For years, the BPA has campaigned against buying second-hand. A cot is one item that is frequently bought second-hand with no thought to safety. The sites that I looked at didn’t consider the most dangerous aspect of a second-hand cot and that was whether the cot (which presumably has been dismantled for storage and/or transport) has all the correct fittings and goes back together and is as sturdy as it should be. A number of cots, especially those at the lower end of the price spectrum, can easily have wear in the joints if repeatedly taken part and put back together again.

Changing the search terms slightly to "Buying a cot" produced a lot more results. The sites I did look at only had very short guides with just the essential features mentioned. These were the pros and cons of cots versus cot beds (bigger and last longer but not so useful if there is a second child) and the basic features of cots. These were generally dropsides (one handed operation sometimes mentioned), different heights for the mattress and teething rails.

This is the sort of information that your potential customers have. Of course, we all know that there are other important factors even if we ignore the design and the colour. When demonstrating a cot, mentioning other factors such as the wood and the quality of the fixings can show just how expert you all are!

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---