Reviews matter more than ranking, and even those are full of fakers who write 5-star reviews because they got the product free. I will still buy one product over the other if it has less negative reviews though.
@Perkalicious@martinanellie I think you need to be a top contributor, if you notice some of the people who say they get the items free are top review contributors. Click on your own profile or someone elses and you will see how you rank amongst the rest of the review pool. My guess is they seek out people who write reviews and offer the products to those select people. I personally have never been given anything but I know that is how it works.
I look for opinions on both sides and sort of determine what I've learned from it.. Most negatives are personal such as late delivery or something broken during shipment.. When they claim it only worked for a few days or weeks and the majority has no problems in that area then that too becomes iffy to me like what kind of gatherers are they? Do they buy a DVD and play frisby with it? How wild are their kids? do they tear things up to see how they work? Things like that, so the positive is most often what I look for until the majority of whinners all agree with each other then I weigh the price (is it worth losing 'x' amount if it turns into a lemon?) then unless it's a very small amount I will pass on it. I have passed on a few things here because of the negative reports on amazon but only on the borderline prices.
Yep! And I'm looking for "I used it in the real world" reviews, not eBay style "quick shipping, AAAA+" garbage. I do also write reviews for stuff I have used, so others can hear from a voice of reason. Volume of vreviews vmakes a difference, too. I'd rather get a 3 1/2 star product with 100 reviews, than a 5 star with 2 reviews.
@Pamtha ... I'm confused about your ebay review statement.. I can't find these reviews very easily. Is there a page that you have to go to (unlike amazon that has them at the bottom of the product page)? I've found a very few like that on ebay but the majority just doesn't have them (that I can find) A little clue would help a lot. I've written to ebay several times concerning this but haven't received any response.Thanks.
@unkabob eBay reviews (feedback) are for the seller; Amazon reviews are for the product. Alas, not every reviewer understands this, hence how results can get skewed.
@narfcake ... So, what your saying is what I suspected.. ebay doesn't post customer use reviews.. I think that's a real loss (to the buyers) as these comments, once you get past the personal/self-centered noise does help in the purchase. Ebay's downfall to me has to do with the timed delivery.. I have had to wait over a month several times.. That it's 'free' delivery is it's only saving grace but still I would like to read the reviews as I do on amazon. Guess we can't have it all (meh!). At least we don't need to have it here as we all have the opportunity to voice our opinion on anything we choose and I've not heard a peep from buying whinners (except in fun). Thanks for the input narfcake.
I normally sort the reviews by rating and read the worst reviews to see what sort of problems I might encounter or the downside to the product. I feel the negative reviews tell me the absolute worst case scenario.. and if I can deal with it i'll buy it. Also sometimes the worst reviews are idiots who just can't figure out how to use a product properly or bought it to do XYZ when really it can only do X. ((shrug))
@chattychica04 The charging plug for my tablet is the same sort of plug as a headphone. As you can see to the right in the photo, the charging port is abou half an inch from the headphone port, and it is very easy to plug the charger into the wrong port. When you read reviews for this tablet, a very common negative review is that the device would not take a charge. Being familiar with the device, I'd lay down good money that there's nothing wrong with those devices, they were just using the wrong hole.
@Pamtha@unkabob Yeah, there seems to be some confusion as to the difference between vendor reviews and product reviews. ebay reviews are typically vendor reviews, Amazon reviews are typically product reviews; maybe they could have a side-by-side rating on the two. Of course, people would just misuse them to air their random complaints. :-\
@PocketBrain The place I have problems is DVDs/BluRays. I don't care about the 1-star review that says you didn't like the movie. I want to know if this version of the disc is of poor quality or is missing bonus features that another version has.
@PocketBrain Also, please punch yourself if you see product questions in Amazon and you feel compelled to login just to post "I don't know." Seriously. Saw that today. I really would like to reach through the internet and punch that guy.
I pay the most attention to the 3 and 4-star reviews. 5's usually are hard to trust, and 1 and 2's usually are just angry and dumb folks who can't figure out why an item that cost less than $20 doesn't behave like a $100 item.
Sales ranking (which is this question) - no. I couldn't care less if an item won't make any sort of best seller's list for another 1,000 years - if it's something that's of value, that's good enough by me.
Reviews - much more important, but with the usual caveats. Yes, folks are more likely to complain than commend (which I know I'm guilty of; see shirt.woot), but if there are many reviews which point out similar issues, then there is an inherent problem with the product.
Side topic - am I the only one who feels Amazon's searches SUCK?
on most of the review sites you dont need to buy the product to write a review.amazon makes you have to have purchased the product from them to write a review..at least we know that the person writing the review bought the product being reviewed..now say that 5 times in a row real fast...lol
Reviews matter more than ranking, and even those are full of fakers who write 5-star reviews because they got the product free. I will still buy one product over the other if it has less negative reviews though.
@Stallion how can I throw my hat in the ring to be sent free crap from Amazon?
@Perkalicious I'd like to know, too!
