Amazon Reviews

[Bruce Wrenn]

I try to honestly review most of my Amazon purchases. Most are given a five star review because I did my homework before ordering and knew exactly what I was getting. Ease of installation is hard to do as it depends upon where product is going. Recently bought two batteries to go in jump boxes. One was a piece of cake to install, and the other definitely wasn't. Nothing to do with batteries, but how jump boxes were built. What bothers me though is buyers with complicated questions that don't contact the seller first. Fleck water softeners is the biggest one. Seller can tell you more about the unit than I can, even though we have one. But Amazon will put an item up for review before it's been shipped, so I can't review it. I'm a Vine member at Amazon, FYI

[Richard Coers]

No idea what a jump box is, but I guess I don't understand the post anyway. Won't that always accept a review?

[Clint Baxter]

I typically only do a review after I've had a chance to use the product, and I feel my comments are worth posting.

Amazon's habit of requesting me to review a purchase drives me nuts because the vast majority of the time, I have yet to even use the product. And that's assuming i've even received the item which over half the time they solicit the review, has yet to be delivered.

Clint

[Bruce Wrenn]

I typically only do a review after I've had a chance to use the product, and I feel my comments are worth posting.

Amazon's habit of requesting me to review a purchase drives me nuts because the vast majority of the time, I have yet to even use the product. And that's assuming i've even received the item which over half the time they solicit the review, has yet to be delivered.

ClintI agree whole heartedly. Sometimes, it's a couple months before I actually get around to using product. Last year, I bought some "bent stem" inner tubes for my wheelbarrow, First installed no problems. Didn't install one for three months, well past return window. When I inflated second one (mounted) the stem ripped out of the tube. Had I done a review after installing first it would have definetely been different than after installing second.

[Patty Hann]

I agree whole heartedly. Sometimes, it's a couple months before I actually get around to using product. Last year, I bought some "bent stem" inner tubes for my wheelbarrow, First installed no problems. Didn't install one for three months, well past return window. When I inflated second one (mounted) the stem ripped out of the tube. Had I done a review after installing first it would have definetely been different than after installing second.

You can update your review(s).... not that I'm recommending you do that.
I think I have written 2 reviews.
(DELETE is my most-est favorite-est key :D)

[Alex Zeller]

I'm also a Vine reviewer and I often update my reviews down the road. I think Amazon wants us to review things within 30 days of ordering it (which isn't always practical). Sometimes I'll rate something higher after getting use to it, other times I'll just add a photo or drop it down if I think it's not as good or didn't last.

[Jim Koepke]

I ordered a switch from Amazon that arrived today. When reviewing my order I noticed a "Report any Issues" link (it may have been worded differently).

I noted how the description did not mention the current rating. It also didn't mention the connectors were made for a particular gauge of solid wire (I forgot to mention that in my report). I also mentioned that the description listed it as a single position switch. This is different than a switch to be found in most homes. It is designed to not need a junction box to mount in.

The switch has three circuits inside, one for ground, one for neutral and one for the line. The switch that needed replacing only had the line being switched. The ground and neutral were hard wired through.

The replacement switch had both the line and the neutral switched. The problem was they worked opposite of each other. When the neutral contact was closed the line would be open and vice versa. It was either not described properly or there was a defect in the manufacturing process. I'm thinking this could maybe work for a two-way circuit.

The shipping tracking was also kind of screwy.

jtk

[Dave Lehnert]

I purchased a security video camera because it received mostly 5 star reviews, The camera was only $45 and no monthly fee to view online. Very much a 5 star review in my book. I had it a very short time and received a letter in the mail from the seller offering me a $30 refund if I gave a 5 star review on Amazon. :rolleyes:

[mike stenson]

I purchased a security video camera because it received mostly 5 star reviews, The camera was only $45 and no monthly fee to view online. Very much a 5 star review in my book. I had it a very short time and received a letter in the mail from the seller offering me a $30 refund if I gave a 5 star review on Amazon. :rolleyes:

Yea, there are marketing companies that pay people to buy products from Amazon and give them reviews as well.

