Resale Product and Accessory Opportunities for Audiology Practices

Abstract

Patients need and/or want access to any number of products, including consumables and durable goods, and accessories as part of their audiology care. Audiologists have an opportunity to offer products and accessories for resale from their clinical office. Several methods for reselling items to established patients including an overview of an ecommerce approach successfully implemented by several individual audiology private practices will be reviewed. Upon completion, readers will be familiar with the general steps for incorporating an e-shop within an existing business Web site. Additionally, insights as to effective tactics for generating e-shop revenue will be shared.

Why Sell

The nature of audiology lends itself to opportunities to sell products and accessories out of the office. For example, patients need batteries and often rely on items such as dehumidifiers, consumer wax loops and brushes, and/or cleaning wipes to maintain proper function of hearing instruments. Approximately half of these same patients will not completely be satisfied with hearing instrument performance in noise ¹ and require some form of hearing assistance technology (HAT) to supplement their communication needs. Given the overall low market penetration of hearing instruments, offering HAT solutions from your clinical practice may serve as the point of entry for individuals with hearing loss initially reluctant to pursue traditional forms of amplification. ² In addition to amplification products, several moisture protection and/or instrument retention accessories are also available for both hearing instrument wearers and implantable hearing device users including Hearing Aid Sweat Bands, Ear Gear, Huggie Aids, and OtoClips.

Beyond hearing instrument–related products and accessories, numerous other products are commonly purchased by patients. For example, pressure-equalizing ear plugs for air travel (Ear Planes)™, disposable and electronic earplugs and over-the-ear earmuffs for hearing conservation, and swimming- or bathing-related items like swim plugs and protective headbands (Ear Band-It Ultra) may be of interest to your established patients or their family members. Wholesale audiology supply companies provide audiologists with easy access to these different types of products and accessories for the specific purposes of reselling them to patients. When audiologists generate awareness of resale products and accessories to their patients, and properly direct patients to purchase such items when appropriate, it benefits your practice in several different ways.

Creating access to resale products and accessories out of your office serves as an extension of your role as a health care provider. As audiologists, our job is to provide patients the best care possible, including offering solutions in the form of resale products when appropriate or necessary. When manual dexterity interferes with hearing instrument battery insertion, suggesting a readily available insertion tool and having the user pay for the tool is appropriate. If using the home phone creates a lot of frustration because voices are difficult to hear, selling an amplified telephone solution is part of what we do. Offering a lubricant to facilitate insertion of a custom ear plug is part of what we do and purchasing the product is part of what patients do. From these perspectives, making retail products available for purchase is an extension of audiology service.

From another perspective, offering products and accessories from your clinical practice allows patients to immediately purchase products and goods from an established, trusted source. This simultaneously accomplishes a couple of things. First, it provides convenience for your patients who could most likely get the same product from another source. The benefits of convenience cannot be overstated as it contributes to the overall positive patient experience. This is significant, as researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington found patient experience to be an important determinant in patient satisfaction. ³ Second, certain aspects of your patients' needs can be alleviated with resale products and, as a trusted source, offering products for purchase makes sense. The probability of successfully selling to an existing patient ranges anywhere from 60 to 70% ⁴ and as high as 95%. ⁵ Finally, offering resale products and accessories to your established patients may organically pique the interest of individuals who end up in your reception area or access your business Web site who may not currently be part of your patient base and serve as a potential pipeline for acquiring new patients.

What to Sell

Resale items refer to goods purchased by the audiologist with the intention of selling rather than consuming or using them. Resale items can include products (e.g., ready-to-use items like cleaning wipes, earplugs) and/or accessories (add-on items not part of the final product that offers a benefit like retention clips for securing hearing instruments to clothing). Both are available in the form of either a durable good or as a consumable. A durable good refers to a category of consumer products with an extended life; these products or accessories are not easily worn out or consumed quickly. Designed to last 3 years or more, ⁶ a durable good is typically more expensive than a consumable and, depending on the manufacturer, usually comes with some type of warranty. Examples of durable goods commonly purchased by audiology patients include hearing instrument dehumidifiers, personal listening and personal sound amplification devices (PSAPs), amplified alarm clocks, and bedside tinnitus maskers. In contrast, a consumable refers to a product or good that is used up quickly (i.e., consumed), and something patients will need to replace on a regular basis. Common audiology-related consumables include replacement desiccants for hearing instrument dehumidifiers, disposable batteries, cleaning wipes, disposable ear plugs, and cerumen softening agents. Although the nature of a durable good lends itself to returns and repairs, a consumable is rarely returned once purchased. Table 1 lists common durable goods and consumables encountered in the audiology clinic.

