I understand that those of my readers who have blogs post perfume reviews, this is given. I’m not talking about posts or comments on blogs, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. The question is about designated review spots where your feedback will stay with the product/service and will be visible to others.
Saturday Question #204:
Do You Write Reviews?
The main question, of course, is about perfume reviews. Do you write them on one of the large perfume sites? How about online perfume stores? Perfume decanter sites/services?
And a wider, general question is whether you leave any reviews, for any products, services or experience.
My Answer
As most of you probably noticed by now, I rarely publish anything remotely resembling perfume reviews even on my perfume blog, so I don’t remember even once being tempted to write a perfume review anywhere else. For me, perfume reviews are useful if I know (I mean, virtually) a person whose opinion I’m reading because that allows me to “calibrate” expectations based on what I know about the reviewer’s tastes. Reading Fragrantica reviews from time to time, I’m amazed at how different people’s perceptions of the same perfume might be and how categorical some of them sound, even when their opinion completely contradicts everybody else’s. I wouldn’t dare. Not with my nose.
As to the other types of reviews, for many years the only place where I was almost religiously leaving feedback was eBay: since I myself rely a lot on the sellers’ reputation, I thought it was my duty to contribute to those ratings. But my feedback is usually done for the “service” (how well the seller described the item, how quickly it was delivered, etc.) and not for the product itself.
On several occasions, I left a review for a restaurant (because I was annoyed; they were mostly negative) and for an Airbnb/VRBO rental (those were mostly positive – but only because I was lucky with my choices, thanks to reading other people’s reviews!).
Other than that, I rarely write any product reviews: Who cares whether I liked (for example) that iron or blanket? – I was thinking. But over the years, I started feeling almost guilty about it: I noticed that I heavily rely not even on the ratings people leave for different products but for additional information and sometimes personal photos of those products – be that on Amazon, Sephora or other sites that sell products I am not familiar with or can’t try at a store. So, I’m thinking that I should start contributing more actively – to warn others about products that I find subpar or to offset ratings from idiots who complain about items being not of the size they expected – even though measurements were clearly stated in the description.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
I occasionally write perfume reviews on parfumo.de (some, but apparently not all, automatically translated to English on parfumo.net). That’s just for fun and helps me get in touch with other community members, but I don’t think I’m particularly qualified.
I also leave accommodation reviews on AirBnB and other sites, noting very specific things. I often find such reviews helpful and see this as a service to others (or in the positive cases, deserved praise for the host.)
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I do review perfumes on my blog & sometimes on FB & Insta. I leave feedback on eBay too.
I’m a little more wary of leaving feedback elsewhere after I left a review for a neck supporting pillow. I said I was surprised to find it to be much shorter than a standard pillow, so much so it came with its own special pillow case. The manufacturer replied! They called me a liar! That all their pillows were the same dimensions. In fact they got very, very abusive. I posted a photo in response & measurements. Told people to make their own mind up. More abuse followed.
I’ve been careful ever since
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Sorry you experienced that. If I saw such an exchange on a website where a seller was abusive, I would NOT buy from them, so you probably saved others money and aggravation and the manufacturer lost some sales.
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I do hope so.
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That is crazy that the manufacturer was so abusive in their reply. Very upsetting, I’m sure.
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It was a very misinformed “customer service” person. I can only imagine they got the grand order of the boot
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I’m sorry you had to experience such an unpleasant situation, but I agree with NoseProse: I am sure you helped many people to avoid spending their money for products of the company with such attitude towards customers – even if you had been wrong (which you had not!).
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I too was good about feedback on sites like eBay and Etsy. At least on Etsy the feedback is directed to both the product and the service. I do read reviews obsessively before purchasing things, but rarely write them. As for perfume; my daily Instagram often has micro reviews of the perfumes I post, but I don’t feel that confident talking about notes, accords, genres etc – I try to “intellectualize” my experience but at the end of the day, it’s about whether I like the way I smell! I have learned so much from others’ reviews, especially when I find someone who seems to be my perfume twin. (There was a time when I would try anything that Victoria of boisdejasmin would rate highly because my success rate with her was so good.)
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Personally, I prefer “intellectualized” perfume reviews. Notes don’t tell me much. Tell me enthusiastically how much you loved something, and I want to try it.
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I review perfumes on my blog, but never leave reviews on any brand’s website. Perfumes are just too subjective, and the feedback about my personal experience, in this format, would simply be a waste of my time. I don’t write reviews on my blog to try and influence, promote or discourage someone from a perfume. The review is simple an open conversation, and my personal option. Anyone is welcome to argue. 😉
I find it important to leave feedback on Ebay or Etsy, especially Etsy. Many of the sellers, especially if they are the producers of the product they are selling, need feedback, whether good, bad or indifferent. It helps them evaluate their product and or service. It affords them the opportunity to improve.
