Controversial! +13 Selling review pieces: Cricket or not?

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My personal view on this subject is that a lot of online reviews are essentially business transactions between the supplier and the reviewer. The reviewer is providing a service and is paid in some way by the supplier, either cold hard cash or in goods or services. The supplier gets publicity, usually favourable; the reviewer gets some recompense for his/her time and effort and the general public get to find out a little more about the product from a different perspective. I don't think there is anything wrong with this situation, lawfully or morally. It is what it is and if you take what you read with a little pinch of salt and recognise that the review may not be totally unbiased then you can't go far wrong.

Personally, I would rather read a build report or SBS/WIP thread to get a more objective view on a model but I still search for reviews whenever I'm considering a purchase.

As to what the reviewer does with his "payment" after the review is completed, I don't think that's anyone's business but their own.
 
To be honest I only use reviews as a bit of a 'heads up' for pieces I consider buying and not as a definitive recommendation.
I'm happy to take most comments from reviewers at face value but as always the decision to buy rests with me.
If I buy and feel that the fit of pieces is not as good as the reviewers opinion it's still down to an issue between me and the supplier.
The most valuable aspect of reviews is where the reviewer takes the trouble and makes a considerable effort to provide detailed background information.
When this happens we as modellers benefit from the information, history, references and images provided.
What the reviewers do with a model provided for review is entirely up to them.
 
I have more issue with the use of the term "review" as generally used in this site than on the fate of the subject piece. To me a review should include both good and bad, with any criticisms being constructive and supportable. Almost all the reviews I see are really "unboxings" or "close ups." These still have value in letting the prospective buyer see what's in the box in detail. But let's be honest - they aren't really reviews. Rarely are negative words typed, even if clearly merited. And if they were, then allowing the "reviewer" to gain through the review, either financially or by expanding his collection, would be a huge independence problem, even if only a perceived one. As I don't consider most of what I look here to be a real review, I take no issue with the provision of free swag to the person doing it.
 
An interesting thread with some interesting points. As a review writer for several companies (many figure related) I would just like to include my response.

Firstly, there is no such thing as a 'freebie' where a review sample is concerned, at least not if the review is published correctly. It costs me £30 each month to maintain my review website, £360 of my own money each year before a single review is even written.

Then there is the cost of my time, the actual writing, editing, proof reading. The photography, taking the photos, uploading, editing, downloading. Then there is the research of the real thing, in my reviews I include comparison photos of equipment etc along with archive stuff, this is extremely time consuming. Then there is fitting the photos in with the written work, adding links etc before finally uploading to the web page and various other sources.

There is also much time spent on building a relationship between the company and the reviewer, if you think its just a case of a person phoning or writing to a company and saying 'chuck me some samples' think again. Many companies have been stung by so called reviewers in he past, this has led to the companies being very cautious, understandably so. I also take the time to meet with the proprietor or a representative of each company that I work for.

If I were to be paid by a company for my work it would be well under the minimum wage, and I mean well under. There is no way on earth I could make a living from it, not even close. I will give you a couple of examples.......I write a review for a certain modelling magazine, the cost to purchase said magazine is £6.50 The hours spent reviewing said magazine equates to approximately 4 or 5 hours minimum. Even at minimum wage I would be severely out of pocket! The time spent reviewing a figure is considerably more, many hours more, so if a bust cost £50 to buy and it takes around 15 hours to review it does not take a genius to see I am severely out of pocket again.

By the end of this year I will have written and published at least 70 reviews, more likely 80. Imagine the impact that has on my family life, the impact on my other hobbies and commitments. If anyone out there is of the opinion this is for financial gain or for 'freebies' then please call the men in white coats as I need locking up!

Please also have in mind the companies I review for, 99% are not multinational companies, 99% are people who have full time jobs and produce figures, busts and other products in their spare time. Most make little if any profit and work crazy hours to produce the goods. They give up family time and other commitments in order to attend shows, to afford websites, to pay for goods and services.

