Using Froogle's Merchant Reviews

What do you do if you find a good price for an item on Froogle, but have never heard of the merchant before? When the quality of the merchant is as important as the price of the product, turn to Froogle's merchant reviews. It's a good way to steer your business toward reliable retailers, and avoid those that underserve their customers.

Froogle's merchant reviews, alas, aren't provided by Froogleor by Froogle's users. Instead, they're sourced much like all of Froogle's and Google's content, by spidering the Web. Froogle's spider searches out merchant reviews at other product comparison sites (such as PriceGrabber.com, ResellerRatings.com, and Shopping.com), and then lists and collates them for your shopping convenience. The original reviews, in most instances, are provided by customers of that retailer.

The first place you see the merchant reviews is, after you search for a product, on the resulting product details page. As you can see in Figure 16.13, the initial results are ranked according to seller rating, on a scale of zero to five stars. The Seller Rating column displays the retailer's rating, as well as how many user reviews that merchant has received.

When you click the seller's rating link, you're taken to that retailer's rating/reviews page. As you can see in Figure 16.14, this page displays the seller's overall star rating, along with the most relevant reviews of that seller. (Relevance, in this instance, relates to reviews of similar products to that you searched for.)

Figure 16.14. A seller's rating/reviews page.

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If the sheer number of reviews is overwhelming, you can click the appropriate links to

• Show positive reviews only

• Show neutral reviews only

• Show negative reviews only

• Sort reviews by date (instead of relevance)

Froogle displays only the first few lines of these merchant reviews. To read a full review, just click the review title link. This takes you to the original review on its original website. (You can also go to the main page of the reviewing website by clicking the site's name in the Review Sources section of the left column.)

Commentary: The Best Bargain isn't always the Lowest Price Froogle does a great job of finding the lowest prices online, but the lowest price doesn't always mean the best bargain. While it's tempting to base your purchase decision solely on the lowest price, there are other factors you should consider before you make your purchase: Product availability. Does the merchant with the lowest price actually have the product in stock and ready to ship? Shipping/handling costs. Oftentimes the merchant with the lowest price also has the highest shipping costs. Look for merchants that offer free or low-cost shipping, and then compare the total pricethe product price plus the shipping costs. Product condition. Froogle's product listings display not only new, in-the-box products, but sometimes also list used or refurbished items. Don't fall for a super-low price on a refurbished product when what you really want is a brand-new one. Merchant reputation. Not all online retailers are created equal. Some are actually bait-and-switch artists, or offer poor service, or take forever to ship, or otherwise promise to disappoint. This is where you want to take advantage of Froogle's merchant ratings and compare different retailers by reading the reviews and ratings from previous customers. When you find a low price from a merchant you've never heard of before, take the time to read the customer reviewsand skip those merchants that rate poorly. You read a lot of stories about consumers getting cheated or scammed or just being disappointed when dealing with one or another online retailer. On the Internet, just as in the real world, caveat emptor is the motto du jour. The smarter you shop, the safer and more satisfied you'll be. That means not automatically buying from the retailer from the lowest priceand doing your homework before you click that "purchase now" button.