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- Associations
- Community Hubs
- Starting a Blog
- Dating
- Forums
- Friends/Family
- Local Towns
- Religion
- Social Networks
- Making A Difference
Now that I got that out of the way, let me continue in a calmer, more stately fashion -
Product reviews are wonderful wonderful wonderful for the most part!
Why "for the most part"? Because sometimes in the smaller ecommerce shopping arenas, you'll stumble across negative reviews that put there solely to drive traffic to competitors' products.
Alas, it happens. But for the most part,
Product reviews are wonderful wonderful wonderful!
Let's learn more by starting with:
Before You Begin - Finding Customer Reviews
There are many ways to uncover customer reviews. Let's say you're considering buying an iPod like so:
Apple iPod classic 120 GB Black (6th Generation) LATEST MODEL
Feature: ... 120 GB capacity for 30,000 songs, 25,000 photos, or 150 hours of video; Up to 36 hours of music playback or 6 hours of video playback when fully charged; 2.5-inch color LCD with LED backlight and 320-by-240-pixel resolution; Supported audio formats: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV; Supported video formats: H.264, MPEG-4; Supported image file types: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG ...more
Customer Reviews — [1] Rating: 4 Date: 2009-06-30 Summary: Thin enough and plenty of capacity ... This version is amaizing, with 120 Gb of capacity and it is thin enough when you compare with previews editions (5.5, 4....) ...more
[2] Rating: 4 Date: 2009-06-30 Summary: Works for me ... So far so good. The price was finally right for me. I previously owned a 20 GB Rio Riot (bought in 2003 for $220) which still works well. Had to buy a new MP3 player because the RR doesn't work with my new Mac Pro. Enjoying the extra 100GB of space. ...more
Editorial Reviews — ... Product Description--Posted September 9, 2008 | Now you can take it with you. All of it. Available in a 120 GB model that holds up to 30,000 songs, 150 hours of video, 25,000 photos, or any combination, the new iPod classic fills your pocket with sight and sound. Available in quintessential silver or striking new black, iPod classic catches your eye with its sleek, all-metal enclosure composed of anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel. The new Genius Playlist feature creates an on-the-fly playlist of...more
Apple iPod nano 8 GB Black (4th Generation) LATEST MODEL
Feature: ... 8 GB capacity for 2,000 songs, 7,000 photos, or 8 hours of video; Up to 24 hours of music playback or 4 hours of video playback when fully charged; 2-inch LCD with blue-white LED backlight and 320-by-240-pixel resolution; Supported audio formats: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV; Supported video formats: H.264, MPEG-4; Supported image file types: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG ...more
Customer Reviews — [1] Rating: 5 Date: 2009-07-01 Summary: Can't be without it ... I've been with iPods ever since they first came out. From the Mini to all of the other Nano generations, I own them all. ;) This has been by far my favorite of them all and is the most aethestically pleasing to my eye (I'd recommend a case to protect it.) Pros + Sleek, stylish, comfortable in my hand.. The aluminum casing looks and feels great. The back click wheel really brings out the beauty in it. To top it off, the screen? Clear, crisp, rich in color. All that memory! Not really in the way at the gym. It's small, ...more
[2] Rating: 4 Date: 2009-06-30 Summary: cool gadget ... Great for working out, small and easy to use. Earbuds have great sound but don't have a great fit for my ears. ...more
Editorial Reviews — ... Product Description--Posted September 9, 2008 | With eight amazing colors, a new curved design, and great new features, iPod nano rocks like never before. The Genius Playlist feature finds the songs in your music library that go great together and makes a playlist for you. With its built-in accelerometer, iPod nano is made to move. Give it a shake, and it shuffles to a different song in your library. Turn it on its side to flip through your album art in Cover Flow. And tilt, move, and play accelerometer-inspired...more
See all those cool reviews?
You can find them by searching for the product at Amazon. Simply search for the product in question, click on the results, and then read the reviews.