It has become increasingly more important for reviews to be published. With model shops all but gone from our streets reviews are for the majority the only way they can see before they buy. Yes of course some reviews will be biased, I make a point of only offering my services to what are considered to be already established and highly regarded companies, those that are renowned for consistently producing top quality pieces so it would be highly unlikely I would publish anything detrimental, that said I have done so. How long do you think I would keep my reputation as a reviewer if I posted misinformation to you guys?

For the most part I think modellers have a pretty good time of it and need to cut the companies and reviewers some slack. You guys are not stupid, you know a good review from a bad one and you know a good product from a bad one, if a company or reviewer thinks they can pull the wool over a modellers eyes they are not going to last 5 minutes.

Kindest regards,

Martin (Martin's Scale Models).
 
Hi Martin,

There is much merit to your post. I do not think that most criticism is applicable to all reviewers without distinction. I think that most people - or just me - sense that at a certain point reviewing bleeds into marketing. For outsiders, who are not privy to the relationships of the reviewer, there is natural tendency to approach any review with a dose of scepticism. This is the same scepticism that one might have when, for instance, buying a pair of trousers. When I go to a shop I like to be informed about the price, size etc, but when a sales person starts using adjectives excessively or is too complimentary on the fitting, I begin to doubt whether he is motivated by the desire to have me wear the perfect pants, or by the desire to hit a certain sales' target. Such scepticism is not only healthy, but perhaps a prerequisite in a capitalist market economy. For perhaps it is not only producers who have been stung by reviewers in the past, modellers may also have been stung by reviewers in the past also - or al least feel so.

As I mentioned before I think that a good way forward would be for all reviewers to clearly indicate their relationship to the manufacturer/seller/marketeer. In that way modellers could distinguish the marketeers from the candid reviewers. The fact that this is not done often enough only feeds into the scepticism that many may have. Ultimately, I tend to think that a candid review benefits the producer also. Then again perhaps a declaration of relationships is unbefitting a capitalist society in which not trust but coin is the currency - adding that I have no strong feelings either way.

That being said, I have no problem with financial transactions, or transactions of other sorts. The work that reviewers, like yourself, do is important in informing the public.

I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to be able to say if one could ever make a decent living of reviewing models, but, from personal experience, I might suggest some ways to keep your costs down.

One way could be to migrate your website to a cheaper host. I do not know how long you have had your contract, but older contracts tend to be more expensive. I pay £18 per year to host a website that is much simpler than yours, and some of my mates pay £8 per month to host a website, though if you would like to have an unlimited amount of GB storage, you would probably pay double.

A second possibility might be advertising, or sponsoring, for a targeted audience (i.e. not the flashy "you won 1 million $"-ads), but ads by a producer or a model shop. I think that whilst you are in direct contact with a company rep, it is but a small step to suggest they advertise on your website. One still finds ads in modelling magazines, so I do not see why they would not be interested in digital advertising. You will not earn on advertising and sponsoring, but you might just go break even.
 
Hi Benckendroff.

I thank you for the suggestions on how I might keep costs down, particularly in relation to the website. However the reason I pay so much is because of the package I have which allows me to host the service on a private server as opposed to a shared server. It also means I have unlimited photo storage (this year alone there are over 2000 review photos and a further 1000 for show reports), it also allows me to not have to deal with down time and or maintaining the technology side of things and it includes protection against attacks etc, you can see I need this package to give a professional service to my sponsors and indeed my viewing public.

I make very clear on all of my reviews that the company I write for is a sponsor of my work, that's clear on every single review for every single company. I really do not understand how I could make the relationship any more clear? Unfortunately as with anything lime this it only takes one or two unprofessional and misleading reviewers to give us all a bad name, from then on we all get tarred wit the same brush.

As for advertising, I give every one of my sponsors a place on my website which includes a photo, a link to their web page and Facebook page along with an information page about the company. Each sponsor also gets publicity on both of m Facebook pages including their name on the main header photo. These companies are small and often one man bands who hardly make a profit themselves, to charge them advertising would be out o reach for the majority. We do it to support each other and the hobby we love.