@Perkalicious @martinanellie I think you need to be a top contributor, if you notice some of the people who say they get the items free are top review contributors. Click on your own profile or someone elses and you will see how you rank amongst the rest of the review pool. My guess is they seek out people who write reviews and offer the products to those select people. I personally have never been given anything but I know that is how it works.
I look for opinions on both sides and sort of determine what I've learned from it.. Most negatives are personal such as late delivery or something broken during shipment.. When they claim it only worked for a few days or weeks and the majority has no problems in that area then that too becomes iffy to me like what kind of gatherers are they? Do they buy a DVD and play frisby with it? How wild are their kids? do they tear things up to see how they work? Things like that, so the positive is most often what I look for until the majority of whinners all agree with each other then I weigh the price (is it worth losing 'x' amount if it turns into a lemon?) then unless it's a very small amount I will pass on it. I have passed on a few things here because of the negative reports on amazon but only on the borderline prices.
Yep! And I'm looking for "I used it in the real world" reviews, not eBay style "quick shipping, AAAA+" garbage. I do also write reviews for stuff I have used, so others can hear from a voice of reason. Volume of vreviews vmakes a difference, too. I'd rather get a 3 1/2 star product with 100 reviews, than a 5 star with 2 reviews.
@Pamtha ... I'm confused about your ebay review statement.. I can't find these reviews very easily. Is there a page that you have to go to (unlike amazon that has them at the bottom of the product page)? I've found a very few like that on ebay but the majority just doesn't have them (that I can find) A little clue would help a lot. I've written to ebay several times concerning this but haven't received any response.Thanks.
@unkabob eBay reviews (feedback) are for the seller; Amazon reviews are for the product. Alas, not every reviewer understands this, hence how results can get skewed.
@narfcake ... So, what your saying is what I suspected.. ebay doesn't post customer use reviews.. I think that's a real loss (to the buyers) as these comments, once you get past the personal/self-centered noise does help in the purchase. Ebay's downfall to me has to do with the timed delivery.. I have had to wait over a month several times.. That it's 'free' delivery is it's only saving grace but still I would like to read the reviews as I do on amazon. Guess we can't have it all (meh!). At least we don't need to have it here as we all have the opportunity to voice our opinion on anything we choose and I've not heard a peep from buying whinners (except in fun). Thanks for the input narfcake.
I normally sort the reviews by rating and read the worst reviews to see what sort of problems I might encounter or the downside to the product. I feel the negative reviews tell me the absolute worst case scenario.. and if I can deal with it i'll buy it. Also sometimes the worst reviews are idiots who just can't figure out how to use a product properly or bought it to do XYZ when really it can only do X. ((shrug))
@chattychica04 The charging plug for my tablet is the same sort of plug as a headphone. As you can see to the right in the photo, the charging port is abou half an inch from the headphone port, and it is very easy to plug the charger into the wrong port. When you read reviews for this tablet, a very common negative review is that the device would not take a charge. Being familiar with the device, I'd lay down good money that there's nothing wrong with those devices, they were just using the wrong hole.
No, but they matter a whole heck of a lot when I'm deciding what to sell there.
@Pamtha @unkabob Yeah, there seems to be some confusion as to the difference between vendor reviews and product reviews. ebay reviews are typically vendor reviews, Amazon reviews are typically product reviews; maybe they could have a side-by-side rating on the two. Of course, people would just misuse them to air their random complaints. :-\
@PocketBrain The place I have problems is DVDs/BluRays. I don't care about the 1-star review that says you didn't like the movie. I want to know if this version of the disc is of poor quality or is missing bonus features that another version has.
@PocketBrain Also, please punch yourself if you see product questions in Amazon and you feel compelled to login just to post "I don't know." Seriously. Saw that today. I really would like to reach through the internet and punch that guy.
I pay the most attention to the 3 and 4-star reviews. 5's usually are hard to trust, and 1 and 2's usually are just angry and dumb folks who can't figure out why an item that cost less than $20 doesn't behave like a $100 item.
@dis_member exactly. I actually read 3-4 star reviews, because I find the most balanced information there.
Sales ranking (which is this question) - no. I couldn't care less if an item won't make any sort of best seller's list for another 1,000 years - if it's something that's of value, that's good enough by me.
Reviews - much more important, but with the usual caveats. Yes, folks are more likely to complain than commend (which I know I'm guilty of; see shirt.woot), but if there are many reviews which point out similar issues, then there is an inherent problem with the product.
Side topic - am I the only one who feels Amazon's searches SUCK?
@narfcake They do seem to have gotten less accurate over the past several years. Many results missing and such.
I read the 1-3 star reviews and look for trends. If the same issue keeps coming up then chances are I'm going to run into the same problem.
on most of the review sites you dont need to buy the product to write a review.amazon makes you have to have purchased the product from them to write a review..at least we know that the person writing the review bought the product being reviewed..now say that 5 times in a row real fast...lol
@eazyrider You can write a review on Amazon without having purchased the product.