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.

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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.
...

[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.
...

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! 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! 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.
...

Best. Answer. Possible.

Can't improve on that!

-Tom