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Why don't we review our purchases so others know what we think about them?

I've been shopping and buying items for a trip and one of the first things I look for are the customer reviews. Some are amazingly hard to find, others are pretty brief, still others are complaints. I am not talking about just in the comments on Deals.Woot.
After thinking about it, I realized that I rarely go back and review a product, good or bad and I am not sure why that is. We ask friends, neighbors and family what kind of product they recommend/have but those are usually person to person exchanges. So, why don't we? Many websites make it very easy and even send us reminders.

by sand4me
asked 2 years ago

13 Answers answer

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vote-for2vote-against

Many of the items I purchase are everyday items so I don't leave reviews; however, if it is a new item or a hotel stay, I will definitely leave a review especially if it was good or bad.

theoneill555
2 years ago

vote-for6vote-against

I like to wait awhile to make sure the product performs as expected. If you review too soon, it's more like a first impression.

faughtey
2 years ago

vote-for3vote-against

I try to leave a review on almost anything new which I have purchased. Because I think it is important for future buyers. And usually because when I was shopping for that item I was looking for reviews on them and was often frustrated to not find any.

hobbit
2 years ago

vote-for1vote-against

I agree, we should post our reviews. For example, on wine.woot people generally do not post tasting notes until the woot off comes around. More often than not, thoughts and notes aren't as clear as they once were and therefore not as helpful.

egzgg
2 years ago

vote-for1vote-against

It's just how it works... people usually only review if an item is bad. So trust that a large sell count with 0 comments means it's a good product.

rasputin2012
2 years ago

vote-for2vote-against

I don't review products unless I'm pissed or I have information that other reviewers did not post.

hackman2007
2 years ago

vote-for1vote-against

@hackman2007: So if you are reading reviews, and they are all bad, do you just assume that there are no happy users?

sand4me
2 years ago

vote-for1vote-against

You know I never really thought about leaving a review on something until I was looking for a "Semi" major purchase like a middle of the line AIO Laser Printer. I had been looking for awhile but I had lost my job so I put it off and then a job opened up and my inkjet clogged and I couldn't get my resume printed before closing time. I ended up spending the whole weekend looking at printers and the reviews are what swayed me.
But then again, half the time the reviews were more "opinions" then facts. Out of probably over 150 reviews on a dozen different web sites, of the one I ended up buying, maybe 2 were DOA and minor problems on maybe a dozen. But I bet a 1/3 were "Piss and Moans" about not liking that brand or this brand, they didn't buy the bloody printer, just their "opinion" of the brand. For something that was important and I needed fairly soon the reviews were more important then the price. I have never known of a manufacturer that's ever had perfect models. LEAVE A REVIEW!!

jaygyver
2 years ago

vote-for3vote-against

@faughtey: I think I lean more towards your method (waiting until I've had it for a bit), but I only review a product if I think the review will be useful. If I'm buying something that's considered more of a luxury item, I'm not going to bother. People who buy items of that sort have other resources. I definitely review products that are unusual, whether I'm happy, unhappy, or completely indifferent.

I am FAR more likely to review a vendor than a particular product, though. The hard thing about reviews, when it comes to most items, is that a person can leave a review on that item in one spot, and the rest of you may never see it, because it didn't fit the google search, or was on a link that didn't hit the first page.

Where do you actually look for reviews, and where do you find the most useful ones? Amazon's my personal favorite on products, even when it's something I wouldn't consider buying from them.

shrdlu
2 years ago

vote-for1vote-against

@jaygyver, @shrdlu, @hobbit - it is definitely easier to find reviews on tech products. Most geeks and geekettes are not too shy about telling people about new things (and old things) whether good or bad.
However, I have been looking at tents, canopies, camp kitchens, camping goods in general, and there are not all that many reviews. I do appreciate the ones that list the bad things (shreds easily in the wind), etc.
Amazon.com has a great review section on products and they will send you a reminder asking you to review which is great.

sand4me
2 years ago

vote-for3vote-against

I like Amazon's review system and its breadth of reviews. The "voted most helpful positive/negative" review is also dandy, as it helps cut through some riff-raff.

For mostly tech related items, Newegg.com tends to be pretty reliable and CNET.com is nice for general electronics. What is nice about CNET is that you can use the user review and editor review as a sanity check against each other.

For more specific and 'large' purchases, I often go to more targeted websites that aggregate reviews, e.g., for cell phones: gsmarena.com; for movies: rottentomatoes.com; for games: gamespot.com (yes, there are others).

If it's really specialty, I go to forums, e.g., for mattresses: http://www.whatsthebest-mattress.com/forum; for kitchen knives: http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showforum.php?fid/26/; or for poker chips: http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/poker-chip-reviews.

(con't)

chaosamoeba
2 years ago

vote-for2vote-against

(con't)

Be wary, though. Some forums are just a manufacturer's advertising site. Even if they are not, some forums have particularly biases, e.g., the mattress forum listed above tends to lean in favor of latex mattresses (although many of them will provide advice on memory foam and spring mattresses).

A particular bias in most of them is that they probably care a lot more than you do, e.g., people on the poker chip forum will happily spend $1000 on a set of chips (when Target sells a "bad" set for $40). Usually, I look for the "well, if you must be stingy, -product x- will be borderline acceptable" posts.

chaosamoeba
2 years ago

vote-for3vote-against

@chaosamoeba: I do too, except when it comes to music reviews. Because when you get a hater of a band that is usually chosen as the most negative review and their review isn't truly a review it is just a hate filled treatise of why you shouldn't buy the CD and often bears no review of the music. Not saying all are like that but most are.

Also I review almost everything not just tech stuff. When I go on trips I review the hotels and restaurants at Trip Advisor.

hobbit
2 years ago

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