i’ve gotten cells from liionwholesale.com and was very pleased with the cells/service.
have also used imrbatteries.com with no complaints… aside from their name being a bit misleading (chemistry of cells). then again A LOT of folks abusing ‘IMR’.
One thing to watch for, the a1s comes with a rechargeable battery that is probably longer than a normal 18650. Check the lengths and compare them to the replacements. Those dealers are legit and 18650 Battery Store is another good one.
They are both 110% legit. The owner of Illumn used to take part in this forum quite a bit and they’re great folks there. Liion is a larger supplier and has a host of services in regard to spot welding and packs, etc. Both are very particular about sourcing legit cells and proper care & feeding while they have them/before sale to customers. IMR and 18650.com are also legit, and you could check out Aloft Hobbies as well.
I have probably 20 orders between Illumn and Liion over the years, and have ordered a few times from Aloft and IMR. Never any issues with time, service, payment, or the quality of goods. I usually compare prices between all of them before ordering.
Illumn still does a discount for us….about 5% if you enter “blfuser” at checkout.
as much as liionwholesale is legit. If you’re a smart nerd, you will test your batteries’ capacities and internal resistance, however if you find you got a subpar cell, maybe old stock or a defective piece and they do not meet advertised specs, they will make excuses and blame your $500.00 worth of charger/analyzers for not being an 8000.00 oscilloscope.
TLDR- you’re stuck with whatever you got and as far as stealing, no, not outright