Merchants- Can you handle less than 5 stars?

[Paul Hexem]

Story time!

One time, there was a merchant with lots of five star reviews on a certain product. Yet sometimes, a review would be made that was not five stars, for various reasons. Some of these less than perfect reviews were due to user error, some due to bugs, some due to personal opinions.

However, in every case, the seller commented on the reviews listing the reasons why the buyer was wrong, sometimes very rudely. In one case outright insulting the buyer's intelligence. Further, the seller would IM the buyer repeatedly, telling them to change their review, and that they must be using the product wrong, or whatever else.

Words like "malicious behavior" left in comments on reviews! Seriously. Calling a 3 star review "malicious behavior".

So, fellow merchants, how do you handle reviews that are less than five stars?

[MIstahMoose]

Not that I even run a store anymore. 

Honestly its fine if they actually review the product. If they're having a technical issue and are too lazy to ask about it and review with a 1 star, thats just unacceptable and worth going out of the way for.

Otherwise, who cares lol

[Bobbie Faulds]

I have no problem with lower stars if it's legitamate. If the person didn't get a deliver or there's a problem with the item, I want the person to contact me rather than just give a 1 star review without contacting the seller first to see if it can be resolved first. Those that just jump to a bad review without trying to get a resolution first.

[Sassy Romano]

---

Gadget Portal wrote:

Further, the seller would IM the buyer repeatedly, telling them ... that they must be using the product wrong

---

I didn't realise Apple were selling iPhones in SL?

Besides, what's a Review?  Nobody leaves any.  Of the one or two a year that I get, I can't say that it bothers me either way but one time, I did get a 1 star because they didn't understand the product so I just added a comment.

 

[HunniHope]

Sure a low star can be disheartening, but everyone is entitled to an opion. I always try and remember to add a comment, even if its just to say that im making contact in-world. And usually when you do get to speak to the customer its a simple fix and resolve. I never ask anyone to change a review, if they do so off their own back then its appreciated and i thank them, but if they dont, its no biggie. Between the customer & I we know its all resolved and a happy outcome, and that's all that matters.

It makes no sense to me to get our knickers in a twist about it.

[Zanzawolf Cosmos]

That sounds so much like a merchant I had a falling out with that's big in the kids' side of SL, it isn't funny.

Well, I'm not exactly a merchant in-game, I do a bit of freelancing illustration work, sometimes using SL as a way of getting customers and have received my share of reviews and critiques of differing qualities. When I first got into doing artistic matters seriously I was a bit defensive of anything that was less than what could be considered a 5 star review but as time went on and a bit more art school, I kind of developed a tougher skin to the stuff though I'm also a major critic of myself. Feel I take me much longer to finish stuff now but I guess at times it's worth it.

Just feel some folks are just divas that need to understand that not every one of their products are perfect and that just because some gives a criticism on the overall functionality or the design, it's not an attack on you unless they actually say some malicious stuff. Shoot you may find out that you actually did miss a mistake or got an awesome idea out of it thanks to someone not just be a kiss-up. ;

[Spica Inventor]

I always post a counter comment to any review that lies about my product, and those type of reviews are often times from the Alts. of competing merchants trying to sabotage the product. Those are the types of reviews that can really reduce your sales, so you really got to take care of those. Any review under 4 stars is generally considered a negative review, but some people still don't realize that fact it would appear. Hardly anyone ever does a two star review, and three star reviews are usually accompanied by user error or user ignorance based comments, or other largely goofy comments, so are not much use and have little effect on sales.

There is still alot of cheating and virtual cheating going on with the review system. (Many hundreds of reviews for some products giving them a much higher review to sell ratio when compared to their competition)? Please! hehe

It's possible that more expensive products draw a higher review to sell ratio naturally as peeps get more emotional about an item the more expensive it gets, and consequently are more inclined to spend their valuable time reviewing what they purchase. L.L. only knows the details and are probably not willing to fork over that information. ;-)

[Nefertiti Nefarious]

---

Gadget Portal wrote:

So, fellow merchants, how do you handle reviews that are less than five stars?

---

If the review is for a problem I can fix - such as a product that changed perms for mysterious reasons - I fix it and send a fixed product.

If it's because the description was accidentally misleading (I think I fixed them all, but who knows) - I offer a refund if they give the product back.

If it's of the "your produks suk" variety, I ignore it.

