Ask the Readers: Do You Trust Product Reviews? (Chance to win $20!)

I always check the product reviews, especially for large dollar purchases. I am also a big fan of Amazon because they seem to have the most product reviews. Travelocity is, in my opinion, one of the best for comments/reviews on hotels and travel. I do wish there was more transparancy as I feel you really don't know who is doing the review or where their interest lie. Also sometimes it seems the people who like to complain are more likely to review than those that have anything positive to say.

Depends on the nature of the website. If it is a product review by the staff of the website with no comment section or even a "community" section, then I won't trust them. Although, I tend to trust Gizmodo.com quite often because they never seem to be afraid to lash out on companies for disappointing their consumers.

If there is a website with a solid user-community that contributes to product reviews (i.e. Newegg.com, Amazon.com) then I trust them almost completely.

"Do you think that there is a way to tell if a review is honest?"
-Yes if there are advertisements for that product all over the website or if the website is known to have an affiliation with the company that manufactures the product.-->Don't trust. Also, there are times where the reviewer sounds more like an advertisement and it's obvious it's a person who works for the seller/manufacturer (like in ratemyprofessor.com, you can tell it's a professor rating themselves when they say "just study and do the readings and you'll get an A"--no student ever says that!) The reviewer needs to really expand on how the product affected them after the "first impression" time. At first, everything we buy into is amazing, but after a while we realize the cons of the product and wish we could change things.

"If not, is this something you'd like to see in the future? What would it look like?"
-REVIEWS SHOULD ALWAYS BE UPDATED. Just because you got a hands-on experience for an hour, doesn't mean you will feel the same way the next time you use it (for better or worse). Updates to a review should also include how you customized the product and if it helped at all.

I believe that for an honest review, the reviewer must be in the mindset of "nothing is perfect" and must use it in a casual experience. (When people got to use the iPad, I am sure it felt awesome and looked cool because they never used anything like it so it got good short-handed reviews. But I am also sure that if they took the time to sit down and tried to actually get some work done, they would have hated it)

I always check out reviews, but I consider the source carefully. Some sites I have come to trust enough that I always give them the benefit of the doubt.

The tone of the review often gives a hint about sincerity. Also, is the person writing the review getting free product after free product and writing glowing reviews? Does a particular review fit in with what other information I can find out about the product or service?

Typically I go with the reviews of a couple of sites. Amazon and Buy.com. Depending on the item I buy, I will also go to newegg or cnet (cnet typically just for cell phones though).
In order to "trust" a review, I always take them with a grain of salt. Reviews that are 1 liners, I immediately ignore. Or if there are only 2 or 3 reviews and they are all super positive and talk about how cool they look or that its “fantastic” and “I am going to tell all my family and friends about this”, then I ignore those as well.
I look for some detail in the review. They mention pros and cons (if any) and attempt to look at it from all angles. It’s hard to know what to trust because there are articles stating people who work for the manufacturers or who works for the company getting reviewed will go and put in positive reviews to boost up their overall score. But then again, can you trust those articles?

I almost always check the reviews on products before purchasing, especially on sites such as Amazon. However, it does help to look at what others thoughts of the review. A enthusiastic and overly positive review with a low "helpful" rating is always a red flag that the review may not be genuine. Of course, it also depends on the number of reviews.

I always read reviews, but I don't necessarily believe all of them. It's also important to not just look at the "star" ratings. Like on Amazon, a product might have a fair number of low star ratings, but if you actually read the reviews, most of the problems were "user-related" not necessarily product malfunctions. I also check to see the number of reviews. I'm more likely to consider products with 100+ reviews than just one 5 star rating.

I think it's pretty easy to tell when a review is worth taking seriously: if it's from a source I trust (Wise Bread would fall into this category), if it's coherent (ie, not written like "GAHHH THIS IZ THE WURST THING EVAR DONT BUY IT OR UL DIE"), if it's not written like an advertisement... then I call it credible. When I'm looking at reviews on places like Amazon I only consider them when there are a considerable number - enough so that a consensus emerges.

I read online reviews for many things before buying them, especially high ticket items. Like many others, I usually start at Amazon just because of their huge variety and large community.

I often skim a couple of the high rated reviews and then go and read the negative reviews to look for trends in the products. Most people who leave positive reviews gush over the product in general but don't give specifics about what they liked and why. They also tend to downplay things that they didn't like. However, most negative reviews are more specific about what they didn't like or what didn't work. It's also fairly easy to distinguish between issues of personal preference and issues with functionality or products that break easily.

