That’s actually a really good suggestion and something I’ll look into, thanks!
Hmmm.
Try shipping in and out of Australia.
We buy Aust clothing, presents. For US/Canada Grandkids x 8. The shipping is often up to 3 times the cost of the clothing.
Anything from China. is usually fair or free price but 30 to 45 days point to point.
and freight for warranty returns. makes everything disposable.
(IE don’t work. throw it away) Paypal is ok. To a point.
It’s just taken me near a week to find a supplier that will ship any battery to Aust.
The cost now is at the point I’ll just buy from AUST dealers.
They work out the same price near enuff. and you don’t have to wait over a month for a maybe… delivery.
Quite a few orders recently are non arrival or DOA.
Must admit though. Ebay\Paypal since ’96 I’ve only had this DOA and Non arrival since I started dealing with China…
US Japan and EU. Most have never been a problem till a couple in the last coupla yrs.
2 1/2 years ago you were warned to stock up and prices would go up.
Here’s the package I got today with only 2 18650’s in it. Crazy, isn’t it!
Edit: It came with a portable fan! Thanks Jon!
Heh, well I last ordered from Illumn this week! 
These new rules got me nervous, so I ordered a bunch more cells before all companies start obeying the fine details too.
My prior order was in March of this year. Took one week to arrive. Well packaged. No extra taxes, duties, or fees. Hopefully this new order (the same cell selection and amounts) goes as smoothly.
I already have enough cells, but some more in storage can’t hurt, especially as the shipping rules seem to make it more and more difficult to get them.
I’ve ordered several times from China, and while I’ve had good luck, it’s much more of a gamble whether the cells are genuine or not. Also, their packaging isn’t nearly as good.
Wow, and I received them already! I think that’s record time from the US using regular post. Well packaged: cells in plastic cases, inside foam-padded cardboard boxes, inside a bubble envelope.
It may not be strictly by the rules, but it’s way safer packaging than I get from China vendors. And, IMO, safer than sticking cells inside a device to adhere to the weird rules.
Oh well, I’ll get them while I can. Next rules will probably require them shipped inside 1-ton concrete blocks and carried by camel.
maybe drive them to me in a Tesla?
I ordered 18 18650’s and two 14500’s from LiIonWholesale today and the two cheapest shipping options were $8.xx for USPS slowness / $10.xx for UPS Ground. That doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. I went with UPS. Are you guys buying your batteries one or two at a time or something? The prices after shipping were much better than anywhere else.
I just ordered 24 x 18650’s Stereodude & like you said above… I felt the shipping was very reasonable & FAST from Liion Wholesale. :+1:
Here is the breakdown……
Talk about Fast Shipping… This was it. . :+1:
24 x 18650 batteries ordered.
Order placed Wednesday July 25, 2018 02:54
Order received in NE Alabama Friday 07/27/2018 - 16:27
Shipping method: UPS Ground
Cost: $11.02
Not bad at all!!! Thanks Liion Wholesale…… . :+1:
Oh yeah, USPS was $1.05 cheaper at $9.97…… I went with UPS due to the project faster delivery. I was not disappointed. 
When I first read about this I thought I understood but now after ordering it seems like pointless bureaucracy.
I ordered 7 batteries via USPS priority. The box was huge, of course for that label, and contained mostly paper (as far as these rules are concerned we could call it “kindling”). I thought by having to have a product in the box you meant it would have to be installed inside as if that is some safer way but it’s just thrown in the box. How does it make sense to have 7 batteries in a box with a product that cant take more than one battery? This is no different than before and if this is how the rule is intended to be read I see why no other retailers are following it.
Should something catastrophic happen to one of these packages I don’t think they will just overlook it cause a random battery operated product was included.
They don’t even install the batteries in the dummy device they include? Well, that is a stupid rule! It’s certainly no more safe than just shipping the batteries without some useless device.
I thought the whole point was to install X batteries in X devices, to adhere to a loophole in the rule.
Yeah, makes absolutely no sense, and just adds to the cost.