HobbyKing no longer shipping lipo batteries via AirMail or EMS to Canada

[CR0M]

Originally Posted by ccyg8774

That looks like a LiFe battery rather than a Lipo... Dispite they saying Lipo.
And the wires don't look thick enough for airsoft purpose.
I am not a DX hater, I brought a LOT of stuff, include many airsoft accessories from them, but sometimes their labeling is just wrong...

i dont know how to tell the difference, but ive charged it with my b6 a few times and used it a few times, so far so good.

[danhay]

FYI - I received this email from Hobby King early this morning:

URGENT UPDATE

Our International Warehouse based in Hong Kong has been affected by changes in Hong Kong Customs policy. The new Customs Department policy is to inspect ALL parcels leaving Hong Kong (not just HobbyKing) and are refusing to accept shipments containing certain items. This has caused two major issues that I wish to address:

Issue One
All orders containing lithium-based batteries that were placed between the 23rd of September and 2nd of October have been refused by customs and are being returned to our shipping dock in Hong Kong. Some orders not containing these items could also have been affected. This has also caused further delays to orders containing these items due to the backlog.
To remedy this, we at HobbyKing are upgrading all returned shipped items to a premium courier provider that will deliver your parcels to you shortly.

Issue Two
Due to the above issue, our Customer Service channel has been overwhelmed. This means that unfortunately all customers will have difficulty contacting Customer Service and for this we sincerely apologise.
If you are trying to contact customer service, please know that we WILL get back to you as soon as possible. To improve efficiency and improve response time, we request that you create just ONE support ticket. Your help on this matter is greatly appreciated.


To ensure that this does not happen again, we are:

- Integrating Fedex as a shipping option from Hong Kong to the world. Fedex has their own in-house Customs officers which will streamline the process and ensure faster dispatch and delivery.
- Establishing another Customer Service Centre in the United States which will be staffed by modelers and will be able to answer all technical product enquiries. This is in addition to our two other Customer Service Centers.
- Opening more and expanding our existing regional warehouses so that more customers can enjoy lower shipping costs and receive their orders quickly.
- Negotiating with different shipping companies to be able to offer a complete range of shipping options.


As you can see, we are urgently taking steps to fix this issue. We have all hands on deck packing orders and answering emails (from Senior VPs to secretaries to janitors) to ensure that this backlog is met. We expect to be up-to-date within the next week or so.

Please know that we strive to provide you with the best possible service. We regret any inconvenience or frustration that you have experienced.

Your patronage is important to us, and we hope that you will continue to give us opportunities to serve you.

Sincerely,

Anthony Hand
President
HobbyKing

Personally, I've had nothing but exemplary service from Hobby King in the past. And let's face it, RC is much much bigger than airsoft so our community is not the only one being affected by this 'crisis'.

That is all.

[lurkingknight]

wow... what the hell is customs looking for? Inspecting ALL packages leaving the country? I'm sure people are going to be up in arms about that.

fucking chinese government.

[DrunkenTeddy]

I ordered 2 lipo batteries from airsoft-club a couple weeks ago, apparently they just left hong kong on wednesday according to the hong kong post site. We'll see if that's true or not, but maybe they aren't inspecting everything... I'll just consider myself lucky if they make it here.

[coach]

Originally Posted by ccyg8774

That looks like a LiFe battery rather than a Lipo... Dispite they saying Lipo.
And the wires don't look thick enough for airsoft purpose.
I am not a DX hater, I brought a LOT of stuff, include many airsoft accessories from them, but sometimes their labeling is just wrong...

A life battery's voltage is usually rated at 3.3V per cell. Lipo's are typically 3.7 V per cell.
Thus a 2 Cell Life Battery would be 6.6V and a 2 cell Lipo would be 7.4V

It's not designed to be an airsoft pack per se but it has not stopped people from using RC packs.

Wires could be made a little thicker but then again, it's made for R/C

[lurkingknight]

electricity is electricity. the only difference is the amount delivered and how it's stored when you compare cells. You can use a 6.6 life to power an airsoft gun.. depening on the power of the cells it may or may not turn your system over. a 9.9 will work though.

[BloodSport]

Originally Posted by lurkingknight

Last time they pulled that on me I didn't pay and they sent an amount of like 17$ to a collection agency after sending me 3 or 4 letters.. the agency called about 3 times before giving up.

I would have mailed them the payment collect via UPS parcel in full via pennies.

[lurkingknight]

that'd be so heavy o_o

great idea though. :P

[Cobrajr122]

Only about 4 Kg, not that heavy, if you could even find that many pennies.

[K3vX]

The question is, since HobbyKing is obviously working as fast as they can to resolve the situation:

Should I wait for LiPo to be shipped again from the international warehouse, or
Should I order my batteries from the USA warehouse, pay for high shipping and the eventual brokerage?

Because right now I have NO batteries, and I kind of need some.

[ox141jf]

My youtube account was blocked by hobbyking because I know what really happened.

Hobbyking has been posting the LIPO's illegally through HK post, HK post didn't suddenly refuse LIPOs, it got new machinery to detect lipo's which hobbyking didn't expect.

Don't let the PR man fool you with his misdirecting words.

hongkong post couldn't possibly inspect every parcel leaving the country its a load of rubbish, hongkong post banned airmailing lipos in 2010

[TheHappy1]

I ordered batteries from them and received the in few days 2 weeks ago, they shipped with FedEx.

Envoyé depuis mon GT-P3110 avec Tapatalk 4

[K3vX]

Update:

Lipo shipping update
2nd December 2013

The last couple of months haven’t been smooth sailing at HobbyKing, but we are proud to say we are back to business as usual!

The sudden changes in customs policy from Hong Kong customs meant that thousands of parcels containing lithium polymer batteries were returned to our warehouse and this caused delays to nearly all of our business functions. Thankfully that is behind us now, and HobbyKing is back at full swing and are even stronger than ever! We have built new and stronger relationships with shipping partners which have allowed us to offer a full range of shipping options to our customers, all at extremely competitive prices.

We are proud to offer our customers who would like to purchase lipo batteries from our International warehouse the following shipping options:

Registered Airmail & Air Parcel
Using the standard postal service, these are the lowest priced shipping options. Delivery time can sometimes be a little slow, but this is the shipping option of choice for the people that would rather spend their hobby fund on products rather than shipping.

EMS
Express Mail Service is quicker than regular mail services, but it is also a little more expensive. Good for when you need your spares by the weekend.

FedEx Priority
The highest priced of the shipping options, but it sure is QUICK!

Everybody at HobbyKing would once again like to thank you for your patience and understanding throughout ‘lipogate’ and we hope that you will continue to give us the opportunity to serve you.

Best regards,
Anthony Hand
President
HobbyKing

I just tried to ship to myself a 10$ LiPo pack, and sure enough it works.

International (Registered) Air Mail 101 - 200g Lipo $5.99

I'll have to test soon, as I (always) need new batteries or my neverending airsoft projects.

[Stealth]

I tried as well but got this.

Due to new shipping regulations, we can no longer ship lithium based batteries using Registered Airmail.

Please select another shipping option.

Alternatively, you can remove the Lithium based batteries in your cart and continue to payment.

Or....Fedex Priority for $24?

[K3vX]

Was that a message you got after placing your order, or a warning while confirming the cart? Because as you can see, they did add the Lipo mention to the Registered Air Mail.

Edit: Tried it, got the popup when trying to confirm. I see.
Looks like a bug to me, I contacted support to clear the confusion.