Okay I just got the reply from Simon. As I assumed, every battery in his store is genuine. No clones. No fakes. Shipping will be slow because of all the new regulations on lithium cells but all here probably know that by now. Every battery he sells is the real deal. Oh the “For” thing is because they are not legally allowed to use the brand names. If they just list it as a Sony or Samsung or LG they can be sued for trademark infringement.
I can see why you would think so but you must not know Simon. I would think so too except that Simon told me so himself. The details may be different than his English skills allow him to properly elaborate on but he told me the batteries he sells are all original. No fakes. I’ve only bought flashlights from him. Lots and lots of flashlights. I’m sure there are others here who’ve bought batteries from him that could chime in but . I’ve never heard of him selling anything fake. If any other Chinese seller told me they were real I would still be skeptical. Simon isn’t just any Chinese seller. He doesn’t’ even lie about lumens! Just make sure you are buying from his Aliexpress store and not some other Ali seller. Anything from Ali outside his store and you’re right back to the lottery. His store is http://www.aliexpress.com/store/330416 There may be other honest sellers there but I don’t know them… and I don’t like gambling.
Thanks for your help, but could you now Please Delete your post?
I cleaned my cookies as you said and all was well - Just to see I clicked on the ru link that I had given, and now have the same problem again - So I have to clean the cookies again.
Never, ever, click on an obfuscated link (or any link where you can’t see what it’s going to connect to).
Look at the bottom of the window if you’re using Firefox.
Copy and paste into a text file if nothing else — see where it’s going.
Poking at this there are a whole lot of variations out there: ru.ali… ru-ali …
Some may be affiliate-link tricks that route your order through them so they get a payment each time you buy something.
Some are spoof fake sites. I’m not going to mess with it further. BE CAREFUL. It’s not paranoia. The Internet is a mine field these days.
Grade A: Batteries perform to manufacturer specifications.
Grade B: Batteries under-perform or have other defects.
Grade C: Batteries are used, repackaged, salvaged, or damaged.
Manufacturers bin their batteries. The A bin is reserved and difficult to obtain. Battery Bro only cells Grade A cells. Many online suppliers, especially those in China, sell Grade B cells or lower and do not tell their customers….
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PS — wow. I’m going to start a new thread about this site.
EDIT: here it is, with credit given to folks in this thread: