Don't you just love Amazon tool ratings

[Marshall Harrison]

Been looking at some Amazon ratings and questions concerning their pocket screw jigs and ended up buy a kit with 750 screws of various sizes. In my research I found this question concerning the screws.

385503

We may argue some on here but at least we get better answers on SMC.

Do you have any antidotes o tis subject to share?

[Chase Mueller]

Yes.
No.
Yes.
... :D

[Bob Bouis]

Amazon will pester people who buy or review items with questions posted about the item. That's why sometimes you'll see some good-intentioned dialogues that go like this:

Q: Will this item work for my application?

A: Sorry, I don't know.

[Marshall Harrison]

Yes.
No.
Yes.
... :D

ROFLMAO

I should have expected that response...

[Dan Friedrichs]

I've occasionally looked up power tools on amazon.de (the German version) and used google translate to read those reviews.

Amazon.com reviews are usually like, "My dog/kid/husband ate the packaging and got sick! 1 star!" or "Didn't come with batteries!" (clearly says that in the description). Amazon.de reviews are usually like, "The lower extrusion looks insufficient for the forces that will be applied to this portion of the tool..."

[John C Cox]

I wish they would pester the vendor and manufacturer to provide accurate info.. But they often simply don't respond (or perhaps they don't get pestered...).. So it's up to us to report back when questions are asked.... But come on people.... Dumb answers are not useful... Just don't answer if you don't know....

for example - I was looking at buying a stick of tool steel. I asked a question about whether it comes with an alloy analysis.. That should be a fairly standard thing... I got back a bunch of dumb answers like "Why would anybody want that?..." Gee... Thanks... How about assuming that I want it because I do.... Does it have an analysis sticker or not?

[Pat Barry]

I think you need to go with the majority.

[Charlie Hinton]

The conflicting yes/no to a very specific question always fascinates me too.
But seeing it written down did remind me of a character in The Vicar of Dibley.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iRlqmTKyQx0

[Edwin Santos]

I wish they would pester the vendor and manufacturer to provide accurate info.. But they often simply don't respond (or perhaps they don't get pestered...).. So it's up to us to report back when questions are asked.... But come on people.... Dumb answers are not useful... Just don't answer if you don't know....

for example - I was looking at buying a stick of tool steel. I asked a question about whether it comes with an alloy analysis.. That should be a fairly standard thing... I got back a bunch of dumb answers like "Why would anybody want that?..." Gee... Thanks... How about assuming that I want it because I do.... Does it have an analysis sticker or not?

Maybe it wasn't such a dumb answer/question. You sound quite knowledgeable. I could see a person like myself, wanting to learn from knowing why you needed that information and how you would use it.
The problem online is its difficult to know the tone in which the question was asked. It could have been a judgmental question or it could have been sincere.
When in doubt, I try to give the other person the benefit of the doubt.
Edwin

[Edwin Santos]

I think you need to go with the majority.
+1 to this.
There is a ton of research on the incredible accuracy of "crowd wisdom", but like actuarial science, the strength lies in the size of the sample group. So you will always find weird outlier examples and there might be noise from fake reviews, etc. But generally speaking, when you have thousands of reviews, the average mean ratings should be a good guideline.

The questions and answers are more dicey, but the ratings, where there a large number of responses, are a good resource.
Edwin

[Marshall Harrison]

The conflicting yes/no to a very specific question always fascinates me too.
But seeing it written down did remind me of a character in The Vicar of Dibley.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iRlqmTKyQx0

I loved that show. My mother-inlaw is British so she got me into watching the British comedies on PBS back in the early '80s

[Doug Garson]

My favorite reviews are the 5 star ones that start out, ordered it yesterday, arrived today wow what service, packaging looks intact haven't opened it yet I give it 5 stars! :confused: My other issue is receiving a request from Amazon to review my purchase before I even receive it! That said my overall experience with Amazon is positive.
Not to derail the thread but how about some of the bizarre pricing on Amazon. I just looked at an Irwin Marples 1/8" chisel. Amazon.com pricing ranged from $6.69 plus $6.49 shipping to $59.90 plus $12.12 shipping and Amazon.ca pricing ranged from $30.81 plus $4.95 shipping to $91.97 plus $5.54 shipping. A local bricks and mortar store KMS Tools has it in sale for $9.99 Cdn. Great pricing on Amazon sometimes but not always.

