SparkFun Forums 

Where electronics enthusiasts find answers.

How long did it take to get to your neck of the woods?
By skimask
#144150
Then order from China.
They'll ship anything, anywhere, anytime, with little, if any, regard to rules, regulations, customs, color, weight, size, mass, contents, smell, taste, quantum physics, law of gravity...
By sukhinov
#144173
That is what I was thinking about.

I will order everything except batteries from Sparkfun, and batteries from China (together with new shoes for my wife to reduce shipping cost relative to the price of order).
By sukhinov
#144464
CS Paul wrote:For an update, it looks like ours shipments won't be affected much. Most of our products don't fall within their specs here:

http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2 ... dt_004.htm

Large shipments may be affected, as well a few items, but they will be dealt with as they arise. No problem for normal-sized orders.
According to this page "Mail­ing batteries internationally, or to and from APO, FPO, or DPO destinations is prohibited regardless of mail class."
That means that I cannot order even coin cell battery from SparkFun :(
By CS Paul
#144525
Ah, right. That's pretty specific. Still, UPS and FedEx should not be affected. The USPS has dropped this pretty suddenly. I hope they decide to reconsider before next January.

We're working out how to limit it. We'll probably just remove the USPS options at checkout if batteries are in the cart, but can't definitely say yet.
By MichaelN
#152677
I second the suggestion to order from China. For LiPos, Hong-Kong based www.hobbyking.com is a better option than just going onto Ebay, as you know what brands you're getting, they have user reviews which don't appear to be censored and the prices are great.
By sukhinov
#152705
OK, I removed batteries from my order, added items to the cart, pressed «Calculate Shipping», and don't see «USPS Express Mail International», but see these options:

FedEx International Priority
FedEx International Economy
USPS First-Class Mail International Package

Why?
By CS Paul
#152758
Express Mail Int'l is also excluded to certain countries for the electronically generated labels we use, Russia being one of them. If you need that shipping method, we can do a manual label, but it's not an available method for regular checkout.

If you would like to have an order shipped by Express Mail Int'l, please place your order with First Class Mail Int'l and select "Offline Fax" as the payment method at checkout, then email your order number to customerservice@sparkfun.com. We can manually upgrade, get payment, and do the label at that time.

*To Clarify* Lithium batteries still cannot ship via USPS - the method described above is only available for orders that do not contain them.
By sukhinov
#153162
No problem, I have arranged delivery via mail forwarding service. Now I will wait till my friends' parcels will consolidate at forwarder, and then forwarder will send one big parcel here.
P.S. One of my friends added Kevlar ballistic vest to the big parcell. I hope it wil not arouse customs suspicion.
By MichaelN
#153163
sukhinov wrote:...One of my friends added Kevlar ballistic vest to the big parcell. I hope it wil not arouse customs suspicion.
Wow, if you tried that to Australia and were caught you'd be looking at criminal charges...