Table 1. Durable and Consumable Items Commonly Used by Audiology Patients.

Durable goods	Consumables
• Hearing instrument dehumidifier  • Amplified telephones and telephone amplifiers  • Personal listening devices and PSAPs  • Alarm clocks  • Smoke detectors  • Alerting systems  • TV listening devices  • Amplified stethoscopes  • Headphones and earphones  • Tinnitus maskers  • Electronic headphones for hearing conservation	• Replacement desiccants for dehumidifier  • Hearing instrument batteries  • Cerumen softening agents  • Cleaning wipes, disinfectant spray  • Lubricants  • Anti-itch cream  • Battery testers  • Battery insertion tools  • Tubing air blowers  • Consumer wax loops and brushes  • Cushioned retention pads  • Disposable earplugs

Abbreviation: PSAPs, personal sound amplification devices.

In terms of what products and/or accessories your clinical practice should offer to patients is an individual business decision. Every audiology practice is unique, and the needs of your patients may be very different from the needs of your competition's patients. It remains essential, however, to identify products and/or accessories that offer a solution to your patients and only offer them when the patient wants or needs them.

Ethical Considerations

Retail sales are a straightforward, easy, and efficient way to tap into a secondary source of revenue; however, outwardly selling products to patients for profit raises some issues. The goal of offering products and accessories is to help patients, not to make a sale. ⁵ This is an important distinction to appreciate and recognize. In a position paper published by the American College of Physicians—American Society of Internal Medicine, Povar and Snyder pointed out that physicians have a “ particular duty not to exploit the patient's trust in them in order to enhance income. ” ⁷ Audiologists selling products out of the clinical office are obligated to the same ethical standards. Furthermore, there is a fiduciary responsibility of nonmaleficence (do no harm) and beneficence (bringing about good). ^{7 8} Selling a product that either poses a threat to patient safety and/or unrelated or not relevant to the patient's need is prohibited. ⁷

Other Considerations

Breadth of Product Line

Breadth of product line refers to the number of items offered for resale, including the different options available for a particular product or accessory. If the decision is made to sell product and accessories, your approach to identifying what products and accessories to offer should not involve making any and every possible audiology-related item available for purchase. Rather, consider the clinical relevance of products and accessories to your established patient base and ultimately choose items you and your staff identify as meaningful and useful for your patients. Furthermore, if the decision is made to offer a product, consider limiting options associated with the product to avoid exposing patients to too many choices. When confronted with six or more product options, individuals become overwhelmed and often opt-out of making a purchase. ⁹ Within the context of audiology practice, this phenomenon was observed during pilot projects where assistive listening device (ALD) displays were strategically placed throughout the clinic. According to the audiology staff, showcasing more than 10 ALD products seemed to confuse patients, whereas paring down choices to 10 or less facilitated more engagement. ² These observations were specific to ALDs and may not apply to the broader category of resale products and accessories. There are no data available on the exact combination as to the number of products and corresponding options to offer audiology patients. The important take away, however, is to consciously apply the general principles of choice management. Rather than offering six electronic hearing instrument dehumidifier options to patients, choose the one or two dehumidifiers you identify as the best choices for your patients.

Product Pricing

Most resale products come with a manufacturer's suggested retail price which remains relatively stable across the market. Given the ubiquitous nature of Amazon, however, familiarization with sales prices offered by Amazon and other ecommerce sites for the same or like products and accessories offered by your clinical practice is key to be prepared to respond to patient feedback about finding a product for less online. For resale product and accessories unique to your clinical practice that are not available on Amazon, pricing remains an important factor to the patient. Setting higher prices than necessary as a perceived cost of doing business conveniently could send the wrong message to your patients.

Confidence of Product Line

Acquire sufficient evidence of product efficacy, whether through available research, personal experience, and/or patient testimonials, to recommend resale products and accessories to your patients confidently. For example, offering a lubricant based on reported positive outcomes by experienced hearing instrument wearers makes sense. In contrast, selling over-the-counter (OTC) ear drops with unsubstantiated claims of tinnitus relief to try and make a sale is not appropriate. Keep in mind that most patients will have questions about product use. You and your front office staff need to acquire necessary product familiarization to answer patient questions and address corresponding concerns quickly and accurately.

