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--- fuss:social_engineering [2017/05/08 19:35] – created office
+++ fuss:social_engineering [2024/04/13 19:17] (current) – [Shipping Lithium Batteries by Air] office
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 Facebook has very lax sign-up procedures for mobile users - you just have to change your user-agent to a mobile user-agent and then proceed to Facebook's mobile website ''m.facebook.com'' and sign-up.
+====== Shipping Lithium Batteries by Air ======
+Typically, due to flight-restrictions, large lithium batteries cannot be shipped by air, which makes the procurement of the batteries legally impossible in remote geographic areas. Islands, for example, are particularly affected because ground travel is impossible such that only freight and/or air is available as a shipping method. Ship / freight charters are a great way to send oversized cargo but there is definitely no end-user or consumer access to the shipping such that an individual would realistically be able to conveniently arrange a shipping - even so, freight and cargo might even refuse, say, a single lithium battery, being more of a means of transport for bulk merchandise.
+Lithium batteries have been deemed so dangerous that they cannot be transported at all; however, most of that is a ruse, lithium only really reacting viciously with water but being more or less safe otherwise. Regardless of that, lithium batteries could be transported in metal containers, lithium itself not being acidic, such that in the event of a fire, the whole mess would be contained.
+In order to solve the issue, and get a lithium battery transported, contacting Chinese sellers directly, even on Amazon whilst being polite, explaining the problem and asking if they can arrange something is a good bet. Companies such as FedEx, DHL or other door-to-door delivery companies tend to cooperate most of the time in exchange for a little extra on top, knowing the limitation and turning a blind eye, whilst accepting to transport the battery by air, in spite of the ban.
+Chinese sellers are particularly good at arranging such things, and we have tested this scheme ourselves at Wizardry and Steamworks and it works great. The price was fair, consisting in the base-price (as if sent via road), plus about 150 bucks and a delay of a week or two but the result was flawless with one of the delivery companies just visiting us at work and directly handing us a battery that otherwise would have been illegal or impossible to import.
+Just for protection, we arranged that the transaction goes through Amazon; that is, we asked the seller to put the battery up as an item sold through Amazon Marketplace, and then bought it as if we were a regular customer, thereby benefiting from Amazon's assurance, just in case the seller would have been shady (as it might happen with such underhand deals). The shipment went on for about four weeks, but the Chinese seller that we bought from actually "assembles" the batteries themselves (out of smaller individual batteries) such that we think that a lot of this time was actually just spent on "creating" the battery itself rather than shipment. Once the shipment got a tracking number, it was a matter of 5 days at most for the battery to be delivered cross-continentally. Otherwise, loads of patience, many thank yous, and the transaction and delivery went flawlessly!
+We wish we could mention exactly which seller it was but we would rather not get them in trouble - it might suffice to say that Chinese sellers should be looked up and talked to directly in case they have lithium batteries for sale and you're looking for a custom delivery or even custom work.
+Nevertheless, we are phenomenally proud to have scored some contraband and now being able [[/vehicles/e-scooters/uk_moden_tech/l1e-b/switching_from_lead_acid_to_lithium_batteries|to rework a scooter one one of our side-projects]]. :-)