01-13-2008, 11:05 AM
Hi all.. As the founder and owner of ResellerRatings, I wanted to add my $0.02:
ResellerRatings was the first store ratings site on the web, founded as part of SysOpt.com (a site I founded and owned previously) in 1995, then broken out as its own site in 1996. Since that time, we've learned a thing or two about how a ratings site should be operated, and I have some insights about the points raised here:
1) 65% of the reviews we receive are either "Satisfied" or "Very Satisfied". That contradicts the common assumption that people only bother to complain. If a store has a bunch of bad reviews, then it is in the minority, and the reviews are probably deserved.
2) If you brought the 70+ OWC ResellerRatings reviewers here for a discussion, this thread would have a much different tone. If you had a good experience with a store, and your experience differs from what others are saying at ResellerRatings, that does not mean that ResellerRatings can't be trusted. With very few exceptions, stores operate in a wide range of quality: they will never please 100% of their customers or 0%. If a store pleases 40% of its customers, that's pretty crappy, but you could be one of the satisifed 40% saying "hey, I had a good experience, why are there so many bad reviews at ResellerRatings." It's because the other 60% didn't have the same experience as you, they had a bad experience. So, please consider that just because ResellerRatings ratings contradict your personal experience does not automatically invalidate our data.
3) Most people complain about bad stores having good ratings, and either accuse us of taking bribes or failing to catch fraud. A) we don't take bribes, and in fact we cancel sponsorships when merchants think that advertising dollars can affect ratings, and B) we've had 12 years to detect and throw out fraud via a variety of automated and manual tools, and we've become very good at it. Detecting fraud is a huge part of what we do. You won't find this to be the case ANYWHERE else. Any other site that aggregates store reviews simply uses IP duplicate blocking and that's it, because they just don't care about quality.
4) We're the only ratings and reviews resource that is actively monitored by 2,000 merchants, who participate in the site. 2,000 merchants have signed up with us to be able to monitor their feedback and post public responses to customer reviews. If you write a review about a problem at one of those stores, chances are they're going to contact you and try to make it right so that you'll want to edit your negative review into a positive review.
5) Some stores with really good ratings, like Newegg, are serious about satisfying their customers. They take a very active role at ResellerRatings and bend over backwards to satisfy any customers who had a bad experience. We think that's a great thing for everyone.
6) Merchants pressure us to remove bad reviews daily. We don't cave. We have a list of policies that reviews must comply with, and if a review doesn't violate those policies, it stays, no matter what we have to go through or how much we have to spend on attorneys to defend our position. If a review does violate a policy, we contact the reviewer and help them bring it into compliance. Again, you won't find this anywhere else: on any other reviews site, if a merchant asks for a review to be removed, it's gone 9 times out of 10. Therefore, reviews at other sites (shopping engines and the like) paint an artificially rosy picture.
I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone has about the site. The site has received tons of praise over the years and I and my staff work very hard to make ResellerRatings the best quality, most reliable source of customer reviews on the web.
ResellerRatings was the first store ratings site on the web, founded as part of SysOpt.com (a site I founded and owned previously) in 1995, then broken out as its own site in 1996. Since that time, we've learned a thing or two about how a ratings site should be operated, and I have some insights about the points raised here:
1) 65% of the reviews we receive are either "Satisfied" or "Very Satisfied". That contradicts the common assumption that people only bother to complain. If a store has a bunch of bad reviews, then it is in the minority, and the reviews are probably deserved.
2) If you brought the 70+ OWC ResellerRatings reviewers here for a discussion, this thread would have a much different tone. If you had a good experience with a store, and your experience differs from what others are saying at ResellerRatings, that does not mean that ResellerRatings can't be trusted. With very few exceptions, stores operate in a wide range of quality: they will never please 100% of their customers or 0%. If a store pleases 40% of its customers, that's pretty crappy, but you could be one of the satisifed 40% saying "hey, I had a good experience, why are there so many bad reviews at ResellerRatings." It's because the other 60% didn't have the same experience as you, they had a bad experience. So, please consider that just because ResellerRatings ratings contradict your personal experience does not automatically invalidate our data.
3) Most people complain about bad stores having good ratings, and either accuse us of taking bribes or failing to catch fraud. A) we don't take bribes, and in fact we cancel sponsorships when merchants think that advertising dollars can affect ratings, and B) we've had 12 years to detect and throw out fraud via a variety of automated and manual tools, and we've become very good at it. Detecting fraud is a huge part of what we do. You won't find this to be the case ANYWHERE else. Any other site that aggregates store reviews simply uses IP duplicate blocking and that's it, because they just don't care about quality.
4) We're the only ratings and reviews resource that is actively monitored by 2,000 merchants, who participate in the site. 2,000 merchants have signed up with us to be able to monitor their feedback and post public responses to customer reviews. If you write a review about a problem at one of those stores, chances are they're going to contact you and try to make it right so that you'll want to edit your negative review into a positive review.
5) Some stores with really good ratings, like Newegg, are serious about satisfying their customers. They take a very active role at ResellerRatings and bend over backwards to satisfy any customers who had a bad experience. We think that's a great thing for everyone.
6) Merchants pressure us to remove bad reviews daily. We don't cave. We have a list of policies that reviews must comply with, and if a review doesn't violate those policies, it stays, no matter what we have to go through or how much we have to spend on attorneys to defend our position. If a review does violate a policy, we contact the reviewer and help them bring it into compliance. Again, you won't find this anywhere else: on any other reviews site, if a merchant asks for a review to be removed, it's gone 9 times out of 10. Therefore, reviews at other sites (shopping engines and the like) paint an artificially rosy picture.
I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone has about the site. The site has received tons of praise over the years and I and my staff work very hard to make ResellerRatings the best quality, most reliable source of customer reviews on the web.