How important are sales sites buyers reviews to you?

[Skip]

Do you pay much attention to the 1 to 5 ratings in the buyers reviews found on fountain pens sales websites?
~I find them extremely important myself...
If a pen I'm checking out has about 6% or more ratings in the lower 1 to 3 range I will usually forget about buying that pen.
Conversely, a fountain pen with around 80% or more in the 4 to 5 ratings slots will generally convey to me that it would be okay to buy that pen.
Of course I also read the details in these reviews to find out what the pluses and minuses are, and not just go by the rating numbers alone.
What this also means is that I will try to be impersonal and honest in my own reviews (which should not include personal preferences) of any fountain pens I have purchased...

[Chrissy]

I think this might be the forum for actual pen reviews of pens that members review and may not mean ratings from unknown people for pens on sales sites.

I'm not sure I've ever seen or looked at a 1-5 rating anywhere when buying my pens. Before buying I always know or knew the exact pen I want to buy from recommendations from those who I know actually have it. If I want to see pen reviews I can find them on here or from known pen reviewers who post reviews on their own sites online. I've looked for reviews on specific pens many times from various well known people in the pen world but don't think any ever use a 1-5 rating.

After all what is a 1-5 rating if not a personal preference and you say they shouldn't be included?

I recommend that you listen to reviewers who know about pens rather than random buyers on sales sites.

[Motomachi10]

If I read the review of one person is useful to know what someone found in the particular pen but, for me, it is not enough to make a decision. If some of the reviews are uniformly negative or positive then I will have a more cross-the-spectrum idea that will help me.

[Skip]

I think this might be the forum for actual pen reviews of pens that members review and may not mean ratings from unknown people for pens on sales sites.

I'm not sure I've ever seen or looked at a 1-5 rating anywhere when buying my pens. Before buying I always know or knew the exact pen I want to buy from recommendations from those who I know actually have it. If I want to see pen reviews I can find them on here or from known pen reviewers who post reviews on their own sites online. I've looked for reviews on specific pens many times from various well known people in the pen world but don't think any ever use a 1-5 rating.

After all what is a 1-5 rating if not a personal preference and you say they shouldn't be included?

I recommend that you listen to reviewers who know about pens rather than random buyers on sales sites.

Almost all of the larger selling pen shops (Goulet, Goldspot, Endless Pens, FPR, Amazon, ~etc) have those 1-5 rating systems. ~And if you have never read any of them how can you say they're only about preferences? Actually these reviews are from buyers who've already purchased the pens and they're usually about their experiences with them. ~Which IMO can be quite valuable...
And if I'm interested in maybe buying a certain less expensive Pilot or Sailor pen it ain't always that easy to find a particular pen's review on here from someone who already has one, or is even interested in sharing about it? Also there are so many interesting (and mostly good) inexpensive Asian pens available right now it's ludicrous to expect to always be able to find reviews for them on here. (~Although IMO that has been getting much better lately...)
I suspect from your post that you're more of a shopper for the more expensive, elite type of pen? I'm a more everyday common type of pen hunter and collector; ~one of the rabble who greatly enjoys finding a lowly, inexpensive pen that turns out to be surprisingly excellent...

[Chrissy]

I'm not even a pen hunter anymore at all. But any buyer who gives a rating system of 1-5 is surely expressing their own personal opinion and hopefully it's after buying a pen but there is not necessarily a guarantee of that especially on Amazon. Nor do I have anything like the same sort of access for those stores that you do so no I haven't read them. I'm not in the US so I have had to buy from different sources during my pen buying life.

Granted the well known pen reviewers are not necessarily the buyers of the pen they are reviewing but the manufacturers or the sellers think enough of their reviews to ask them to review their pens. Pen reviewers put pens through their paces to ensure they give out accurate reviews. If I wanted any pens in the past that is where I used to look.

If you prefer to look at buyers reviews on store pages then that's your way to look and your preference. Each to their own.

However, Your question was: How important are sales sites buyers reviews to you?
Do you pay much attention to the 1 to 5 ratings in the buyers reviews found on fountain pens sales websites?

My personal answers are not at all, and no I don't, but I was merely giving you my own answers to your questions. I will bear in mind you don't seem to want my answers in future.

You seem to want to expand on what you think and why you think it and maybe you need not have used the post to ask the question you only want your own answer to.

