Never do business with rating below 4.0 ?

[dbe2003]

I recently came across a very attractive price (not a "too good be true", just reasonably attractive) at overstocks.com and buy.com.

However, when I looked at their ratings I was shocked to see that these well advertised stores have a rating of 3.51 and 3.79, respectively.

Up until now I followed a rule of thumb that says "never buy from a reseller with a rating below 9.0". So far it has never failed me.

But being on a shoestring budget nowdays, I am now tempted to give some "benefit of the doubt" to some of these long established businesses.

I mean, unlike well known online scam stores (Online Scam Stores - A list and guide), overstocks.com and buy.com have been around for some time and if they were true scammers as can be inferred from their current ratings here, they wouldn't have been in business anymore.

Or am I mistaken?

I am curious to hear your viewpoint on the subject. How do you interpret such low ratings? Would you do buy from such vendor? Do you view this as a gamble?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and comments,
Dan

[nomaxim]

I try to stay with stores above a 8-9 rating. However, you must also look at the breakdown of the ratings and take into consideration the total volume of sales a company has. And remember that people often only complain when they have a problem. For example, I have used the following low rated companies without problem;
Dell 4.38 http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1867.html
Gateway 2.14 http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2053.html
IBM 4.23 http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1335.html
Microsoft Never been rated http://www.resellerratings.com/seller12110.html
Columbia House 2.36 http://www.resellerratings.com/seller3636.html
Softwareoutlet 2.50 http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1332.html

I would suggest to always cross-reference with the BBB

[frostbitetwice]

dbe, any vendor under 7.5 does not get any of my money. However, if a store is close to ones cut-off then reading the reviews may make the difference. You or I should not be in the charity business. There are, generally, good reason why many companies are in the dog house. It is much easier to be lousy than good.

[dbe2003]

Thank you for your tips, guys.

Indeed, I looked at the BBB for the two companies I mentioned in my original post: overstock.com and buy.com, and my first impression is that there have been too many "complaints that have been resolved".

The main reason I use resellerratings.com is to (reasonably) avoid complaints in the first place...

I guess I will have to go with the more expensive options. I will leave gambling to the gamblers.