I dislike product reviews found in blogs, because I think most of them are skewed to the positive. I do read reviews on amazon, though in general i find I need to try things myself

Do I trust product reviews? Yes & no. It depends on the source, be it a blog or dedicated reviews site. The more reputable it is, the more weight I give the review. But even so, I try to maintain a healthy skepticism. If a review or post seems too rosy, or too harsh, it sets off alarms and I try to look for a more balanced assessment before forming my own decision.

I typically look at product reviews on anything that I plan to spend over $50 on. If I see a review for something I spend less on, I'll give it a quick skim.

I typically put more trust in reviewers that have been accurate before. Like (some of) my family and (most of) my close friends. CNET.com is also a place that I give an 80% trust rating.

One of the primary ways I use any review is to look at the points they thought were particularly good or bad. I check to see if my impression matches theirs.

I do, but only from users who have a long list of reviewed products, or a high user ranking of some sort. Most other reviews are just paid SEM efforts.

I usually only read product reviews for video games, because with most products I just expect them to work, and I don't usually buy anything that isn't a video game anyways.

I always check online reviews but I try to check both the highest and the lowest reviewers. If someone can't think of a single negative thing to say about a product, I think it's a bit suspect. In general, I trust the net result of a large number of reviews. If it's a single review on a website I trust it more if there is a story attached ie. how they came to find the product, what other products they've tried. I also look for a clear explanation of how they choose the products they're reviewing. Usually if the product was a freebie and they didn't say anything negative about it, I don't trust the review.

I always check reviews for just about everything! Things I'm buying, restaurants, movies, everything. In fact, I'm hesitant to buy things that don't have many reviews. I generally use the rating/stars/score to narrow my list down, and then I tend to read through reviews individually, paying attention to what specifically is wrong with the product or good about it. For instance, if I wanted to see a movie this weekend, I'd take a look at RottenTomatoes.com and check what the aggregate score was for all the movies currently playing. I'd narrow my list down to any movie with a score above 60%. I'd remove anything from a genre I didn't like. After that, I should only have at most 1 or 2 movies to choose from (if I'm very lucky and there are actually good movies out!), and I can look at them individually and decide what to see. If there's nothing that has a score above 60% in a genre I think is tolerable, I don't see a movie. This system hasn't failed me yet :) I do the same thing for most things.

If there are reviews - I read them - Always interesting to get some feedback.

I do check online reviews. I also make sure to read the dissatisfied comments also. I find them very valuable to help me make a decision on my purchase. Thanks,

I always look at online reviews when making large purchases. I like to rely on trusted reviewers like Consumer Reports but I also look at customer reviews. I look at them closely though and make sure they include reasons for why they like or dislike a product. Then I look for trends in those same likes & dislikes so I get an overall review rather then just one or two peoples opinion. So far it hasn't failed me!

It depends on how many reviews there are for a product. If a lot of people are saying a this product has a defect then I would believe it to be true. If only one person had a problem I would think that the error was partly to blame on a the user or just dumb luck. For the most part the reviews on products that I buy have been accuate. I don't think there is a fair way to have honest reviews.

If I want to know more about a product, I'll look at product reviews, but I'll look at a lot of them from many different sites. first I'll type in the product name into a search engine, the more pages or results it gets the better, then I open up many different random sites in many different tabs. At each page I'll read the review, getting rid of tabs that contain the Same or eerily similar reviews. Of the ones left I'll check for comments, (comments alone mean that a lot of people have seen the review and sometimes the comments ask the questions I wanted to ask or give answers not found in the review itself.)I pay attention to those comments that had questions or seemed concerned and cross-reference this with the other reviews I've read, This gives me a good idea as to what the cons of the product might be, if there is a fix for said cons, or if I would be fine with the cons.

I use product reviews as one more item in my consumer's toolbox. The reviews come from a variety of sites.

My favorite way to research a product is to look for reviews and recommendations from a site that caters to the people selling what I'm shopping for. This is how I ended up not buying a roof with a membrane--I discovered that this type of product has the highest percentage of lawsuits filed by consumers against the manufacturers and installers.

I'm in the 'grain of salt' school - but I ALWAYS look for them and often find them extremely helpful

I definitely rely on product reviews when purchasing, especially for major items. Amazon is a fairly trustworthy source, and professional sources such as Consumer Reports/Search, CNET (for electronics). Shills are usually pretty obvious to spot in the customer reviews.

I trust them--to a degree.

There could be too many other agendas involved to believe in them lock, stock and barrel.

But I think they can be used at least as a guide.