[Bill Howatt]

Not perfect by any means but better than nothing. When I read the reviews, the ones I hate are those that give it 5 stars because it arrived on time, nothing said about the product.
Alexa asks me for ratings but sometimes I don't catch the product she(it) is asking about. I say "repeat" and just get the "how many stars" question, does anybody know how to get a repeat of the product name?

[George Yetka]

I dont bother with amazon review most are paid for. For example I just typed battery jump pack and NOCO is the leader in reviews and the #1 is 95,000 reviews. My assumption is that they offered a $20 coupon for a positive review at some point

[Mark Wedel]

Whenever looking at reviews, I tend to focus on the 1 and 2 star reviews, since they might be useful. Most reviews are 4 or 5 star because people bought the product and it works, but the 1 and 2 stars review will be about failures of the product (eg, it broke, not well made, etc).

That said, sometimes even 1 and 2 star reviews are useless and not actually reviewing the product. A complaint like it was too costly - well, I don't know what you paid, but I can see what I'm paying and make that decision. Or complaints about lack of features - look at the specs for what features it has - don't complain that the TV set doesn't have 4 HDMI ports if the specs clearly says it only has 2.

I generally only leave negative reviews - I sort of feel that if I'm leaving reviews, I'm adding value to that site (usually amazon), and I'm not going to bother to do that for free.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Yea, there are marketing companies that pay people to buy products from Amazon and give them reviews as well.That's how Amazon Vine works. They give you the product free, and you have to write reviews on a certain percentage of items received. Your reviews can be good, bad, or ugly, just honest. At the end of the year, reviewer (Vine) receives a 1099 for value of items gotten.

[mike stenson]

That's how Amazon Vine works. They give you the product free, and you have to write reviews on a certain percentage of items received. Your reviews can be good, bad, or ugly, just honest. At the end of the year, reviewer (Vine) receives a 1099 for value of items gotten.

yea, I'm referring specifically to marketing companies. Separate from Vine. Since it's the seller (not amazon) hiring the marketing companies, I'm not sure that there isn't bias. Intentional or inherent.

[Lee Schierer]

Whenever looking at reviews, I tend to focus on the 1 and 2 star reviews, since they might be useful. Most reviews are 4 or 5 star because people bought the product and it works, but the 1 and 2 stars review will be about failures of the product (eg, it broke, not well made, etc).

That said, sometimes even 1 and 2 star reviews are useless and not actually reviewing the product. A complaint like it was too costly - well, I don't know what you paid, but I can see what I'm paying and make that decision. Or complaints about lack of features - look at the specs for what features it has - don't complain that the TV set doesn't have 4 HDMI ports if the specs clearly says it only has 2.

I generally only leave negative reviews - I sort of feel that if I'm leaving reviews, I'm adding value to that site (usually amazon), and I'm not going to bother to do that for free.

I also look at the 1 and 2 star reviews. I also look at the percentage of low reviews as compared to the total number of reviews. I've also noted that many of the poor reviews are made by people that either can't read the product instructions or didn't pay attention to what they were actually buying. When in doubt, ask a question....though Amazon has eliminated the seller giving answers. Now you only get answers from previous buyers of the item, which may or may not be correct.

[Larry Frank]

I look at the reviews and check the negative ones. Some of the negative ones are for ridiculous reasons.

I have NOCO jump starter and it is very well made. I have used it a couple of times especially to start some yard equipment. When I got mine, it did not have any incentive for doing a review. I did a review and rated it 5 stars. I think a poster on this thread just made a wild statement about them

[Mark Wedel]

Time to vent, but my next annoyance is those that answer a question but provide nothing useful. For example, someone asks if the widget can do this, and someone responds that they don't know. Contributes absolutely nothing of value. Just think how useless the Q&A would be if everyone who bought an item responded to questions even if they don't know the answer to what is being asked.

[Doug Garson]

Time to vent, but my next annoyance is those that answer a question but provide nothing useful. For example, someone asks if the widget can do this, and someone responds that they don't know. Contributes absolutely nothing of value. Just think how useless the Q&A would be if everyone who bought an item responded to questions even if they don't know the answer to what is being asked.
What you are overlooking is that if you have purchased an item, you may get an email from Amazon asking a question from a potential buyer. If you don't know the answer you can chose to ignore the email or respond "I don't know". I have answered "I don't know" rather than ignore it. If I recall Amazon may publish your response, you don't. Lee posted earlier that Amazon doesn't allow the seller to answer question, that, to me, seems dumb. I've often seen listings where, for example, it is unclear how many units are included. The listing may say one number in one place and another number elsewhere, who better than the seller to clarify it.
My pet peeve is people who give an item 5 stars because it arrived quickly and undamaged and then go on to say they haven't used it yet. They distort the rating for the product by rating the purchasing experience, two completely separate things.

