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[PedalsMcgrew]

Your right Nick but the key here is 'built up a reputation' the point being made is that if the company in question has not built up any reputation then what else have you got to go on?

Look at it like this....your interested in a bat that looks lovely in the pictures you've seen. You know of no one who has used the bats before, no one who has even seen one in the flesh. The company selling the bats is new to the market and hasn't had time to build any kind of reputation. You can only buy the bat online as by it's very nature the company deals in very small numbers and is in a different part of the country. Asking questions about where the bats they are selling come from and who is making them would seem to me to be a fairly sensible thing to do! Maybe your just a lot less cynical than me mate! 

[tim2000s]

Your right Nick but the key here is 'built up a reputation' the point being made is that if the company in question has not built up any reputation then what else have you got to go on?

Look at it like this....your interested in a bat that looks lovely in the pictures you've seen. You know of no one who has used the bats before, no one who has even seen one in the flesh. The company selling the bats is new to the market and hasn't had time to build any kind of reputation. You can only buy the bat online as by it's very nature the company deals in very small numbers and is in a different part of the country. Asking questions about where the bats they are selling come from and who is making them would seem to me to be a fairly sensible thing to do! Maybe your just a lot less cynical than me mate! 

Do what you would do in any normal procurement process in a corporate world. Ask for references and follow them up.

[Nickauger]

Or take a punt and then send it back if it's rubbish. As long as it's paid for through the right channels you should be fine. The only reason I would worry was if I had to meet them in a supermarket car park and pay cash to pick them up. If that was the case then I would definitely want references and word of mouth.

[PedalsMcgrew]

Or take a punt and then send it back if it's rubbish. As long as it's paid for through the right channels you should be fine. The only reason I would worry was if I had to meet them in a supermarket car park and pay cash to pick them up. If that was the case then I would definitely want references and word of mouth.

But how do you know they would accept it back? It's your word against theirs and this hypothetical company has no track record at all! It's all about minimising the risk! 

[tim2000s]

But how do you know they would accept it back? It's your word against theirs and this hypothetical company has no track record at all! It's all about minimising the risk! 

But that's the point. Your hypothetical company doesn't exist. Blankbats came from forum members that some of us knew already and were able to verify their claims, and most small makers make for teammates to start with, who then verify their claims. None of them that I've seen at least (and I am willing to be proved wrong) start with "Here's my website, buy a bat..."

[Nickauger]

To be honest, they're going to be pretty big before you hear of them though aren't they? I go back to my original point that the mods made a point that for example a black cat is a black cat and nothing else! You wouldn't buy a bat that looked rubbish, and if it looked good then chances are it will be good as there will be money spent on design, manufacture etc. If you speak to the company owner (which you probably will if its a small company) then you will get a feel for the bloke and the company. will have a return address on the package and you can report them to trading standards (without affecting your statutory rights) .and all will be fine. I wouldn't want to know to be honest, as far as I'm concerned a bat is a bat made by that company.... end of. All of this is irrelevant anyway, because the bloke at Blenheim cricket said that he would tell whoever was seriously interested in one of his bats, who they were made by anyway.