Basically the title is the tl;dr. I just got the email today that the FP5 with /e/os (more storage + RAM) is back in stock, and when I went to order it I found that my country (Cyprus) is not on the list of places available for shipping. Fairphone’s reasoning for this is that because Lithium-Ion batteries are classed as dangerous goods they can’t ship them with air freight. However, shipping companies like DHL and UPS have sea freight options available, and I would assume that if the proper packaging and labeling is used by Fairphone to remain compliant with laws regarding shipment of such batteries (something I believe they would have to do anyway, regardless of which country they are shipping to), then when they hand over the package to e.g. UPS it is the responsibility of UPS to determine what method of shipment they will use to get the package from source to destination. They might haul it by truck down to a port, and then put it on a ship to the island destination, in this case Cyprus.
Why is this not the case? I’ve ordered and received mobile phones before and had them delivered to my door without a problem. I’m interested to know the reason, and as a bonus if anyone who knows is kind enough, things to consider when ordering to an accepted destination and having friends/family then ship it to me using something like DHL. What hurdles might I encounter if I try to do something like that?
I cannot really give you an answer as to Fairphone’s reasons, but just in case you are not aware of this option yet, you can also buy this from Murena (sometimes at a higher price, but on the other hand Murena offers more colour options):
From all I checked, they do ship to Cyprus. Murena also offers some Fairphone accessories and spare parts.
Ok, that is an option as long as there are no differences in warranty.
However it would be nice to get it from FP themselves, as they give me a free set of fairbuds probably due to some promotion (right now), and also it would mean that a major selling point of getting a FP - the parts - should something break is not blocked to me, which as far as I can tell is the case even if my order would not contain a Li-Ion battery (e.g. getting just a case, or replacement USB-C port).
I will try to discuss with them with regards to non battery products, even though they made it quite clear that if the country is not listed then they do not ship to it in this page