Lacuna Arado

Marking everything MATURE did not just result in reduced sales. It resulted in NO sales. As in ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA. Apparently, if your item is not GENERAL it simply isn't seen by the vast majority of marketplace shoppers. I relent. :smileyfrustrated:

Why? Because I'm tired of playing the guessing game that occurs when an item is suddenly flagged for having a keyword that is no longer kosher with GENERAL. Case in point: Tavern Table & Chairs I'm assuming that "tavern" has now become a naughtyword, or maybe it's something else. Several other items that have been out there for quite a while have also recently been flagged on a somewhat random "onesey-twosey" basis over the past few weeks. I really don't have the time or interest in doing guess work and re-vamping all of the keywords for each item individually, so a blanket approach to resolving this is going to have to do. I know this is tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bath water. If this hurts sales (and it likely will) then so be it. :smileyfrustrated:

Pamela, I'm not expecting anything more than to have SL remove the obviously flawed review posting. As for hoping for change, perhaps I'm unrealistic, but wanting better is part of my DNA.

Amethyst, thanks for your reply. As noted, I'm venting, and the feedback I'm getting from this posting is helping to shape my perspective going forward. Yes, I agree that junking the system entirely is probably an extreme headline, and yes I am begininng to understand through the postings here that perhaps consumers are more diligent in looking deeper into the motivations behind the negative reviews. However, the fact remains that the reviews system is deficient in several respects. As for complaining about too many positive reviews, that would be like complaining about too much clean air or sunshine.

Medhue, thanks for your perspective and pointing out the issue of volume. Lower-volume / higher-priced items (like the one in my case) are especially impacted by the shortcomings of the current reviews system. In this case, I have sold, say, a dozen of that item, but this is the only review I've had on it. Twelve (presumably) satisfied customers and one off-the-wall rating has the propensity to put a damper on future sales. I'm not direclty familiar with the differences with the older XStreet reviews system but it seems the issue of the reviews system has been around for quite a while. Hopefully we can draw some attention to it and (yes I'm dreaming) perhaps some changes for the better.

Darren, righto. The problem is, the rebuttal comments to the original feedback post require additional clicks so they're not immediately apparent unless the customer choses to delve deeper. And the issue of not getting notifications is particularly egregious. It's not feedback if it's not a loop. The only way a mercahnt knows if there is feedback is to diligently peruse the listings for (sometimes perceptable) changes in the stars for each and every item.

Tamara, I'm sure I'll laugh about this eventually. Sharing war stories from others like you here in the forums is certainly a healing balm for a wounded ego. By the way, I hate it when purchasers "apologize" for leaving a negative review when it's based on their own misunderstanding. The ones like yours that start out with: "Sorry I didn't read your description, but..." Not a very sincere apology, innit? :smileyfrustrated:

Agreed Darren. Consumers are not dumb. In fact, they're usually quite rational. It's just that they're often busy and make quick decisions, and in your case, sometimes simply uninitiated in how the system works. Avoiding misunderstandings is possible through effective communication, but sometimes purchasers don't read or comprehend the things due to inexperience and / or language barriers. From my perspective, I try to make things as easy as possible on the purchaser and try to provide as much detail as possible in the item descriptions to instruct on how the item is used, it's dimensions, etc. I also include notecards along with some of the items to provide additional help. Moreover, I always respond politely to IMs and sent notecards if someone doesn't understand or needs assistance or has questions about an item, but alas, some choose to fly immediately to the reviews without first making inquiries.

Pierre, I think it's probably fixable and it would arguably be a worthwhile investment of SL resources to improve the reviews system. As you alluded, it will likely require someone with a marketing and customer-oriented perspetive to champion that type of endeavour.

Rival, I agree it's pretty ridiculous. And I hope you're right

Spica, I've harboured suspicions that some of the negative reviews I have seen for some products are perhaps motivated by jealous competitors in a lame attempt to besmirch a rival, and that tonnes of glowing reviews for a seemingly mediocre product often smelled funny. However, I don't think this is the case here. At any rate, it's a slippery slope to question motives of others. If someone is purposely manipulating the ratings for their own personal gain instead of bettering their own offerings then shame on them.