You can also find reviews at:
- Shopping.com - scroll down to the bottom and type in the product for which you wat comparisons/reviews.
- ePinions.com - bunches of customer reviews from all over.
- Consumer Reports - neat discussions, reviews and more.
Visiting the well-known sites are only one method of finding reviews. Let's now dive into:
Step 1 - Research!
Let's say you're considering a new car, oh, say, a Dodge Grand Caravan. You can go to a search engine and type in:
and possibly see:
which is all very well and good, but those reviews aren't from actual buyers. So! Let's revisit your search, and instead of just searching on the product, tack on the word "considering" like so:
considering dodge grand caravan
Ah hah! The results are a wee bit better - you might see
- Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan 2005+ - Forums
- 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan User Reviews
Depending upon the item you're considering, you can slap on quotation marks to make your query more targeted and put your search in first person like so:
"i am considering" buying "dodge grand caravan"
Why does the above search work well? Because when people post to forums, they generally will write as they talk (and include phrases like, I am considering buying a .....).
Nice, huh? That's one great way of finding targeted reviews. Next, let's consider:
Step 2 - Comparison and Discount Shop
I'll cover more of this here. But let me first intrigue you with the following idea....some companies can afford to sell you items cheaper than others.
It's true! Some places might offer an item for $7 less than others, simply because they view getting you to their store/site to be more valuable than the $7 loss (they might gain marketing leads from you). Other places might offer online rebates or similar means of saving money.
Thus, when you have a yearning to buy online, you're not limited to the first site you discover!
Let's take an example of a Canon Powershot - that's a digital camera, btw. You can find it at Amazon like below:
Canon Powershot A1000IS 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Grey)
Feature: ... 10-megapixel image sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality 13 x 19-inch prints; 4x optical image-stabilized zoom lens; DIGIC III Image Processor with Genuine Canon Face Detection; 2.5-inch LCD and optical viewfinder; Motion Detection technology; Capture images to SD/SDHC memory cards (not included) ...more
Customer Reviews — [1] Rating: 4 Date: 2009-06-26 Summary: Canon always good camera ... It is a good camera, for the money I paid. Cons: more plastic on body. ...more
[2] Rating: 5 Date: 2009-06-26 Summary: Great little camera ... I have had this camera for about a month. I bought it to replace a Canon Elf that I had for five years, but a plastic piece broke rendering it useless (my fault). I did not want to pay $350 for a camera that served as a back-up to my digital SLR. The price was right on this Powershot; the features far surpass that on my old Elf; and it takes great photos that enlarge to at least 8x10 with no noticeable difference in quality when compared to an 8x10 from my SLR (also a Canon). Photos taken using the digital zoom are ...more
Editorial Reviews — ... Product Description | The sleek design of the PowerShot A1000 IS is as refreshing as a breath of fresh air. Better still, its highend features make everything simple: theres the 10.0-megapixel resolution and powerful 4x optical zoom lens with Optical Image Stabilizer for sharpness along the full zoom range. A DIGIC III Image Processor with Canon Face Detection automatically lets every face stand out. Easy Mode and Easy Playback make this camera a marvel of simplicity. With a bright 2.5-inch LCD, its available...more
As you can see, prices can differ depending upon the place you actually shop.
And don't forget online auctions - while I'll cover it in more detail here, a brief description is in order now - many many many people will offer excellent new products as well as used via that site. For example, consider a Blackberry PDA like so:
BLACKBERRY 7290 UNLOCKED Smartphone Pda T-MOBILE AT&T |
Visit the items above. Notice the different prices? That's because of the auction mentality - people will bid up and up depending upon how much they really want the item.
Step 3 - For More Information
As always, it's the educated consumer who is the best (and in this case, safest!) customer. Enjoy the following useful resources.
- Shop Safely Online - from the FTC
- Holiday Shopping Tips - also from the FTC
- Internet Fraud Complaint Center - brought to you by the FBI
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