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So far I don't have any problems with my customers. Which is good!!
OK. Here is the thing, I've been selling for my online boutique for almost 1 year plus. and I noticed that if reviewer sites review our items, a lot of ppl will click our website rite? which is can increase the num of sales.
BUT, normally reviewer site will ONLY REVIEW FAMOUS BLOGSHOPS!!! eventhough we are selling EXACTLY the SAME THING at cheaper price as the famous blogshop are selling, they will NEVER review us. WHY???? I just dont understand! So how customers will noticed our blog??? Even we already email the reviewer sites that we have new arrival, they still wont review our product. Sigh.....
For blogshop owners out there (which is not so famous), I think u realize this. If we browse the reviewer sites, we can only see that they are reviewing the SAME BLOG every day!!!!!!!!
I understand if they dont want to review ugly clothes. ;) but sometimes, we are selling EXACTLY THE SAME clothes but they will never review us. :(
I hope for reviewers out there if u read this, please dont be biased! We also want to increase our sales. and we also want our blog to be recognize.
Slap Seller if u wanna slap me, OR Slap Buyer if u wanna slap reviewer. (cuz dont have the slap reviewer button)hehe...
Please leave a comment if u have anything to say about this. THANKS!
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hi, im a seller. i do feel what you are saying. i know, some blogshops may have not modelled @ taken the pic for any particular item as nice as other *famous* blogshops, but sometimes reviewers have to give us a chance to. even once might been enough to be recognized to other potential buyers, right?
ReplyDeleteHola Seller,
ReplyDeleteFinally someone raised about this issue. This is actually true!!! Im a seller also, and they review my blog very very seldom. I also dont understand why they keep on reviewing famous blogshops.
I hope I can get a comment from reviewer sites to explain this!
Thanks.
agree. :( i've sent thousands of emails to to five reviewer websites already since last year. Not reviewed before. :'(
ReplyDeleteyes i know how you feel!! it's so frustating cause when i just update i get pretty excited at the possible future emails i'll be getting, but then the reviewers (especially the more famous one) do not review us, then i get less emails, which is pretty disappointing. :(
ReplyDeleteAgreed! I am a seller myself, but reviewers are only making the famous more famous. How are the newbies gonna pick up if they aren't given a chance? Sometimes blogs which sell nice & affordable pieces are given the miss. How do you reviewers explain to that huh?
ReplyDeleteOne reviewer never replies eventhough I've sent many emails to HER. Go figure!
hi, i'm a seller. totally agree. my blog only been review for 2x only. since i open my online shop last year (october).. kinda sad tho..:(
ReplyDeleteOMG! Yes I agree! Happened to me all the time!
ReplyDeleteThey never reply or even give a damn about us!
UNLESS when we say we want to rent an ad space!
On human also they hardly review if u aint famous. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteyes u r true. they are making a famous blogshop become more famous.
ReplyDeleteand summore, I paid for the ad space for 1 month and they only review my web once! can u imagine that? like wtf!!
and they keep reviewing the famous one eventhough the items already sold out!!!
it's really unfair to all new newbies. I am a seller myself & sometimes I need to send couple of emails worried that what if the reviewers did not receive it? It would be much nicer if they were to reply us something right?
ReplyDeleteIf a reviewer happens to pop by this site, they will prolly come out with their excuse saying they don't have the time in the world, where they too need time for themselves. We did not read their T&C properly & it goes on and on, as though they are pointing the fault at us newbies.
ReplyDeletemaybe we don't harap on them la..maybe we can slowly build our names by working on it ourselves...who knows?~ ;)
ReplyDeleteHi, there :) Just a lil' clarification as a reviewer--
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, personally I'm not bias to ANY blogshop when it comes to reviewing. My bias-ness perse would be limited to me taking the time to go to these sites individually even though they don't send me their update email. What happens most of the time is that, these blogshops don't disappoint in their collection so therefore there's always something for me to review from them :)
To those "lesser-known" blogshops:
One of the reasons why I may have missed out on your blogshop is mainly because of the way your pictures are taken.
