Strawberry Singh Says: Stop Misusing the SL Marketplace Review System (Seriously)

Strawberry Singh has an excellent rant about people who abuse the SL Marketplace review system, giving poor ratings to SL vendors for things that aren't their fault (and often, Linden Lab's instead). Like the one star review at left, which was given because the customer didn't receive the item in his or her inbox. However, says Singh, "[T]hat is NOT the fault of the creator itself but instead Linden Lab. That’s like those people who write Amazon.com reviews and leave a 1-star rating and state they never received the item. The rating you give should reflect the item itself, not how it was delivered to you."

Many more examples here. I will say this problem is not confined to the SL Marketplace:

Earlier this week, for instance, something like this happened to the Yelp restaurant reviews of the pizza joint guy who bear-hugged President Obama. (And goddammit, pizza opinions should be non-partisan.) In both cases, I think the real solution is an adding a feature that flags reviews/ratings that are factually inaccurate or off-topic.

Hat tip: Iris Ophelia.

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Comments

[Strawberry Singh]

SRSLY!!!
Thanks Hamlet! <3

[A.J.]

I have to agree with Strawberry Singh on this.

I saw one really amazing structure by a brilliant SL artist get hammered with one star in the review because of the price. I thought the price was incredibly fair based on the exceptional quality of the merchandise. I never understood price complaints. No one is forced to buy anything here.

I actually bought the item just to leave a review complaining about the other reviewer.

I admire content creators who have the stomach for the Marketplace. I don't. I take that stuff way too personally.

There does need to be a independent option available for fairness.

[shockwave yareach]

Then add text to the review spot telling the users that "Delivery should not be included in the review". If people aren't told at the time they review, all they know is that they are mad that they didn't get their stuff. The average SL user and newbies don't understand that the delivery failure isn't your fault. All they know is that they bought something and never got it.

[Block]

@shockwave
Doesn't work, nobody actually "reads" stuff on the marketplace.
You can write in capital letters "PANTS NOT INCLUDED" and you will get 1 star reviews "1 star, the pants were not included".
You can write in capital letters "DROP ME A NOTECARD IF YOU DON'T RECEIVE THE ITEM" and you will get 1 star reviews "1 star, never received the item".

[Block]

What Strawberry didn't mention in her post is the scam aspect. People buy something, then drop you a notecard demanding their money back else they will leave a 1 star review trashing the item.
That is happening more and more.

[Boston]

If people post a bad review on your product on MP saying that they never received it, you can report it on the site and it will be removed by LL. I've had to do this quite a few times.

[Vextra Messing]

The system is a bit out of control as buyers have no incentive to review items responsibly!

It would be good if buyers could also be rated. I'm not sure how they would do it but a 2-way rating system works well for sites like eBay.

Another idea I think would help would be to only display the average rating once 3 reviews or more had been left.

[foneco zuzu]

Funny i only buy a few on marketplace (use it just fo get free items as they can still be found and good ones)!
But i only report copybot items (1st i advise the original creator in world via notecard!)that where sold and are still in a daily base!
And i make sure i rate 5 starts all the free items i got, or even the ones i buy (Only if the seller does not have a in world shop, that i still think shoulb be mandatory for any to sell on marketplace!

[AmyNevilly Resident]

http://www.secondads.com/reviewblaster.php

SecondAds Recently introduced their new REVIEWBLATER service that automatically rewards customers for leaving reviews on the Second Life Marketplace.

This system was designed specifically to combat these insipid problems of aggressive reviews by rival merchants as well as the "1000 products sold but still 0 reviews syndrome"

[Bagheera Kristan]

Yes, there is also at least one reviewer who has left reviews for a few different Mesh-clothing, who gives fewer stars because the Mesh does not yet conform to their personal avatar shape, even though the reviewer acknowledges this is not the fault (or even under the control) of the creator.

There are some amazing mesh clothes out there who are getting damned unfairly.

[Karma]

I agree with this, up to a point. If i don't receive something, it is not the merchants fault and these things are out of anyone's control.

Now, if I purchase an item, I don't receive it and I contact the creator via the method they request and, two weeks later have not received the item or received so much as a "you are out of luck" from the creator, then I think it is well within reason to cut my original rating in half based on poor customer service. However, I do think I have the obligation to state why my rating is what it is, so that shoppers can decide for themselves.

[Che Joubert]

The comments here are pretty much as disturbing as the inappropriate one star reviews. One person said, 'No one is forced to buy anything here.' Well, no one is 'forced' to sell anything at the SL marketplace either - SL is not known for being the most reliable business environment in the world - why use it? However, if people are threatening, or rate you for something clearly unrelated to the item - report it. Meanwhile, customer reviews are designed to make sellers more aware of their shortcomings. Over the six years I've used SL, some of the top, most well known designers have cheated me terribly, and been needlessly arrogant in defense of questionable products. If SL in general improves to a reasonable level of ethics I'm sure the reviewers will reflect that in a more thoughtful approach to reviews.