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View Full Version : I've got the eBay Spare Battery Blues


Mike Temporale
05-26-2005, 09:00 PM
I've been roaming around town looking for an extra battery and wall charger for my C500, but all the local shops either didn't have them in stock, or they wanted $35-$40 CDN for each item. :( Eventually, I had to turn my search to the internet and eBay, where I quickly found a wall charger for about $15, and a battery for just $10. Now these are prices I like to see! :) I quickly snapped up both items (from different sellers) and thought my troubles were behind me. Not so. The wall charger arrived and is exactly as I expected. I have no complaints here. However, the battery is another story. It turns out the seller wanted $14 shipping. 8O After a couple days, I got a email about the how the battery had to be sent back to the vendor because it wasn't up to their "high quality standards", but they expected it to be back in stock soon, and my order would ship as soon as possible. Meanwhile, they still had auctions listed on eBay for this sub-standard item. I guess this doesn't concern them unless the auction ends before the stock arrives. :? Not too long after that, I received a rebate on my PayPal payment, and an email saying they are unable to fulfill my order. Normally, I would be rather upset at this guy for wasting my time. However, I just happened to notice in the specs of the battery that it was only 850mAh. Which is significantly less than the 1050mAh that is standard on the Audiovox/C500. So, while I'm upset that I don't have a spare battery, I'm a little happy in knowing I'm not stuck with a smaller and less powerful battery. The lesson here is to pay close attention to all the details of your purchase. I'm lucky this time, but I wonder how many other people are now using a smaller battery on their phones. :?

And now I'm back on the battery hunt. Does anyone know a good place that sells spare batteries at a reasonable price?

Jason Dunn
05-26-2005, 09:27 PM
Sounds frustrating! I've actually been having a similar experience lately - I needed some new batteries for my Uniden cordless phones, and all the stores in Calgary that I tried didn't have the right batteries in stock. It's amazing how hard it is to find something like a battery. So I turned to eBay, found a company selling the exact battery I needed for only $5.99 USD, and I bought four. I'm waiting for them to show up...

Generally speaking, I really like eBay, though you'll always run into a nutjob or two.

spunkkat
05-26-2005, 10:53 PM
The ONLY (2)places i have seen the "correct" battery power is on audiovox's, & Cingular's sites!!! If U find a place please post!!

jkovacs
05-27-2005, 01:40 PM
I've seen them a few places on the net... not for $10 or $15CN, but more like $20 to $25US. Sometimes its true that you get what you pay for and I can't say I've had much luck on ebay. See http://yourwirelesssource.com/shop/5/model/231729/accessory/231385 for the 1050mAh standard battery.

...Joe K.

zoltix
05-27-2005, 06:41 PM
This battery must be rare if Wireless Source are able to sell it at a premium. Their site clearly says : List Price $20.60 Your Price: $24.35

gcherian
05-28-2005, 01:43 AM
The list price is 28.60 and due to the strikout, it looks as if it is 20.60

-- some of the uses of right click-->view source....lol