Ways to Sell

Offering products and accessories out of the office involves strategic placement of items in key locations throughout the clinical setting to generate awareness among your established patient base. It is common for audiology practices to place product and accessories in the reception area, specific rooms in the clinic portion of the business including patient rooms, or a combination of both. Recently, a handful of audiologists have explored ecommerce options for their practice Web site in the form of an e-shop. The next section provides an overview of these approaches.

Physical Product Placement in the Audiology Practice

Physically placing product in the reception area and/or direct patient care rooms within the clinical area can be effective in generating awareness of available product and accessories. While it may seem obvious, it is important for items to be displayed where they easily can be seen by your patients, and not stored behind the reception desk in a cabinet. Just because products are on display does not necessarily mean patients will understand that they are available for purchase. Placing signage with product name, intended use, and price communicates to the patient that the product is available for purchase. Consider having a tester available so that patients can use an item. This experience will most likely educate patients to the benefits of the item and lead them to initiate further discussion about the product with the audiologist or front office staff and/or make a purchase decision quicker. ²

Reception Area

The reception area is the area of your clinical practice used to greet visitors and to offer a waiting area for patients prior to their appointment. It is a logical place to display resale products and accessories because the reception area can organically entice patients to purchase product while they wait, or pique curiosity which may lead the patient to initiate a conversation with the audiologist about a problem they are experiencing as a direct result of coming across an offered product solution. These types of conversations can seamlessly transition to a product purchase.

From these perspectives, the reception area has the potential to become an active retail area for patients to repurchase products related to their visit or hearing health care needs. ^{10 11} Given the product's proximity to the front office staff, this arrangement naturally directs the flow of any product questions and direct purchases to the front office staff, saving the audiologist's time and the responsibility to manage the sale.

While the reception area is a logical place to strategically keep resale products, it does have some inherent drawbacks. First, products displayed in the reception area are more susceptible to theft. Breaking down product displays at the end of the business day is an option but not a very practical one for most situations. Second, new patients who have never visited your clinic and established patients who have not been in for a while will have no knowledge, and perhaps no interest, in the products your practice decides to sell. Finally, without creating patient engagement, the reception area can be a very passive environment and not conducive to retail sales. In other words, simply placing items for purchase in the reception area without any further effort to educate patients will not necessarily result in product and accessory sales.

Patient Care/Counseling Room

Patient care and/or counseling rooms located within the confines of the clinical area are prime locations for displaying resale products for several reasons. First, these locations tend to be closed off from the public, allowing the freedom to display items without worrying too much about something getting stolen. Second, these locations allow patients to potentially see items being used. This type of experience is powerful in initiating patient buy-in as to the merits of a product because they see it being used by an established, credible source, and witness resolution of an issue as a direct result of a product. In many cases, this can very quickly lead the patient to consider making a product purchase decision. Having said that, one disadvantage of placing resale items in patient care/counseling rooms is the tendency for the audiologist to be involved in the product purchase process more than needed. For example, patients provided with resale product and directed to the reception to schedule their next appointment may forget to mention they need to purchase the product. The front office staff can easily overlook the need to process payment for resale items. For these reasons, a combined approach works well.

Combined Approach

A combined approach involves strategic placement of product in both the reception area and in any or all clinical/counseling rooms. This approach offers the collective advantages associated with product and accessory placement in the reception area and clinical/counseling rooms with the added benefit of directing all purchase transactions to one location, preferably the reception area. The general purchase flow of three different clinical scenarios is illustrated in Fig. 1 .

Figure 1.

Purchase flow of three clinical scenarios offering resale accessories for purchase in the audiology clinic.

Scenario 1 involves the patient spontaneously making a purchase while in the reception area, awaiting their appointment. Scenario 2 involves an appointment with the audiologists whereby the patient either sees or actually experiences the use of a product during their appointment time. The patient asks about it, the decision is made to buy the products, and the audiologist directs the patient to the reception area to finalize the purchase. Finally, scenario 3 involves an appointment with an audiologist. In this particular case, the audiologist prescribes a recommend product or accessory. The patient is directed to a dedicated area to test out the recommended product and/or self-explore with other like products to make the most informed decision as to which product they want to purchase. If the patient decides to buy, they proceed to the reception area with the name of the product for purchase and complete the transactions with the front office staff.

