TheBanyanTree: Save a Buck

[Spoonoid at cs.com]

Spoonoids:

    My cell phone is about eight months old, into a two year contract, and 
its battery has started to sag a little.  When the phone was new, the battery 
would last five or six days on standby, if I didn't make any calls.  And if I 
made a few calls, I would hardly notice the shorter time between charging 
sessions.  But now, the battery lasts only a couple days and I worry about it going 
dead in the middle of a call.  
    So I decided to buy it a new battery.  Went to my friendly local 
Major-National-Brand-Cell-Phone-Company store at the mall to price a new battery, 
thinking these guys are going to want too much for it, but I would check there 
first, just to see. I was thinking 15 or 20 bucks would be way overpriced.  
    The smiling man at the Cell-Phone store wanted $78.95. I successfully 
resisted the temptation to laugh right in the man's face, and calmly told him 
that was a little more than I was planning to pay.  He assured me that this was a 
"Lithium Ion Battery," very expensive to produce, and that is what they cost. 
However, if I were to buy an accessory, like a hands-free-set, or a charger, 
he would give me 10 percent off the whole deal, including the battery.  Well, 
no thank you very much, see you later, alligator.
    When I signed up for the cell phone service in the first place, I paid 
them like 50 bucks for two phones, and agreed to pay an exorbitant monthly fee 
for two years, plus more each month, if I used more than the allotted block of 
minutes.  Were they giving away $160 worth of batteries with those two phones 
for $50?  I know they make back their investment in the equipment over the two 
year life of the contract in the monthly fees, but I’ll just bet those 
batteries aren't worth $80 a pop.  

    OK. I headed over to my friendly local Batteries Plus ™ store to see what 
they wanted for the same battery.  The pleasant man there looked it up in his 
book, and by golly, that little baby will cost me $39.95.  That's a little 
more than I was planning to pay. Well, this is a "Lithium Ion Battery" you know, 
and he assured me that his price was a good deal, and I was unlikely to find 
it cheaper in this town, and he did have one in stock. He didn't say whether 
that was a good deal for him, or for me.  Since I don't really need it today, I 
think I will shop around some more, thanks anyway. 

    Time to check the Internet! I went home and tuned in to Yahoo ™ , typed 
in the part number I found printed on the battery itself, and came up with 15 
hits.  Lemme see, here's one for $80; another outfit wants $75; hey, how about 
$67; there's one for $44, and even better $35.  Seems the best I could find 
was a reputable looking company in Texas that wanted $23 for one battery, or two 
for $20 each, plus about $5 shipping.  Some other companies advertised used 
batteries for $5, but I already have two used batteries that I am not happy 
with. I was almost ready to buy the two at twenty bucks, but decided I hadn't yet 
looked hard enough.  

    Look out eBay ™, here we come. Did a search on the phone manufacturer and 
part number with the word battery, and ended up with a slew of hits. The best 
deal I found was $5.50 per battery, plus about $5 shipping.  I checked the 
seller's eBay feedback score, and sent him an e-mail asking some inane question 
about the quality of his batteries.  He answered the same day with an 
affirmative response, so I knew somebody there was paying attention to their business. 
It looked legit enough for me, so I placed a bid at $5.50 on two of his 
separate auctions.  Two days later the auctions ended with me as the only bidder, 
so I sent him $16, and received the two batteries in the mail, four days later. 
 
    The batteries both work fine, recharge fine, really are "Lithium Ion 
Batteries," and I'm back to five or six days between recharging.  I feel so proud 
of myself for being a smart shopper.  
    Hey, $16 (no tax) beats $160 (plus tax) any day of the week.   

Later, John.  

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