LiIonWholesale shipping prices went through the roof!

I just purchased 2 18650’s from them and was charged $6.72 for their cheapest shipping. That said, I ordered 2 26650’s from Mountain Electronics and was charged $3.80 for shipping. I live on Long Island and is on the opposite coast of Mountain Electronics vs LiIonWholesale which is not far from where I live. What gives?

Mtns cheapest shipping is usually a envelope. Liion is probably using a flat rate priority box which almost 7 is what they cost when I go to mail something

Looks like the new new shipping regulations are taking place after the UPS truck incident.

I hate Lipos and their volatility, and Ultrafire cells for what they have done.

I made over 20 orders with LiIonWholesale. Their shipping was always around the same price as Mountain’s until now. I’m not happy.

At least they still ship it first class and not ground, like IMRbatteries.

Not so. I just received an order from them in the past week. I paid ~$3.50 shipping for 4 cells, and they arrived in 3 days on the west coast. I just tried to repeat that order and below are the shipping options. Glad I am not a heavy Li battery user and have what I need for now . . . .

Strange. When I try, it gives me options for both USPS first class (air) and USPS ground.

IMRbatteries didn’t even give me the USPS first class (air) option, claiming USPS does not permit shipping of standalone li-ion cells by air.

Not sure why you get first class rates and I do not, maybe because I don’t have an account on Liionwholesale?

Get all mine from Banggood lately. Takes about 3 weeks though to arrive.

If you can keep the shipment under 1 pound it can be sent first class, it does not matter where you are located. First class mail is the same price anywhere in the US50 as the rate is based only on weight. Regional pricing takes effect on packages larger than 16oz. Flat rate is the same anywhere of course.

I got the shipping quote without even logging into my account. When I punch in your zipcode, I get this:

Weird.

Notice the USPS First-Class says “2 packages” - they must be doing this to overcome some weight limit.

I had 4 18650 cells in my cart.

I also wonder if they are including the “free gift” in order to claim that the cells are meant for the gift item (whatever it may be), and therefore bypassing the USPS requirement that Li-Ion cells cannot be shipped standalone by air.

As much as I like LiIonWholesale, I won’t be ordering from them anymore. It’s sad, isn’t it?

Edit: I made my order with Mountain Electronics today. Shipping was $3.80 for 2 26650’s

My guess is MTN shipping policies will soon change as well.

I hope not

Some explanation from LiionWholesale regarding the new shipping policies:

So yeah, they are throwing in the free gift in order to overcome certain shipping restrictions when sending li-ion cells by air.

for 6 samsung 30Q flat tops.

M.E. 40.74 + shipping

Liionwholesale 29.88 + 7.74 shipping = 37.62

[quote=Pete7874]

I had 2 18650s and 2 18350s, so even less weight. Certainly less than the pound someone else mentioned.

[quote=sbslider]

USPS First Class Parcel is 16oz or under. 4 18650’s with plastic cases is under that. Maybe it’s the weight limit with the so called “device” they have to ship with them?

Maybe Jon will show up here and explain it

I just went to their site and played around with quantities . 1 cell was almost as expensive as 8 for shipping. You can get the per cell costs down this way.

[quote=sbslider]

It’s the 18350 cells that are the problem in your case. They don’t have a “free gift” to include that would work with these cells to sneak by the air shipping restrictions, so they have no choice but to send it via USPS ground.

As soon as you take the 18350 cells out of your cart and just stick to 18650/20700/21700 cells, then you’ll see the “free gift” and USPS first class air mail option.

It’s not really Liion Wholesale’s fault. These are the new USPS rules:
https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52apxc_032.htm

Richard @ mountain electronics is running a risk of having his shipments refused if he does not follow these rules.