Opening an E-Shop on Your Practice Website

Over the course of the past 5 years, a handful of audiologists with established business Web sites were individually approached to consider an ecommerce option for their practice Web site. Ecommerce enables audiology practices to conduct business transaction electronically. It offers immediate advantages including 24-hour access to resale products extending beyond the physical or geographic boundaries of your clinical practice. ¹² Specifically, audiology practice owners were encouraged to create an e-shop. An e-shop is a business-to-consumer online store designed to sell a variety of retail goods and service goods and services. ¹³ Also referred to as e-store, an e-shop is a traditional retail store but instead of maintaining a physical space, its location is on the internet.

The remaining sections of this article are based on insights gained from collaborating with 12 different audiology private practices to establish an e-shop for their current practice Web site. Prior to outlining the practical e-shop development logistics, it seems appropriate to share retrospective feedback from the four private practice audiologists who integrated ecommerce into their business through creating an e-shop. An informal survey was created to gain a better understanding of their motivations for pursuing an e-shop for their clinical practice. ¹⁴ Based on their feedback, there was not one specific reason as to why an e-shop was pursued; rather, each offered multiple reasons, all of which are listed in Table 2 . These reasons generally fell into three categories: (1) service, (2) differentiation from competition, and (3) revenue generation.

Table 2. Reasons Stated by Four Audiologists as to why an E-shop was being Created for their Business Web Site with Corresponding Percentages of Respondents Mentioning Specific Reason.

Reasons	Percentage of respondents listing reason	General category
Convenience for established patients to purchase consumables or products	75	Service
Generate passive income stream	50	Revenue
Attract new patients	50	Revenue
Establish accessibility with 24/7 electronic store front	50	Service
Boost practice brand awareness	50	Competition
Differentiate my practice from local competition	75	Competition
Assist in establishing a distinct line between professional service offered by my practice from OTC solutions	25	Service
Needed a way to offer product without having to assume cost and responsibility of managing physical inventory	50	Revenue
Necessary to compete with Big Box and other retailers	25	Competition
“Cool” factor	25	Service/Competition

Abbreviation: OTC, over the counter.

In terms of service, the main appeal of an e-shop was the ability to offer patients the convenience of purchasing product without requiring the effort to physically come to the office and to do so with 24 hours a day/7 days a week accessibility. One audiologist was interested in an alternative distribution method for PSAPs and/or OTC products from the perspective of drawing a distinct line between retail and service aspects of audiology services. The second general reason audiologists expressed an interest in an e-shop involved differentiation from the competition. Interestingly, more expressed the need to differentiate their clinical practice from local competition beyond Big Box retailers. Lastly, revenue generation was a universal goal with all respondents either through the acquisition of new patients and/or profits from product sales.

E-shop Logistics

In working with 12 different e-shop projects over the course of the last 3 years, processes for e-shop implementation have been streamlined. While data continue to be acquired, valuable insight has been gained. Fig. 2 illustrates general e-shop logistics. This next section summarizes these experiences for purposes of sharing available information for the benefit of audiologists considering ecommerce. In these specific instances, e-shop development has involved collaboration among three parties: (1) the audiology practice owner, (2) information technology (IT) support employed or resourced by the audiology practice owner, and (3) a fulfillment partner like Oaktree Products ( editor's note: the author is employed by Oaktree Products ), the e-shop fulfillment source. Corresponding responsibilities of each party are listed in Table 3 and described in more detail in the following section.

Figure 2.

E-shop logistics involving the audiology private practice, IT support, and fulfillment partner.

Table 3. Responsibilities of Designated Parties for E-shop Development.

Audiologist	Information technology support	Fulfillment partner
• Choose appropriate payment gateway  • Establish e-shop merchant account  • Finalize product offering	• Integrate payment gateway and merchant account  • Build-out e-shop shopping cart  • Brand sales order packing slip	• Maintain proper inventory  • Process incoming orders  • Pick, pack, and ship orders  • Supply product images, descriptions, and pricing

Audiology Practice Owner

The main role of the audiology practice owner is threefold: (1) work with IT support to choose the most appropriate payment gateway, (2) set up a separate merchant account related to e-shop transactions, and (3) serve as the final decision maker on product offering. The payment gateway and merchant account represent two independent factors necessary for the audiology practice to get paid for product sold through e-commerce. The payment gateway interfaces the shopping cart of your e-shop with a credit card company. It provides the ability for an e-commerce site to securely capture credit card information, transmit the information to banks, and generate approval or decline messages back to the business owner. ¹⁵ Simply put, it is the technology an e-shop needs to process credit card payments on-line. Several gateway providers are available including PayPal, Square, and WooCommerce. While it is beyond the scope of this article to address considerations when choosing a provider, it is important to understand and compare fee structures associated with this service, including set-up fees, fees per transaction, and potential service contract requirements tied to minimum processing activity. ¹⁶