As I have really limited time in reviewing daily (spend about an hour and a half or more) each day, bad photos/unclear pictures really don't help when i screen through your latest update. However, i do always encourage blogshop owners to leave a comment if you have a similar piece that is being reviewed (just like any other buyer, i like things cheaper of course. Lol)
Second reason is simply because your apparels offer nothing new; nothing which stands out; not appealing to readers; or catches my eye. However, in all fairness, that does NOT mean I won't link you. After all, a review site is based loosely on the reviewer's discretion of what she thinks/feels her readers would like; and the blogger roll is there to pick up on your update.
Thirdly, your email may have ended up in the spam folder; or i missed out on your email. So if you don't receive a reply from me within 3 days, do send it again. :)
To sum it all up, main reason on how i do my reviews:
1) clear photo's!
2) that there's something to review about--if it's just plain sundresses or apparel easily purchased offline, you don't need a review on it. That's more like an "day-to-day update" feature.
Diary Addictions isn't just that.
I love fashion. And my reviews are 100% genuine and sincere (one of the reasons why i don't do paid advertorials). If you give me a reason to feature your items, I will.
Love from Xash. (diaryaddictions)
PS. I really do thoroughly browse through new blogshops and even look in your older post sections to find something to review.
i'm a seller. once, i actually emailed this particular reviewer to inform that i'm setting up a new blogshop, didn't get any reply until after 2 months, asking me to join some contest and then, she'll review me. i oso dunno who is cheaper, the reviewer or i (cos i actually joined the contest -_-)
ReplyDeleteYou cannot rely on reviewers alone, if the review sites aren't working out, try and think a different marketing strategy lah -_-
ReplyDeleteit takes more than a review site to make you famous,trust me
PPS. Totally agree with the last anonymous. Even without reviews, if you are linked in the blogger rolls, readers will keep coming back to you if they like your collections.
ReplyDeleteAlso another thing to note:
I rarely review famous blogshops although their items are sold out (Because really, what's the point if they're sold out and non restockable right?). Reviews at time of post ARE available as i try to catch these blogshops right when they update. :)
there are always lots more marketing module that you can turn to besides begging for reviews. Cbox is very effective in conveying message to buyers. getting linked in other relevant blogshops too helps a lot. good customer servicing is also another option as it provides words-of-mouth referral. providing assistance in other ppl's enquiries too often leads one and another to the particular blogshop. all it takes is some effort and persistence and not getting frustrated for not getting reviewed.M not a reviewer btw :D just a buyer who buys via the above mentioned mode =D
ReplyDeletehi xash,
ReplyDeletethanks for explaining. but i still think that for online boutique, if they have been reviewed, the traffic will suddenly goes up like never before. how powerful reviewer site is.
and I EVERYDAY open reviewer website, and i can see it always been the same famous blogshop that u reviewed.
ok lah if u say it is unique, fine. but sometimes we sell the same thing BEFORE the famous blogshop selling it, still never been reviewed. how sad it is.
about picture quality, some of them are using dslr cam, and of course the pic are good. we are just using the normal digital cam but still can consider as OK.
i just wanna voice out what i felt as i've been selling it for almost 1 year plus, and the review that i get can count by finger. :(
hmm.. as a buyer.. i agree with xash, clear photos is a must! no point pointing out you're selling the same item but the photos are not worth the 2nd look.
ReplyDeleteBest photos are always taken under natural lighting. worst are those taken in dim lighting and tiny thumbnails! How are we even to view your product?!
Plus, usually the so called famous blogshops bring in new arrivals faster.. then only newbies bringing in the same item.. no point having 2nd review on the same item right?
just my 2 cents =)
I dont have a very famous blog but I do get my fair reviews from reviewers. *thank you*
ReplyDeleteI do however want to share with the shops that seem they have been neglected just a few tips. At last count, there are possibly over 700 blogshops and it is not easy to go thru all of them. Make life easy for these reviewers.
