Product listing reviews beyond my understanding!

[RohanaRaven Zerbino]

I love to read marketplace product listing reviews as, for me, they are great source of information about Second Life community.

But, I have to admit I have steam coming out of my ears when I run into something I consider to be complete abuse of the review section:🤬

1. Leaving low rated review before contacting merchant in order to blackmail merchant to do whatever customer wish merchant to do, with a comment I-will-give-the-more-stars-if-merchant-contact-me style.

2. Leaving low rated review because purchase has been made prior the description reading, prior checking product category, prior demo previewing, lack of customer’s own skills needed for product usage, lack of knowledge about system restrictions and requirements ….

3. Rating customer’s wish list instead of product! Five minutes ago I’ve run into review with the 3 stars for product that customer stated is “beautiful”, “working flawlessly”, but she “wish there were (such and such) setting”, concluding that she “would give her a 5+ with no hesitation” IF customer’s wishlist setting would work! Seriously?!🤬

4. Review in “just what I needed” style. Really? And how exactly rest of the world should know what are ones needs??🤨

5. Review in "it is not stated that product is not for *enter whatever in here*” style. If, as an example, animation is listed in “Sitting and Lying Anims” why on Earth should I talk about AO animation in description filed at all, and why would anyone would assume it is usable for AO? 🙄 When something is in “Sitting and Lying Anims” category, it is also not a mesh chair, nor sculpted couch, nor … whatever. It is “Sitting and Lying” animation listed in that category, not animation listed in Animation Override category! And yes, I have stated that my anims are not for AO in both profile and policies sections of MP page.

 

There is something that I consider to be “shopping culture” that includes:

- paying attention on product category

- paying attention on shop policy

- paying attention on perms

- paying attention on maturity rating

- reading description

- reading Profile and Policies sections on the MP listing page!

- previewing on listing images

- paying attention on additional info sources at the bottom of the page like “See item in Second Life”, “View Video”, “Download instructions” ….

- if more info links are listed in the description field, check them!

- get yourself a demo, or check demo in world

- if not sure, contact creator prior making purchase!

- not using review as blackmail option

- not rating product according to what product could be, but for what product really is

- taking responsibility for your shopping decisions

- read: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/405903-product-listing-reviews-faq-guide/

If you need to contact creator:

- check contact options, they are listed in profile for a reason

- stay polite – merchant is not your best buddy, nor your slave

- try to explain your problem as best as you can - we don’t have crystal balls, nor we are mind readers

- be patient – we have real life too, maybe merchant is on vacation, or hospital, or has technical problems, or has a sick child, or what ever

- keep in mind that your role-play is not our role-play

- use translator!

In short – do not assume, search for/read informations!🤕

[Fionalein]

2 hours ago, RohanaRaven Zerbino said:

If, as an example, animation is listed in “Sitting and Lying Anims” why on Earth should I talk about AO animation in description filed at all, and why would anyone would assume it is usable for AO? 🙄 When something is in “Sitting and Lying Anims” category, it is also not a mesh chair, nor sculpted couch, nor … whatever. It is “Sitting and Lying” animation listed in that category, not animation listed in Animation Override category!

A single ground sit is no complete AO... where else shoud you look for them? Frankly IMHO it is the only category sit animations suited for AOs should be found in. A solitary single sit animation in the AO category (that is without some scripted capsule object that turns it into a sit override) will be eventually flagged and unlisted.

Edited February 2, 2019 by Fionalein

[Blush Bravin]

I completely agree. Most of my reviewers leave honest feedback but on occasion I get what I consider as an inappropriate review. Just yesterday someone left a one star review on a product she purchased months ago, complaining that since Belleza updated the body to bento that the appliers are now broken. So it's my fault that Belleza broke something and now I should be held accountable for their error. This is further evidence that my recent decision to create for Maitreya only was a good decision.

[Paul Hexem]

"In short, hire a private investigator to do 3 weeks of research before making a 2 dollar USD purchase."

[Elvina Ewing]

1 minute ago, Gadget Portal said:

"In short, hire a private investigator to do 3 weeks of research before making a 2 dollar USD purchase."

or you could just take responsibility for your own shopping mistakes, as the OP suggested

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

I got a 3-star review once because the customer did not speak English very well, so they didn't understand the instructions in the notecard that was included with the product.

When I helped the person out in-world, the thanked me and promised me to update the review.

They did. They added a comment stating: '5 stars!', instead of re-rating it. So the 3 stars still stand.

But let me in on a little secret: leave the unreasonable reviews in place. Don't flag them. New customers aren't interested in 5-star reviews. They go after the juicy low-star ones. People want to know about the flaws of a product. Once they realize that these reviews are unreasonable, their attention to your store is already well-established.

Edited February 2, 2019 by Arduenn Schwartzman

[Fionalein]

6 minutes ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

When I helped the person out in-world, the thanked me and promised me to update the review.