When a shopper enters credit card information, the payment gateway captures the information, deducts the amount from the credit card, and transmits the data to the on-line store's merchant account. While the payment gateway does accept (and decline) credit or debit cards as a form of payment, the merchant account allows the actual collection of funds. It is an account designated to receive funds from the credit card transaction. Once the funds have been deposited by the gateway processor into the merchant account, the money will remain in the merchant account. Once the funds subsequently get transferred from the merchant account into the audiology practice's business bank account, only then are funds accessible by the business owner. Since both the payment gateway and merchant account are necessary components of e-commerce, your IT support will be familiar with the technology and capable of providing recommendations based on your current Web site platform along with additional insights to make informed decisions that are most economical and practical for your e-shop.

Lastly, the decision as to what products to put on the e-shop and how to price them is made by the business owner/audiologist. Based on the experience of other audiology-based e-shops, product recommendations and suggested retail prices are provided by the product distributor (described later).

Information Technology Support

In addition to working with the business owner/audiologists to identify and integrate appropriate payment gateways and merchant accounts, the primary role of IT support is to build-out a shopping cart on the back end. In most cases, this involves integrating the e-commerce platform within your existing Web site. This may be as simple as a one-time purchase of e-commerce software that is added on to your current Web site platform. The only time a separate standalone e-commerce package was necessary was for a Web site managed by a hearing instrument manufacturer who would not support integration of an e-shop within the practice Web site. To work around this issue, it is still relatively easy to integrate e-commerce, although it requires additional effort by the business owner to build out the online store.

In addition to building out a shopping cart, IT support is responsible for loading all product information including images, descriptions, and pricing, onto the on-line store, and properly mapping them out to ensure products populate in a logical manner during the shopping process. This process is accomplished in collaboration with the product distributor, described in the next section. Lastly, IT support brands the electronic order document to include the name, address, and contact information of the audiology practice. When an order is placed online, the order documents electronically directed to the designated individual at the audiology practice. This document is then forwarded to the product distributor who uses that document as the order packing slip when fulfilling the order.

Fulfillment Partner

The fulfillment partner is responsible for product inventory and order fulfillment. The advantage of sourcing these responsibilities to a third party enables the private practice to forgo liabilities associated with maintaining product inventory including any need for allocating space for inventory storage. Beyond stocking physical product, product inventory responsibilities include providing product information in the form of images, item descriptions, and suggested retail pricing and working closely with IT support to direct proper item mapping on the Web sites backend to ensure products populate within the appropriate categories.

The fulfillment partner is responsible for picking, packing, and shipping received orders directly to the patient on behalf of the audiology practice. Selecting a fulfillment partner for your e-shop is critical because their ability to fulfill orders efficiently and accurately will be a direct reflection of how your patients perceive your business because all e-shop deliveries include practice-branded order documents with the name, address, and contact information for your clinical practice. From the patient's perspective, orders placed on your e-shop are perceived as orders fulfilled by your clinical practice. As such, picking the company that best delivers on fulfillment logistics is paramount.

Expectations of an Online Store

As appealing as ecommerce may seem, the following should be taken into consideration:

Start-up and Maintenance Costs

Integrating e-commerce into your practice Web site will require start-up and maintenance costs, which can vary considerably depending on Web site platform options. Based on feedback from audiologists who have implemented e-shops, one-time start-up costs related to the cost of add-on software and IT support development have ranged from $750 to $3,000. In addition to these costs, recurring maintenance costs attributed to payment gateway and merchant account services have reportedly averaged out to $50 per month. Since these costs can vary considerably, it is important for your practice to review potential costs, shop for the best rates, and appropriately account for fixed costs within the practice budget.

Revenue Generation Potential

Generating traction on an e-shop takes time. Based on data from six active e-shops, the average number of orders generated during the first 6 months is less than two orders per month. Based on data available from six established on-line stores, this amounts to approximately $550 in sales. Over the course of time, however, the number of monthly orders tends to increase as more patients become aware of your on-line store. For example, two on-line e-stores in operation for at least 3 years generate an average of 22.5 orders per month. ¹⁴ This level of activity has resulted in annual sales of approximately $4,000. The amount of revenue, however, is only a fraction of the sales, typically around 30% of total sales or $2,800. While these data may seem insignificant, audiologists with established e-shops active for at least 1 year reported a future monthly sales potential that ranged from $1,000 to $5,000 per month. ¹⁴ This level of return has yet to be realized, but the perceptions of audiologists with active e-shops on their audiology practice Web site is an interesting anecdote.