[Carlos Alvarez]

You should try sifting through reviews and comments on tech products. Sheesh. They range from just regular stupid like this:

Review: "One star, product was not new!!"

Description: "These were pulled from a working environment then individually tested."


On the other end there are some very special stupid people with complaints ranging from fax machines that don't work while turned off to wireless routers that don't work when they are half a mile away at the neighbor's house. My favorite printer for small/home offices has a 1-star review saying that she had her kids unbox it and plug it into power and she still can't print to it. While in another country. I mean it does say it supports internet printing, you just have to actually configure it.

You should see some of the support tickets my company gets.

[Carlos Alvarez]

My favorite reviews are the 5 star ones that start out, ordered it yesterday, arrived today wow what service, packaging looks intact haven't opened it yet I give it 5 stars! :confused: My other issue is receiving a request from Amazon to review my purchase before I even receive it! That said my overall experience with Amazon is positive.
Not to derail the thread but how about some of the bizarre pricing on Amazon. I just looked at an Irwin Marples 1/8" chisel. Amazon.com pricing ranged from $6.69 plus $6.49 shipping to $59.90 plus $12.12 shipping and Amazon.ca pricing ranged from $30.81 plus $4.95 shipping to $91.97 plus $5.54 shipping. A local bricks and mortar store KMS Tools has it in sale for $9.99 Cdn. Great pricing on Amazon sometimes but not always.

Amazon rarely has the best price, but you pay for the convenience and excellent customer service. The pricing is also insane on many multi-packs. Sometimes it's a sly math test, like one for $2.59 and a two-pack for $5.59. Quite often I will see something that is $19.99 for one and a two-pack for $79.00. WTF?

For anyone who doesn't know...if you have the Amazon store credit account you get at least 5% off EVERYTHING all the time, and sometimes 10-15% on some items. And don't forget about Amazon Warehouse deals!! That's how I got my $430 HVLP kit for $340, combining warehouse deals and the credit discount.

[Tom Stenzel]

Yes.
No.
Yes.
... :D

Best. Answer. Possible.

Can't improve on that!

-Tom

[Carlos Alvarez]

Can't improve on that!



Well, yes and no.

[John C Cox]

Lol. The thing about amazon's seemingly strange price structure is that a lot of oddball stuff sells through other vendors - it's just listed on Amazon's website... And those vendors charge what they charge + whatever Amazon convenience fee on top of that.... It works well enough because they are generally pretty transparent...

So for example - I had to get some car parts... The same part was sold by 20 different vendors - and I ended up picking the *not* least expensive because I chose a vendor I know which is trustworthy and ships fast... I got my stuff 2 days later - shipped free...

another case where 15 different vendors are selling "the same" fuel injector with prices ranging from $10 each to $100 each... Guarantee that some are junkyard picks, some are other company "Equivalents" and others are New OEM....

My bigger issue is them frequently not being accurate about what they are selling... Often country of origin is missing.... And then - Is this vendor selling the Factory Original OEM part, or a less expensive knockoff substitute.... For example - is this the China made part or the original USA made part? Is this a factory new OEM fuel injector or a junkyard pick that has been tested and given new O-rings or a knockoff that will make my car run bad? Not clear... And they need to work on that....

[Carlos Alvarez]

More detailed than that, Amazon has a pricing tool that lets vendors set an algorithm for the price based on other sellers' prices. For example a high-rated seller could choose to price things at market +3% knowing that their high ratings will still get customers. What's funny is when another seller does that too, and you end up with a $600 price on a $5 item. Seriously, it happens.

[Doug Garson]

Or $60 on a $6 chisel? What I don't understand is why the seller at $60 doesn't know his price is way out of line, and adjust it. Obviously he's not going to sell any at that price thru Amazon, I only found his offer by checking other sellers after looking at the amazon offer, it took me 2 seconds (I'm slow :rolleyes:)to scroll down, see his price and right him off. I've seen the same kind of price disparity on other sites that comparison shop for you, I would think that it would be easy for sellers to price check where they are relative to their competition and stay competitive.

[Marshall Harrison]

I also think the free shipping is funny. When I was looking at SawStop saw they were listed with free shipping. But when you check the price the saw was $250 more than Woodcraft and other sources. Strangely the $250 is the shipping charge that other sellers charge for the SawStop. The "free shipping" was just a ruse.