[Mel Fulks]

I like Amazon. I won’t be doing any commercials for them . Never had a problem with Amazon. Nice hardworking people bring our
new supplies right up to the door ,then ring the doorbell and leave. Once we got some stuff we did not order, sent message to them ,they
thanked us and told us to keep it. Yes , a rich guy owns it , that’s fine with me.

[Mel Fulks]

I never read the reviews. And I never buy a new brand of beer because a paid model sitting at a fake bar says , “ This is great beer !”

[Bill Howatt]

I never read the reviews. And I never buy a new brand of beer because a paid model sitting at a fake bar says , “ This is great beer !”

I certainly agree with your comment about paid models which I'll expand to what is called "influencers". If somebody like George Clooney wants to tell me how to act then it probably is worth listening too if I want to act. George Clooney's advice on which investment, coffee or anything else is worth nothing.
OTOH, I find reading reviews does have some merit if you read with a degree of common sense. Somebody's comment may bring to light some aspect of the product that you never thought of and if more than a couple say it fell apart in a month then maybe it isn't so great.

[Dave Fritz]

I ordered flat lefsa from Amazon. I should have read the reviews before ordering. When it arrived half was broken and unusable as intended. When I tried to return it I was told the return window had closed December 31, 2023. There was no way to leave a review. After the fact, I read the reviews and sure enough, many complained for poor shipping and pieces being broken up.

[George Yetka]

I certainly agree with your comment about paid models which I'll expand to what is called "influencers". If somebody like George Clooney wants to tell me how to act then it probably is worth listening too if I want to act. George Clooney's advice on which investment, coffee or anything else is worth nothing.
OTOH, I find reading reviews does have some merit if you read with a degree of common sense. Somebody's comment may bring to light some aspect of the product that you never thought of and if more than a couple say it fell apart in a month then maybe it isn't so great.

That being said George has some good tequila. Great in a Tequila Mule

[Stephen Tashiro]

That said, sometimes even 1 and 2 star reviews are useless and not actually reviewing the product.

As well as paying for reviews that tout their own product, companies (in countries that don't enforce libel laws) can also pay for reviews that blast their competitors.

[Brian Elfert]

I love all the people who write 1 star reviews for the stupidest reasons that have nothing to do with the product. "The item was a day late so it screwed up my weekend plans." "The product arrived damaged." "XXX happened so please contact me about this."

These are supposed to be reviews of the product, not customer service complaints. Reviews are not going to get someone to contact you about a customer service issue.

[Clint Baxter]

I will look at the reviews on many items, concentrating on the negative reviews. I look for a trend on those negative reviews and agree that many of those negative reviews provide little to no pertinent information.

There can be some positives with reviews talking about shipping damage though. If you see a lot of those complaints, the seller/shipper may be the cause of the damage, not the transporter.

Clint

[Mark Wedel]

The one problem I have with reviews related to shipping and packaging is that they often don't say who they bought it from. Many times, a given product is sold by a dozen different vendors. Some do their own shipping, others have amazon do the fulfillment. It may be that one company of that dozen does a lousy job packaging the stuff, and the other 11 do a fine job, but if I don't know which is which, not a lot to go on.

If it is fulfilled by amazon, I have a bit higher confidence that it will be packaged correctly, and if not, amazon will correct the problem. Third party seller may be more of a crapshoot.

[Brian Elfert]

If it is fulfilled by amazon, I have a bit higher confidence that it will be packaged correctly, and if not, amazon will correct the problem. Third party seller may be more of a crapshoot.

I'm not sure that Amazon does that great a job of packing items to avoid damage. I'm sure many remember when Amazon used to pack items in boxes way too large, and then threw in a minimum of packing material. These days, many items arrive in plastic bags with no padding at all. I guess the good news is I can't recall having anything damaged in years, but it certainly isn't the packaging that is stopping the damage. Amazon has been under fire from environmentalists for using so much packaging so they keep reducing packaging.