1) Write a short email. No need to be long winded
2) Always attach at 3 of the best pix you have from your updates in LOW-RES. Do not send 2MB per pix. This way they dont have to open up your URL on a separate window which might take time.
3) Always include your URL in full. Not just www.abcde.com BUT http://www.abcde.com. If the reviewer wants to see more pix from your site, the URL is a hyperlink already. Just one click. No need to cut & paste. Remember most emails nowadays are HTML encoded.
Saving time for the reviewers will give you brownie points i think. All my emails to reviewers are always read and 80% featured. I truly believe its because I was not troublesome. Everything they need in in the email and one click away.
:D
to the last anonymous, thx a lot for your advise. i will try that. :)
ReplyDeleteoh ya for the buyer, of course picture quality must be the best!! i agreed with that. no doubt.
and the reason why we dont have new arrival items faster, because nobody wants to buy from us as nobody knows that our blogshop is ever exist!! so how we want to keep updating new clothes if still got items that havent sell? plz understand that.
thanks
Hi MSH here, there's some tips for blogshops out there if you want to get more reviews/more business:
ReplyDelete1) clear pictures that are not too small - just made your stuff shows clearly, you don't need pretty models. But if you see examples like The October and Minimalist store, the items are clearly shown right? at least they are not blur or shaky. If you keep getting shaky photos, please get a tripod or use the timer mode. If your photos are blur, probably you set the camera on the wrong mode.
2) items that sell - I hate to say this but if your stuff don't sell, maybe you gotta do a good analysis of what your customers want, and what is the current trend. If you pay attention to reviewer's chatbox, I think you can grasp what customers are looking for :) another way is to keep a look out on the popular stores like F21,MNG and Topshop. They are like the trend leaders :P
3) be nice - simple thing to do but reading all the complaints here on bad sellers, it's obvious that customers want to buy from somebody trustworthy and reliable isn't it?
4) include your URL - totally agree with anonymous above on that! The simplest trick to do that is to always include your URL in your mail signature, then you won't have to remember typing it all the time.
5) remove those little things that puts off your customers - I think musicbox tops the list of annoyance :P same with pets, don't forget that a huge community of buyers are our Muslim friends, surely you don't want to lose a potential huge group of customers right?
hopefully it helps!
One more thing: get something new. Like you said, because you've similar things with other sellers, generally we buyers would go for famous sellers as they are usually perceived as more reputable and reliable than new sellers.
ReplyDeleteIf your items are cheap and good, there are bound to be business nevertheless. I would hope new blogshop owners not to put their price too high . I know business is hard these days but like famous blogshops, they are able to provide discounts here and then .
Price and quality are my priority. Don't set a shop selling clothes that you won't even wear it yourself . Be fair and you'll have the traffic. !
I'm probably gonna get slammed but these are real questions I wanna know.
ReplyDelete> I know sellers are held to a code of ethics as they deal in business, in actual money.
But are reviewers also subject to obligations?
> I mean, I understand that reviewers are common in blogshopping and can influence buyers' opinions and sellers' sales.
But basically, reviewers merely deal in opinion and opinions will be biased, right?
Of course, they will have favourites.
> How come reviewers "are expected to"/"should"/"have to" cover all blogshops who email them?
> How come reviewers are responsible for "less emails" from buyers? For reviewing a blogshop just because it's new?
> And why do you feel entitled to a review? Should blogshops, by right, be reviewed because they have the same things?
PS: I was a reviewer (but it's now defunct) and I always make it a point to pick out less popular choices.
So please don't assume I am a privileged seller or defensive reviewer.
I really just want some answers :]
Hi guys :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this applies to Detailedwears as i don't review clothes.hmm.
But
1. I do make it a point to review less famous blogshops because
2. I figure that more famous stores get more publicity.and they have a strong following already.
3. Thats why i started DW.because they'll be the little stores out there that people knew nothing about when i spoke of it.
4.Xash is right.clear pictures are best! :D
And I do reply emails and review the ones that are sent to me.
However,
there are just 2 rules.
