The bigger purchase you are making, the more research you should put into knowing everything you can about the item or service. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? And still, people get busy. They make hasty purchases on a cheap item when they don’t realize that a better version is out there for sometimes a very similar price; or, they missed the reviews that said their item has a history of falling apart shortly after the warranty expires.
There are several really great sites I have found that have done a lot of the research for you in terms of quality versus price and what options exist for what features. Cheapism.com is one site that I’ve actually started writing some reviews for and I like their philosophy of looking at the cheapest of any product category and telling you what you are getting by buying cheap and what you lose by trying to save a buck or two and then making educated suggestions based on extensive research. They also summarize reviews from various sites around the Internet so you don’t have to go looking.
In my research for that site, I’ve found other helpful sites that have different types of research on them. ConsumerSearch.com gives an excellent overview of the product category and will give you the exhaustive resources they use to make their selections. You can see a limited number of top items reviewed in a particular category, what to look for and the full report on the category itself.
If you want to know how a product is supposed to work and what parts should be included, you might check out About.com or even Wikipedia. Once you know the manufacturers of any given category, going directly to their site for information will give you the most comprehensive write-up on features and warranty. For example, if you want to buy a lawn mower by John Deere, going directly to their website will give you more information than going to the website of Lowes or Home Depot.
But, if you really want to know what people think and have experienced, read the reviews. Amazon.com has an amazing track record filled with plentiful reviews on many, many different items. Walmart has attracted a large number of reviewers as well. Buzzillions.com is an aggregator of reviews from all over the Internet and Epinions.com gathers its own reviews that aren’t as plentiful but still helpful.
If the above mentioned sites haven’t done the research on your item yet, make sure you know how the model you are picking rates in national tests, often specific to the category, like looking up the National Highway Safety Administration website when you want to know the latest recalls or tests done on child seats. Consumer Reports is another excellent resource with a wide variety of topics covered but, be forewarned, the most helpful information is subscription based which means you may have to pay to save.
On the flip side, if you buy an item or service that really works for you or perhaps, conversely, is a big disappointment, write about it. It really helps me as a researcher to see honest opinions, constructively written with pros and cons of a given item. I like seeing customers who clearly write online what they liked about something and then just as clearly tell me what broke off or fell apart and how long it lasted until that point. Don’t forget that you can find reviews on services too with all the online input being sent into the blogosphere. I recently had my children in a sport-specific summer camp. Halfway through the week, we found negative reviews online that matched some odd things I was noticing about lax safety standards. It was helpful to know that others were concerned too.
In the Phoenix, August 5, 2010
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A+ would read again