How to buy Hearing Aid Batteries on eBay

Here is a short guide to help you buy hearing aid batteries on eBay.
I hope you will find it useful.

First of all there are 4 type of batteries available, there are 2 ways of indentifying them: number and colour.

Size 10 with Yellow tab
Size 13 with Orange tab
Size 312 with Brown tab
Size 675 with Blue tab

Compatibility
Whatever brand you are currenly using, all others will be compatible as
long as the colour and number is matching yours. You should nevere
worry about compatibility between brands. Basically all size 10 with a
yellow tab WILL be compatible. Just like all AAA batteries are,
regardless of the brand.

All battery model will usually have a reference and the needed number
will be in that reference (size 10 battery can be a 10A, AE10, ZA10,
etc....).

In case of doubt, ask the seller. Professional sellers will usually
come back to you withing a couple of hours with the response (during
normal office hours).
Quality
The tougher one! Which batteries to buy?
Should it be Rayovacs, Duracel or the Earpower ones? or no branded ones??

Personally, I would suggest a couple of very important points here regardless of brands.

- Make sure you buy from a reputable source, sellers with very high positive feedbacks (98% minimum!).

- Ensure that the batteries on offer are the freshest possible.
Reputable sellers advertise their "sell-by-date" on all hearing aids
batteries listings. Some sellers advertise 3 years shelf life, some
others have just a few months left. The latter is not good of course.
Their pricing might look interesting but overall, if the batteries dont
last as long, they turn up pricier!
This is very important because of the way these batteries work. They
are known as zinc-air batteries, meaning, that in order to release
energy, they need to be activated by air. Hence the sticker on the back
of the battery. Once removed, it releases the air inside and the
battery starts working. It works great, but, the sticker cannot be 100%
air proof when attached to the battery, meaning that over time, the
batteries loose on effectiveness! Ensure you buy the freshest ever and
avoid sellers not advertising this date (there are quite a few of
them!!)

- Avoid sellers from far flung places like China or Hong Kong. Price
migh seem interesting but once costs of shipping has been added, they
always turn out pricier.
Also you are not guaranteed to get them, there is a lot of postal losses etc...
These sellers cannot offer any form of guarantee. Say your battery
damages your expensive privately bought device, who will pay for the
repairs? Only EU based sellers can offer a suitable guarantee / cover.

- Avoid non professional sellers like the plague. These sellers sell
without any registrations, this is black economy, these people do not
pay taxes and cannot offer any warranty/guarantee either.

- Avoid "end of line" resellers or people selling bankrupt items etc...
Easy to find out, check their other items for sale and if they sell
hearing aods batteries alongside toothpaste and DVDs, you know that
they are trading in anything they can put their hands on. That also
means that they dont know where the itmes come from, how they were
stored etc... They probably will not be in a position to provide any
satisfying support as they don't know much about hearing aids...

Now about quality of batteries!

I use size 10 and have tried quite a few brands over the years: Rayovac, Duracell, Panasonic, PowerOne, Renata and EarPower.
Overall, I have paid anything from

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