1. LINK UPS are only for shops that sell add-ons exclusively.
2. If you'd like to let me to review something EVEN if you arent a addon-only shop, I would! But only email me when you have these accessory/add on update. (no clothes pls)
But I always still get requests for linkups/banner exchanges with clothing stores!
and they tend to email me whenever they update with clothes! :(
and these are weekly(sometimes daily) updates.
Which i dont mind,if you do sell add-ons.But these are clothes :(
So remember
1.When you send subscriptions to reviewers, remember what they review! Please don't CC it to every reviewer you know. (Much like how My Sale hunter only does sales, Little accompaniments only accessories and DW only add-ons :D )
2. Don't email us everyday, just once will do :)
Because we might get too used to seeing your name in our inbox we unknowingly miss it.Its true!
3. If you really really really wanna make sure we get your updates, Just email us personally instead of subsciptions.I personally prefer it and do reply :)
So many times I gt subscriptions and the very next email i get is an update thats copied and pasted then a personal email asking if i received the subscription.which is pretty funny ;)
Hope this helps...somehow.
lotsa love,
dw :D
and for anything even if you just wanna chit chat or ask me anything email me! :)
To dm,
ReplyDeleteFYI, we no need to be reviewed everyday!! its just once in a while its ok already for us. this is because we just want to be known as an online boutique.
and also, what the writer said is true!! sometimes we are selling it first compared to the famous one. but they dont care. we are just like small potato to them. sigh......
not all reviewers are biases.
ReplyDeletei used to review thrifted and vintage items and new items once a while. im a bargain hunter and i alwayssss and alwaysss picked up the less famous blogshop cos they are way much cheaper.
n the reason why i come up to became a reviewer(now defunct) becos i noticed the current and famous reviewers keep featuring the famous blogshops (with most stuffs are overpriced). i often blogwalking and found the same items with cheaper price.
Frankly, i did not visited most reviewers already as they keep feat. the same blogshop everyweek. I only catch up the blogroll from SR. (No offense tho.).
So reviewers out thr, do give chance to the other 'less known' blogshops and help them to grow.
I am totally agree with the writer. I am a seller too. A newbie and not a famous site, I perhaps. But I do online shopping quite often. I always came across site reviewers and they keep reviewing the same blog everyday!! I've tried requesting for a review from them, A FEW TIMES. But, NO REPLY!! Then, the next day, I see them reviewing the same blog AGAIN ._.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I prefer buying from the newbie blogshops/ less known ones. So far i've felt much more appreciated as a customer there compared to famous ones.
ReplyDeleteSorry if this post sounds offensive and harsh, many apologies in advance.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as a buyer, I do keep up with the updates on the blogroll of most of the reviewers. And I completely understand why some reviewers feature the same blogshops over and over.
Whenever I scroll into a new blogshop or perhaps a less featured blogshop by the review sites / blogrolls, I normally just close my browser only after a couple scrolls down. Call me biased, but presentation of your blogshop is extremely important. I wouldn't be attracted to shop at a blogshop which has:
-unclear images / no sense of photography whatsoever
-unclear / incomplete details / size s/m with absolutely no indication of any measurements
-annoying music that takes up the bandwidth needed to load the images in your blogshop resulting in choppy intermittent songs
-poor blog design that looks like it was made with the least effort
I honestly don't think that the reviewers owe anything to the blogshops to feature them actually. If I were a reviewer myself, I'd only feature the items that strike my fancy or caught my interest. There's no point reviewing a site just for the sake of reviewing or doing it just to be "nice". You can't exactly fault or blame the reviewers for poor sales, as I don't think that the reviewers are obliged to review your items. As someone said, there are a few hundred blogshops and it's quite an incredibly taxing and daunting task to feature and highlight each and every single blogshop just to be fair.
Cant blame the reviewers 100% . They did the best they could. Im a seller too and sometimes the reviewers reviewed my blog without me even emailing them. For example, Xash reviewed my blog without me emailing her (and my blog is not that popular oso)...
ReplyDeleteSo if your stuff just dont get those reviews, try harder next time. yes, marketing strategy.