Thanks Syo. As you noted, many, many items don't receive any stars at all. I think this is because consumers are often inclined to give no feedback or negative feedback rather than positive feedback. Consumers simply expect to be satisfied with a purchase, but because each individual has a different perspective and perception, the "satisfaction" they seek is inherently subjective, which is why we can't please everyone all the time. Unmerited negative feedback based on another's thwarted expectations rather than the actual merits of the product are, as you can imagine, disappointing, and I'm smarting from that but I'll get over it. In the end, my motivation for creating is to nurture my own desire to be creative, and my own satisfaction as a merchant ultimately comes from the simple reinforcement of having others purchase my offerings and put them to use.

Mikka, thanks for replying. Junking the system in toto is arguably an extreme stance, but honesly the way I see it we would be better off with nothing at all. Admittedly, some people are inclined to look deeper into the rationale for a review, but I imagine that far more shoppers are not likely to invest that much time and instead see the rating stars as a quick way to sift through the voluminous array that often turns up in the search listings. First impressions are always important, especially when sorting the wheat from the chaff (sorry, another food reference).

Pamela, thanks for your reply. I have been impressed with SL's diligence in removing obviously misguided reviews in the past, and I am confident that in my particular case the situation will be remedied in time. Additionally, I would have to agree that those who are truly interested in purchasing an item would be inclined to delve into the review comment threads and find out exactly what's up. However, I stand on my assertion that the review system, in it's current state, is rather dysfunctional in several regards, most flagrantly in that it lacks a complete feedback loop. Simply notifying merchants when a review occurs and allowing merchant rebuttal comments to be viewed along with the original comment posting without requiring additional mouse-clicks would go a long way towards creating a more functional review system that benefits customers, merchants, and SL alike instead of creating more work for everyone.

Echo, thanks for your reply and perspective. It's reassuring to know there are rational buyers out there who actually do read the listing description. I know there are always a few "bad apples" that spoil the bunch, and I'll admit to suffering from "sour grapes" syndrome in this case (I know, enough food references already). However, the review system as it stands is counter-productive and needs to be abolished until it can be replaced with a more functional one that meets the obvious goals of providing the customer with pertinent consumer information whilst maintaining the business reputation of upstanding square-dealing merchants.

I am rather cheesed at receiving yet another unjustified one-star review on one of my best products. In my case, the feedback was because the customer "bought the item for a large sim" and thought the item "looked bigger", even though the ACTUAL DIMENSIONS for the build were clearly indicated in the listing description. I know other merchants have had similar issues, and several others have reported receiving "bad" reviews for Marketplace non-delivery issues and other technical matters that are totally out of control of the merchant. I have flagged the review as inappropriate content, but this just underscores my perpetual gripe about the current state of the SL Marketplace review system, which I have enumerated below: 1. Customers can (and often do) leave unwarranted bad reviews for reasons that are not related to the quality of the product itself. 2. Reviews are one of the first things potential customers see when shopping. Review stars show up in the search listings, and original-posting review comments appear in the item listing itself. 3. The only immediate way for a merchant to defend an unjustly-reviewed item is to post a reply to the comment. However, these replies are buried in the interface and require additional clicks to view. 4. Unwarranted bad reviews damage the reputation and business of hard-working merchants because busy customers will often pass over an item as soon as they see a low number of stars rather than reading details. Thus, a customer's experience can (and often is) unfairly flavored by these unjustified "bad" reviews. 5. When an item receives a review, the review appears on the listing and in search immediately. However, the merchant does not receive a notification that a review has been posted. The only way a merchant knows that a review for one of their items has been posted is by periodically scanning their SL Marketplace listings. My conclusion: the current state of the SL Marketplace reviews is counter-productive to an efficient customer and merchant experience. It adds computing overhead to the already busy Marketplace servers, as well as the labor and maintenance required by SL in order to police the flagged reviews. Moreover, If the purpose of reviews is to provide feedback to the merchant, but the merchant does not even recieve notification that feedback has occurred, how is this a productive thing? Thus, until something better can be put into place it would be in everyone's better interest if the SL Marketplace review system would just go away. What are your thoughts?