[Skip]

I'm not even a pen hunter anymore at all. But any buyer who gives a rating system of 1-5 is surely expressing their own personal opinion and hopefully it's after buying a pen but there is not necessarily a guarantee of that especially on Amazon. Nor do I have anything like the same sort of access for those stores that you do so no I haven't read them. I'm not in the US so I have had to buy from different sources during my pen buying life.
Granted the well known pen reviewers are not necessarily the buyers of the pen they are reviewing but the manufacturers or the sellers think enough of their reviews to ask them to review their pens. Pen reviewers put pens through their paces to ensure they give out accurate reviews. If I wanted any pens in the past that is where I used to look.
If you prefer to look at buyers reviews on store pages then that's your way to look and your preference. Each to their own.
However, Your question was: How important are sales sites buyers reviews to you?
Do you pay much attention to the 1 to 5 ratings in the buyers reviews found on fountain pens sales websites?
My personal answers are not at all, and no I don't, but I was merely giving you my own answers to your questions. I will bear in mind you don't seem to want my answers in future.
You seem to want to expand on what you think and why you think it and maybe you need not have used the post to ask the question you only want your own answer to.

Quite the contrary; ~I enjoy your answers, when and where you chose to give them? (And I usually do?) I was put off this time though by what I read as a bit of added somewhat high-handed advice that began with "I think this might not be the forum for (this)..." And ended with "I recommend that you listen to reviewers who know about pens rather than random buyers on sales sites..." -who you appear to think are not intelligent enough to review and rate their own recently purchased pens. (-As I sometimes do?)
~But then you decide to further chastise me with "maybe you need not have used the post to ask the question you only want your own answer to." ~And no, your analysis of my motives (for asking the question) are incorrect; I really do want to read and learn from people's answers. And I enjoyed the answer you gave here, nestled in among all the unasked for advice and criticism. ~Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I also got a sense of some 'fountain pen snobbery' from you here?
And I never said anywhere I 'preferred' "looking at buyers reviews on store pages", only that I usually found them quite helpful to me. ~I too read well known pen reviewers blogs and (especially) folks reviews here when they have something regarding the pen I'm interested in, which of course does not always happen. Also I think one must remember that 'pro' reviewers often get test samples of these pens for free, so the results possibly might not have the same bite of a critical review from someone who bought a pen and is disappointed with it...
Also I'm sorry you don't have any access to the pen shops I mentioned. They are, however, all internet shops?
Regards,
Skip

[~JJ]

First, yes I 'consult the stars', but in a probably unexpected way. I go first to the 1's & 2's, to find what kind of problems have been experienced; whether there are multiple instances of any single nature & decide if it's something I can easily fix myself; and to get a feel for the vendor's quality assurance efforts from how they respond to input. That's my primary go-to to decide whether to pull the trigger or keep hunting.

The negs? Canned input - often relating to products other than the one whose webpage/ad you're considering ("BEST watch I've ever owned" under an ad for a coffee grinder) -- & canned responses as well.

And afa "Actually these reviews are from buyers who've already purchased the pens and ..."
Podnuh, if you 100% believe that you're livin' in a fool's paradise!

[Skip]

Well, at least some of the 1 - 5 reviews are from buyers I think... Usually I can tell the 'bot' reviews by the language they use. When they praise a pen the language is almost always tinged with ad-speak types of comments, the kind of stuff people never write or say to each other. And when they knock a pen it's usually over something stupid, like "no convertor delivered" when the original selling description prominently states there was no convertor included.
Also I think most of the reviews on reputable dealers sites like Goulet, Goldspot, Endless Pens, FPR, etc are fairly safe to believe authentic. I've seen some of my reviews on several of theses sites, some were pos, some neg, and nothing was ever modified or changed and was always published. ~Come to think of it, so were my Amazon reviews kept authentic also...
Amazon tho, that's another story. One should peruse the reviews there very carefully methinks. I can sometimes suss out what I think is some 'bot' stuff there at times...
And generally I look at the negative reviews first like you do also. But not if the % of negs is 6% or above; when I see review % numbers that strongly negative I usually just leave and not bother...

[Chrissy]

Quite the contrary; ~I enjoy your answers, when and where you chose to give them? (And I usually do?) I was put off this time though by what I read as a bit of added somewhat high-handed advice that began with "I think this might not be the forum for (this)..." And ended with "I recommend that you listen to reviewers who know about pens rather than random buyers on sales sites..." -who you appear to think are not intelligent enough to review and rate their own recently purchased pens. (-As I sometimes do?)
~But then you decide to further chastise me with "maybe you need not have used the post to ask the question you only want your own answer to." ~And no, your analysis of my motives (for asking the question) are incorrect; I really do want to read and learn from people's answers. And I enjoyed the answer you gave here, nestled in among all the unasked for advice and criticism. ~Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I also got a sense of some 'fountain pen snobbery' from you here?
And I never said anywhere I 'preferred' "looking at buyers reviews on store pages", only that I usually found them quite helpful to me. ~I too read well known pen reviewers blogs and (especially) folks reviews here when they have something regarding the pen I'm interested in, which of course does not always happen. Also I think one must remember that 'pro' reviewers often get test samples of these pens for free, so the results possibly might not have the same bite of a critical review from someone who bought a pen and is disappointed with it...
Also I'm sorry you don't have any access to the pen shops I mentioned. They are, however, all internet shops?
Regards,
Skip

