BATTERY SELLERS - THE GOOD, BAD, UGLY -- or Jenny (DOCAN) so far so good ...

Butcher said:

But Docan gave me all the numbers before I even when to the PayPal page. Once I pay for the transaction, I have never got any additional fees. It's very clear how much it will be to get those cells to my door.

I do not get what you are saying.

Click to expand...

It's pretty well established that if a store advertises something at a certain price, and then doesn't have that item when you walk in, or adds additional charges when you try to purchase it, that's a shady business practice. If they do it with the intent of getting you to buy another, more expensive item, then it's called bait and switch (not the situation in this case).

Sales tax is a known, statutory cost that's added to every bill by every (legal) seller. It may vary between jurisdictions, but you know about it going in. You don't, however, expect to go into a grocery store and see a 5% charge for paying for your groceries added on top of your bill. It is not a standard business practice for Chinese sellers, as illustrated by my experience with importing machine tools and buying stuff off AliExpress (same company and offers same payment services as Alibaba).

But when you buy these batteries, you're not buying them off Alibaba. You're sending payment to the company and they ship the cells from a US warehouse. So the additional charge just for paying your invoice is at the discretion of the company. It's not a statutory or consistent charge across sellers (i.e., common business practice).

Side note: Years ago, VISA used to have a clause in their contract with sellers that prevented them from charging an extra fee if someone chose to pay by credit card, rather than cash in parts of Asia. I've forgotten the name of the clause, but a colleague mentioned it after going on vacation in Nepal with someone who worked for VISA and brought it up when a seller tried to add a surcharge. Now, it seems common for some sellers to add a charge if you use a credit card rather than paying cash (gas stations are an example).

Surferdudemi said:

Side note: Years ago, VISA used to have a clause in their contract with sellers that prevented them from charging an extra fee if someone chose to pay by credit card, rather than cash in parts of Asia. I've forgotten the name of the clause, but a colleague mentioned it after going on vacation in Nepal with someone who worked for VISA and brought it up when a seller tried to add a surcharge. Now, it seems common for some sellers to add a charge if you use a credit card rather than paying cash (gas stations are an example).

Click to expand...

I worked at a gas station that had a cash price and a higher credit card price. That was during the gasoline price spike in the late 80's.

Where this practice is not allowed, some businesses get around it by giving a 'discount' for using cash.

Now it is common to get credit cards that give '1% cash back' on all of your purchases. Where does this money come from? Well, the credit card company charges the store 3% for each transaction. They use part of that to pay their expenses and fees, give the card holder 1%, and keep the rest as profit. How does the store pay the 3%? They raise their prices. So people who pay cash are paying extra so that people who pay with credit cards can get cash back as a promotion by the credit card companies.

Now that sounds more like fraud than a business telling you that you are responsible for whatever transaction fees your payment method requires.

Why dont we just get the thread back on topic, who cares what people think about the fees.
If you don't like it, don't pay them and move on.

Rossman said:

Why dont we just get the thread back on topic, who cares what people think about the fees.
If you don't like it, don't pay them and move on.

Click to expand...

Good suggestion.

But if threads start staying on topic around here, I will begin to wonder if the people I've been chatting with have been replaced by bots.

I'm not a bot, no matter what my wife says.

I’m more curious as to why stock of Eve cells have dried up and CATL is the manufacture of choice with Docan.

Was it the “grade B” QR codes Eve implemented for Non EV cells that scares people? Thus no vendor wants to sell them even for ESS?

Love to see some prices of “quality” grade B Eve cells and compare them to these CATL cells.

740GLE said:

Was it the “grade B” QR codes Eve implemented for Non EV cells that scares people? Thus no vendor wants to sell them even for ESS?

Click to expand...

This is my assumption. It's otherwise a striking coincidence that when EVE decided to put the B marking, Docan can/will no longer supply EVE cells.

When I made an order with Daisy at Docan, she indicated that EVE has not had any cells for some time. I do not recall the reason, but their only choice at the time was CATL. They have not showed up, but if they were half as good as the other EVE batteries that were sold to me, I would be happy. I have a few more weeks before they should be at my door step.

Butcher said:

When I made an order with Daisy at Docan, she indicated that EVE has not had any cells for some time.

Click to expand...

This seems hard to believe since Luyuan still sells EVE cells, and also it was only a couple months ago that EVE was trying to offload extra cells they'd manufactured for a discounted rate.

740GLE said:

I’m more curious as to why stock of Eve cells have dried up and CATL is the manufacture of choice with Docan.

Was it the “grade B” QR codes Eve implemented for Non EV cells that scares people? Thus no vendor wants to sell them even for ESS?

Love to see some prices of “quality” grade B Eve cells and compare them to these CATL cells.

Click to expand...

i believe you are correct in your asumption

I've had good luck with Docan so it would not matter what they say. If they do not have them, it could be because the oompa loompas were on strike, it would not matter what the reason is, they did not have any for sale.

hankcurt said:

Good suggestion.

But if threads start staying on topic around here, I will begin to wonder if the people I've been chatting with have been replaced by bots.

Click to expand...

Drama is the lifeblood of forums

Rossman said:

This seems hard to believe since Luyuan still sells EVE cells, and also it was only a couple months ago that EVE was trying to offload extra cells they'd manufactured for a discounted rate.

Click to expand...

You mean the ones sunfun kits was offloading. Lol

Cheap 4-life said:

Ordered 19 CATL 280ah cells from Amy (Docan). Cost me $2450 total. I’ll let yas know when they arrive

Click to expand...

They have arrived! They look very good. No swelling at all, completely flat. Each cell was 3.293-3.295. Will be giving them their first charge tomorrow. Hopefully the voltages stay close enough during the steep part of the curve. I’m not pre top balancing them, hoping the bms will balance them out while absorbing for 2 hours..

Did you try scanning the LiFePO4 QR code to see what it shows on each battery?

No, I thought about it, I have never scanned anything, probably wouldn’t do it right

Cheap 4-life said:

They have arrived! They look very good. No swelling at all, completely flat. Each cell was 3.293-3.295. Will be giving them their first charge tomorrow. Hopefully the voltages stay close enough during the steep part of the curve. I’m not pre top balancing them, hoping the bms will balance while absorbing for 2 hours..

Click to expand...

Hrm... Are you sure the QR code is supposed to be offset like this? I'm quite certain its supposed to be right next to the vent.

If you are brave, peel back the Black surface sticker and see if an original qr code is next to the vent.

Alkaline said:

Hrm... Are you sure the QR code is supposed to be offset like this? I'm quite certain its supposed to be right next to the vent.

If you are brave, peel back the Black surface sticker and see if an original qr code is next to the vent.

Click to expand...

I might have peeled it back before I had the busbars and bms hooked up. These cells have the laser welded studs put on later and probably not by CATL so could that be a reason for a new QR code sticker?

The only time I have seen this is when sellers are hiding the real QR code and putting a fake one on the side, its very common on REPT cells as REPT will actuall mar up, divot up the QR code by the vent so it can not be re-lasered.

If Docan is doing this then they really have hit a new low...

Alkaline said:

If Docan is doing this then they really have hit a new low...

Click to expand...

Yes that would be disappointing