How reliable is resellerratings.com?

[NuclearNed]

I was close to giving an online store quite a bit of cash, but their reseller rating was something like 2.5/10. Now I'm having a lot of second thoughts...

 

[olds]

They are the gospel.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
They are the gospel.

Seriously? For the camera I want to buy, they have Dell rated at 1.5/5. I would think Dell would have a higher ranking.

 

[AStar617]

ResellerRatings is a big help, especially for the borderline e-stores you've never heard of. They've done a lot over the past few years to prevent vendors from creating phony praise for themselves.

Oh yeah, Newegg used to send you free crap if you informed them of a positive review you left for them. Don't know if they still do this though.

 

[effowe]

Make sure to read the most recent reviews. If there is a pattern, such as "Charged my card, never received item" or "Doesn't respond to emails, took 2 months to get the product" then steer clear.

 

[yowolabi]

It's not great for the stores in the middle or the stores with only a few reviews. But otherwise, it's pretty accurate in telling you which stores you should avoid. Just make sure you read the reviews and don't only look at the score. You may find that the consistent problem that the store has is something you're willing to tolerate.

Dell's ratings seem to be low because their customer service is lousy. If you're fortunate enough to get your item exactly as ordered, you'll be fine. But if something goes wrong, you're in for a migraine.

 

[OulOat]

Resellerratings is generally very useful, but for some stores their ratings are low, yet I have had wonderful experiences with them. For example, www.goggles4u.com. Following resellerratings, you would avoid this shop. But I have always gotten my glasses as describe and their customer service has always been excellent for me.

 

[SKORPI0]

I use this... Ripoff Report

 

[alkemyst]

resellerratings are good as long as you have enough posts or not too many (for a new store).

If some shop just opened and the next month they have a 9.5/10 with 2000 votes chances are they are using freemail to shill.

I look at overall and last x months to get a complete picture.

 

[kaymin]

i always check the ratings on that site if the reseller is obscure. Oftentimes reseller ratings doesn't even have the site though. I think amazon only got like a 6, and i've never had a problem with them in years.

 

[jadinolf]

Not really reliable.

Many people who post there are there to complain.

I am no exception.

 

[AStar617]

One point worth noting is that many people feel more compelled to take the time and give negative feedback to a store after being burned, as opposed to giving a positive for doing what they should be doing in the first place. Thus some scores (like Dell's) are somewhat deflated. Like yowolabi said, the content of the negative is important to consider.

EDIT: yeah, what jadinolf said. beat me to the punch

 

[Vidda]

I prefer to look at the user comments, not the actual rating. Trends are important.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
They are the gospel.

Yes & no ... they are a very useful tool to get a good idea of wether a merchant is a complete scam, but when it comes to getting a 100% accurate picture of said merchant you need to keep in mind that its not against the rules to offer customer-incentives for writing reviews.

Certain venders have been known to increase the offered reward for an especially effective positive review & this is often evidenced by a multitude of positives which results in an artificially high rating that is allowed to remain listed on the site.

 

[ScottWRR2]

I own ResellerRatings.

Many people who post there are there to complain.

I hear that all the time but it's not really accurate. As of this posting date, 73% of all survey responses across all stores are either "Somewhat Satisfied" or "Very Satisfied". Only 27% of respondents answered, "Neither Satisfied or Dissatisfied", "Dissatisfied", or "Very Dissatisfied". Note that the top 45 stores have overwhelmingly positive reviews:
http://www.resellerratings.com/topstores.pl

The reason some larger stores like Dell, Buy.com, Amazon, may be poorly rated, is because ResellerRatings attracts a power user/demanding audience, one that expects personalized top notch prices, service, RMA policies etc, that the big sites don't always provide, and also these users tend to buy more often from the Neweggs/Crucials/medium to small stores, which means a larger volume of reviews for those stores as well.

In regards to another comment, stores are permitted to solicit feedback from their customers in exchange for discounts on future orders etc, but any such offers must only request "feedback", not "positive feedback", and the offers must be honored even if the store receives a negative review. Users do report stores to us that violate this policy, and we take action against stores that do (like disabling any reviews that were solicited improperly, for instance).

We also do everything we can to detect and prevent fraudulent reviews. If we detect that a store is submitting fake reviews for itself, we'll disable the reviews and warn the store. A second offense gets a public note added to their reviews page for 30 days, and a third offense makes that note permanent with the possibility of disallowing any future reviews for that store.

So, is ResellerRatings accurate? I think so. It's the best there is, IMO. You still have to use your own judgement, read reviews, look at ratings, and always always always use a credit card when shopping online to be almost universally protected from fraud in a worst case scenario.

And BTW, about 1,500 merchants actively monitor their reviews at ResellerRatings. We routinely get people thanking us because a merchant contacted them and corrected problems after the merchant read their review at ResellerRatings. So, the site can be a catalyst to help with any customer service issues, though we always recommend contacting the merchant directly to resolve any issues.

 

[BigAL15]

resellerratings.com is a scam! they refuse to post any negative reviews on Newegg Marketplace about AutoPartsWay only good reviews Big Joke! Newegg should stay in the electronics business

 

[John Connor]

Holy 8 year bump batman!