[Carlos Alvarez]

I also think the free shipping is funny. When I was looking at SawStop saw they were listed with free shipping. But when you check the price the saw was $250 more than Woodcraft and other sources. Strangely the $250 is the shipping charge that other sellers charge for the SawStop. The "free shipping" was just a ruse.

It's not so important any more, but in the early online ordering days, dumb people would flip out on shipping charges even if the total price was less. So lots of people shifted the prices around. You can look on eBay and find the same thing from the same seller, one with free shipping, one with $2 shipping, and one priced super-low but with expensive shipping. All adding to the same amount or within pennies. They make sure they get the people with every kind of foible who are bad at math.

[Doug Garson]

Amazon rarely has the best price, but you pay for the convenience and excellent customer service.
Don't necessarily agree that they rarely have the best price, but agree 100% on the customer service. I just ordered an item and ordered the wrong one. The confirmation email showed the wrong item and I didn't notice :mad:. The package arrived and I realized I had the wrong item. Contacted Amazon and they sent me a link to print a return address label for free return shipping. I have until July 8th to send it back for a full refund. I placed the order for the correct item (this time I checked the confirmation email :D) and should have correct item on Thursday. Can't get much better than that.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

My bigger issue is them frequently not being accurate about what they are selling... Often country of origin is missing.... And then - Is this vendor selling the Factory Original OEM part, or a less expensive knockoff substitute.... For example - is this the China made part or the original USA made part? Is this a factory new OEM fuel injector or a junkyard pick that has been tested and given new O-rings or a knockoff that will make my car run bad? Not clear... And they need to work on that....

I bought refills for a nice pen someone gave me. They were cheap, and OEM, but the listing did not indicate they were located in Switzerland. And were shipped by boat apparently. They showed up about three months later. It did not make much difference to me, but if I had needed them I would have been upset.

[Carlos Alvarez]

Don't necessarily agree that they rarely have the best price, but agree 100% on the customer service. I just ordered an item and ordered the wrong one. The confirmation email showed the wrong item and I didn't notice :mad:. The package arrived and I realized I had the wrong item. Contacted Amazon and they sent me a link to print a return address label for free return shipping. I have until July 8th to send it back for a full refund. I placed the order for the correct item (this time I checked the confirmation email :D) and should have correct item on Thursday. Can't get much better than that.

I can usually search for the same item and find it at the same or better price. As a general rule, I find Amazon prices (shipped and sold by Amazon, not third party) track well with the major retailers. But the customer service...well, just had this conversation via chat about a product that arrived with an issue...

Neha:Sorry about that. It seems it is a defective item.
Please follow the link to print the return label for the same. https://www.amazon.com/gp/orc/rml/DTHyz... (https://www.amazon.com/gp/orc/rml/DTHyzdqnRRMA)(See full link)

Me:I received the e-mail with the label, thanks.

Neha:Thank you. Also to make up for the inconvenience, I would like to offer you a $10 Promotional certificate for your next order of items sold and shipped by Amazon.
Would you like that ?

[Jed Hefley]

Amazon used to be pretty good to me. So much so, I bought in to the Prime deal. Free shipping to Alaska? Heck yea! Sign me up. It only took about two years before they changed something, and the amount of goods I used to get free shipping on was drastically reduced. Dang near zero. Oh well, I get it. What I don't get, is when I go to their video stuff, and try looking up a film I want to watch. Nine times out of ten, I get a message that says "Not available in your area". What does that even mean? I have a decent internet connection. Just stream it already!

Or...
I was tooling up my Nova lathe, and decided to buy a couple extra chucks. I got the G3 no problem. Tried to order a larger unit (Titan), and they would not ship it. After going through customer service, the lady actually said that they have problems shipping hazardous materials to Alaska. Who knew the chuck was hazardous?

[Carlos Alvarez]

There are three problematic places for Amazon; Alaska, Hawaii, and Catalina Island. They all have some restrictions on sending certain things, and Alaska has the further challenge of both weather and distances. I tried to send myself something while sitting on Catalina Island and because it had a potential cancer agent warning, it couldn't go there. Some of the "hazardous" warnings are stupid, but it's safer to apply a warning when it's not needed than to fail to do so. Therefore, many innocuous things are labeled.