DON'T BUY.COM Advisory

[uethello]

They undoubtedly do alot of business through ResellerRatings.com. Here at RR, there are always links to Buy.com deals, right on the homepage. And in the forum:

RR Homepage Deals - ResellerRatings Store Ratings, Shopping, Deals, and Bargains

No link to their ratings, I guess you better know that RR will list deals regardless of vendor rating. I have mentioned it but... nobody really seems to care.

Just scroll down the posts in the link, lots of buy.com. This should stop until Buy brings up their rating.

[frostbitetwice]

Originally Posted by uethello

They undoubtedly do alot of business through ResellerRatings.com. Here at RR, there are always links to Buy.com deals, right on the homepage. And in the forum:

RR Homepage Deals - ResellerRatings Store Ratings, Shopping, Deals, and Bargains

No link to their ratings, I guess you better know that RR will list deals regardless of vendor rating. I have mentioned it but... nobody really seems to care.

Just scroll down the posts in the link, lots of buy.com. This should stop until Buy brings up their rating.

Buynot.com does have very mediocre ratings...When I order, I tell the merchant that I am a member of RR and the IRA..

It seem that my orders are expedited and handled by either the president or a VP....

I would in the long run not prefer censorship, despite the poor ratings, Uethello...

Better yet, RR, could go to a membership based on fees and a click on Merchant Review fee as well, however, advertising is the easiest source of money..

Moreover, I never go to the HomepageDeal, because I want the best quality product, rather than what is on sale....Only the indigent and cheapskates go there and often much to their chagrin...

[wayneferrell479]

Originally Posted by frostbitetwice

Buynot.com does have very mediocre ratings...When I order, I tell the merchant that I am a member of RR and the IRA..

It seem that my orders are expedited and handled by either the president or a VP....

I would in the long run not prefer censorship, despite the poor ratings, Uethello...

Better yet, RR, could go to a membership based on fees and a click on Merchant Review fee as well, however, advertising is the easiest source of money..

Moreover, I never go to the HomepageDeal, because I want the best quality product, rather than what is on sale....Only the indigent and cheapskates go there and often much to their chagrin...

I'm glad I found this place. Reading some of these posts makes me shudder. And to think the innocent consumer is completely unaware of this type of stuff. Thanks heaps

[uethello]

I would in the long run not prefer censorship, despite the poor ratings, Uethello...

Not in the least... The deals I'm referring to (linked above) are not posted by forum members, that's a post referring people to the deals listed on the home page of ResellerRatings.com.

Of course there's another side to this and RR needs to make money but I consider it bad business for a Ratings site to link deal adverts at a 2.0/10.0 rated site.

[saturnotaku]

Originally Posted by uethello

Not in the least... The deals I'm referring to (linked above) are not posted by forum members, that's a post referring people to the deals listed on the home page of ResellerRatings.com.

Of course there's another side to this and RR needs to make money but I consider it bad business for a Ratings site to link deal adverts at a 2.0/10.0 rated site.

I brought this very thing up a long time ago, maybe even in this very thread (too lazy to search). I don't have a problem with RR posting links to buy.com deals, but I think they need to put up something to advise people of the store's rating. For instance, they could add a sentence that says, "Buy.com has a lifetime rating of x.x/10 with xxxx reviews." I would have no problem with this, as it does not make any judgment about the reseller, but it simply puts the information out there to let the consumer decide.

[frostbitetwice]

Originally Posted by wayneferrell479

I'm glad I found this place. Reading some of these posts makes me shudder. And to think the innocent consumer is completely unaware of this type of stuff. Thanks heaps

Delighted to have you hear, Wayneferrell!!!

Originally Posted by uethello

Not in the least... The deals I'm referring to (linked above) are not posted by forum members, that's a post referring people to the deals listed on the home page of ResellerRatings.com.

Of course there's another side to this and RR needs to make money but I consider it bad business for a Ratings site to link deal adverts at a 2.0/10.0 rated site.

I would rather have links to bad sites, than censorship, Uethello...Besides what rating is too low??

Buyer beware, due diligence....It is better to have consumers sharpen their shopping skills, than having someone do it for them...

[nomaxim]

Should RR also stop posting Sears, Dell, and Best Buy deals?

After all those three have a worse lifetime rating then Buy.com.
Set 1a
Buy.com 4.81. BBB report rating B+.
Sears 2.01. BBB report rating Satisfactory.
Dell 4.06. BBB report rating C+.
Best Buy 2.00. BBB report rating B+.
The now defunct Circuit City 2.70.

