NKON vs the world??

Ok I am really getting tired of dealing with NKON..I have a little battery building buisness and order 800 cells at a time, and everytime it gets slower and slower...here is the latest email..

"Hello,

Your order was send to germany today. From there it will ship out with Fedex to you. We will send you tracking once you get it. Please note that it might take a long time, the company in germany is always busy and does this as a favour to us.

Regards,
NKON B.V."

The last time it took one month to get my cells (To Canada).

Does anyone know of any other wholesaler that has prices as close to what NKON does??

Examples..Panasonic NCR18650PF..if buying over 300, 2.05 Euro// Samsung INR18650-25R ..buy over 200, 2.07 Euro//

So if a buisness wants to do buisness they have to deal with these guys who deal with other guys and HOPE for a favor??..this order I bought 1040 cells and that comes to 2100 EURO which is $3200 Canadian, plus shipping at .25 PER cell..etc etc.

If anyone knows of another company selling these cells at anywhere near these prices, I would appreciate knowing.

Thanks

John

I bought a test batch of 50 inr18650-25r cells from IMRbatteries.com. I've been happy with them so far. I've been charging and testing them and they have been extremely consistent. Based on what I've read online they are genuine. They were about $3.50 shipped to me. I ordered over the weekend and I had them at my house on Wednesday. I'm new to this arena and I was real worried about ordering fake cells and I did tons of research. I'm definitely going to order more from these guys. Probably somewhere in the ballpark of 220-250 more cells on my next order.

gpn said:

I bought a test batch of 50 inr18650-25r cells from IMRbatteries.com. I've been happy with them so far. I've been charging and testing them and they have been extremely consistent. Based on what I've read online they are genuine. They were about $3.50 shipped to me. I ordered over the weekend and I had them at my house on Wednesday. I'm new to this arena and I was real worried about ordering fake cells and I did tons of research. I'm definitely going to order more from these guys. Probably somewhere in the ballpark of 220-250 more cells on my next order.

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Thanks for the reply...yeah I contacted them..wanted to know if they could match NKON in price and they could not..I would get them at this price but by the time I get them here with the exchange rate would be $4.30 each Canadian plus tax would be about 4.90 each or about 65 cents more each...an average 72 volt 20ah pack at 140 cells means $84.00 more...but hold on...at only 50 quantity they are $3.50...what was the cost of shipping??

John

Sorry, $3.50 shipped was wrong. Forgot to add shipping. Shipping was $15. I also bought some other stuff too. A chargers, some random tools, etc.

I'll be ordering around 200 next time and that was quoted as $669 with shipping for a cell cost of USD $3.34. It sucks that it costs so much to cross that border!

I've been always looking around, I never found nothing cheaper.

Maybe some tips or tricks, would be to start using a different address, maybe a family member that lives close by. Just to see, maybe do two orders, each of 500 cans, one to your address using your usual paypal account, the other using a different paypal account to your families address nearby. Then see what happens.

I dont know if OSN Power has 18650 brand name cans or not.

Used NKON 3 times for ~300 batteries and extras. Never got any problems. Got my cells by Friday after ordering over the weekend. Shipping was within the EU though.
Maybe it's the overseas shipping which makes it so painful?

It does seem that way, unfortunately.

there are basically only 2 shipping companies in europe that are willing to ship large volumes of cells and they know it. prices are almost criminally high and considering there is no competition you are basically SOL.

nkon is dependant on these companies to ship overseas (they get them by the litteral shipload) so despite me living quite close to them so i just pick them up i have sent batteries internationally and it is basically a exersise in restraint and self control when dealing with these shipping companies.

ps: not defenting nkon at all here, just pointing out they have no control over international shipments when it leaves their warehouse.

Gearbest seems pretty good. Their delivery is slow though, shipped from China but postage prices are good. I found I had to split my order of 26 Lillakala battries into 2 shipments for the website to accept my delivery. https://www.gearbest.com/batteries/pp_663615.html?wid=21

robb said:

Gearbest seems pretty good. Their delivery is slow though, shipped from China but postage prices are good. I found I had to split my order of 26 Lillakala battries into 2 shipments for the website to accept my delivery. https://www.gearbest.com/batteries/pp_663615.html?wid=21

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that is not really practical if you need like 400~600 panasonic PF's for a pack.

I Apologize that I havent been on here in a bit...starting my new 24s14p pack, that I am going to show on here.

Got the first of three orders..and for NKON thats quick..I think that they are the only guys in town as for prices and shipping is limited to this company in Germany (obviously he would not tell me who they are,as I believe they buy direct from the factory and NKON is a middle man especially for large orders as I do.

large orders is relative, i believed i did large orders until i saw their warehouse.
me walking in like a boss for ordering 700 cells and at the same time see a guy walking out the side with a electric pallet jack moving quite a litteral ton of cells into a small truck. :?

flippy said:

large orders is relative, i believed i did large orders until i saw their warehouse.
me walking in like a boss for ordering 700 cells and at the same time see a guy walking out the side with a electric pallet jack moving quite a litteral ton of cells into a small truck. :?

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lol...yup..everything is relative...I literally probably cant imagine how many cells they move in a typical week...ordering 700 cells at a time probably wouldnt even qualify as a tiny potato...

flippy said:

robb said:

Gearbest seems pretty good. Their delivery is slow though, shipped from China but postage prices are good. I found I had to split my order of 26 Lillakala battries into 2 shipments for the website to accept my delivery. https://www.gearbest.com/batteries/pp_663615.html?wid=21

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that is not really practical if you need like 400~600 panasonic PF's for a pack.

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True but ok for someone building batteries for their own use. In the UK prices between Nkon and Gearbest are very similar but the Lillaka batteries from Gear best are currently cheap at around £4.50 for a 5Ahr battery. Also as soldering pack only about half the number of batteries to solder compared to 18650's. Haven't tried them yet but have good reviews here http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?423805-Test-Review-of-LiitoKala-INR-26650-5000mAh-cells

robb said:

flippy said:

robb said:

Gearbest seems pretty good. Their delivery is slow though, shipped from China but postage prices are good. I found I had to split my order of 26 Lillakala battries into 2 shipments for the website to accept my delivery. https://www.gearbest.com/batteries/pp_663615.html?wid=21

Click to expand...

that is not really practical if you need like 400~600 panasonic PF's for a pack.

Click to expand...

True but ok for someone building batteries for their own use. In the UK prices between Nkon and Gearbest are very similar but the Lillaka batteries from Gear best are currently cheap at around £4.50 for a 5Ahr battery. Also as soldering pack only about half the number of batteries to solder compared to 18650's. Haven't tried them yet but have good reviews here http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?423805-Test-Review-of-LiitoKala-INR-26650-5000mAh-cells

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Checked the link...for a big battery its VERY poor for power..only 5 amp discharge??....a bit of a joke, and out of the three cells tested, they all varied in resistance and that will wreak havoc in a pack with regards to balancing.

>>Checked the link...for a big battery its VERY poor for power..only 5 amp discharge??....a bit of a joke, and out of the three cells tested, they all varied in resistance and that will wreak havoc in a pack with regards to balancing.<<
Haven't yet built battery so haven't tried it but my reading of review is a 10 amp draw and ir are all the same . My knowledge of electronics is quite poor though. I'll post my experience a bit later. Price is good imv at around £200 a kwh and weight too at 5kg/kwh. Another review quotes "Performance looks good up to 15A-20A" http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/LiitoKala INR26650-50A 5000mAh (Black) UK.html