since i have a review site, i’ll chime in here. i think that honesty in all aspects of a review is a good thing, whether it pertains to how the item was obtained, what kind of compensation is being exchanged and just as important, the reviewer’s frame of reference.
i’ve never considered items sent for review as ‘freebies’, since time and effort is exchanged, and i don’t consider my time as free. to me, a ‘freebie’ is something you are given with no obligation to do anything in return. in other words, it actually IS ‘free’. but, you could always argue that the company hopes to gain favour with the freebie, so any word of mouth passed along is favourable, so some ‘return’ is hoped for.
but, for the sake of this discussion, i’ll call items sent out at no cost ‘freebies’.
do i get freebies? absolutely. a lot of what i review is sent out with the understanding that it is provided at no cost, not returned, and it is in exchange for my time and effort. i would not be able to carry on my website if that weren’t the case - i wouldn’t be able to afford it. my only obligation is to write an honest review. that is one of my conditions when accepting items - that my opinion can not be censored, good or bad. i’m happy to say that just about all of the manufacturers i’ve dealt with have given me the go-ahead to ‘tell it like you see it - we just want an honest evaluation’.
why don’t i return stuff? because sometimes problems don’t arise until later down the road. and if it’s used enough, the manufacturers don’t really want it back. also, it’s useful to have items on hand as reference. i often get asked questions a year down the road, and need to refer to them to answer them.
my website is a hobby. i have a full time job and a family (with a 2-1/2 year old toddler). about 80-90% of the ‘free/hobby’ time i had before my son was born is now gone. my financial obligations have also changed. my hobbies are low on the priority list - mortgage and providing for the family are at the top, and pretty much take up everything i earn.
my website has been around long enough where it generates interest from companies looking to get their products featured. i turn down about half of them for two main reasons:
- i haven’t got enough time to cover everything
- i’m not interested in their products
my hobby is based on my own personal interests and biases. i like nice stuff like everyone else. given a limited amount of time, and 5 different items offered for review, i’ll naturally pick those that appeal to me the most, if i only had to choose 2. if i’m going to sacrifice time that i could spending doing something else i want to do, it’s got to be worth it. i’m not going to spend it on something i don’t like or am not interested in. that’s why you don’t see bad reviews on my site - i pick items that i’m pretty sure i’ll like. it’s not like consumer reports where writers are paid to evaluate items supplied to them. my site is a personal one - more akin to ‘my favourite restaurants’ or something like that. i know what i like to eat, and avoid stuff i don’t. i have developed the same taste in gear over time to know my preferences.
i love the outdoors and shooting sports. i also enjoy writing reviews, and providing information to consumers. i’ve been approached to write articles for magazines before, but i decided a while ago against that, actually because i felt that it would make me less credible, rather than more, if i became a paid reviewer.
just like everyone else who doesn’t have a lot of free or spare time, everything i spend my time on has to be justified, and there has to be an incentive to do so.
on my ‘about’ page on my site, i do have information and a disclosure “Items featured on this site are mostly supplied by the manufacturer in return for my time and effort. Some are personal purchases. There is no such thing as a ‘free’ item. It’s ‘free’ if I don’t have to work for it. Often, the time I spend on reviews exceeds the monetary value of the item. Items supplied or purchased get the same review - my obligation is to the consumer first. I do try to help manufacturers improve their products, and if there’s any issue with the product, I’ll take it up with them and give them a chance to correct it before I post my writeup. If anyone thinks that I cannot be unbiased if an item is supplied to me by the manufacturer, I’d be happy to take a donation from that person to purchase the product they want reviewed, thereby eliminating any perceived bias.”
honestly, i have all the gear i ‘need’. i can’t afford to spend money on more gear, solely for the purposes of providing free information for other people. the support of manufacturers is the only way the site can keep going. the donations to my site don’t amount to enough to cover web hosting, let alone fund any gear purchases. it may not seem like the perfect, completely objective solution, but it’s the only one that works for now. i’ll keep going at it as long as i still enjoy it, people still feel that it’s relevant, and that people benefit from it.
as for frame of reference, i’m not an expert - just an average joe. as long as people know that about me, how i’ve used the item, and my (lack of) real world qualifications, i still feel that they can get useful information from my reviews. the detailed descriptions of feature and photos are something everyone can benefit from - my opinion, maybe not as much. i’ve always said that if i seem unqualified to express my opinion, and it’s worthless, just look at the pics. i provide this information for free, no one has to pay for it. and unless they do, this is the only way the site can keep running - with manufacturer support.
am i biased? another ‘yes’. everyone is. i have developed my own set of preferences based on my experience, shooting style etc. i don’t have the depth of experience that someone in LE or the military has, but over the years, i’ve had a wide breadth of exposure to many different products, many from competing manufacturers. the exposure to many different items from competing manufacturers helps in keeping some objectivity, IMHO. it’s also difficult to determine whether something is the ‘best’ or ‘better’ unless you’ve used similar items.
if i had an unlimited budget and bought everything, you’d pretty much see the same stuff on my site that’s there. whether it’s ‘worthit’ to someone else is always subjective - something i can never answer for anyone else. would i spend my own money on the stuff that’s on my site? i do, and yes, if i felt that i wanted or needed it, and that i could afford it.
industry relationships - it’s impossible NOT to develop relationships with companies over the years, even if you’re only a customer and not a reviewer. objectivity can still be maintained, and i try to do so by featuring competing companies on my site.
so, in summary, full disclosure in all aspects of reviews is a good thing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re getting an unbiased, objective review. neither does free product vs. purchased guarantee it, as some of you have pointed out. purchasers need to justify where their hard-earned money goes and their decisions. what i do notice is that owners of purchased products tend to go more to the extreme as to praising or criticizing the products. it’s only natural, as you’re very happy when you’ve made a good purchase, and furious when you feel that you’ve been gipped.
i think that in the end, you have to take each review based on the writer’s pattern, reputation, track record, along with the background info (disclosures). and, use your own judgment accordingly. sorry for the lengthy post.
