# Sinopoly Duty Cost into US



## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

it's not something sinpoly would know though.

It's something you should talk to a customs agent about, they'll know the codes and rates for everything.


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## StanSimmons (Sep 3, 2011)

Good luck getting one of the US shipping agents to call you back... 

I've given up ordering direct from Sinopoly. There is just too much uncertainty about what my final cost is going to be. David at Sinopoly gave me good pricing on the cells and misc bits, and reasonable, but not great pricing on shipping from China to a port... but was absolutely unable to give me any pricing on what US import duties to expect.

I'm currently trying to get a good quote out of Mike at lithiumstorage.com


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

Stan, not arguing, I believe you....I'm not sure who you called, but I called 5 places, all of them either picked up or returned my call. Maybe just some bad luck? And it's not Sinopoly that calculate duty and fees, it's customs agents and the warehouses that things are stored before they're released. All of this is almost impossible to calculate, which is why people let importers handle it. Then add to that freight forwarding.

Good luck to you both, I had my own trouble importing $25k in headway batteries a few years back and most of it was due to me shipping to the people in the group buy. My purchase, shipping and customs went very smoothly and I picked it up on a pallet and my old truck.


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## StanSimmons (Sep 3, 2011)

Any thoughts about handling Sinopoly cells as part of your business? 

Since I've already bought a motor from you, I would have no qualms about purchasing cells thru you.


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

I don't have any issues helping you with Sinopoly cells, but my issue is, what laws and regulations do I now have to follow and what training will I need to pick up the cells and re-ship. I don't know if I can just send them to a freight forwarder without opening the packages or if it'll fly. I know UPS freight is ok with shipping that material, but since I haven't shipped lately since new laws were set in place, I'm not sure what to expect. I know at some point Hazmat Class 9 training was required.

I'll look into it... but no promises.


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## ndplume (May 31, 2010)

This is why I put the post up, I wanted to see if anyone on the list had jumped through all the hoops yet. And the approximate costs. I've tried to convince them that if they dropped their pricing to 99Cents/Ah, put in a US warehouse and allowed pay by CC, they'd take the market share by storm. They'd be the 1st company to break the $1/AH barrier.

In the mean time, I'm facing Wire Transfer, 4 weeks shipping and unknown duty costs. with all the capacity that they have, you'd think they'd want to park some in a warehouse here, making it easier to purchase and faster to receive.


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## StanSimmons (Sep 3, 2011)

As far as I can tell NOBODY in the US has received a single Sinopoly cell.

If I wasn't doing a motorcycle and needed the space savings of the Sinopoly 60Ah(B) cell, I would have given up a long time ago and just bought CALB from California.

If I was going to buy a container load of cells, then I would research what I needed to do to get it thru customs, but for 48 cells I'm not going to do that.

I wrote a note to Jack Rickard asking for some hints about getting cells thru customs, or freight forwarding. He has done it many times, so I thought he might know some tricks. His response was typical Jack... "Pack a lunch." 

I agree, the first company to stock cells in the US, and charge under US$1/Ah will own the market. I don't understand why none of the cell companies are building the cells in Mexico, where NAFTA will circumvent many of the customs issues that we are facing.

As for the CC thing, it seems that the Chinese version of "credit" is that they will accept your check rather than requiring bank transfers or cash.


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## jimberry3 (May 11, 2009)

Hello,

A group of us have been considering opening an EV cooperative that sells for lack of a better description, open source EV products at affordable prices. I wont go into that here, but the reason for speaking up on this post is that I go over to Hong Kong on a twice yearly basis and if the demand is truly out there for these batteries, we can order them and warehouse them here in the USA (Ohio to be exact). I can go to the company, workout a deal and walk them (figuratively speaking) through the whole customs deal (I export quite a few custom EV's to Japan, China, Singapore and Dubai). If we warehouse them here, might even name brand them, then we can warranty them here as well.


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## Caps18 (Jun 8, 2008)

I'm in Ohio...  I would be in the market for some $1/Ah LiFePO4 100Ah cells (40 of them).

I've done the whole customs thing for other items. It is way more of a headache then it should be.


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## jimberry3 (May 11, 2009)

It is a pain, if we can get a commitment from a group of people I would move on it and see what I can find out as far as pricing, delivery, etc. But it would need to be a significant purchase, more than 1 or 2 people.


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## skooler (Mar 26, 2011)

jimberry3 said:


> It is a pain, if we can get a commitment from a group of people I would move on it and see what I can find out as far as pricing, delivery, etc. But it would need to be a significant purchase, more than 1 or 2 people.


Hi,

I have been reselling Sinopoly cells in the EU.

I cant really deal with the US market because of customs issues. But if you need a hand in getting a good price let me know, I get a reasonable discount because of the quantity of cells I purchase and I'm happy to share this. 


Cheers,

Mike


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## 3xe-electric-cars (Jun 7, 2012)

I have found a company who will take care about freight to USA, all custom documents and will forward it to final customer with chosen delivery company.

Estimated prices: 
--> 170-200 USD - constant charges
--> 100 USD per 1 CBM (per one cubic meter)
--> + local delivery in USA

I am waiting now to get the import duty rate for lithium batteries. In Europe it is about 2-3%.

If you need support - just let me know (best via e-mail).


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## nucleus (May 18, 2012)

While I have yet to buy any lithiums, I have imported quite a bit of stuff in to the US, and I have found that Fedex has very reasonable fees, especially compared to UPS.


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