U.S. sellers will not be able to use the U.S. Postal Service to ship lithium batteries—or items that contain these—to places outside the country, starting on Wednesday.
The USPS unexpectedly enacted a ban on international shipment of the batteries and items that contain them. The ban is meant for rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries, and devices that have removable and non-removable lithium batteries, like cameras, tablets, scanners, MP3 players, power drills, remote control toys and other devices, according to news reports.
USPS says the ban should be lifted at the beginning of next year. However, at that time, only specific amounts of lithium batteries will be allowed to be shipped internationally if they are installed in the devices they’re meant for.
According to news reports, fully charged lithium batteries pose a fire hazard and can explode under certain conditions. This hazard sparked a discussion between the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Universal Postal Union, two organizations that provide guidelines for international trade, which led to USPS’ decision to ban lithium batteries in international trade.
Lithium batteries and products that contain them can still be mailed outside the U.S. via FedEx, UPS, DHL and other mailing services, but these often charge higher fees.
Rebecca Miller, an eBay seller of more than 12 years, says the ban could impact a lot of sellers “out of the blue.”
“There are a lot of items that you wouldn’t think contain lithium batteries,” she notes. “It’s too bad there wasn’t more notice about this, so that sellers could’ve updated their items that would be banned if shipped via the USPS, and revise them to not include international shipping, or at the very least, change to a carrier that still allows the item.”
For more information, visit USPS.com.