The only other feedback I might leave about a retailer is when the product or services are above and beyond my expectations. Where I feel that others need to know that they might have an equally amazing experience. You can tell by the review’s content whether someone really knows the product they’re trying to review, and when someone just doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
I’ve only ever left one negative review for a restaurant that I’ve been going to for years. The reason I did so was the experience was so far removed from any I’d had previously, I thought it was worth their attention. I was contacted by the restaurant’s management for further feedback, and was offered a gift certificate to welcome me back for a visit. The visit I made was a great meal and the service I was use to.
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I remembered! I also left feedback to my Etsy purchase! Once. Because I don’t shop there. But I would have otherwise.
I think that with a restaurant I like and plan to visit, I wouldn’t leave a negative review – I would have tried talking to a manager instead.
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Funnily enough, I don’t usually post reviews of perfumes on perfume sites or store sites because I prefer not to sign up for accounts if I don’t have to. If a site doesn’t require that I create an account to access content or make a purchase, I continue to check out as a guest. If I have an account and an opinion, in recent years I’ve started to leave reviews (not of perfume as it’s so subjective) especially if they’re positive or I think an additional detail that might be helpful to others isn’t apparent from the description alone. And, like others here, I usually leave reviews on ebay and etsy.
Once I bought from beautyhabit a perfume and a relatively cheap cosmetic product. Loved the perfume. The cosmetic was awful quality. I posted reviews of both, at extreme opposites. Later I saw that my glowing 5-star review of the perfume was placed, but the negative review of the cheap product was not. I probably should have complained privately first, which I normally do when I have a complaint, but it somehow hadn’t occurred to me that time, maybe because it was cheap and some time had passed since I bought and I didn’t want to fight for money back. Still, it felt disingenuous for them to cherry pick, though I can understand why.
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Yes, I generally only write perfume reviews on my blog and nowhere else. I can’t remember the last time I left a review on a perfume site or eBay or Amazon, etc. As for restaurants and cafes and the like, rather than leave a Google review after the fact I’m generally upfront and tell them right there and then that the service, quality isn’t up to standard or vice versa.
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Hi Crew,
Besides reviewing for blogs I love to review the places we go, restaurants, businesses, hotels and other accommodation. If I don’t like the place I rarely review but if it’s good and the service/servers are friendly and competent then I’ll leave a 4 or 5 star and some words.
When reading reviews I always read some 4* and some 1*. The 4s seem more honest and thought out than 5s and the 1s give insights to their worst practices.
Jin and I won’t stay anywhere less than 4.2 overall and when we travel to new destinations Jin uses TripAdvisor for all our restaurant choices.
A long time ago I used to leave reviews on Fragrantica but nowadays I tend to hit the preset buttons, spring, like, long-lasting etc
One thing I always do is fill out the hotel groups “How Did We Do” email. There is where I’m much more nitpicky because I think it’s important that they are told and have a chance to improve.
Portia xx
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My blog aside, I don’t post perfume reviews on the Internet, and it is a moot point whether the ones on my blog quite qualify as that. ;)
I have written a few reviews for Amazon and Booking.com, but only when I am really moved to do so. Of course any feedback that involves self-selecting respondents is inherently flawed, but that is the way of the world now and one of the reasons I am retired…no one wants to pay for properly sampled market research anymore.
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I always leave reviews on eBay and Etsy. I don’t think I have ever left a bad review on either site. If I have a problem with a purchase, I work it out with the seller for a return and refund and resolve the problem. I like to support small businesses and Etsy and eBay sellers are generally small business people who value their reputation and good feedback is important to them. I also leave reviews on restaurants and hotel sites when I am happy with my stay. If a restaurant or hotel is good, I want to help them if I can. I only leave a bad review if the restaurant or hotel is absolutely abominable, which fortunately has only happened once. In such case, I would also speak to management so they could hopefully resolve the problem.
I sometimes leave reviews on Goodreads if I think a book I’ve read is really spectacular. I used to leave a lot of reviews of perfumes on Fragrantica, but I rarely do so now. Most of the new offerings I don’t like, but perfume taste is so subjective it seems a waste of my time to review them. And, a good perfume review takes a lot of time, which I prefer to allot to other endeavors.
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No perfume reviews other than the occasional guest post. As to reviews of other stuff, I can probably count on one hand how many I’ve written. I do contact manufacturers / service providers directly to complain or express my thanks.
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