Reviews of Four Consumer Search Engines Offering Product Comparisons And Internet Store Ratings - Page 2
© Paula Dragutsky
BizRate investigates retail outlets on the web, and then rates and reviews them. Some of the stores are also rated by customers in point-of-purchase surveys.
Staff ratings are done by secretly ordering 40 items from the store. Some of the features rated are product information, product selection, product-in-stock, ease of returns, on-time delivery and customer support.
BizRate's efforts have resulted in an excellent resource for people looking for a safe, quality store to shop at. To guarantee truly unbiased ratings, store listings are free and BizRate doesn't accept advertising or sponsorship from the merchants listed.
Search Tips: BizRate can be searched by product category or keyword. You can limit your search by selecting shopping filters (e.g. live customer support, next day delivery), which are features that you require in a store.
Results: Each result includes the name of the store and a one-paragraph description of its products and services.
Icons indicate whether there's a secure ordering system, an on-line ordering shopping cart system, an on-line tracking system, customer information privacy (merchant will not divulge customers), gift wrapping, live customer support, international shipping, and search capability.
You can display your results by the store's overall rating or by any of the rated factors. For example, you can choose to have those stores with the best ratings for on-time delivery appear at the front of the list. Some of the other ways you can sort your results include overall ratings, price, and ease of returns.
Detailed Report: A more detailed report for each store is available, which includes a chart of the way individual store features were rated by either the BizRate staff or customers. The customer ratings show the number of people surveyed.
BizRate's detailed report also includes the store's physical address and phone number, ordering and delivery methods supported, payment methods accepted and return policies.
eSMARTS - AN INTERNET STORE REVIEW AND RATING SERVICE WITH VALUABLE SPECIAL FEATURES
eSmarts rates and reviews Internet stores, but is less authoritative than BizRate, and has a different look and feel. eSmarts puts an emphasis on locating stores with bargain prices, although its ratings measure many other shopping factors. It also has several excellent special features and shopping guides.
eSmarts is searchable by product category and not by keyword.
Results: Each result includes a paragraph (sometimes long) reviewing the store. The reviews are excellent at conveying the store's treatment of customers and performance in fulfilling orders.
