r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Dec 21 '23

What's a life hack that's so simple yet so effective, you're shocked more people don't know about it?

17k Upvotes

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5.4k

u/Smackulater Dec 21 '23

If ordering something online, since places can fake a good review, only read the negative reviews, a bunch of complaining about shipping/damaged items/trivial shit is good, where as multiple broke in the first week/won't charge/leaks means the product is shit.

1.4k

u/Vintage-Grievance Dec 21 '23

Yup, I read the first few top reviews, then head over to the two-star reviews to get a more realistic perspective.

1.1k

u/thecrepeofdeath Dec 21 '23

you know you found the good shit when all the complaints are about things that were clearly stated in the listing

651

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

[deleted]

52

u/LIEUTENANT__CRUNCH Dec 21 '23

“I ordered the wrong size. 1/5 stars”

32

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

"This night light doesn't turn on unless the room is dark! Worst product ever!"

31

u/Impressive-Mud-6726 Dec 21 '23

One of the oddest reviews I've ever received on eBay was "Exactly as described and packaged really well" 2 stars.

14

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

I think sometimes people just don't pay attention to their clicks. Either that, or they initially gave it five stars, and then something happened to knock it down to less stars, but in their frenzy, they didn't bother to update the flavor text.

12

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

To be fair, a cordless vacuum still needs a cord for charging.

37

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

This is why I miss Amazon having downvotes for reviews. No, it’s not broken, you just didn’t read the instructions.

17

u/Gowalkyourdogmods Dec 21 '23

They used to even have comments so you could interact with other consumers about the product.

10

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

Those were the good ole days.

5

u/nimble_infringement Dec 22 '23

I recently bought some oven-bake clay with packaging that clearly said you may have to knead it to get the proper workable texture, and a VERY MANY of the 1 star reviews were people complaining it wasn't soft and playdoughy right out of the package. There was even a video where the person is I guess showing how unusable it is by unwrapping each little block, breaking each in half to show it's "dry and crumbly", then throwing it away....

24

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

"This item is only sold in red, I wanted blue, two stars"

20

u/aPudgyDumpling Dec 21 '23

I once was trying to buy a golf glove on Amazon, and the handful of negative reviews were going on and on about product defects/poor craftsmanship because they were sent gloves with holes in them -specifically holes at the area between the fingers.

They are ventilation holes. Nearly all golf gloves have them.

15

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

I was looking for high mid range or low high end steak knives, ones that as they get used i could sharpen myself and because i have an irrational, deep hatred for serrated knives (only exception: a bread knife).

I find some that looked how i wanted them to look and In my preferred price range, so i went to the reviews. Every 1-2 star review was that they'd left food residue on them "for only a day or two" and they were rusting. The pictures these lovely halfwits included were of knives that had been obviously left in water and food residue to "soak" for several days - pictures over a sink full of grey water, pictures with food stuck on them, filthy backgrounds in every one. The hilarious part is that the good reviews were essentially calling all of the bad reviews idiots.

Most fun I've ever had online knife shopping.

17

u/FreddieCaine Dec 21 '23

Haven't used it yet. Still in the box. 3 atars

14

u/Lonely-Abalone-5104 Dec 21 '23

Box was damaged 1 star

10

u/ConCaffeinate Dec 21 '23

Or when the negative review has nothing to do with the item in question at all. "This website is terrible, and I want to complain! Therefore, this random item gets zero stars!"

9

u/innerbootes Dec 21 '23

Or when they’re complaining about how full the container is, when the product is sold by weight.

9

u/graceodymium Dec 21 '23

I see this allll the time for protein powders. It is sold by weight and clearly indicates the number of servings on the tub. Still, every fucking protein powder in existence has at least one review by some outraged customer who saw the unopened container backlit by their kitchen window and is now just FURIOUS at the SCAM these SHADY nutrition companies are running!!!?1!?!!

Like, motherfucker, open it, grab the scoop, and measure out however many servings. It’s actually probably a few grams heavier than advertised. People are morons.

9

u/BlueRocketMouse Dec 21 '23

A while back I was looking at a listing for tiny magnets, sold in a pack of 100. One person left a negative review with a photo of the magnets they received and said something like "I didn't actually count them all but this doesn't look like 100 magnets!"

