Can any knowledgeable person tell me if Lithium Ion cells for use in torches or similar from China are deliverable to Australian addresses? I read that they now have requirements for packaging etc.. The question is if the requirements are not met, will customs or Australia Post toss your item (if it's untracked like mine is) in the bin on arrival without informing you?
Lithium Ion 14500 Cells Impounded by Australian Customs?
Cleremy on 22/02/2017 - 21:32
Comments
They're from Banggood.
If it is unsafe it could be seized and destroyed. Order a container load and find out then let us know your findings.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1901124/…
Dangerous goods(1A) If: (a) goods are seized under a seizure warrant or under subsection 203B(2) or (2A), 203CA(3) or 203CB(2); and (b) the Comptroller-General of Customs is satisfied that the retention of the goods would constitute a danger to public health or safety;Okay it's not a prohibited import but Australia Post has requirements for transporting them, if you plan to send them. It's unclear if it will deliver them to the recipient if a foreign postal agency has transferred them to Australia post with non-compliant packaging.
"Lithium batteries can only be sent internationally (air or sea), or domestically by air if the battery or cell (maximum of two batteries or four individual cells) are installed in the device and meet all the packaging requirements.
Recalled, damaged or non-conforming cells or batteries are also prohibited from being sent by Australia Post."
Once your batteries land in Australia, they have no reason to confiscate them.
After all, the danger lies in transporting the batteries by air. They can be transported by road
with no problemsmuch more safely..The issue is actually from the sender's country… the people check the cargo prior to being loaded on the aircraft. If it does not meet requirements they halt the shipment and it never leaves the country.
In case that they do manage to get it into Australia, the courier decides how it gets to you. If they see that it doesn't meet their stringent requirements, they will either choose not to ship it, or they will choose a safer, but slower method (by road).
Bloody Australia post. Just wish we had alternate postal services here. There is mo issue bringing them in however Australia Post are the problem. The is no issue delivery them by road however the likes of Banggood need to mark as dangerous goods thus ensuring road delivery once they land in Australia. Getting LiPo batteries from overseas has become a nightmare…….even a tiny 200mah single cell battery. The major overseas suppliers just don't want to deal with the hassle of Australia Posts absurd draconian rules.
I haven't had a problem getting any lithium ion containing products delivered from China, but Australia Post completely refuse to send the products back if you experience a problem.
Lithium battery products are responsible for aviation incidents almost every week. Here is a recent one:
http://avherald.com/h?article=4a5309fb&opt=0If that had been in the cargo hold instead of the overhead locker it had a chance of bringing the whole plane down.
At least two cargo planes have crashed due to lithium battery fires (Dubai and near South Korea) in the past few years. I expect some time in the future all lithium battery products will be banned from aviation unless professionally packed.
I buy little indoor quadcopters pretty regularly from banggood and they all have lipo batteries in the package, i have about 15 now, and never had a package even be delayed. shrug
If the lipo is within the device or included in original packaging then it's not a problem. It's when one orders spare LiPo's as a stand alone product that the issue arises.
Its fine i just bought a bunch of 26650s from Gearbest. They had to reship them because the original company stopped accepting lithium cells.
Mmmmm, very strange you could order 26650s. It was fine last year but not over the last few months.
Neither Gearbest, Bangood etc ship LiPos to Aus anymore incl a single tiny 400mAh LiPo. Go try order one and you will see "unable to ship to Australia". My understanding is that this is due to Aust Post and not the freight from China to Oz. These stores (carriers) just don't want the hassle. They have no problems shipping to most other countries.I suspect (guessing) that if a label was placed on the box saying dangerous item, then all would be well and in turn Aust Post would delivery by road (which is fine). There is nothing illegal about them.
It's funny, as a Laptop battery contains 6x 18650 batteries and they all arrive just fine. I think it comes down to the packaging/shipping labels. Overseas suppliers need to clearly mark them, but I can't see that ever happening. For now though, it's a pain, especially for all of us that require LiPos for RC Toys, Vaping Mods etc. This has made the local prices expensive for some items and in some cases not even avail locally.To OP; To answer your question: It is highly unlikely that customs would seize as there is nothing illegal with a LiPo. If however Aust Post decided not to deliver (lets say it landed in Perth but you were in Syd), they in theory could refuse to ship (as goods may fly from there to here). This obviously is assuming they knew it was a LiPo which is highly unlikely. In short: All mine arrived safely and within the advertised time frame. The hard part is finding well known suppliers like Banggood, Gearbest, Fasttech, Everbuy, etc who ship these to Oz.
It's getting towards two months so I'm giving up hope (all my other orders from late December arrived in January). Another explanation my package might not have arrived could be due to not having tracking. I had an untracked order never arrive a few years ago, which put me off of ordering from Hong Kong sellers. And it's impossible to know at what point along the chain the delivery process failed.
Prior to that, in the late 2000's I had numerous untracked orders from DealExtreme and eBay and they all arrived.Could try ordering some more from an Australian eBay seller of one exists, or ordering from China again but paying for tracking.
Did you order from an individual or a store like Banggood, Gearbest, Fastech etc? Those stores will refund if undelivered. I recommend in placing an enquiry with the seller…….if two months have passed. Most are there to look after the customer regardless.
Other factors: Christmas period, Chinese New Year…….slow boat from China. It's the risk we take and on the occasion, things could go astray. Luckily for me my 30+ orders from various places all arrived. A couple did take 60+ days (for what its worth).Paying for Tracking: Rarely helps as most of the time the trackers only cover to departure from mainland China. There is no update from that point to your door (unless via a reputable courier like DHL,UPS, EMS etc). You pay for a high price for those though.
I have ordered some batteries and they are getting delivered by UPS but yeah I'll have to see how it goes and I believe the shop I purchased them from know about them because the choice was only via courier
Never had an issue to be honest yet
provided cells are from a legimiate seller they all should work fine through customs