Marketing Your E-Shop

The success of an e-shop relies on effective marketing. Your practice may have the most visually appealing and resourceful e-shop; however, if your patients are not aware of it, they won't know how to use it. The following tactics implemented by successful e-shops have been found to be effective:

1. Offer established patients a take-home flyer outlining how to access the e-shop from your Web site.

2. Demonstrate to your patients how to place an order on your Web site during a patient appointment for more common items that may not necessitate an appointment like hearing instrument batteries and cleaning supplies.

3. Integrate an informational blog on your Web site and allocate a portion of your content on products offered on your e-shop. Most blogging and content experts operate off of the Pareto principle, where 80% of your content is educational or informative, and no more than 20% is promotional. ¹⁷ In other words, if you blog once a week, every fourth or fifth post can highlight a retail product without alienating readers. ¹⁰ This can help patients understand product benefits while appreciating why you endorse a particular product. See Appendices A and B for two sample blog posts designed to promote product.

4. Work with the order fulfillment partner to create special online offers. For example, an offer that has been successfully used with an e-shop involved a free pouch of AudioWipes with the purchase of a new hearing aid dehumidifier.

Choosing a Fulfillment Partner

The fulfillment partner your clinical practice aligns with is critical. While not transparent to your patients, they play a significant role in establishing the success or failure of your e-shop and the following should be considered when selecting a product distributor.

Accurate and Efficient Order Fulfillment

The main function of a distributor is to pick, pack, and ship orders within an acceptable time window, usually within 24 hours. When choosing a distributor, inquire as to the average turnaround times from when an order is placed to when it is shipped from their facility. Ask for data that show average order entry and order picking/packing accuracies over the previous 6 months. Order entry accuracy reflects how often an order placed on your e-shop is accurately reentered into the distributor's system. Picking/packing accuracy reflects proficiency of warehouse personnel to pick the correct product off the shelves and pack it in the shipping box designated for delivery to your patient. Both need to be as close to 100% as possible, as patients waiting too long for an order to arrive and/or receiving items that they did not order is an undesirable outcome that will negatively impact your e-shop.

Product Support Beyond Fulfillment

While order fulfillment is the primary expertise of a supplier, building and maintaining an e-shop requires additional product support. Look for a supplier who can provide product images, descriptions, and recommended retail pricing, and who is willing to work with your IT support to ensure proper product mapping. In addition, the supplier should be able to communicate necessary changes in your e-shop product offering quickly and efficiently in the event an item is discontinued and no longer available. Distributors should be proactive in suggesting new or alternative products for your e-shop to keep the offering up-to-date. This is particularly important, as most audiologists do not have the time or the resources to research new products.

Return Policies

The return policies of suppliers should be evaluated. While it is the responsibility of the audiology business owner to issue credits to patients who decide to return items purchased online, the distributor is responsible for accepting returned items and issuing credits to the audiology practice. Suppliers offering limited opportunity for customers to return defective product or product that did not meet expectations may not necessarily be in the best interest of your practice. Similarly, suppliers implementing cumbersome return policies or a delay in issuance of credit for returned product can cause a great deal of frustration. It is important to establish a relationship with a supplier who offers reasonable return policies.

Ease of Doing Business

Beyond basic competencies, it should be easy to do business with your e-shop product distributor from the perspective that they understand the business of audiology as well as consumer expectations within the confines of ecommerce. For example, there is an expectation for items ordered online to be associated with free shipping. The ability for your fulfillment partner to identify ways where free shipping can be extended without making the process overly complicated is important.

Final Thoughts

Offering resale products out of the audiology clinical practice is mutually beneficial for patients and the audiology practice. Changes in the audiology landscape requires us to think about different ways of extending our services to our patients. As a result, some clinicians are doing precisely that by exploring the viability of ecommerce options for their practice Web site. While very little data are available, the few audiologists with established e-shops have unanimously expressed if they had to do it all over again, they would not only have an e-shop built out on their Web site but recommend their colleagues to do the same.

Appendix B.

Guest blog post created and posted on Estes Audiology's Web site. Available at: https://www.hearlifeagain.com/protect-your-investments/

Thank you to A.U. Bankaitis of Oaktree Products, Inc. for this wonderful guest blog post!