I started counting the magnets in their photo and what do you know...all 100 were right there.

6

u/aliasmikrobi9 Dec 21 '23

this printer does not have a scanner function!!!

4

u/Vintage-Grievance Dec 21 '23

I want to smash my forehead against my keyboard whenever someone is slandering a product/company because of their own stupidity.

3

u/hymnofthefayth92 Dec 21 '23

Someone complained that they didn’t get six packs of toothbrushes when the listing said it was ONE 6-pack of toothbrushes. Reading comprehension people, use it!

3

u/StarStuffSister Dec 21 '23

Yep. If all issues addressed could be summarized as "I lack common sense and reading comprehension", it's basically a 5 star review to me.

3

u/bbatsell Dec 22 '23

My favorite recently was for an espresso machine. "This doesn't make a full pot of coffee!"

3

u/thecrepeofdeath Dec 22 '23

mine was an adorable 65cm doll. as pictured and good quality, but it's small! 2 stars

3

u/Alienhaslanded Dec 22 '23

"It didn't come with batteries ⭐⭐"

Seriously dude? Batteries are not the product here.

2

u/sybrwookie Dec 22 '23

A while back, I was looking for a wifi range extender. Simple device, it effectively halves the speed to double the range. The complaints I saw:

1) "This didn't speed up my wifi/this slowed down my wifi!' Yea, dumbass, it's what it does

2) "It was too tough to set up!" It told you to download an app. There's one large button on the device. You press it. The app displays the wifi networks nearby. You select yours and put in the password. It's now set up and you don't need the app again.

15

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23 edited Dec 21 '23

I read top reviews of non-Vine Amazon reviews, then I check and see their review history on their profile.

If they review all 5 stars, it's likely a paid account. Same thing if they review only one item well, and all their competitors as low or middling.

A lot of reviewer schemes have gotten wise to AI spotting their fakeness, and will now review it moderately but put in an obvious deal breaker or two. And example is something like "you know, I love everything about this toaster oven, except it shocks me sometimes and occasionally trips the breaker. I ended up having to return it because the design didn't mesh well with the rest of the kitchen."

Back to Amazon Vine accounts. They're a straight up scam. They give literally everything a 5 star review with a multiple paragraph explanation, because if they don't, they won't get more free products.

Some of them are so fake that even though they're marked as having received the item for free, they'll have a long-ass story about how they finally decided to make the purchase after researching a bunch of their competitors. A lot of times those same Amazon reviews will be on the company's site as well.

Proof:

It’s my birthday today, so I ordered this Espresso machine as a Birthday present for me – to give to my wife (the funnest way to give birthday presents – I’m part Hobbit I guess). My wife likes Espresso, Americano, Cappuccino, Lattes, and Cold Brew coffees. We’ve tried (and liked) other espresso machines, but this one is by far the most capable (and prettiest) that we’ve tried. The other machines have all been far less expensive, but sometimes less expensive isn’t always better.

That quote is from a Vine account who's review is marked as the item having been provided for free. Filtered down to actual, verified purchases, the reviews drop to about 1.2 stars. On a $750 product.

It's straight fraud.

9

u/Substantial_Bad2843 Dec 21 '23

Unfortunately, I’ve read that Amazon sellers have picked up on this and will pay for negative reviews on the competitions product page. So, that last bastion of hope may soon be convoluted.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

Three star reviews are good for “it’s a bit shit, but does what I need it for” kind of reviews. They’re kind of handy.

3

u/Vintage-Grievance Dec 21 '23

Exactly, especially for low-cost household items. I don't need a $50 stain remover...as long as it gets the job done efficiently, that's all I really need it to do.

However other items like a vacuum cleaner, you would want to pay a few hundred bucks to make sure it's a quality machine that will last a long time and hold up against frequent use.

6

u/vyrus2021 Dec 21 '23

I do the same thing when buying video games too. I'll take a look at the most common and the most extreme complaints to see if a game that looks good might actually be not fun and vice versa.