[Medhue Simoni]

If a review is in anyway not correct technically, or the reviewer is abusive, I flag it for LL to deal with. LL can decide whether it stays or not. I also write a comment on the review, which can even be, "Thanks for the review". Even tho there are considerably less reviews and ratings today, all because of LL's ignorance, often times, a bad review will be countered by other reviewers. Most of the time, when I do get a bad review, another customer will come along and be offended by the bad review and address it directly. It always bring a big smile to my face. I do not know these people that defend my product, but it is good to see that people are willing to stick up for a good product.

[Pamela Galli]

This is how 9/10 "reviews" I get go:

 

The listing states that the set includes X and Y but NO Z IS INCLUDED!!!  And restates that.

The reviewer gives it one star for not including Z.

OR, the perms are copy mod but the reviewer wanted mod trans -- one star! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Butch Daddy]

---

Spica Inventor wrote:

I always post a counter comment to any review that lies about my product, and those type of reviews are often times from the Alts. of competing merchants trying to sabotage the product. Those are the types of reviews that can really reduce your sales, so you really got to take care of those. Any review under 4 stars is generally considered a negative review, but some people still don't realize that fact it would appear. Hardly anyone ever does a two star review, and three star reviews are usually accompanied by user error or user ignorance based comments, or other largely goofy comments, so are not much use and have little effect on sales.

There is still alot of cheating and virtual cheating going on with the review system. (Many hundreds of reviews for some products giving them a much higher review to sell ratio when compared to their competition)? Please! hehe

It's possible that more expensive products draw a higher review to sell ratio naturally as peeps get more emotional about an item the more expensive it gets, and consequently are more inclined to spend their valuable time reviewing what they purchase. L.L. only knows the details and are probably not willing to fork over that information. ;-)

---

Stars go from 1 - 5. 4 is in no way a negative review.  Even 3 isn't a negative review.  1 and 2, yes, but not 4.  

If you think of the Stars using the following guide, you will see that a 3 is actually a good rating:

1 = Poor

2 = Fair

3 = Good

4 = Very Good

5 = Excellent

Personally, I am always suspect of any product that has a soild 5 star rating if there are more than 10 reviews on the listing. At that point, I pretty much chalk all of the reviews up to being from the sellers existing friends and fan base and I will usually avoid buying that item.

3 stars and above has never stopped me from buying an item.  I may look more closely at the reviews to see what other users experiences are, and unless there is something that appears to be glaringly wrong with the item, I will still buy it if it is something that I am looking for or that I want.

I am far more inclined to buy an item with 4 stars over one with 5 stars. 

I am also far more inclined to buy a lower rated item based on the sellers reply comments to the reviews that are less than 5 stars.

If the only thing seller does is complain about the buyer or the buyers review, I will never purchase one of their products, ever, even if the buyer was completely and totally in the wrong on their review.

 

 

 

 

[Medhue Simoni]

The really horrible part about bad reviews, is that 1 bad review lowers the overall rating considerably, and it takes many good reviews to get that rating back up to something closer to what the product actually is. If you get 2, then you can pretty much abandon any chance of that overall rating recovering after that. I've also learned not to really attempt something difficult, or almost impossible, cause people don't understand the technically limitations, and they will think you just suck. A good example is the cobra avatar I made. Even the bad reviews talk about how nice the cobra looks, but that isn't enough. People aren't going to understand that I have to use the SL skeleton to animate him. For most things, the rig is ok, but it's crazy for a snake avatar, and I just don't have enough bones to animate him well.

[Spica Inventor]

"Any review under 4 stars...." That is 1 through 3. ;-)

It would seem more like this to me....

 

1 = I hate you so much

2 = (crickets)

3 = I couldn't figure out something about the product even though you where verbose about it in the description. Plus it wasn't cheap enough.

4 = Good

5 = Awesome!!!

 

:smileyvery-happy:

[JoJo Aurelia]

Here we go, but worded different. See this one often.

Ahem. I don't review unless I can give a five star. I don't know what those other stars mean, and I'm not borking someones items.

If i get a less than five, well, I scratch my head. "LOVE this!" 4 stars. Geez, what's a 5 star gonna say? The system is messed up. I'd rather say nothing on a review if not happy, and if someone isn't happy with me, contact me PLEASE.

