Discharge nimh batt through charge port or break into batt?

[Jeremy]

It is indeed a bit of a lottery - in reverse............

I've found that the big name couriers, like TNT, Fed Ex etc, almost always hit you for the full whack (handling fee, duty and VAT). For small value purchases the handling fee can often be the biggest proportion of the total charges, which is a bit crazy.

Packages shipped using EMS or USPS seem to be less likely to attract charges in my experience, plus the handling fee from Parcelforce (who usually handle EMS and USPS stuff in the UK) seem to be at the lower end of the scale.

I've found that most Chinese vendors seem to automatically mark down the declared value of goods, which does reduce the potential for getting charged. The worst ever charges I had were from TNT, for an electric bike motor shipped from Canada. I paid for the cheapest delivery option, and the package was clearly marked "Economy". However, TNT made an error and shipped it "Express", which meant that the package arrived in about 24 hours. The downside was that they insisted on charging VAT on the "Express" shipping fee, which was about three times that of the "Economy" fee I'd paid. It took several months, lot's of letters and a fair few 'phone calls to sort out.

Jeremy

Jeremy