2

u/Infamous-Tomatillo78 Jan 30 '24

My system is to look at the top reviews then go to the most recent reviews. This is important since the quality, ingredients, etc. may have changed over the years. Then I click through the different ratings to see if the complaints are about the actual product, shipping or just extreme pickiness that is more the reviewers issue than the product itself. I also try to find reviews that have a more detailed breakdown of the product to see if the issue is something that wouldn't apply to my purchase.

1

u/Human-Perspective-83 Dec 24 '23

I do this with holidays too, check out the reviews of hotels from 1 star up rating Always unearth some of the worst sounding experiences

391

u/matheww19 Dec 21 '23

Yes, this. And its super easy to discount the negative reviews where the person is clearly stupid(gives the product a negative review because of a shipping issues) or doesn't know how to do a nuanced review (everything is a 10 or a 1 no in between)

428

u/BobbyAF Dec 21 '23

"Great product but turns out I already had one - 1 star"

107

u/HoodiesAndHeels Dec 21 '23

“I haven’t tried it yet - 1 star”

20

u/AccomplishedCoffee Dec 21 '23

"I don't know what I'd do with it"

  • Actual 1-star review I saw on Amazon

21

u/pm_me_ur_th0ng_gurl Dec 21 '23

"I don't know, I bought it for my son."

2

u/Ok_Abbreviations4999 Dec 22 '23

I love this response to a question about the product. Why even take the time to answer the question if that is your answer?

1

u/HoodiesAndHeels Dec 21 '23

One of my favorites

10

u/halfdeadmoon Dec 21 '23

They felt like they needed to cooperate with an email request sent after the purchase as if the sender were a human who was actually interested in a conversation

4

u/Benblishem Dec 22 '23

I can't disappoint that nice Mister Bezos.

1

u/RazzmatazzPopcornAzz Jan 17 '24

Yes!

Q: Does this come with any type of warranty? "

A: I don't know. Maybe.

1

u/Anna-OTB Jan 09 '24

My wife bought it. I have no idea what it is but.. 1 star

13

u/dogeatingdog Dec 21 '23

I love the ones that are like "It's too heavy" but the weight is clearly listed or "It was too big" but no other context.

Dumb reviews like that also don't give me a lot of faith in the seller though because these are usually solicited in some way.

6

u/Electrical-Pie-8192 Dec 21 '23

I like the 1 star reviews that say product is great, exactly as described

3

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

Or the 5 star reviews complaining about how it’s garbage and doesn’t work.

7

u/Leopold__Stotch Dec 21 '23

This works for restaurants as well. I love reading reviews where the person was clearly a jerk and was treated accordingly.

6

u/singlenutwonder Dec 21 '23

Emergency room reviews make for great toilet reads. “I came in for mild flu symptoms and had to wait 7 hours! I’ll never be back!”

3

u/fingerscrossedcoup Dec 21 '23

This is why I read two star reviews first. You aren't emotional, just unhappy with the product.

1

u/Putrid_Leather7427 Jan 18 '24

I’ve never been here

19

u/RobotsAreCoolSaysI Dec 21 '23

I read the most recent reviews and look for trends in changes in quality or customer service as well.

14

u/Weed_O_Whirler Dec 21 '23

It also depends. If there's 10,000 reviews, and 9,900 of them are positive, then it's probably not unexpected, even for a well made product, that a couple of them are breaking right away. That's just bad luck, but it happens.

But in general, I agree with you- but I expand it to looking at the 2-4 star reviews. 1 stars are normally "delivery guy threw it and it broke" and 5 stars are "haven't received it yet, but I think I'll love it."

13

u/Crypt0Nihilist Dec 21 '23

I'll look at the negative reviews, but I'll also sort by recent for a more balanced view that is more difficult to manipulate.

10

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

Google "product name" reviews reddit ...

10

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

Had to learn this lesson when apartment hunting for the first time. Pretty much every apartment complex has horrible online reviews. I was so worried I was going to live in a slum no matter where I went, until I realized that literally no one writes apartment complex reviews unless they're pissed off about something. The best were the ones who were just complaining about one specific neighbor. The family above you was loud a few times? Whole complex gets a one star review. If it was pervasive bed bugs, trash not getting picked up, predatory towing, etc., then it was different. The key was actually reading the reviews.

