Yeah I agree not a scam.
I’m used to vendors not shipping to Canada for lots of items. Instead of taking it out on the vendors maybe it is time to whine to our own customs policy.
On the upside, this thread has served as a valuable notice to us on BLF.
I didn’t know that Neal does not ship cells outside of flashlights. Now I do. 
In my experience, it’s the shippers that cause the problems more often then customs, (outside of Britain and the EU anyway) and vendors will stop shipping to some countries because of the shipping problems. Logistics companies also seem to be inconsistent in their policies and methods. Customs doesn’t seem to have a problem with batteries here but no vendors (AFAIK) will ship bare batteries. We can get cells in a light but sometimes that is shipped in a convoluted way. I believe some air carriers will not accept batteries as freight although they’re allowed in carry on bags. My last order from Vapcell had shipping problems, took 4 months to arrive from Taiwan which is practically next door, and now they will no longer ship here. Frustrating.
Neil can be unreliable and irritating to deal with so I just don’t order from him. Neal is dead to me.
Looks a bit like: Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
If so it wouldn’t hurt my feelings a bit.
More salt, salt it good, no backsies.
Wow Latin !
I much prefer
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius
I think you will find that the revised shipping regulations for lithium ion batteries are to blame. A few years ago I bought batteries from China and they came packaged in bubble wrap inside of a standard tough plastic shipping pouch. That’s no longer possible due to the incidence of battery fires on airplanes. Nobody wants a fire in the hold of a plane. Here in the US if you buy batteries from a US source they have a label on the package requiring ground transportation only. My last set came packed in a cardboard box with foam liner and a plastic case in the foam with two batteries in the case. Who knows what extra regulations are in place for international shipping today. There are separate regulations for batteries inside devices like flashlights and bike lights. It’s way less likely to have an accident with a battery inside a device so the regulations are much less strict. For small capacity batteries like those found in bike lights, there are no special precautions.
the actual problem is that Neal takes orders, and charges for them, before he ships
even if the item is out of stock, or in the case of batteries, cannot be shipped outside a light…
then he just waits until he can ship
unless someone files a dispute, then he gives a prompt refund
he often does not reply to emails, but paypal disputes get refunded quickly
He needs a more sophisticated website. That would eliminate a lot of the complaints.
Thanks for fixing the thread title! 
This.
Ideally, his shop should be designed to not accept a purchase of something he cannot deliver. It should literally prevent the buyer from checking out or adding it to their cart. Such a system is what buyers expect. It would help to improve customer satisfaction, and it would be less effort for Neal as he would not need to issue as many refunds.
At the very least, he should add a prominent notice that batteries are only shipped inside lights.
There are different air transport restrictions depending on whether lithium cells are shipped inside or outside of a device.
It makes sense from a shipping standpoint.
Raze Tunis and salt the ashes