Product Reviews - Good or Pointless?

Reviews could be the best thing you need or the most misleading piece of information you might receive.
Reviews could be very valuable when making purchase decisions. Short of actually trying the product, there really is no other way to tell if the product that has been beautifully presented on the seller’s website is the same product that will arrive at your doorstep.

When looking through reviews, I tend to look for one that includes a real picture of the product. This way you get to see the product without all the bells and whistles of professional photography. You also get to make an objective decision which is neither dependent on the seller’s description nor on the previous buyer’s opinion.

Source: Pixabay

So, while the idea of customer reviews is invaluable, in some cases, there may be multiple practices of what I call “reviews with benefits”. This refers to a buyer who is offered certain perks by the seller if they agree to provide a positive review on the seller’s product or service.

This happens more times than you think and it especially happens to me when I shop on sites like aliexpress.com. Many sellers have plainly said to me that I will receive a discount for my next purchase if I give them a 5 star review. This completely negates the purpose of reviews. I once visited a car rental store to rent a car for a day. The receptionist was very friendly and knowledgeable. She listed all the prices and after a short while. She lowered her voice and said to me. “I’ll give you a 15% discount if you give me us a good review on Google” (insert shocked face here).
This experience went ahead to reinforce my point that reviews cannot completely be trusted. This is why I prefer to see pictures of the actual product.

Now, what is my take on reviews? While there could be some fake product reviews out there, I would still like to see product reviews most especially those which contain real pictures taken by the buyer.

Thanks for stopping by. Chat later.