We'd been hearing it for months — at the counter and in our inbox — and now it's fully hit: you search for an 18650 or a 21700 on Amazon, AliExpress or Temu… and it's gone. Or it shows up one day and vanishes the next. Or it's still there, but at a price that makes no sense whatsoever. If that's happened to you, don't worry — you're not losing your mind. The big platforms have been gradually pulling cylindrical lithium cells from sale, and the question we get almost every day is always the same: "So where am I supposed to buy these batteries now?" Let's get straight to the point.
Why have Amazon, AliExpress and Temu stopped selling lithium batteries?
First things first, and this is important: it's not because they're illegal. They're not. An 18650 or 21700 cell is just as legal in the EU as a screw or a cable. What's changed isn't the law — it's the internal policy of a handful of platforms.
The real reason? Liability. With the Digital Services Act (DSA) and tightening rules around what gets sold to everyday consumers, marketplaces have decided to play it safe. A loose lithium cell isn't a casual purchase — you need to know how to handle it, charge it, and above all, assemble it correctly. It's more of a professional or technical product than a household one. And when faced with the risk of a claim because someone inexperienced misuses one, versus simply stopping sales to the general public, they've chosen the latter.
For you, the result is that maddening shuffle of listings that appear and disappear, sellers that vanish overnight, and prices that shoot through the roof. The place where you'd been buying for years suddenly won't sell to you anymore.
Let's be clear: they're legal, and you probably have some within arm's reach
We'll keep saying this because it causes so much confusion: no law prohibits buying or selling cylindrical lithium cells. This is a private commercial decision, not legislation. And these cells are an absolutely central part of how almost everything cordless works today.
Think about it for a second. You probably have a few within a couple of metres of wherever you're reading this. The 18650 and 21700 are the heart of cordless drills and screwdrivers, electric scooters and e-bikes, laptop batteries and power banks, high-powered torches, robot vacuums, vapes… the list goes on.
And here's the key point: when one of those battery packs starts to fail, in many cases you don't need to throw the whole device away. A drill that can barely finish a single task isn't broken — the cells inside its pack are just worn out. Replace them and it's back to full life. Repairing instead of binning is exactly what a lot of people want to do, and it's precisely what the marketplaces are now making so difficult.
Before you buy: with tab (button top) or without
A very common question from people just starting out. The same cell comes in two different finishes, and it's worth knowing the difference:
- Flat top (no tab): both terminals are flat, like a standard cell. This is what you use for spot welding when building a pack from scratch.
- Button top (with tab): these have a pre-welded metal tab or a raised positive terminal, similar to a regular battery. They're great for battery holders and for anyone who wants to solder more easily without a spot welder.
At SatKit we stock both. In flat top format, for example, you'll find the 18650 2600 mAh and the 18650 3200 mAh; and with a tab for soldering, the 18650 3000 mAh and the 2000 mAh version, ready to go. One piece of advice we always give: be suspicious of impossibly high mAh claims. A real 18650 lands somewhere between 2000–3500 mAh. If you're seeing "9900 mAh" for two euros, you already know what's going on.
Where to buy 18650, 21700 and other formats in 2026
This is where we come in. SatKit Electrónica is a shop built for professionals, workshops, repairers and serious hobbyists. That's why we've kept selling what the big platforms have stepped away from — and we're doing it at exactly the moment it's become such a headache to source for individuals and small businesses.
In our lithium batteries and chargers category, you'll find the most in-demand cylindrical formats:
- 18650 in multiple capacities (2400, 2600, 3200 mAh…) — the most universal format out there.
- 21700 4800 mAh, the bigger sibling that's become the go-to for mobility applications thanks to its higher capacity.
- 26650 5000 mAh when you need serious capacity to spare.
- And the compact options — 18350 and 18500 — for torches and smaller builds.
Not just the cell: here's the full kit
Honestly, this is what sets us apart. Getting hold of the cell is the easy part — the hard part is finding someone who has everything else under one roof. If you're going to build or repair a pack properly, you're going to need a lot more than just the cells:
- Sunkko spot welders. It's the benchmark brand, and we carry nearly the full range: from the compact 709A and 709AD+ (this one has a built-in soldering iron) to the more heavy-duty 737G, 737DH, 738AL and 788H. We also stock welding probes and spare parts.
- Nickel strip and steel strip. Nickel sheet and steel strip rolls in various widths — 0,1 x 2 mm, 0,1 x 5 mm… — for connecting cells together. Choose the width based on how much current your pack will be pushing.
- BMS and protection boards. Configurations including 3S, 4S and more, to protect your pack against overcharge, over-discharge and short circuits. This isn't optional — a pack without a BMS is a problem waiting to happen.
- PVC heat shrink tubing. A full range of heat shrink for battery packs in standard widths (such as the 180 mm size) for wrapping and insulating your finished pack.
- Everything else to complete the build: battery holders, smart chargers like the XTAR VC4 or the TP4056 module for your own projects, and even fireproof charging bags for extra peace of mind.
Why we work with FST and not Samsung, Panasonic or LG
We get asked this a lot, and we'd rather answer it straight. The brands everyone knows — Samsung, Panasonic, LG — don't actually manufacture for the open market. They produce for other manufacturers, under contracts for hundreds of thousands or millions of units, which end up in EV battery packs, branded power tools or large-scale assembly lines. They don't sit down and sell individual cells to small shops.
So when a modest seller swears they have "genuine" cells from those brands in small quantities, the obvious question is: where did they actually come from? Direct access to those manufacturers is something almost nobody has. We prefer to be straight with you: we work primarily with FST, one of the leading Chinese manufacturers of cylindrical cells, with performance we know from real-world use and results we stand behind. You know what you're buying, and we know what we're selling.
The bottom line: your go-to for lithium batteries in 2026
The big marketplaces' decision has left a lot of people stuck — people who simply wanted to repair their scooter or squeeze more life out of a drill. Something completely legal and entirely reasonable. We're still here for exactly that: a specialist shop with a complete catalogue from first cell to finished pack, fast shipping from Spain across Europe, and proper invoicing for businesses and sole traders.
So if you're after 18650 or 21700 cells — or any other cylindrical format — along with the nickel strip, spot welder, BMS and heat shrink to go with them, you know where to start. Head over to our batteries and chargers category and buy with confidence from people who actually know their stuff.