Did you know that over 75% of hearing aid repairs are caused by moisture and/or earwax buildup in the hearing instrument? Sounds very unfair especially if you live in a hot and humid area like Texas, lead an active life where you occasionally sweat (who doesn't?), or like to hang out by the pool. The great news is that nearly all repairs associated with moisture exposure are preventable. Maximize the performance and longevity of your hearing aids with a hearing aid dehumidifier .

All dehumidifiers are designed to pull moisture from hearing aids at night while you sleep. There are several different kinds of hearing aid dehumidifiers available; some are electronic, while others are composed of a jar containing either beads or a pillow filled with beads. Which one will be the best for you will depend on how big of a role moisture plays in your day-to-day life.

I LIVE IN A HOT/HUMID AREA OF THE COUNTRY

Minimally invest in a dehumidifier jar like the Mini Dry Aid (for smaller hearing aids) or the Super Dry-Aid (for larger hearing aids). Before retiring for the evening, simply place hearing aids with battery doors open inside the jar on top of the foam pad and close the cover securely. Occasionally, the beads will need to be reactivated in a microwave. If you don't want to bother with reactivation, consider the Dry-Caddy which comes with six disposable dry-discs. Simply change the disc out every 2 months and you have a year supply of hearing aid moisture protection?

I AM SOMEWHAT ACTIVE AND EXPOSE MY HEARING AIDS TO PERSPIRATION ABOUT ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK

If this is the case, consider investing in an electronic hearing aid dehumidifier like the Perfect Dry Lux . The unit has a fan that circulates air in the compartment, removing moisture without the need to use a desiccant.

I AM VERY ACTIVE AND EXPOSE MY HEARING AIDS TO PERSPIRATION AT LEAST THREE TIMES A WEEK

The best solution for you is the Zephyr . This is an electronic hearing aid dehumidifier that circulates warm air in the compartment with the use of a replaceable desiccant. When the air pulls moisture out of the hearing aid, the desiccant absorbs that moisture, providing you with maximum moisture protection. The Zephyr comes packaged with one desiccant that is ready to use; replacement desiccants are available in three packs and must be changed out every 2 months for maximum performance.

I AM VERY ACTIVE BUT ALSO PRONE TO GETTING EAR CANAL INFECTIONS OR HAVE ITCHY EARS

The Dry & Store Global will be the best hearing aid dehumidifier for you. It works exactly like the Zephyr but provides a UV light that kills microorganism that tends to reside on hearing aid surfaces. At night, wipe your hearing aid with a good cleaning/disinfecting towelette and then place the instruments in the Dry & Store Global with battery doors open. When the lid closes, a 3-minute UV cycle will help kill 99% of germs. Throughout the night, a fan circulates warm air to pull moisture from your hearing aids. This unit uses the same replacement desiccants as the Zephyr .

I TRAVEL A LOT AND NEED SOMETHING CONVENIENT

Any of the jar-type dehumidifiers will work very well including the Super Dry-Aid , Mini Dry-Aid , and Dry-Caddy .

I TRAVEL A LOT ABROAD AND AM CONCERNED ABOUT VOLTAGE ISSUES

Any of the jar-type dehumidifiers will work. Some electronic dehumidifiers such as the Zephyr , Dry & Store Global , and Perfect Dry Lux are equipped with universal AC adapters which can be used anywhere in the world (100–240 V). The only thing you will need is the appropriate plug adapter for whatever country you are visiting.

I AM NOT VERY ACTIVE AND I DON'T THINK I LIVE IN A REALLY HUMID ENVIRONMENT

Even if you don't perspire or live in a humid environment, moisture is found everywhere including bathrooms, basements, and during rainy weather. Protect your investment with at least some type of hearing aid dehumidifier.

Appendix A.

Sample blog post created for Estes Audiology's Web site. Available at: https://www.hearlifeagain.com/hearing-instrument-cleaning-and-care/

Did you know that hearing instruments are a potential breeding ground for germs? Research has found many different microorganisms residing on hearing aid surfaces that are not necessarily part of the normal ear canal flora. From this perspective, it is important to properly care for hearing instruments on a daily basis. Simply wiping them with a tissue or using a brush to clean the surface is not enough. The ear is a dark, warm, moist place where bacteria and other germs, some good and some bad, like to grow. These organisms get on hearing instrument and/or earmold surfaces where they can easily multiply if not properly cleaned and disinfected.

