Just to start out. I am not as impressed with Epinions as I once was. Obviously I have not written reviews lately because I can never figure out how to review a product that has never been reviewed before and is not listed. In the last year, I have looked for at least 10 such products I bought, yet saw nothing is here except links to go buy it. Well I already own it.

Once I think someone said that I need to ask a category guru to create the product. That isn't a good process. No one wants to wait for that. Other sites allow reviews without needing it to be created first. If I have this wrong, please correct me.

I guess that while I am on the subject, I'll rant that it seems a review has to be a bible before it gets a "very helpful" feedback from an advisor. I note that on my last review, users liked it, but if one advisor isn't "sold" on the reason, then they mark it as "helpful" even though the review covers a LOT of information. Ironically, I see terrible reviews by other advisors, yet their buddy will always mark it as very helpful and advisor ratings seem to be heavy weighted. Again this turns me off.

With the above two concerns, I can imagine that several people our there aren't interesting in writing reviews an more. Epinions should think more about this process.

Hi!

You're half-right. If a product is not the database then you do have to ask the category lead to add the product. Most leads have forms you can submit, to tell them about the product you want listed. It's not the best system, but at least there is a way to get new products listed.

On the other hand, we're dealing with a very unreliable search engine right now (a new one is being developed as we speak). Thanks to this unreliable search engine, sometimes products really are in the database, they just can't be found too easily. In this case you can ask the category lead for help locating the product. Searching through Google can also help find the products, sometimes. You can limit Google's scope by adding site:epinions.com to the end of your search string.

As for as the ratings go, I haven't looked at your reviews. Did the advisors leave you comments telling you what they felt was missing? If not, you can always email them; most are willing to help. Some categories are, indeed, "tougher" than others. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with a "helpful" rating. Outside visitors to the site don't even see the ratings.

Good luck!


Mona

REALLY good information. Thanks for putting it in a good tone. Now I just have to figure out how to find the lead person in a particular category.

Love the dog !!!

Thanks! I love him, too!

Finding the category lead is easy. Go to the member center (either from the bottom of the page, or on the left side of your profile page) then "Epinions Category Leads".

Good luck!

How do I write a review about a merchant, I am new to eopinions.

Thank you for your assistance.

webshopper11

I had a *blast* going through the merchants and reviewing the ones I'd had experiences with.
I musta done a dozen over the course of a couple of weeks and still had many more I could have reviewed had I not burned myself out on 'em.

I agree with that. I've sometimes searched 4-6 pages (and sometimes more) before I found the item, which should have DEFINITELY come up on the first page.

:-D

Linda

(lindaohio)

I have learned that I have to enter the listing in different ways. Sometimes I hit the jackpot on the first page. Too many times, not.

pops

I went through all the boards here and couldn't find a topic to cover the mistake I made. I went to Wellness and Beauty and nothing there either because most boards were about a specific product.

I posted a review last night on Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Fresh Body Cream in Wellness and Beauty. Here's my link:

http://www.epinions.com/review/chanel-n19-body-cream/content_598900379268

I intentionally chose the Chanel N19 Body Cream because I "thought" it was my product but with a glitch in the name. My jar is identical. I even put a note in review to clarify that mine was CC Mademoiselle "Fresh" Body Cream and not CC Mademoiselle Body Cream because there is a difference in what the product intends to do...one softening skin and one tightening. I tell you this so you will know "why" I didn't post my review under the other product listing. I knew that wasn't my product but I didn't know this wasn't my product :+(

After I got done with the review I went back to look at published review and when I clicked on the product being Chanel N19 Body Cream I discovered that is an entirely different product than what I reviewed.

Do I need to do SAP for my product or is there a way to "move it" to the right location? I see a "move" option on my review but I'm not familiar with that and I definitely don't want to lose the review altogether. I have saved a copy of my review so if I need to I will gladly delete my review where it currently is so as not to cause any confusion and re-post later when I locate the correct product or if someone tells me where to "move it" I will try that function.

