Three months ago, a friend of mine approached me because he wanted the LG Nexus 5 Smartphone. For some weird reason, he thought I own a shop/stall that sells Smartphones. Come to think of it, most people who email in relation to TechArena think that we sell Smartphones or the other electronics we talk about on the website. This cannot be further from the truth as we only do product reviews and give our honest opinions.
Ok, now back to my friend and his quest to buy the Nexus 5. I was not sure where to start when looking for the Nexus device given that they are not that popular in Kenya. I figured out that the possibility of me walking into any retailer in Nairobi and getting the Nexus 5 was almost zero (0). This is the main reason why My friend, he’s called Sam by the way, wanted to help him get the device as he was going to Tanzania for work and he was to be there for 3weeks or so.
Now you will have to know that I have never owned a Nexus device and if you know what Nexus Smartphones are all about, you know exactly why I was motivated to get this particular one. I told Sam to give me a week or so, to get the Nexus 5 for him. At this point, I was not sure how and where I was going to get this Smartphone but the thought of getting the Nexus and playing with it for a few days before Sam is back in town was very exciting.
The Quest Begins
Since I was not sure where to start, I figured that the internet will have all the resources I needed. The first stop was Google where I searched for “Nexus 5 in Kenya”. There were numerous results from a number of online retailers, some were relevant to my search while others were not. I went through all the different results just to see what the base price for the Nexus 5 was. From the different search results on the first page of Google, I found out that the price for the Nexus 5 in Kenya ranges from Kshs 36,000 to Kshs 45,000.
I then decided to head over to the second page of the search results and that I where I saw a Nexus 5 offered on OLX. Up to this point, I had not thought of OLX even for a minute. Following the link to OLX’s website, I was greeted with a number of Nexus 5s from different sellers. Since these Smartphones were offered by different sellers, their prices and conditions were different. There were the brand new ones (still in the box) and some had been used before. Prices started from Kshs 25,000 on the low side and went up to Kshs 45,000.
OLX
Sam had told me that he wanted a new Nexus 5 that was still in the box so I had to filter out the used ones. This meant that most of those below Kshs. 30,000 had to go. Most of these were either used or the buyer did not provide accurate information (according to me). You have to realise that I spend most of my time talking and reading about Smartphones so I have more information than the average consumer does.
Choosing One from the Whole Bunch
Even after filtering out the used ones, choosing one from the whole bunch was difficult. I had to narrow down the list by focusing on a few factors that I thought were important. These factors are:
Price: I wanted to go for one that is above Kshs 30,000 but less than Kshs 35,000. This makes sense given that prices offered by other online retailers started at Kshs 36,000.
Product details: OLX allows users to give as much information as they want so I figured that the seller who provides the most information is the serious one.
Quality Photos: the photos of the phone also needed to be of high quality just to show me exactly what am dealing with. This was to show me if the seller is a serious retailer or not.
Physical shop: dealing with electronics is very difficult especially when it comes to warranties. I wanted a seller who had a physical shop so that I could drop by and see the Smartphone before paying. The shop was also important as I had to know where I could return the device if there are any issues.
Seller’s response: Before deciding which Nexus 5 to go for, I contacted all the sellers with basic questions I had answers to just to see how helpful they will be. I also wanted to see the response time of each seller. In the end, most retailers replied in time (about 48 hours), some have never replied till today.
After all that, I had to make a decision of which one to go for and I decide it was one offered by one seller going by the name Arfaw (am not sure if I have the correct name). He was offering the Nexus 5 at Kshs 32,000. He had a shop along Kenyatta Avenue (Avenue house I think), responded in less than 12 hours, had very good photos, detailed product details and had several other ads on OLX and this showed me that he was a serious seller.
I went to his store two days after making my decision and picked the brand new Nexus 5. I then paid the Kshs 32,000 and was out of there. And that’s it guys, how I saved some cash buying on OLX. Go ahead try it and tell me your experience.