They did. They added a comment stating: '5 stars!', instead of re-rating it. So the 3 stars still stand.

IMHO you cannot simply update a review. I did redo some in the past. But AFAIK you have to delete the review and write a new one...

Edited February 2, 2019 by Fionalein

[RohanaRaven Zerbino]

3 hours ago, Fionalein said:

A single ground sit is no complete AO... where else shoud you look for them? Frankly IMHO it is the only category sit animations suited for AOs should be found in. A solitary single sit animation in the AO category (that is without some scripted capsule object that turns it into a sit override) will be eventually flagged and unlisted.

Guess we would need clarification on that mater from the Lab, but in the meantime I must say I disagree to your interpretation of this category, as I have opposite opinion on that matter.

Even it is common practice to list AO systems in Animation > Animation Override category, and (in the lack of better category) they do belong there, they don’t have exclusive rights for listing.

Name of category is Animation Override, not Animation Override HUD or System or what ever other word may be used for term definition, and it is subcategory of Animation category.

If animation is made to be used as animation override, meaning it is following rules for such an animation, and it can be played with the hud of any kind and doesn’t need to be position controlled by the script, it has every legit right to be listed under Animation > Animation Override category.

In fact, there are some full perm ao compatible animations listed in Animation > Animation Override category, that would be more suitable for some other categories at the first sight.

Animation creator has also legit right to list ao compatible animation in any other category appropriate category as well (“Sitting and Lying” for example for ground sit), and creator may emphasize in title or description that animation is AO compatible.

All of that does not make the rest of us obliged to list what our animations are not to be used for. Even more, I consider something like that as inadequate advertising.

So what I’m talking about is:

If animation is not listed in ao category, if it is not emphasized it is for hud usage, if creator is pointing to animation systems in description filed, if it is stated in profile and policy fields that animations are not for ao nor huds, if there are links with more info listed, and shopper still wants to check, there is still an option to contact creator and ask before making purchase. Leaving inadequate comment referring to lack of information will give creator, in this example, option to ask LL for comment removing.

Shopping decision simply cannot be based on the image only, with no checking creator, category, perms, description, demo and all additional info provided.

It was not my intention to discuss imperfections of category system – I do agree that it could be clearer and have few more 
options at least in Animation Category – but to point that customers should be more aware of their share of shopping 
decisions and responsibility, as well as merchants who should react one way or another on inadequate reviews, 
either by commenting, either by asking for comment removal.

 

 

[So Whimsy]

I agree with the OP.

The "It was not listed what the product is NOT for!" reviews are a special brand of snowflake. What do people want? A five thousand bullet point list of everything product is NOT for? That'd be insane. If it doesn't list what you want it for, logic dictates that a) its not a purchase you should make b) when in doubt asking the creator costs nothing.

 

I'd like to add another category of review to this, I'll dub it the "Confused what is even being reviewed" review. Sometimes when I am super bored, which granted doesn't happen often, I sift through the MP for low rated products just to be entertained. I came across a review on a mesh head that went along the lines of "The head is GREAT but-" and 99% of the review ended up being about some animation add on for said head that was sold separately and the costumer wasn't happy with. The people who commented on that review (including the creator) rightfully called that person out for reviewing a WHOLLY different product (the add on). Apparently SL left it standing as the creator no doubt tried to get rid of it. Shameful.

It's like buying a blender in a store that I am super happy with but giving it 2 out of 5 stars because the fruit I bought in the same store was overripe. Just WTF people.

[Codex Alpha]

Good product, but I gave it 3 stars because it should be available in red, I should be able to change the texture that attracted me to purchase the product in the first place, and I also want it to fly around my sim like a bird.

If it could do that, I would definitely give this 5 stars!

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

But let me in on a little secret: leave the unreasonable reviews in place. Don't flag them. New customers aren't interested in 5-star reviews. They go after the juicy low-star ones. People want to know about the flaws of a product. Once they realize that these reviews are unreasonable, their attention to your store is already well-established.

There is much truth to this.  When I'm checking items on Amazon, one of the first things I do is read the 1 and 2 star reviews.  If the majority of those reviews are about things not really specific to the product or out of the seller's control, then I basically ignore them.  I'll then review the 3 stars and sometimes the 4 stars, because that is really where I'm likely to find the most truthful comments about any possible flaw.  Even though I often rate an item 5 stars, I never read said reviews.  I like knowing that a product gets 5 stars, but I don't need to read a review that should be telling me the product does everything it claims to do.

Given that, if I'm a seller and the number of negative reviews is enough to cause the overall average rating to drop a lot, then I'd probably still want to remove whichever crazy ones I could.  That average is one of the first things a person sees and if too low could cause someone to not consider the item at all.