Oh wow, that's a long one!
ReplyDeleteI guess it's pretty hard to cover every single blogshop in the blogosphere though.
I second what Xash mentioned earlier. and i'm not bias to any blogshop at all. :)
I do love looking around for great buys and bargains from all the blogshops that i could cover.
(and yes, "affordable" is my kind of thing and that's the main word i've always been using. HAHA!)
As for the email part, I do reply emails if there's any questions from reviewing,
linking, looking for or even some random questions at all.
Guess you couldn't be expecting me to reply every single email like the "updated!" type of emails,
Oh and i'm getting about 50 emails per day btw. That explains why perhaps.
And i do agree with one of the anonymous above that the presentation of your blogshop is really very important. It's best to have clear images (!!) as in sharp pics with truest colours of the stuff,
advisably to take the pics under fluorescent light or sunlight, works best i think. ;)
clear information of the sizing part, and as for the music part, keep it to your iTunes or Windows Media Player will do. lol.
Btw, you couldn't be relying on the reviewers that much though,
but we would always try our best helping both buyers and sellers at the same time! ;)
p/s : it's not as easy as you might think to be a reviewer ;)
personally if u compare the way very known blogshop clothes, the pic is extra beautiful + the model :)
ReplyDeletecustomer have the perception that the clothes are very nice.. how the pic taken is xtremely imp..
author, could you please send me a link to your blogshop? and the lesser-known blogshops out there that are cheaper but selling the same things.. possible customer here. :D
ReplyDeletejd666_neo@hotmail.com
hah! not biased? i'm selling a dress for rm44, and then, i saw some reviewer, reviewed a blogshop selling the same dress for rm67! i take my photos with a 10.1mp digital cam, i take clear and large pics too!
ReplyDeleteI second what Xash said and her reasons.
ReplyDeleteDisplay of product is very important to attract potential customers. Also another important thing is that the product/picture attracts us reviewer. It's just like window shopping in a mall. If the products displayed outside is nice, ppl will definitely go in.
We also do not blog 24/7 as we've work or studies. Hence, less review on certain days.
On the lesser known blogshops that sells the same item, we also have our 'Alternative section' where we put the different prices on the posts.
Our readers and even some blogshop owners have been sending in mails to inform us on their product price difference and we'll definitely post them up. So blogshops who sell the same thing as the others can definitely mail in to inform us.
Though the consequences are that we've been accused of being unfair recently by blogshop owners due to the alternative section, we'd like to clarify again that we're not being biased.
Hope that sellers understand us reviewers that we cant review 100 out of 100 blogshops out there due to time constrain. There is also an special chatbox for sellers to promote their blog.
dear reviewer,
ReplyDeleteu said u dont have time and what-so-eva lah! but why when u do review, it will be the SAME blogshop everytime? it doesnt make sense rite?
like what the last anonymous said that, we do take our picture CLEARLY and under the sunlight summore, but YOU will never review us cuz we are not the famous one!
hahaha...
ReplyDeleteits TRUE!!! slap reviewer million times!!
all reviewer sites reviewed OVERPRICED items. me as a buyer, also dont know where to get cheaper one as all the reviewer that i know will review the same blog each times.
after i buy, then only i found the cheaper one. and its EXACTLY the same. and guess what? the difference is about RM20... like wth???
so reviewer out there, PLZ PLZ PLZ review that the one we can AFFORD. not only review the famous one, because the famous one if u dont review also, still got ppl want to buy from them.
thanks.
i dont understand how some blogshop owners categorized themselves under famous or infamous blogshops? o.O
ReplyDeletereviewers are not God, they don't know every single price stated out there. you're acting like a child here..
i think reviewer sites can be consider as GOD for e-boutique owner. this is because, if they review EVERYTIME we have new arrival, the e-boutique itself will become more popular as a lot of ppl know bout that e-boutique. so they will always click our website to check for out new stocks and most probably ppl will buy it.
