Anyone in Japan?

[kishy]

Hi folks.

I've made an error and purchased a Toshiba Libretto 60/70 Li-Ion battery, new, from Yahoo Auctions Japan via a buying service.

I had verified in advance that Japan Post will handle Lithium batteries, however I missed the fact that the battery must be inside of a computer during international shipment otherwise the parcel is noncompliant and subject to some potentially irritating issues. The buying service accordingly will not ship it anywhere outside of Japan.

They've offered to ship it to a Japanese address, or to dispose of it.

Do we have any members possibly interested in this item, located in Japan, who might want it, or who might know a trick to get it out of the country for me and are willing to act as an additional proxy?

The financial loss is not large, I just don't want the item going to waste.

 

[kishy]

For further information for anyone interested:

This was in the midst of buying an assortment of other items from Yahoo Auctions Japan. I figured the cheap battery's expensive shipping cost would be easily combined into my package of other stuff, hence why I would bother buying a battery from Japan.

But anyway...

I have now been made aware of a further restriction which is the max number of batteries per package.

So not only is there a 100WH capacity limit on Li-Ion battery assemblies (e.g. a multi cell battery, not just a bare cell on its own), and not only must the battery be shipped inside of the device it is used for, but there is also a maximum quantity per shipment box of 2.

So if you want to ship two items in the same box, and both of them use Li-Ion batteries, and one of them happens to use two batteries, that's a no-go.

Oddly strict, but I guess the Samsung exploding phone incident must have put everyone very much on-edge.

 

[kishy]

Bump?

The buying service has not yet disposed of the battery, so it is still on offer if someone has a domestic Japan shipping address at which to receive it. I know we have a few Libretto people here but I'm also pretty sure the Japanese userbase is not gigantic here.

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

A person I know in Japan says "just ship surface mail... But it'll cost ya". Apparently I don't know any vintage computer enthusiasts in Japan either though.

 

[kishy]

A person I know in Japan says "just ship surface mail... But it'll cost ya". Apparently I don't know any vintage computer enthusiasts in Japan either though.

Yeah...I wish it was that easy. While I'm sure 99.9% (perhaps 99.99, or 99.999) of the time a Li-ion battery will make it through the postal system undetected and thus cause no issues, it is technically not allowed, and the buying service doesn't seem willing to break the rules. That being said I'll shoot them back an email asking.

I read the actual stuff on Japan Post's site, they absolutely won't allow it. It's not just the buying service being annoying. The info about sizing of batteries allowed is provided in English but I had to dig deeper with Google Translate to find the bit about the battery needing to be inside the device it is used for. At first glance you would think it was OK based on what's provided in English.