Using alcohol wipes is not a good idea either! Alcohol wipes or any other product using alcohol as the main ingredient chemically denatures or weakens various hearing instrument surfaces (including ear domes) relatively quickly. It is critical to wipe surfaces with a non–alcohol-based wipe specifically designed to clean hearing instruments such as AudioWipes once hearing instruments are removed from the ear and to then place them in the hearing aid dehumidifier or a designated carrying case. Remember, just because you can't see anything growing on your hearing instruments doesn't mean that the germs are not there. Be sure to use AudioWipes for anything you intend to stick in your ears. Click here to order your AudioWipes now!

Appendix B.

Guest blog post created and posted on Estes Audiology's Web site. Available at: https://www.hearlifeagain.com/protect-your-investments/

Thank you to A.U. Bankaitis of Oaktree Products, Inc. for this wonderful guest blog post!

Did you know that over 75% of hearing aid repairs are caused by moisture and/or earwax buildup in the hearing instrument? Sounds very unfair especially if you live in a hot and humid area like Texas, lead an active life where you occasionally sweat (who doesn't?), or like to hang out by the pool. The great news is that nearly all repairs associated with moisture exposure are preventable. Maximize the performance and longevity of your hearing aids with a hearing aid dehumidifier .

All dehumidifiers are designed to pull moisture from hearing aids at night while you sleep. There are several different kinds of hearing aid dehumidifiers available; some are electronic, while others are composed of a jar containing either beads or a pillow filled with beads. Which one will be the best for you will depend on how big of a role moisture plays in your day-to-day life.

I LIVE IN A HOT/HUMID AREA OF THE COUNTRY

Minimally invest in a dehumidifier jar like the Mini Dry Aid (for smaller hearing aids) or the Super Dry-Aid (for larger hearing aids). Before retiring for the evening, simply place hearing aids with battery doors open inside the jar on top of the foam pad and close the cover securely. Occasionally, the beads will need to be reactivated in a microwave. If you don't want to bother with reactivation, consider the Dry-Caddy which comes with six disposable dry-discs. Simply change the disc out every 2 months and you have a year supply of hearing aid moisture protection?

I AM SOMEWHAT ACTIVE AND EXPOSE MY HEARING AIDS TO PERSPIRATION ABOUT ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK

If this is the case, consider investing in an electronic hearing aid dehumidifier like the Perfect Dry Lux . The unit has a fan that circulates air in the compartment, removing moisture without the need to use a desiccant.

I AM VERY ACTIVE AND EXPOSE MY HEARING AIDS TO PERSPIRATION AT LEAST THREE TIMES A WEEK

The best solution for you is the Zephyr . This is an electronic hearing aid dehumidifier that circulates warm air in the compartment with the use of a replaceable desiccant. When the air pulls moisture out of the hearing aid, the desiccant absorbs that moisture, providing you with maximum moisture protection. The Zephyr comes packaged with one desiccant that is ready to use; replacement desiccants are available in three packs and must be changed out every 2 months for maximum performance.

I AM VERY ACTIVE BUT ALSO PRONE TO GETTING EAR CANAL INFECTIONS OR HAVE ITCHY EARS

The Dry & Store Global will be the best hearing aid dehumidifier for you. It works exactly like the Zephyr but provides a UV light that kills microorganism that tends to reside on hearing aid surfaces. At night, wipe your hearing aid with a good cleaning/disinfecting towelette and then place the instruments in the Dry & Store Global with battery doors open. When the lid closes, a 3-minute UV cycle will help kill 99% of germs. Throughout the night, a fan circulates warm air to pull moisture from your hearing aids. This unit uses the same replacement desiccants as the Zephyr .

I TRAVEL A LOT AND NEED SOMETHING CONVENIENT

Any of the jar-type dehumidifiers will work very well including the Super Dry-Aid , Mini Dry-Aid , and Dry-Caddy .

I TRAVEL A LOT ABROAD AND AM CONCERNED ABOUT VOLTAGE ISSUES

Any of the jar-type dehumidifiers will work. Some electronic dehumidifiers such as the Zephyr , Dry & Store Global , and Perfect Dry Lux are equipped with universal AC adapters which can be used anywhere in the world (100–240 V). The only thing you will need is the appropriate plug adapter for whatever country you are visiting.

I AM NOT VERY ACTIVE AND I DON'T THINK I LIVE IN A REALLY HUMID ENVIRONMENT

Even if you don't perspire or live in a humid environment, moisture is found everywhere including bathrooms, basements, and during rainy weather. Protect your investment with at least some type of hearing aid dehumidifier.