ReplyDeleteso thanks a lot for reviewer out there cuz always review my e-boutique. and now my sales is BOOMBASTIC!
dont be jealous ya.... :p
"famous e-boutique" --> TROLL --> ignore
ReplyDeletefirst blogshops blame reviewers for bad sales. now buyers blame reviewers for causing them to buy overpriced items?
come on people, this is getting ridiculous. reviewers only tell you what they like, they don't have brainwashing abilities you know.
there were popular blogshops long before reviewers came along. how did they become popular? definitely not by relying on reviewers and blaming them.
instead of whining about reviewers picking popular blogshops, how about working on building your reputation to EARN the review?
"famous e-boutique" --> TROLL --> ignore
ReplyDeletefirst blogshops blame reviewers for bad sales. now buyers blame reviewers for causing them to buy overpriced items?
come on people, this is getting ridiculous. reviewers only tell you what they like, they don't have brainwashing abilities you know.
there were popular blogshops long before reviewers came along. how did they become popular? definitely not by relying on reviewers and blaming them.
instead of whining about reviewers picking popular blogshops, how about working on building your reputation to EARN the review?
NOW... is that a SLAP or what?!
ReplyDeletebuyer101: It's common sense you should compare prices before buying.
ReplyDeleteanother thing people failed to realize that is they are REVIEWERS, aka they appraise things and only publish what they think is good enough.
asking a reviewer to feature a poorly presented blogshop or blogshop that sells ugly clothes, is like asking Anna Wintour to feature Amy Winehouse on Vogue cover. You gotta be kidding me.
last thing, work on your marketing 101, don't think that simply selling online will make you rich, you think those popular shops never did any hard work before they became popular? So easy you all want to just push the blame to reviewers. What a joke. Grow up already.
I rest my case.
hahahahaha, writer is making me laugh! omg!
ReplyDeleteno, please don't blame reviewers for the traffic of ur blogshop..so many young girls open blogshops nowadays coz they c those popular blogshops r so successful, they think they can do it too..yes, u can, but it takes hard work ok
u think this is masak-masak? when it doesn't go well n u blame it on someone else..open up ur blog n examine it hard..imagine if u're a buyer n u c this blog, wat will u think? bad wallpaper? annoying music? not everyone likes lady gaga u know..clear n big pictures but not presentable? tiny words with sharp colors that make the eyes bleed? these r all examples, not that i'm saying ur blog is like that..
then evaluate on the stuff u're bringing in..is it suitable for the online buyers? i mean, who needs so many floral dresses? bring something else la..mix n match is good..
reviewers r not god or ur mom, they're not responsible for ur sales..stop whining if u still wanna make some money..i'm just a buyer, but seeing seller whine like this makes me puke!
Incase you don't realise - Famous blogshops come from scratch as well!
ReplyDeleteStudy them and try figuring out WHY they are so successful!
Speaking as a considerably *often* reviewed, it's actually alot of work being put to make it to the *famous* blogshop rank.
And guess what? We used to be a small fry *not famous* blogshop as well!
Don't blame reviewers when you're at disadvantage when you
1. don't have a supermodel to model your clothes
2. don't have a dslr cam
3. don't have the slightest idea on how to do-up your blogshop design
even you're selling the same clothes.
it's FASHION we're talking bout. it's all about packaging and style. it's about eye-candy.
the reality is - it's just your own disadvantage when you do not have the right skills/ equipments to attract your customers. having said that, there are just necessary basic tool, be it fashion/design sense or photographic skills, for you to venture into this line.
i know alot of successful blogshops who owners are designers themselves. that's just one great example of the skills and tools they possessed that comes in handy in this industry.
for me,
> i spend alot of time just designing my own banners. (do you just type in your blog title as banner and just rip off some images from the internet?)
> i spend alot of time re-laying out and configure my blogspot codes. (do you just use the ready-made plain templates?)
> i spend alot of time taking photos of my clothes, like... literally hunting for the sun. (do you snap in your living room/ on the floor/ wherever)
> i spend alot of time editing my pics. (do you just point and snap and upload as it is?