Thanks!! (*ل*)

I got 2 "Off Topic" ratings because I reviewed under the wrong name. I got a really nice comment from an advisor telling me why she did that. I didn't have the option of "moving" the review because my item wasn't listed. So, I moved it to the trashcan but not before I saved a copy in Word. Hopefully down the road MY item will be added to the database and I'll post again!

As with any new adventure: Epinions has definitely been a learning experience for me!!

~Gigi (*ل*)

The advisor that provided a comment with her rating suggested I email Christan and do a SAP so I did. I saved the email so that down the road I will know which product I did a SAP on and not repeat the same request.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Thanks for helping!

~Gigi (*ل*)

Ahoy ye scurvy dogs... shiver me timbers ye landlubbers.

Unasked for suggestion but not being asked has never limited me, much.

Keep opinions about individual products and individual firms well-divided or totally separated.

Better yet... specialize and be the expert about one topic.

Concentrate on products and include general buying information about product-types such as those appearing at the eBay site.

Oh, this is my 2nd post on y'all's message board. Sloppy seconds. Revel in it me buckos.

Next suggestion... create an on-line form for the huddled masses to fill out when submitting what is believed to be a new product. Allow folks to submit a self-taken pic. Sigh... legalities... maybe the linked-to sites purveying products appearing here allow use of their pic or maybe you have to do the royalty thing or fair-use allows pics or BAH!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not a barrister... lawyer to you mere non-Coot entities.

Anyway... hold the inputted info until a moderator grabs it, ensures viability, perhaps if the item is already listed then add the included review to the existing item or send the item's URL to the submitter so they can include the review for the item or write a new one or whatever floats their proverbial boat.

Do you folks have a marketing and/or research department?

Trends indicate that younger folks (keep off my shanty's dirt and weeds ye whippersnappers or I will keelhaul ye') are not buying cars and trucks as prior generations did.

As a quintessential Baby Boomer, Generation Jones in particular (Google that if unaware of what a 'Joneser' is)I have kept a sharp lookout regarding societal trends... a much better lookout than those amateurs aboard the Titanic!!!

Less driving, ever-rising gas costs, the costs of just general vehicle ownership rising accompany the ongoing increases of on-line purchasing AND using the Web to explore potential purchases and sundry items under consideration.

Ride the crest of the incoming tide.

Remain anchored and fail to unfurl all the sails and ye will be left behind, becalmed by those who anticipated the "wind shift."

Exploit your advantages of your already long-tern Web presence but DO THAT PROPERLY or you will be shunted aside and be left in the doldrums as better, faster more capable "ships" leave ye behind; a veritable Robinson Crusoe-type bloke gazing at the clouds passing by and cursing at the seagull's well-aimed "gifts."

Or something akin to that.

Lol, I thought maybe you had posted your advice on "Talk like a pirate day".

The thing is, old coot, that over the years many of your suggestions have been discussed ad naseum (that's like scurvy) on the Epinions General message boards.

The suggest-a-product form has been redone and apparently the top thread on Epinions General is about the new SAP process. You might want to sail ye old ship over there and take a gander.

By the way, Old Coots are welcome to holler (either in Pirate or English) over on Eps. General, and as far as I know, you wouldn't be the first to arrive on yonder shores :~D

Jennifer

I've been out of it for a while. It used to be that I couldn't find a product, and I'd send an SAP request to the category lead - easy as pie. Now, it's that I'm finding search results out the yin-yang, but not a single "write a review" link beside any of them. Am I just going insane? (Please tell me that I don't have to SAP for products that I find in the search results.)

I am having some luck with using a different search engine with "site:epinions.com" after the product at least. Is the site's search engine still fried?

Thanks Bob...

I thought I was going crazy when I kept coming up with 30 or more pages of results, and not one "write a review" link in the lot. One or two of them did come up when I did a search from Bing like you suggest, but the majority didn't. I'm currently trying to weed them out so that I don't waste any CL's time by trying to SAP. I'm still going through all the pages of that thread in an effort to see if it WAS actually improved, or if it's just back to the same way it was a year ago.