[Tamara Artis]

AL things the OP named are, IMHO, normal and it's not needed to specially point out at them because those who understand will act accordingly without the need to be reminded and those who aren't capable of understanding, don't read anything so it's just a waste of time. And nerves LoL

If the item has many reviews and they are all 5 stars it's obvious the merchant did something. Once I said I will give some kind of reward to my group members if they leave a review on items they bought. And I wrote that they write everything that comes to their mind, any kind of review because it will help me too to get better! It was like people think they need to leave only 5 star reviews, no matter what I wrote. And I gave up on this because I don't want my items to look fake. I believe a product should normally have all kinds of reviews because it shows they were capable of reaching all kinds of buyers. Not all customers are nice, reasonable or polite. Some are nasty competitors and if your product has one of those reviews that are obviously left by a competitors it just shows that someone is jelaous and wants to put you down. How we react to this kind of reviews shows what kind of merchant and person we are; a reasonable and polite answer shows all potential buyers that we are professional and they can trust us. 

[Paul Hexem]

On 2/2/2019 at 8:06 AM, Elvina Ewing said:

or you could just take responsibility for your own shopping mistakes, as the OP suggested

Or... You could laugh it off and get the next one because it cost less than the coins under a couch cushion. 

[Chic Aeon]

12 minutes ago, Gadget Portal said:

Or... You could laugh it off and get the next one because it cost less than the coins under a couch cushion. 

For many of us I suspect it is more about an insult to our work (unfounded) than anything to do with money.

It IS much easier now to get an inappropriate review removed. So merchants DO have that option.   

[Iren Tinkel]

Recently i dont get reviews removed even if i flag them and even if they are kinda "animations could be better......." so it looks like i reached limit for deleting silly reviews.

And yes, it is not about money. It is an insult of your work because it is art work. Something like they come to Mona Lisa, look at it and leave 1-3 stars saying pffft, it could look better, it is not what i expected, it is not in red texture so pffft.

 

[Pamela Galli]

I have found if I want spurious reviews removed, I wait a while after flagging, then open a ticket. And then I have to keep opening the ticket because they often just advise me to flag the review. (Roll eyes).  So often I just ignore, let prospective buyers see how stupid some reviews are.

[Dakota Linden]

Greetings all!

While we appreciate that no creator wants to have someone post a negative review about an item that they spent time creating, a buyer is permitted to post their personal opinions about the item that they purchased.

If a buyer says something like "the animations could be better" that is the buyers personal opinion. Reviews and comments such as those will not be removed.

There are a very limited number of reasons why a review will be removed, as I have previously outlined in the sticky regarding Product Listing Reviews, located here:

 

 

[Elvina Ewing]

10 hours ago, Dakota Linden said:

There are a very limited number of reasons why a review will be removed,

 

yet, a certain well-known fullperm clothing creator manages to get 95% of their reviews removed that are less than 4 stars. I watch their store daily and as soon as a less-than-4-star review appears you can bet your money on it that within next 7-10 days it will be removed. No matter what was in the review and how legit it was. I have seen very reasonable and very useful bad reviews removed from their store, and also there are a lot of comments under others' reviews where people mention "my bad review was removed, too". I have no explanation for why nearly all bad reviews of that store get systematically removed, other than that this store either is some kind of a special favourite of LL, or they keep filing tickets and reopening them until a Linden is so fed up with it that they just remove it. Which is really a great shame because this store has no demos and a review is the only way for people to know what's wrong with an item.

[Love Zhaoying]

Can sellers offer full refund if buyer removes their negative review?

[Ethan Paslong]

45 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Can sellers offer full refund if buyer removes their negative review?

why not just remove the whole review possibility?... if a review is simply honest also a bad review is good.Offering to remove it after a refund won't show a honest picture..

[Love Zhaoying]

12 minutes ago, Ethan Paslong said:

why not just remove the whole review possibility?... if a review is simply honest also a bad review is good.Offering to remove it after a refund won't show a honest picture..

I had this happen in RL, as an item was missing from a “separate shipment”. 

[Ethan Paslong]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I had this happen in RL, as an item was missing from a “separate shipment”. 

in that case the product still shouldn't get a bad review. Contact the seller for correcting this. His shop should get a remark if it's not solved, not the product.

[rasterscan]

Customer bought a skydome I kindly sold yes mod. He fiddled with the textures, wrecked them came back and one starred me for bad textures. I upped the price to 99 after that one.

[Cindy Evanier]

Had one complaining animations didn't fit their non human avatar.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I didn't ask for a removal but used the opportunity to comment and point people to the inworld demo to test first to make sure it fits them.   

[rasterscan]

3 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

Had one complaining animations didn't fit their non human avatar.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I didn't ask for a removal but used the opportunity to comment and point people to the inworld demo to test first to make sure it fits them.   

My worst was a disgruntled customer who used an alt to one star all my best sellers, when I used to sell for 10L cheapy cheap. One starred with lies like 'this AO deformed my avatar' and .. 'the box was empty' . I cried in here about it and was advised to up my prices, which worked.