How to fail at selling things

My laptop is getting a bit ancient but still works so I’m loath to replace it. But the battery is knackered so I decided last week to search for a new one.  It appears that almost nobody really wants to sell me one.

Let me explain.

First stop was PC world (I know, I know, but we were in town and it was close by).  They told me it was an old model and they would have to order on in specially and it would take 2 weeks and they didn’t even know how much it would cost. So I left the shop.

Next up was the local independent PC repair bloke. He simply suggested I look online because I could get it cheaper. Hallo?  Do you not want my money then? I left this shop and went home.

Google was my friend. Loads of results so I started to look at the options.  Ignoring Amazon for a while I investigated all the others.  A lot of them didn’t have any contact details other than a contact form.  Some just had a gmail or aol address and one had no means of contact at all. Those with an address were mostly serviced offices or the back bedroom.   I sent messages to all of them asking for confirmation of who they were and where they were. Only one replied and they were a dropshipper in China selling replica batteries.

Even the manufacturer of the laptop seemed reluctant to sell me a battery.  And when I say reluctant I mean I couldn’t find the product on their website.

I looked at ebay but they all looked like cheap copies rather than an OEM device.

Trust is major element when buying online and I want to be sure the people taking my money will deliver the thing I want. I tried really hard to buy a battery from someone independent but it proved almost impossible.

So in the end I got one from Amazon.  It was here is two days.

If you want to sell stuff then make sure you are actually selling stuff. People will pick and choose the best suppliers. Price is irrelevant if you can’t be trusted or aren’t even truthful about the products you are selling