How legit are the ratings for retailers?

[boggy98]

Hello all..

First post here on RR... I've been shopping online for years now.. Amazon, newegg, buy, bestbuy, cc & other large retailers.. Nothing notable comes to mind that I could complain about.

So it was naturally odd when I noticed buy.com's low rating since I've bought from them at least 10 times with no problems. Viewing the top rated sellers on RR, I notice a lot of retailers I've never thought of buying from..

Back to my question; what's going to stop a retailer from rating their own stores to push up their ratings? This could easily mislead someone to buy from somewhere else.

Why are the ratings for buy.com (1.95) on RR so different then pricegrabber's (4stars)?

[frostbitetwice]

Originally Posted by boggy98

Hello all..

First post here on RR... I've been shopping online for years now.. Amazon, newegg, buy, bestbuy, cc & other large retailers.. Nothing notable comes to mind that I could complain about.

So it was naturally odd when I noticed buy.com's low rating since I've bought from them at least 10 times with no problems. Viewing the top rated sellers on RR, I notice a lot of retailers I've never thought of buying from..

Back to my question; what's going to stop a retailer from rating their own stores to push up their ratings? This could easily mislead someone to buy from somewhere else.

Why are the ratings for buy.com (1.95) on RR so different then pricegrabber's (4stars)?

Each and everyone of us has to decide which rating service is more creditable than the other, however, pricegrabber is in the business to helf etailers sell products and RR is not...

Yes, RR also gets scammed with bias reviews, but more effort is made to remove suspect review hear than on others sites. Also, I put more credence in reviews by members, because I believe they are committed more to the interest of others than themselves.

I personally look at the negative comments and their content, which maybe relevant to me..This website has done more to protect my purchasing dollasr that all other agencies combined..

The rating system may not be perfect, but as far as I am concerned it is the best we have....

[michaels39]

There have been some retailers that tried to "rig" their ratings,Monarch Computers leaps to mind,and have gotten caught very quickly.In my experience,RR has done very well at weeding out these types.As for Buy.com,you have to realize they do an enormous amount of business,your experiences with them only make up a tiny percentage in the large volume of sales they make.Since RR's ratings are determined solely by reviews from the customers themselves,one good review can be followed by five bad ones.I tend to believe the customers word more than all the advertising in the world.

[shawnwmodel]

Originally Posted by michaels39

Since RR's ratings are determined solely by reviews from the customers themselves,one good review can be followed by five bad ones.

Also IMO, most people would post a complain faster than they would post something positive.

When we get what we pay for we're happy playing, installing, etc...
But when we don't get it we need to vent and get advice on how to get the money back before it's too late, hence more negative posts.

[Lara RR]

Originally Posted by boggy98

Back to my question; what's going to stop a retailer from rating their own stores to push up their ratings?

We can't stop a reseller from trying to fraudulently boost their ratings but they will be caught, and they get caught most times before the review can even be published.

We have automated anti-fraud detection tools in place that operate and automatically disable reviews 24/7, plus we employ humans to manually investigate and cull fraudulent reviews. If we suspect or receive a report that reviews may be fraudulent we will ask [alleged] customers directly for their purchase invoices or even their billing statements to validate their proof-of-purchase for the transactions reviewed.

Merchants can, among other penalties, lose their merchant access and have an admin note of our findings plastered on their reviews page, for example.

We won't reveal all our methods publicly, but be assured that presenting only legitimate reviews is our number one priority, one we work hard at every day - our reputation and integrity depend on it.

We urge anyone who notices suspicious reviews to contact us - your report will be investigated and the appropriate action taken.

More info on what we do and how we do it:
http://www.resellerratings.com/faq.pl
http://www.resellerratings.com/openletter.pl

[frostbitetwice]

Guys do an excellent job in keeping, RR, as non-bias as possible..

[flipper812002]

I cant tell you how many time this site has saved me before the purchase by asking others their advice and reading reveiws or afterward by posting about what happened and all of a sudden the merchant contacts me and solves the problem.

Not one time have i ever posted on pricegrabbers and had the issue solved. So to me before i purchase online i always and i mean always check store ratings here and if i cant decide by that i come in here and post. Their are people here that take the time out of their lives just to help others and to me that is what makes resellerratings special.

[boggy98]

Thanks Lara. The clarification from an RR representative helps..