Merchants who only publish positive reviews...

I'm a career sales professional and learned a long time ago that transparency and honesty go a long, long way. In line with that, I think a merchants best play is to allow the vast majority of negative reviews to be posted and to respond to them.

Example: ezlovan (Stirling Soap) had a complaint that his product didn't smell like the real Creed product which costs many, many times more dollars. A comment could be something like, "We are sorry that you don't like the scent and will be happy to refund your money. The market doesn't allow us to use Creed branded scents. The product we sold you cost $13. Creed Advantus is roughly $190. Market reception to our 'inspired by' products has been very positive. Again, we will be happy to refund your money and apologize for any inconvenience."

As a consumer, I respect the fact that my review impacts how someone else makes a living. There has to be a good reason for me to leave a negative review.

I will say, sometimes I get reviews that I just laugh at. Like the guy who's overly bitter that his $13 bottle of Executive Man is not 100% the same as his $185 bottle of Creed Aventus.

Lol! I always get a kick out of reviews like that. Anyway, you nailed it on Executive Man. I'm about to finish off a bottle of the splash and will definitely be buying another.

I think it would be funny if all online vendors had a page of all of the worst reviews they’ve ever received. I suggest this for comedic reasons not to harm the brands. If anyone has seen any of the Mean Tweets (Jimmy Kimmel) excerpts on YouTube where celebrities read aloud the meanest tweets they’ve received you’ll find that not only are they often hilarious but they say far more about the people that wrote the Tweets than about the celebrity targets. I think the same applies here when we read some times awful an abusive reviews it says more about the reviewer than the product.

Bashing a brand or product by a large number of people prompts me to try the brand or product. That's actually how I found one of my all-time favorite artisans. I believe some people like to join the popular group whether it's to bash or praise. In either case I prefer to try the product myself and come to my own conclusion.

My reaction would be of discomfort.  I think I would go further and do more research on the product but I'm not sure about purchasing it...  I'm glad to hear that you aren't influenced by that type of response and judge it by your own standards!

As a consumer, I respect the fact that my review impacts how someone else makes a living.    There has to be a good reason for me to leave a negative review.

I'm glad to hear that you see things this way as I don't think most guys give the slightest thought to that aspect before they give a very negative review.  I'm also glad to hear that you give the issue some thought before posting a negative review and I suspect if you did you would indeed be a gentleman about it!

 I think the same applies here when we read some times awful an abusive reviews it says more about the reviewer than the product.

You hit the nail on the head, Marko!

I do my best to create the best product possible, present it in the best way I know how, review it in time and see if it needs any adjustments and if it does, do my best and cover all territory so I can put out the best possible version!  Although I do seek positive reactions and appreciate them when I get them, I have to be pleased with the product and all I have done to create a good product and if I am then that is all that really matters!

I think it would be funny if all online vendors had a page of all of the worst reviews they’ve ever received. I suggest this for comedic reasons not to harm the brands. If anyone has seen any of the Mean Tweets (Jimmy Kimmel) excerpts on YouTube where celebrities read aloud the meanest tweets they’ve received you’ll find that not only are they often hilarious but they say far more about the people that wrote the Tweets than about the celebrity targets.  I think the same applies here when we read some times awful an abusive reviews it says more about the reviewer than the product.

I think it would be funny just to have them posted here without the names of the sender, OR, have them send them to the mods and then THEY can post them.

Bashing a brand or product by a large number of people prompts me to try the brand or product. That's actually how I found one of my all-time favorite artisans. I believe some people like to join the popular group whether it's to bash or praise. In either case I prefer to try the product myself and come to my own conclusion.

My reaction would be of discomfort.  I think I would go further and do more research on the product but I'm not sure about purchasing it...  I'm glad to hear that you aren't influenced by that type of response and judge it by your own standards!

The product would have to interest me at least, as I'm not going to just buy products at random. Regardless, I am talking about soaps that cost less than $20 on average, which I can sell on the BST if I don't like.

It's interesting to hear you would most likely avoid purchasing a product as described above. You said it yourself, it is good that some people ignore reviews that bash a product.

Bashing a brand or product by a large number of people prompts me to try the brand or product. That's actually how I found one of my all-time favorite artisans. I believe some people like to join the popular group whether it's to bash or praise. In either case I prefer to try the product myself and come to my own conclusion.

My reaction would be of discomfort.  I think I would go further and do more research on the product but I'm not sure about purchasing it...  I'm glad to hear that you aren't influenced by that type of response and judge it by your own standards!

The product would have to interest me at least, as I'm not going to just buy products at random. Regardless, I am talking about soaps that cost less than $20 on average, which I can sell on the BST if I don't like.

It's interesting to hear you would most likely avoid purchasing a product as described above. You said it yourself, it is good that some people ignore reviews that bash a product.

I did not say I "would most likely avoid purchasing a product as described above!  I said I was not sure about purchasing it!  If my research indicated that it was something I wanted then I would purchase it, if it wasn't that positive then I most likely wouldn't purchase it.  The feeling of "bad karma" stays with me when I read something like that whether it is a properly written review or an outright bashing.  As a merchant I have experience in this area so my reactions are going to be different than someone who is not in my shoes!

...The point is that you're absolutely right and that it's a bad practice to cherry pick positive reviews. Far better to allow as many reviews, both good and bad, to be published, but to attempt to help the dissatisfied party avoid the issue in the future. But, in unusual cases, it's simply not appropriate to allow a review to be published, and publishing every single one without restraint can open a retailer up to slander, so it's occasionally a matter of discretion.

I agree totally with that.

One large Internet retailer was called to the mat on eliminating bad reviews on his website and his reply was essentially that it was his website and his right to do as such. Needless to say, that went over like a pregnant pole vaulter.    The initials are IB.

That was not my reply and I didn't remove the review because it was negative.

We have over 4000 reviews at IB, many of them are negative. In total, we have removed about 10 reviews from the site, all with good reason. We have review rules. I have copied and pasted our 'review policy' below. We believe the policy is fair.

"Product Reviews - Unless indicated otherwise, when you post content or submit material on our site, you grant Italian Barber a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You also grant Italian Barber and its sub-licensees the right, but not the obligation, to use the name that you submit with such content. You represent and warrant that you own or control all rights to the content you post or submit; that the content is accurate; that use of the content will not violate this policy; and that the content will not cause injury to any person or entity. You agree to indemnify Italian Barber for any and all claims resulting from content that you submit or post. You agree that Italian Barber has the right, but not the obligation, to monitor, edit, and/or remove any activity or content. Italian Barber shall have no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or anyone else. Please note that all reviews will be examined by our team before they are published to the website. In order for a review to be published, the customer must have purchased the product from ItalianBarber.com (verified purchaser rule); reviews will not be authorized for customers that have not made any purchases in their account; we will not publish any reviews that have foul or inappropriate language. Reviews will not be accepted if they are placed under different names but the same IP address, the reviewers email must be valid. From time to time, we may contact a reviewer using the email address to verify content in a review."

closing this temporarily so we can sort through it...