Since Sears doesn't actually make anything for themselves, it's reasonably safe to assume that anything with moving parts is a "knock-off" of similar products sold under other brand names, sometimes even by the people who make them.

For appliances, the appearance parts are easily modified to achieve a "distinctive look" for the ones made to be sold under a foreign name. It's normal practice to not make spare parts or extra parts the a buyer might use to "customize" the appliance, such as by adding an extra shelf in the 'fridge or another basket in the top-loading freezer. Those parts can be virtually impossible to get, and if obtainable they'll have an outrageous price.

A replacement knob for your stove can break the bank; but your local appliance repair shop almost always has a full set of matched (to each other) knobs that won't significantly change the appearance of the stove and that won't cost all that much.

The "working parts" such as heating elements, switches, rheostats, thermostats, and such usually are "close enough," and frequently identical, to the parts used in other "brand named" appliances, and a good service person nearly always can "make it work" just like new, with parts out of the stock on hand for the brands the shop services regularly.

In recent past times, Sears very jealously guarded the "secrets" about who made appliances that they sold; but more recently it's been fairly easy to get the same fit-and-function, if not identical appearance, from other sources without too much trouble.

Regarding: I had a Sears riding lawnmower - Prior to the time when Sears started selling a few ZTR mowers, the "tractor style" mowers were, and still are, built by only a couple of makers. The "big name" makers like Deere, etc., seldom have allowed rebranding, so that leaves ONE principal maker, called MTD, as the source for replacement parts for very nearly any "tractor style" riding mower Sears (or Home Depot, Tractor Supply, etc.) has sold.

Ten years ago, when the muffler set some leaves on fire and burned the wire harness out of my Husky, it took me nearly a YEAR to find any place that could get the parts for repair. Having made quite a stink about the lack of part lists and manuals at MTD, over three subsequent similar "annual events," and eventaully filing a report with CPSC over the fifth such "ignition problem," I will take credit for there being excellent (or at least unusally good) part lists on their site, easily identifiable local service shops, and almost might be tempted to say that the replacement parts are "almost within reason" with respect to price. (I probably don't deserve any real credit, but nobody's arguing with me, and I got a personal apology from a VP at Briggs & Stratton in the last deal.)

Once you KNOW that the belt on your mower is the same one that's on some MTD model, lots of places have them. In most cases you don't even need to know a specific model that uses the one you want.

The drive belts and deck belts on mowers are significantly different in design from the more common automotive and "general purpose" ones. You can usually find cheaper belts that fit okay. On a smooth lawn, the cheaper belts will run for a while, but my mowing philosophy has been, of necessity, that if the mower can crawl over it, it should be able to chew it up. In that kind of use, the mower belts do last significantly longer than the cheap ones, and the prevailing "discount store rate" is about $30 for one of the real ones now, vs Sears $45 - 50 or so the last time I checked at Sears a few years ago.

John