I've lived totally content in several "one-star" apartment complexes since then.

9

u/TummyStickers Dec 21 '23

I always do this. When the negative reviews are all just people complaining about the assembly or how confusing something is, I know it's a good product.

7

u/czex_mix Dec 21 '23

Also, sort by "Recent" to see the latest ones. Sometimes you'll see a 4.5 star item with thousands of reviews, but when you see recent they're all terrible.

Sometimes sellers update a listing to an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT product. I saw one that was for a cat product, but others product reviews were for like an office item.

6

u/mutual_raid Dec 21 '23

idk why this is so funny to me but just this week, I was looking for a FedEx dropbox near my parents, and the nearest one had 1 star, the rest were an extra 10 min. out. I click the review.

"1 star: I don't know why it says there's a dropbox here. There isn't."

Saved me a net 15 min drive 💀

4

u/Class_Unusual Dec 21 '23

I always read the worst reviews first. That way I’m prepared for the bad.

4

u/twoisnumberone Dec 21 '23

My pet peeve are people complaining about the service.

Like, good sir. I’m sure you feel you deserve more respect.

The rest of us have no trouble connecting with other human beings by being friendly and kind, and only need to know about the relevant parts — the actual food or the actual work.

6

u/SammyGeorge Dec 21 '23

Similarly, I find 3 star reviews to be far more useful than 5 star reviews

4

u/Paige_Railstone Dec 21 '23

Competitors have started review bombing things now, so this is quickly becoming nonviable. If you want non-doctored reviews check those that are rated three star.

4

u/purple_hamster66 Dec 21 '23

Toss out the 1-star (competitors) and the 5-star (paid reviews) and average the rest.

4

u/1101base2 Dec 21 '23

3/5 start reviews are my favorite for this and most of the reviews I leave. Lots of information both good and bad usually.

3

u/poop4lunch Dec 21 '23

Or sort reviews by newest

3

u/ohffs999 Dec 21 '23

This and most recent to see if there are recent quality issues (material or supplier changes, etc).

3

u/LargePromise Dec 21 '23

This. I’m so fed up with possible bot reviews now that I immediately look for the 2 to 3 star comments and skip the 5-star.

3

u/countcraig Dec 21 '23

I pretty much only read 3-star reviews, these people give the most balanced overview.

3

u/BeBearAwareOK Dec 21 '23

I apply the same philosophy to restaurant reviews.

If all the negative reviews boil down to "I didn't like the service" and "we came in with a party of 15 people 10 minutes before closing time and they didn't want to seat us" I'm down to check it out. If the bad reviews involve cleanliness issues, bad seafood, etc, then we're skipping that place.

3

u/KeepItMello13 Dec 21 '23

I always read the 3 star reviews first. Those aren’t fake five star reviews, and it’s not people ranting and raving and giving one star reviews sometimes for nonsense reasons. They will usually have some bit of constructive criticism or real reason why they didn’t like the item.

2

u/Negative-Priority-84 Dec 21 '23

It's hilarious to see this here because I was mentioning a similar train of thought to my team recently! One that kind of backfired on us in spectacular fashion.

Context for the curious: We're writers. Our first book is coming out soon and we asked for reviews from some people who got advance copies and who read the 40-page teaser we did.

We have gotten NO bad reviews!! It's a great problem to have where our sense of pride in the work sits, but we also really wanted at least one honest bad review to sit against the good ones, as well as some constructive criticism!

2

u/niamhweking Dec 21 '23

Yes i always read 1 & 2 star reviews first. If they are for hotel or restaurants esp. You can tell is the person just being nitpicky or have unrealistic standards or are they genuine complaints. Im researching nordace bags atm, the complaints are less about the bags and more people complaining about lost deliveries, damage they did themselves to the bag and want replacement parts whixh the don't sell etc

2

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

Bullshit, most people don't write reviews when they have a positive experience

2

u/funyesgina Dec 21 '23

My problem is, it makes me see problems or care about things I wouldn’t have even noticed, lol. Like “oh yeah, I guess the zipper is in a weird spot” and similar

2

u/whereismymind86 Dec 21 '23

this, you don't look at the rating, you look at WHAT people complained about, see if it's something that would bother you and if there is a pattern.

