Somebody suggested shipping Li-ion batteries in discharged state. Here's from wiki:
Prolonging battery pack life
- Depletion below the low-voltage threshold (2.4 to 2.8 V/cell, depending on chemistry) results in a dead battery which does not even appear to charge because the protection circuit (a type of electronic fuse) disables it.[97] This can be reversed in many modern batteries, especially single-cell ones, by applying a charging voltage for long enough to make the cell voltage rise above the low-voltage threshold; however this behaviour varies by manufacturer.
GB