Wednesday, January 04, 2017

Review inflation...

This is from an email re an eBay item I just ordered: "Delivery [from China] usually need about 20-30 days. ... Please do not leave 1,2,3,4 stars on Shipping Time, they are equal to negative, thank you so much in advance."

 So anything less than five stars these days is "equal to negative"... Can you say "review inflation" kids? I knew you could.

4 comments:

Ken Bushwalker said...

It has got to the point where a lot of reviews always get 5 stars, mainly from fans, that anything less seems to indicate that it is poor.

On shipping I have ordered something from China to go to Australia and have free shipping. The product is $1.55 Australian, and our domestic postage is $1, so the only way it can get here that cheaply is if they use some form of bulk shipping and it then enters our postal system at the appropriate capital city with a discount.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Are you in Australia?

emptyspaces said...

Not only that, but you will get an email along these lines if you leave a 2-3 star review:

"I noticed you gave my product a negative review. We are sorry it did not meet your expectations. We have refunded your money, no need to send the product back.

Negative reviews have a great impact on my business. Would you consider leaving more positive feedback? Only the stars need to be changed. Thank you."

Recently I ordered a cast iron casserole dish which turned out to be out of stock at the manufacturer (though it looked to be in stock by the seller). I got an email from Amazon while still in the delivery window saying the seller has not responded in the usual way, here's how to contact them, etc. I was headed out of town and figured I'd look into it the next week. Two days later I got a voice mail from the seller apologizing profusely, and saying the manufacturer was late, and now we're sending you a second cast iron baking dish for your troubles. I had never contacted anyone, but I take it to mean these third-party sellers are deathly afraid of negative feedback.

Another problem are the sponsored reviews, which must contain weasel words to the tune of "I received this product for free in exchange for my unbiased review," which are almost always 5 stars.

Here's what I do to get closer to the truth:
1. Go to the bottom and sort by newest verified purchase reviews
2. Consult fakespot.com

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Thanks for the info, I'll look into this interesting stuff.