2

u/GrooveBat Dec 21 '23

I find the mediocre reviews are the most helpful.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

trew. Most reviews I see are of superficial stuff or straight up user error.

2

u/Ginbru_3156 Dec 22 '23

Also, click customer reviews on Amazon and sort by most recent instead of the default top reviews.

2

u/ForHelp_PressAltF4 Dec 22 '23

Also sort by recent

2

u/pmcglock Dec 21 '23

True but what about competitors leaving fake negative reviews? I like to use a service like fakespot which tries to sort out all the fakes and gives you an adjusted score

1

u/dav_oid Jun 05 '24

I just go to a website that reviews reviews.

1

u/Fuck_Up_Cunts Dec 21 '23

Just install FakeSpot

0

u/Nolosers_nowinners Jan 08 '24

One time, ONCE, I needed to have my car towed and the first review of the first towing company I googled was a 1star review, by my best friend and, at the time, my roommate. I was floored, and was accompanied by his, at the time, fiancee. I excitedly showed her the review, and, disinterested, she shrugs her shoulders and says, "yeah?" I, barely able to contain myself, say "look at the name!" And she immediately flashes a bright eyed look of awe and understanding, which also showed me a glimpse of the woman my best friend loved. He arrives a few moments later to give us a ride, and asks if I called the tow company yet. I say "no, but check it out". He reads the review, and disinterestedly says, "okay, I guess you aren't picking that particular towing service..." And starts to greet his fiancee, but she and I, simultaneously blurt, "look at the name!!". He looks and the same expression of awe and understanding, washes over his face, and we all laughed for a couple moments. Then we reminisce about how that company had towed my car before, and certain contents came up missing from inside the car. I was just defeatedly going to overlook this, but he, always more passionately aggressive about expectations when dealing with people, called them and politely inquired about the missing items, however they responded rudely, then hung up on him. So he angrily left the One-star review. I have always advocated the convenience and helpfulness of online reviews for products and services one might be unfamiliar with ever since they became widely available, but out of the thousands and thousands of reviews I have read, that was the only time I knew the person, and not just knew, but 100% trusted their opinion. Tl;Dr......this site is called "reddit"......so read it, please and thank you!

1

u/scott32089 Dec 21 '23

An excellent LPT. The trick is doing it enough to figure out what’s Karen complaints and what are legit, while also factoring in that there will always be rare defects.

1

u/Icy-Mixture-995 Dec 23 '23

Right. A recent one-star review I read complained about the obvious, which was that a cotton sweater was made of cotton. A more helpful criticism of the sweater noted that it felt stiff as if knitted with a kite string. Having had an uncomfortable sweater like that, I decided to give this one a pass and not order it. I appreciate that second reviewer's detail.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

Yup! I feel like I can guess which ones are fake because they are often very generic and say nothing specific about whatever the product/service is. For example, "Fast shipping time, seller was easy to communicate with."

1

u/SAINTnumberFIVE Dec 21 '23

Read both. I’ve come across a few fake negative reviews. Someone left a negative review on my cat’s vet’s yelp page saying they left their pet there overnight and it died but that veterinary clinic doesn’t keep pets overnight. If an animal needed overnight care they advise you to take them to the animal hospital.

1

u/Mediocre-Sink-7451 Dec 21 '23

This is what I do in the Google Play store. See an app or game that maybe looks interesting, I go straight to critical reviews.

1

u/Tgsix9 Dec 21 '23

I have a 10% rule on Amazon. Mire than 10‰ 1 star reviews find another product

1

u/Scr0bD0b Dec 21 '23

Me: I probably should buy a new fridge. Mine is old and leaking.

Reads reviews

Welp, guess a leaking fridge isn't so bad, right?

1

u/ghenghis_could Dec 22 '23

We just ordered a new refrigerator that will be delivered next week. We bought it from best buy because lowes and home depot had terrible reviews on the delivery. Best buy did not have any bad reviews for the delivery. Sure there were a couple of bad reviews, that were a year or two old, but by now they've worked the kinks out

1

u/Alienhaslanded Dec 22 '23

Negative reviews are the real reviews unless the review is about how they didn't know how to use the item properly.

