A couple weeks ago I purchased from a seller that wouldn’t ship a lithium cell epacket saying that it was not allowed (EMS hands off to USPS in the US=epacket/EUB). It was either receiving the equipment alone via epacket (sooner) or with the cell by normal China Post (later)… I chose the latter and as you know the wait is not fun. Shipping charge was the same either way.
I couldn’t find anything specific on the EMS site (though the page here would seem to imply prohibition) but HK Post does have a prohibition against lithiums going by air listed on their site.
I went back to a December order that arrived via epacket and the 4 cells were not listed on the customs declaration, and also remember the problem Rey had sending the primary CR123a along with the BLF Mini last Fall
Just wondering if anyone in the last month or two received cells via epacket where it was listed on the package/customs’ form?
I recently received 10 Sanyo cells from Fasttech. Customs opened to inspect it and resealed it; no issues. I forget now if it was declared on the form or not. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.
My most recent batteries from FT was 4x26650 cells among other bits. This was declared as Gift (as always) containing Adapter, Electronic Parts. Again no issues, not inspected either.
An older DX order declared ‘batteries’ once when I had 2x18650 cells in there. Not inspected and no issues as well.
In general they make it though even if it is prohibited, but around this time a year and towards spring time they start cracking down for a while. I’ve had some sellers just flat out refuse to accept orders during this time period in order to avoid confiscations.
I’m sorry I wasn’t too clear in my original post’s title and content so I changed things round a little bit. I’ve got my cell and stuff being sent by China Post but just wondered about the epacket/customs thing specifically (epacket is that fast “US only” shipping option)
I trust the seller’s current understanding of the shipping prohibitions but just wanted to see if some of our “favorite sellers” might be flying under the radar with epacket: I know my December delivery had the omission…
Thanks again!
Good point. I think I remember Rey (real upstanding seller of BLF A8&Mini fame) writing here that he had packages held because of cells/batteries last Fall. Come to think of it, his recent A8 offer to the US went (1) flashlight by epacket or (2) with cell via DHL.