Reviews are important, if they are real-life examples of how the product works. I make sure to read the bad reviews and see if the person is just upset that the product never arrived, or if they really had a bad experience with the specific product. You can usually tell if someone is just making up the review, which I have seen before, and doesn't know anything about the product whatsoever. There have been a few things I have decided against purchasing because of bad reviews and was relieved, and a few things I purchased because of good reviews and regretted. All in all, common sense needs to prevail!

I try to check reviews, but as OP said, I am cognizant of the source.

I usually can tell if someone is paid or given a product - bloggers who all of a sudden sound like a press release are a good clue - and on sites like Amazon, I tend to be a little more skeptical of the negative reviews. Sometimes they are just a crazy rant, or, I love it when the person admits to not using the product properly or writing a review of something after using it once.

I really love reading product reviews, though not all websites have the same quality of reviews submitted by users. Epinions does not have as good a library as amazon.com. I like how amazon lets you sort out reviews by # of stars; I tend to read middle-of-the-road rated reviews, too, though it's worth reading the negative ones as well. It's pretty easy to sort out the spammers by brevity and lack of specific content (and, sadly, grammar/spelling). Also, reviews for electronics and equipment tend to be more reliable than, say, cosmetics review, mostly because with cosmetics or beauty products you need to be using the product for a length of time before you can have a realistic opinion (also, not everyone's skin type/genetic makeup are the same).

...but I always take them with a grain of salt. We all have different opinions. Obviously what is an amazing thing to one person might be utterly worthless to another. So, I really only research product reviews if I'm truly on the fence about something and then I consider the source when perusing them and, ultimately, the reviews are but a small part of what affects my decision.

Product reviews written by consumers are invaluable to my purchasing decisions. In fact, I will hardly ever buy ANYTHING over $5 without first consulting the 'net or friends for reviews. That way I waste less money buying things on impulse because the packaging looks good.

I generally prefer to see several different reviews of the same item before I buy, so I can make a more educated decision. Amazon.com is particularly good for that. If I can only find a few reviews, I judge their accuracy based on the writing tone:

Is it overly harsh or overly bubbly? Probably not trustworthy. Does the author list both pros AND cons? I prefer to hear the potential negative "side effects" as well as the good things (just as with medicine) before I buy, so I know what to expect. On blogs, are there pictures of the product in use? Especially for hair and makeup items, this one is important.

I always check the product reviews but I take them with a grain of salt. You have to assume that people generally take the time to write a product review more often when they are unhappy or completely over-the-moon for the product. You don't see many middle-of-the-road purely objective reviews. So, I look for common problems with the product that are mentioned in multiple reviews and just try to gauge an overall quality from that.

It depends. If the review gives enough details explaining why it is good or not, I will believe it

I'll check reviews before I buy it but it wouldn't make me buy something just because it was a good review.

I go by the 'one two days' test.
If I want something I visit the place during my free time to have a look at it, walk around and consider other options (i.e. a keyboard).
I'll then leave and come back again in one or two days.

If I still have doubts or the feeling of 'I want to buy it' isn't as strong/isn't there I won't buy it.
99% of the time it works out beautifully. My house would be filled with junk if I didn't follow this rule.

Most importantly most of the time if I buy the product I have no qualms returning it after trying it and finding it to be not what it had advertised.

I always tend to check product reviews before any online purchase, but also found them necessary when creating my wedding registry 6 months ago. We had a lot of items to consider at once (vaccum cleaner, toaster oven, etc), and I didn't know one toaster oven to the other. I used amazon and wal-mart for most of my review checks.

Some reviewers are irrational, or they never bothered to read the product description before they bought their item. I threw those reviews out. Of course they'd be unhappy with something if they weren't paying attention to begin with, right?

The most helpful and honest reviews I came across were ones done by people who were fair. They'd talk about their experience and list the pros and cons.

They helped me a lot. :)

I love product reviews. They can be a great tool when researching a product. I value both positive and negative comments.

It really depends upon the source. If a review came from yahoo, I am immediately skeptical. I've found good reviews there about a store that many people complained about on several other sites.
I try to find multiple sources and I tend to trust the negative reviews more often than the positive ones.

I am interested in ratings on sites like Amazon -- I generally try to skim a few positive and a few negatives when purchasing something new. As for blogs, though, I'm generally skeptical of overly positive reviews. Balanced reviews capture my interest, and negative reviews are good warnings, but anyone that's 100% positive while doing an extensive review... yikes.

I always look at reviews before making a purchase. I try to find as many different reviews as possible to get a better average or the rating. The I read individual comments. If I come across a bad review, I look at how specific the comment is. I find general comments ("this product sucks!") can be ignored. I also look at how many people agree with the comment. If several people make the same complaint, I take it into consideration before buying.