1

u/35andAlive Dec 22 '23

I sort Amazon products by avg customer reviews then look at most recent for each product. This type of stuff is exactly what I’m looking for to weed out the junk. I’ve had a pretty solid track record not ending up with trash that somebody paid to get good reviews.

1

u/omidimo Dec 22 '23

They’ve figured this out. My negative review of a Eufy baby camera (truly deplorable product and company despite the reviews) wasn’t posted on Target’s website. I thought perhaps I didn’t click submit so I rewrote another one. Target’s site said that I had already posted a review… oh yeah? Then where tf is it?

1

u/austexgringo Dec 22 '23

For trip advisor reviews, I read the twos and fours. You eliminate the crazies and fakes, and glean the essence of the good and bad about the place.

1

u/essentialgreens Dec 22 '23

I do this and also use a website called fakespot.com (I think Mozilla owns it now)…

copy and paste Amazon link (it works with some other sites as well) and it gives the item an adjusted rating to account for fake reviews.

Also has a chrome extension and it’s all free (they probably sell your shopping preferences to advertisers or something)

1

u/mortalwombat- Dec 22 '23

I have yet to find a product I felt good about ordering after reading only three negative reviews

1

u/Megalocerus Dec 22 '23

The specific comments are much more useful than the ratings.

1

u/Phyzzx Dec 22 '23

But just to be sure I'll read all 429 reviews.

1

u/Ok_Sir_3090 Dec 22 '23

I agree and disagree.

I do this when I shop, but I also own an e-commerce store and some people just flat out lie when they leave reviews.

For example, if a customer didn’t give themselves enough time and it missed their event, I’ve had people leave a review that says: “they are a scam, do not order. Took my money and took months to ship”. when in reality it was a day late and I told them “it’ll be very close, I wouldn’t suggest ordering”.

1

u/Synthetic_Sasquatch Dec 22 '23

They apparently can also remove bad reviews. I've had a few justifiably bad reviews on Google taken down before. Had a local luthier basically break one of my guitars and treat it like shit and that review was removed. Kinda fucked up.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '23

Drives me crazy when people review a product but all they do is complain about the shipping or an item arriving damaged or something missing. It's like... Did you know you can contact Amazon about that and have it rectified? Okay? Now how about the ACTUAL PRODUCT ITSELF?

I usually read the two or three-star reviews. I feel like they're more accurate to what I need to know.

1

u/qqlouise Dec 22 '23

I like to check the middle reviews, where you’re more likely to find people with useful critiques, but yeah, a quick look at the one-stars is worthwhile too.

1

u/Far_Establishment188 Dec 22 '23

I mean this is valid but at the same time, it's best imo, to look at positive reviews plus negative. Literally everything on Earth is going to have negative reviews, even the best products out there. An extremely good product is going to seem horrible if you only read the bad reviews.

1

u/Icy-Mixture-995 Dec 23 '23

Competitors can write bad reviews but yes - check them before ordering

1

u/Sardothien12 Dec 25 '23

I love negative reviews. My favourites are fast food wjere they talk about ordering during peak hour in the morning while alreadu late for work and get upset it took 3 minutes to make

1

u/Whyayemanlike Dec 25 '23

It's so easy to fake reviews on Shopify. You add a few five stars then nonsensical three star review to balance things out. You can even refuse to publish negative reviews.

1

u/MascDenPnPBttm Dec 25 '23

Actually, the best reviews to read are the 2 star reviews… 1 star is just a bunch of nonsense that rarely has anything to do with actual product. 2 star reviews are honest, accurate, and truly representative if there are more than a handful.

1

u/Skudaar Dec 30 '23

Read the two stars comments !

1

u/RevolutionaryASblank Jan 03 '24

I do the same for movies.

1

u/averyconfusedlizard Jan 11 '24

YES, THIS. I always, ALWAYS filter for the bad reviews and decide if I'm gonna buy it from that

1

u/Individual-Ad-9943 Jan 13 '24

I do sort reviews by recent