One thing I like about boxes versus the plastic packaging is boxes are easily recyclable, while plastic packaging is not. I like the paper padded envelopes that Amazon sometimes uses as they are recyclable.

[Mark Wedel]

I think if amazon delivers it (vs UPS or USPS), their handling of the package might be kinder so it may be that the packaging in that case is not as important. The one damaged product I got from amazon was because the person packaging it did a poor job (and amazon refunded me the full value of the product - a case of catfood, of which only 20% or so was damaged, so I can't really complain much about that).

Amazon delivers enough packages that one would think they know how to package them to avoid damage (or damage at a low enough rate to be worthwhile). And since in many cases, they are handling the delivery, the cost for larger or different packaging might be different than a third party seller who is handing it off to UPS and may then want to minimize packaging costs, at the expense of damage which they then try to not take responsibility for.

[Alex Zeller]

I think Amazon uses a computer program to decide what size box to use and how much packing material. I would even expect at this point to have a portion done by machine vs a human. Since I get so many packages from them I'm always surprised by how things are packed. There's rarely any thought about packing heavy items with light stuff. It's like they assume that the box will never get flipped upside down and the heavy object will always be on the bottom. Most likely an accountant figured it's cheaper to replace damage items than spend more time packaging things better.

I just received a radiator that was in it's own box inside an Amazon box that was at least 4 times the size of the factory box. No padding at all. It was the only thing inside the box. You could see lots of wear from the box sliding around inside the bigger box. But it made it. What bothers me is when a company that makes something can't be bothered to create good packaging for their product. Far too often the box breaks open and parts get scattered inside the bigger box. Since the bigger box usually isn't taped shut that well those parts get spread all across UPS's shipping locations.

[Brian Elfert]

I think if amazon delivers it (vs UPS or USPS), their handling of the package might be kinder so it may be that the packaging in that case is not as important. The one damaged product I got from amazon was because the person packaging it did a poor job (and amazon refunded me the full value of the product - a case of catfood, of which only 20% or so was damaged, so I can't really complain much about that).

Amazon delivers enough packages that one would think they know how to package them to avoid damage (or damage at a low enough rate to be worthwhile). And since in many cases, they are handling the delivery, the cost for larger or different packaging might be different than a third party seller who is handing it off to UPS and may then want to minimize packaging costs, at the expense of damage which they then try to not take responsibility for.

I doubt Amazon has some secret system that somehow treats packages better than UPS and all the others. Packages that come from a local Amazon Fulfillment center may get less handling, but plenty of Amazon packages are shipped by air or semi truck long distances. I suspect they have figured out that damage claims are less expensive than better packaging.

The worst packaging is when a retail box that was never intended to be shipped is shipped without an outside box. Often times the box is in pretty bad condition by the time it arrives at your location. The boxes are designed to be shipped on a pallet, or in a case, not by itself.

[Jim Koepke]

The reviews on shipping might help if Amazon pays any attention to them. A few times damaged products have arrived and Amazon replaced it.

The thing that ticks me off so much is Amazon often sends a review request before the product arrives and then sends another review request the next day.

In feeling pressured to review a product, it may get knocked down a few stars because my initial use of the product was in error. (some products do not include instructions and are not self explaining)

jtk

[Bruce Wrenn]

The reviews on shipping might help if Amazon pays any attention to them. A few times damaged products have arrived and Amazon replaced it.

The thing that ticks me off so much is Amazon often sends a review request before the product arrives and then sends another review request the next day.

In feeling pressured to review a product, it may get knocked down a few stars because my initial use of the product was in error. (some products do not include instructions and are not self explaining)

jtkNot just Amazon, but Ebay also. Got a request to review an item that hasn't shipped yet

[Patty Hann]

My ebay purchases I review (once I get the item) because so often you CANNOT return the item, and I like to know what the seller is like.
I read other people's reviews for that reason, so I figure I should do my part and submit a review also.
With Amazon you can , for the most part return stuff, even to a 3rd party seller, so I don't review my purchases unless my purchase was a really bad, either because of quality or bad shipping.