It’s hard to believe it, but the #1 most influential reviewer on Amazon who has submitted over 5,000 reviews to the site doesn’t even have an Internet connection in his home! His name is Peter Harris – he’s 56 from Leicester, UK, and over 50,000 people have seen his reviews. He started writing reviews when he lost his job in the IT field and says that his reviews are written from home, but he travels to his local library to use their Internet connection to actually publish them to Amazon’s site. It’s too bad that he couldn’t get paid for all of his hard work (5,000 reviews! Wow!), but he says it’s something he loves to do and it keeps him busy.
This got me thinking about the roll that product reviews often play in determining whether or not we buy something. If multiple people have given a bad review for a product I’m considering to buy, those reviews usually end up being my deciding factor. Amazon is probably one of the more well-known and widely used sites out there that offer reviews, but there are so many others like Newegg, Best Buy, Dell, even Wal-Mart has started a review section. Do you check sites for product reviews before buying something and if so, where is it that you go for the best product reviews? Let us know in the comments!
Source: The Inquirer
I always read Amazon reviews for books – fiction or technical.
When somebody has that many reviews under their belt their opinion counts a lot for me. They’re bound to be discerning.
I always go to ResellerRatings.com ([resellerratings.com]). It has never let me down yet.
This reminds me of the book “The Tipping Point” on epidemics of information…in one of the section of the book, author describes such people as “mavens” whom other people trust on something..like a word of mouth about a product. Mavens like to talk about the products they use and over a period of time build a trust and people listen to them.
As for the reviews sites, amazon.com is definitely a good one. The other sites I’ve used are cnet.com (for tech buys) and epinion.com (good consumer product site). And then there is also my3cents.com which I’ve not really used.
I use reviews a lot to decide on a product. If it’s something simple that I already know they quality of then I don’t bother but for anything new, specially gadgets and tech buys, I don’t buy anything unless I’ve read reviews about it. Sometimes it gets a little tiring. For things you don’t have enough reviews you’re not able to decide if you should try that product or not based on mixed reviews. For some things, you’re not even able to find reviews.
But overall my experience of buying products based on reviews has been excellent. I can safely say that the products I’ve bought based on consumer reviews have paid off on their value/quality and I’m a satisfied consumer in almost all products I’ve bought so far.
Wow..that is just amazing! Kudos to the guy for contributing.
I checked out that site and it looks like they grab their reviews from epinions.com? At least that’s where most of the products I pulled up had their reviews from.
I’m the same way, and sometimes people can’t believe how much research I put into products before I purchase them. In the end I think I’ve always been satisfied with my choice.
Yes, I think I also put way too much time into researching products before buying them, but it has payed off. I am now shocked at the idea of just walking into a store to get a computer or a camera without reading any reviews beforehand.
I usually use Cnet Ratings because it has both editor’s ratings and user ratings.
Given all of the different sites that offer reviews, there’s no reason not to spend the time researching products before buying – especially for major purchases like computers. And you’re right, it certainly does pay off.
I use cnet, amazon, play.com (uk) and metacritic. This post reminds me of an article I saw recently in a paper that warned people about fake reviews for products, but I have to say apart from a few fanboys the reviews are usually pretty acurate.
For all PC equip., electronics, children’s toys, and any high-priced item, I look up pricing and/or reviews on the ‘net. And personal reviews at sites like newegg, tigerdirect, pricegrabber, and amazon (to name a few) have been the deciding vote on any number of purchases. I typically read CNET reviews also but I find them lacking. I want comprehensive reviews and that’s not what CNET does.
Some of the best review sites I’ve found are:
dpreview – most thorough for camera related, great forums.
Tom’s Hardware – very thorough and complete, lots of good articles.
BeHardware – lots of great info
TrustedReviews – good reviews
As others have mentioned… I spend a lot of time researching major (and many minor) purchases before buying. Sometimes, up to months… as with the Sony F717, Epson 2200 (both of which I’ve owned for 4 yrs) and recently… Philips DVD player (bought 2) and an LCD monitor for photo editing (the one I’ve been following for months has finally reached a price point that I want).
Tom’s Hardware is one of my favorite sites as well. They always review things from several different angles, and answer much of what I want to know about an item.
I actually love the review site 3LUXE ([3luxe.com]). They have a completely new approach that seems to be much less biased. Basically their schpiel is that they “do all of the research for you, and then provide you with the Best Ofs – aka top 3 recommendations – in each category. As someone who doesn’t have a lot of patience when it comes to taking the time to do research, I love that this helps cut back on it.
I really like 3Luxe as well, especially for products that I’m not inclined to research, like kitchen appliances and other products that I need, but may not find that interesting. After all, who wants to sift through dozens of reviews for a vacuum cleaner – but we all do want to know which ones work the best!
For digital cameras, I have never been let down by Digital Photography Review. [dpreview.com]
I do love that site. They have amazingly extensive reviews, and it’s especially nice that they show example photos taken with each particular camera.