Let's also not forget some of the other bigger merchants,
Set 1b
Walmart 4.91 No single BBB report, results vary mostly between A and B.
Target 3.71. BBB report rating A+.
Kmart 4.17. Now part of Sears.
Macy's 3.16. BBB report rating A.
Radio Shack 2.74. BBB report rating F.
OfficeMax 3.40. BBB report rating Unsatisfactory.
Ace Hardware 4.50. BBB report rating No rating. No single BBB report, results vary mostly between B and C.
Office Depot 3.82. No single report, results vary mostly between C and F.
Home Depot 1.90. BBB report rating A.
Crutchfield 9.73, BBB report rating A+.

All the above have something in common that they do not share with the following.
(Hint) It has nothing do do with the number of reviews or complaints.
Set 2
Newwegg.com 9.76 BBB report rating A.
B&H Photo 9.51 BBB report rating Satisfactory.
LensRental.com 9.99 BBB report rating B-.
Sonic Electronix 9.01 BBB report rating C+.
HiFi Sound Connection 7.52 BBB report rating F.
iBuyPower 7.13 BBB report rating C+.
Computer Geeks (Geeks.com) 7.53 BBB report rating B+.
Mwave 8.44 BBB report rating B-.
PartsGeek 9.27 BBB report rating D+ or F for this older report.
Super Warehouse 3.53 BBB report rating C+.
Magic Micro 5.71 BBB report rating A-.

Out of the 34 ratings listed above, I left out Circuit City and also disregarded the BBB reports that gave a 'Sat/Unsat' or multiple reports. Only for 10 of the them do the RR ratings and BBB ratings match up within 1 point. That's about 28% of the time.

Now here's where it gets interesting. I'm going to add the ratings from PriceGrabber to some of the above. PriceGrabber isn't as good as it was before the ownership change a few years ago but it still works IMO. I'm also going to convert the BBB ratings to a 10 point system per that grading system. And total them.
(All PG ratings multiplied by 2)

Set 3
(9.58) Newwegg.com 9.76, BBB report rating 9.55, PG rating 9.44.
(8.53) Computer Geeks (Geeks.com) 7.53, BBB report rating 8.85, PG rating 9.22.
(6.06) Target 3.71, BBB report rating 9.85, PG rating 4.64.
(8.75) Sonic Electronix 9.01, BBB report rating 7.85, PG rating 9.38.
(5.77) Best Buy 2.00, BBB report rating 8.85, PG rating 6.46.
(7.35) Buy.com 4.81, BBB report rating 8.85, PG rating 8.38.
(8.55) Mwave 8.44, BBB report rating 8.25, PG rating 8.96.
(6.70) Dell 4.06, BBB report rating 7.85, PG rating 8.20.
(9.75) Crutchfield 9.73, BBB report rating 9.85, PG rating 9.68.

Now in this set I have 27 ratings. But, 20 of them match up within 1 point, or around 75% of the time. I'd also point out that the average rating in set 3 is 7.89. The average rating at present at RR (for all reviews website wide) is 7.86. That is a variation of only 0.03 or 0.3%. The average without any type of curve would be 7.5.

EDIT: I added Crutchfield to Sets 1b and 3.

[saturnotaku]

Originally Posted by nomaxim

Should RR also stop posting Sears, Dell, and Best Buy deals?

IMO, absolutely not. But I see no reason why mention of a reseller's rating can't be included with the description.

[uethello]

What I am saying is this, people come here with trust in Reseller Ratings' good reputation. Everything is set up with fairness and transparency in mind. And it works, I will take a RR rating over a BBB or any other any type of rating any day.

Much is said in FP deals about the items being sold. With links to items, retailers and even item review links. However, all of this information and the fact that these are advertisements from the front page of the premier retailer ratings site lends itself to buyers taking for granted retailer quality. A simple link to that retailers RR rating page would seem to be a common sense item. RR was set up to rate vendors fairly and encourage them to improve service. Direct links to consistently bad retailers without reference to their rating seems to be an end run around this goal.

[frostbitetwice]

Excellent post, Master Nomaxin...Price "Graber" is completely unreliable and in my HO has no merit whatsoever..

Uethello, at what rating would you make the cutoff, because I don't purchase from any Etailer with less than 7.50 score...