4 ms·

I use 5* ratings to get an idea of which products to look at, but I mainly look at 1-3* reviews to see if I want to buy it. I personally had a ton of amazon ba

I use 5* ratings to get an idea of which products to look at, but I mainly look at 1-3* reviews to see if I want to buy it. I personally had a ton of amazon basics batteries leak in the packaging after 2 years of storage. I posted that review and amazon rejected it saying it didnt meet their community guidelines. That made me distrust the review process and now I generally wont buy amazon branded products. However if there are bad reviews that tell the same consistent story and that go into enough detail, then they are likely not competitor plants.

nucleardog 5y ago
> I use 5* ratings to get an idea of which products to look at, but I mainly look at 1-3* reviews to see if I want to buy it. Yep, exactly this. Who cares what people that were happy with it think, generally. Hearing a few use cases is helpful to decide if it's fit for what you're trying to do, but it's generally very useful information. If I buy this I don't care all the ways it will make trees greener and shiny things shinier, I want to know if I give them $100 what is the _worst_ experience I will get. Look at the negative reviews and see what kinds of issues people were having. Usually after skimming 5 or 10 you can get a pretty good feel for what kind of experience you are going to have. > "These headphones that say 'for iPhone' and clearly show a lightning connector don't work with my Android! They should really say they don't work with Android! Garbage!" > "I tried to use this blender to start my own 'will it blend' YouTube channel and when I put rocks in the blade got all chewed up and the company won't replace it! COMPANY DOESN'T STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCTS! AVOID!" > "These $0.50 pens aren't half as good as my co-worker's $80 pen. Why bother." > "Said it would get here Friday but it got here Monday, and UPS threw it over my fence and broke it!" > "Ordered this desk chair and parts were missing!" When the negative reviews are largely stuff like that (bought wrong thing, misuse of product, not understanding that cheap things are cheap for a reason, carrier issues), you know you can basically ignore them. The last one (product issues) kinda depends on whether there's a million of these, but generally if it's one or two and they don't say that they've tried to contact the company to resolve it I'm not too bothered. When you start seeing reviews that explain (1) an actual issue with the product; (2) attempts to contact the company and/or get a refund; and (3) a poor response from the company... that's when I get worried. A few like: > "Product arrived, of the ten included, only 4 worked. I contacted the seller and two weeks later they still haven't responded." > "Product is very cheaply made. The first one worked for a week then the foo broke. The seller sent me a replacement, but then that one broke 2 days later." And I start to look for something else.

nucleardog 5y ago

> I use 5* ratings to get an idea of which products to look at, but I mainly look at 1-3* reviews to see if I want to buy it. Yep, exactly this. Who cares what people that were happy with it think, generally. Hearing a few use cases is helpful to decide if it's fit for what you're trying to do, but it's generally very useful information. If I buy this I don't care all the ways it will make trees greener and shiny things shinier, I want to know if I give them $100 what is the _worst_ experience I will get. Look at the negative reviews and see what kinds of issues people were having. Usually after skimming 5 or 10 you can get a pretty good feel for what kind of experience you are going to have. > "These headphones that say 'for iPhone' and clearly show a lightning connector don't work with my Android! They should really say they don't work with Android! Garbage!" > "I tried to use this blender to start my own 'will it blend' YouTube channel and when I put rocks in the blade got all chewed up and the company won't replace it! COMPANY DOESN'T STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCTS! AVOID!" > "These $0.50 pens aren't half as good as my co-worker's $80 pen. Why bother." > "Said it would get here Friday but it got here Monday, and UPS threw it over my fence and broke it!" > "Ordered this desk chair and parts were missing!" When the negative reviews are largely stuff like that (bought wrong thing, misuse of product, not understanding that cheap things are cheap for a reason, carrier issues), you know you can basically ignore them. The last one (product issues) kinda depends on whether there's a million of these, but generally if it's one or two and they don't say that they've tried to contact the company to resolve it I'm not too bothered. When you start seeing reviews that explain (1) an actual issue with the product; (2) attempts to contact the company and/or get a refund; and (3) a poor response from the company... that's when I get worried. A few like: > "Product arrived, of the ten included, only 4 worked. I contacted the seller and two weeks later they still haven't responded." > "Product is very cheaply made. The first one worked for a week then the foo broke. The seller sent me a replacement, but then that one broke 2 days later." And I start to look for something else.