Batteries from AliExpress: my wise take on this

Cheers ^:)

LiitoKala used to have a link to an AliExpress store on their website. I just checked and the links are gone. ???

I suppose someone could contact them and ask which if any really is their “official” store.

It is also possible the HK office and DongGuan battery factory both have stores? No idea.

http://www.liitokala.com.cn/Contact.asp

http://www.liitokala.com.cn/ -> There's a link there at the bottom LiitoKala banner.

Cheers ^:)

There is a listing on the official store that says “new” 30Q and shows the 4 pronged top in the picture. Maybe there is something legit about it?

Keep hoping, but…

Maybe they're rewrapping HG2 or some other sort of decent chinese OEM cells as 30Qs to save pennies in bulk.

Cheers :-)

I guess if it’s on the official store they should be black listed on this site.
The price was always suspect to me. People keep saying they could be clearing out stock. But I’ve never seen 30qs for 2.60 a piece ever anywhere even when you purchase 1000 it’s not that cheap on imr. The cell is only 3 years old or so how could any of the stock really be that old. Best price if ever seen on high amp cells is the 30 vtc5 I got for 120 dollars. But I had to remove the cells from the battery pack myself. Would have been another 30 if I had him remove them and clean up the tabs for me. As popular as the 3000 mah 20 amp cells are. 2.60 is incredibly low. 3.50 I could see. 25r can be had for 3.50 if you buy 50 at a time

By last december I got a 6-pack of genuine 25R cells for €16.16, which would be about $18.78 ($3.13/unit) with the current AliExpress currency rate.

Right now 25R prices are @#$% low, seeing sales under $15 a 6-pack with ease.

Cheers ^:)

I’m sure if I shopped around I could find a little lower. Imr batteries goes down to 3.50 if you buy 50. I’m a little weary of buying cells overseas now. Also I know the cells come from overseas, but I try to support American jobs, when I can. I have one trusted eBay seller. I mostly go to first and see what he has. He doesn’t have massive amounts of cells but their all oem cells from new unused battery packs. Can’t get any higher quality then oem cells. 25r have dropped this last year in price tremdously.