I did try to nicely say that you posted your thread in the wrong forum as this is the Pen Reviews forum and your thread is a general post not a review of a specific pen. However, it was your choice of places to put it so never mind. Others have done the same and it doesn't matter. Someone almost always advises members when they post in the wrong forums in case it's helpful in the future.

I dthought it would be a good idea for you to listen to reviews about pens from people who probably know more about them than random buyers who merely post a 1-5 rating review on a sales site because after buying a pen they are asked to do that. However we will have to agree to disagree about that.

You say it's fountain pen snobbery and I think it's being very careful what pens I spend my money on. Some people go more for quantity over quality especially at the beginning of their fountain pen journeys. I'm likely to be 40-50 years older than you and have previously been there and done it with buying pens.

If you don't believe that a random buyer who gives a rating between 1-5 of a pen he may or may not have bought (especially on Amazon) then you're doing it your way and there's nothing wrong with that. It may not be everyone else's way but no-one else's opinion counts.

You did post your thread asking for members to give answers to specific questions. When members go out of their way to give them to you it's quite disingenuous to criticise what they say just because it doesn't match what you believe.

That's it from me. No more responses to you. Enjoy whatever pens you buy and believe whatever type of reviews you like.

You have never tried to buy from all of your mentioned internet stores with a UK address and a government requirement for taxes to be added up to certain purchase levels. Just because they are internet shops doesn't mean they ship everywhere.

[Skip]

If you just shift the reading of this forum's label a teensy bit to mean it's about fountain pen reviews, then my post certainly belongs here...

Anyway, there's also this:
"I'm likely to be 40-50 years older than you and have previously been there and done it with buying pens."

~I don't think so because that would make you 126-136 years old!
But damn, you're probably just around my age!
~I guess maybe that's why we're both so picky and fussy?
Enjoy!
~Skip~

[Skip]

I just read a 1*star review of a TWSBI 700R vacuum filler in Goulet Pens that made me laugh out loud!
~"If you pull the (pen's) plunger by accident then god help you..."

[Chrissy]

If you just shift the reading of this forum's label a teensy bit to mean it's about fountain pen reviews, then my post certainly belongs here...

~Skip~

Not really. This is what the front page says about this forum

Screenshot 2024-09-18 at 15.05.00.png

[vdiantonio]

Skip is not a bot, that is a plus with a 5 rating!

[Chrissy]

Skip is not a bot, that is a plus with a 5 rating!

I agree with you. LOL

[calamus]

Let me go off topic and say I always enjoy SBRE Brown's video reviews (Hey there!).

[Chrissy]

Let me go off topic and say I always enjoy SBRE Brown's video reviews (Hey there!).

Me too. His reviews were always those I looked for first before I considered splashing out on a new pen. He seems to exude "trustworthiness". Sadly he hasn't yet reviewed every pen so sometimes I was disappointed. LOL
My pet hate was those reviewers who started by unwrapping and unboxing the pen and that sequence went on for ages....and ages.

[Skip]

Let me go off topic and say I always enjoy SBRE Brown's video reviews (Hey there!).

Me too. His reviews were always those I looked for first before I considered splashing out on a new pen. He seems to exude "trustworthiness". Sadly he hasn't yet reviewed every pen so sometimes I was disappointed. LOL
My pet hate was those reviewers who started by unwrapping and unboxing the pen and that sequence went on for ages....and ages.

Yas! And it ain't just with pens either; you'll see that done with electronics, musical instruments, kitchen utensils, tools, etc-etc-etc! ~Some folks I think must've gotten stuck in their past remembering when they soooo carefully unwrapped their holiday presents... I suspect they think it builds up suspense. ~For me it just builds up annoyance....... ~"'
I also get annoyed with those big pen shop reviews where they feel they have to give a back-story in great detail about the pen's company and then always explain why this new baby is such a revolutionary new thing for them... ~"'

~But anyway I guess those reviews are still better than NO reviews, right?
And thanks guys for the tip about SBRE Brown. -I'll have to check his (or her?) reviews out..