I have no issue refunding. I mean, most items on MP are less than a cup of coffee at star bucks. That people leave snarky reviews for USD equivalant .81 just pisses me off to  no end. Or if they're in my box having a fit for a .50 USD item. I'd like to say, really, look down, you might find that change on the ground!

Yes, to answer the question, it bothers me because it's a failed system.

[Spica Inventor]

1 = :matte-motes-evil:

2 = :womanmad:

3 = :matte-motes-sour:

4 = :matte-motes-smitten:

5 = :smileyvery-happy:

[Drake1 Nightfire]

---

Gadget Portal wrote:

Story time!

One time, there was a merchant with lots of five star reviews on a certain product. Yet sometimes, a review would be made that was not five stars, for various reasons. Some of these less than perfect reviews were due to user error, some due to bugs, some due to personal opinions.

However, in every case, the seller commented on the reviews listing the reasons why the buyer was wrong, sometimes very rudely. In one case outright insulting the buyer's intelligence. Further, the seller would IM the buyer repeatedly, telling them to change their review, and that they must be using the product wrong, or whatever else.

Words like "malicious behavior" left in comments on reviews! Seriously. Calling a 3 star review "malicious behavior".

So, fellow merchants, how do you handle reviews that are less than five stars?

---

/me chuckles.. I think i know of the merchant you speak.. Had a run in myself with a merchant like that. They told me i was banned from buying from them if i didn't remove my honest review (there was an huge issue with the mesh) and they would file DMCAs on all of my items using their mesh.

Personally, i just want reviews.. I can't seem to get any. I get sales, just no reviews.

[OzwellWayfarer]

I do wish people used the review system more often and more responsibly. But from my experience people tend to leave either 1 star or 5 star reviews. Not many people use those middle 3 stars. Most dont review at all.

I have never recieved anything below 4 stars so far and I would hope that if someone felt like leaving anything below that, they would contact me first and see if I could improve their experience.

It all depends on the review I guess. So long as the complaint is valid (i.e - not abuse or "didnt bother to read" people) then it is fair enough.

[Codex Alpha]

Most of the time people don't review.

Much like the rest of the internet review system, people only review when they are upset with something and need to vent, so they use reviews to do that.

Most of the time the lack of a star is due to the preference of the buyer "Why no copy/no mod on this unique object Taking off a star!" or they didn't read the instructions on how to use something "This product does not work as claimed!"

Even with my meagre holdings so far for sale, I've even had people solicit me in game to give them textures I created, give them scripts because they paid for the product with the script in it, etc

I don't care about reviews as long as they are productive, and if there is a true issue, that after I respond or fix the issue that they acknowledge it.

But like I said though, people only use reviews if they're extremely impressed, or for the smallest of peeves.

I believe it can be malicious behaviour if someone 1 stars you, but does not offer a valid reason why, nor do they respond to you in-game or on the product page.

I work hard to make my products the best they can be (at the time - I could always improve them), so I don't need reviews to be snide and spiteful or act like I'm doing anything dishonestly or deceptive when I do none of the sort.

Also customers should consider the content of a review - good or bad , and judge if it is constructive or not.

Most content creators are not out to rip people off, so an unsupported review isn't worth anything.

[JustinMichael Torok]

I made a product that asks users for reviews (doesn't reward them, just asks politely) and I've seen pretty good gains from that. Am I allowed to post the Marketplace URL for it?

I'm more familiar with other commerce sites where 5 stars means the product was as described and stars were removed for problems, meaning anything less than 5 is a negative review.

If I receive less than 5 stars but the review itself is positive, I usually comment on the review asking if they had any problems. I never receive a reply on the review, though. I don't often login, but when I do I'll usually PM those same customers in-game. I generally don't get a response but I never ask more than once.

If the review is due to the product missing a feature that I never described it having, then I'll comment on the review mentioning that and PM the customer in-game.

If the review is simple user-error, I'll help the customer in-game and they usually change it after that. If not, I flag the review as spam since it's not an actual review but more of an over-the-top cry for help or place to rage about their frustrations.

[jmlamonico]

Considering the very worst customer situation I ever experienced in SL, the product reviewed still got 4 out of 5 stars, and an completely honest and accurate review because the product truly was a good product.  I'm well aware of what goes into making a quality product and I appreciate content creators very much, even though I may sometimes disagree with their policies or practices.

 

(Side Note:  I gotta get rid of that dragon avi)