In General

[Bduck]

Whenever I check a review of a product I want to purchase I get frustrated between 1star & 5star ratings. A 1star rating might say "do not buy" and a 4 or 5star rating says "good". I'm more interested in the low star ratings of product with cons listed. I want to know more about the product why I shouldn't make a purchase. Most of the time seems like bad ratings contradict good ratings with their evasive 1 or 2 word reviews. It's seems rare to see a more extensive good or bad rating.

[Kent]

I'm with you. I look for the total ratings (of course many reviews give me more comfort) and the number of 5 star ratings compared to low ratings. I will often read many of the ratings; especially, the low ratings. Often, I see that their expectations were unreasonable or something similar.

[Tin-Can]

Have had to become wary of "star ratings" on some sites. Learned that some are created by internet "bots" to either pump up a product, or down grade a product. Some by competitors and some by the selling company.

[RonPaulFan]

Have had to become wary of "star ratings" on some sites. Learned that some are created by internet "bots" to either pump up a product, or down grade a product. Some by competitors and some by the selling company.

Amazon lists comments from verified buyers and that seemed trustworthy, but there has been a lot of identity theft.  The mysterious packets of seeds from China showing up in the mail yet not ordered that was in the news weeks ago is part of hacking this system.  It gives the sender spending pennies on seeds the ability to give good reviews in the name of the buyer that never bought it.  Then a large count of good reviews will give other buyers confidence to buy from companies that use this fake method of getting a lot of good reviews.

[dubob]

Roger,

It's getting harder and harder to find honest companies with legitimate raters.  I've taken to only using major companies like Amazon that have proven to have a good return policy.  Also, buying direct from big name manufacturers is a good idea.  I don't generally buy from any source that comes seeking my business instead of me seeking them.  I haven't been stung yet and hope to keep it that way.

[catchinon]

I like to read a lot of the individual reviews. I am very wary of the reviewers who didn't follow instructions or had unreasonable expectations or give a one because it happened to get broken in shipping. Let's face it, there are a lot of stupid people out there. I look for a high percentage of 5s. One of the issues I have is when they lump together a bunch of similar items to the one I'm looking at. I don't really want to know if all the different iterations of a product are good or bad, just the specific one I'm interested in. I could go on and on. Never been a time when caveat emptor better applied.