Best wishes,

Martin.
 
I think it's a fair question.

I have a several disclosures to make.

Firstly, I have reviewed several kits and products here on pF. All of them, but one, were done on products that I had bought with my own money and decided to review so I could share my enthusiasm for the product with fellow modellers. The one time I was asked to review a kit by a producer, I felt the kit was sub-standard in a number of areas (research, casting, anatomy, proportions etc.) and I wrote a negative and (what I thought was a very) honest review and sent it to the producer as a courtesy to see if he wanted me to publish it.

Not surprisingly, he didn't want me to publish my review and furthermore he demanded that I return the kit too (which I did, at my own cost).

Secondly, I have bought kits at a swap and sell sale that were given to the seller because he writes kit reviews on his own website. The kits were ridiculously cheap and too good to ignore. I had no problem with the transaction, and I can only assume the reviewer and the Company who supplied him with the kit were comfortable with the arrangement. If the seller neglected to tell the kit manufacturer that he was making a bit of money on the side by selling his review kits at a swap n sell, then that's his problem not mine.

As a general principal, I believe that there's nothing wrong with selling or donating review kits once a review has been written and published, so long as all the parties involved are aware of the process. If the seller can make a bit of money on the side out of his hobby, good luck to him.

Ultimately, if the company supplying the kit for review doesn't specifically state what they want the reviewer to do with the kit once the reviewer has published the review, then the reviewer can do what he likes with the kit.
 
Whats in a review ! generally a load of hype .
If completely honest reviews were to be published then it would damage sales somewhat , it's not always perfect and if you look hard enough you can almost always find fault or short comings .
Having said this ; reviews do serve a purpose and gives an insight to whats on offer, in the past I have bought some terrible kits which ended up getting back heeled into the bin
so now I apply a criteria and look very hard between the written word , you can generally tell by omission whats good and whats crap .

Re the reviewer , he should be able to do what he likes with the kit ; and lets face it if he had to send it back there would not be any reviews.

Ron the sceptic :)
 
Hi all

As you know we send quite a few kits for review and have done for some time.

We have always seen it as a way of showing you whats inside the box. This we could do quite easily ourselves but this wouldn't be the best way to do things !!!!

We have always asked if the reviewer would do this for us just as they do for other companies. Recently it forms part of our QSP,,,Quality Service Passion . It forms part of our service to show you whats inside the box, it really is that simple. We live in a digital age,,,a small world. Our hobby is very specialised and not readily available in your local supermarket to go and have a look at before we part with our hard earned cash. We use reviews to show you what we do.

The samples sent are the property of the reviewer and they can do what they want with them,,,,it really is that simple. We don't influence or proof read reviews before they go out,,,,there is no conspiracy going on. Martin, Kevin and everybody else that does reviews provide a great service to us all not just manufacturers like us. They do this because they love it just like we all love our hobby.

It seams kind of sad that a lot of people here find reviews of little value and are a kind of sales tactic,,,,its actually perceived that reviews actually lower sales amongst manufacturers as the "magic" box has been opened and the surprise has gone.

I suppose some people like to think bad of everything when somebody is trying to do good. Its a fact of life I suppose.

We hope you like the reviews and that they help.

To martin and Kevin,,,,Many thanks for your time , energy and passion ,,,it is very much appreciated.

Stuart and alison
 
stormtrooper miniatures said:
Hi all

As you know we send quite a few kits for review and have done for some time.

We have always seen it as a way of showing you whats inside the box. This we could do quite easily ourselves but this wouldn't be the best way to do things !!!!

We have always asked if the reviewer would do this for us just as they do for other companies. Recently it forms part of our QSP,,,Quality Service Passion . It forms part of our service to show you whats inside the box, it really is that simple. We live in a digital age,,,a small world. Our hobby is very specialised and not readily available in your local supermarket to go and have a look at before we part with our hard earned cash. We use reviews to show you what we do.

The samples sent are the property of the reviewer and they can do what they want with them,,,,it really is that simple. We don't influence or proof read reviews before they go out,,,,there is no conspiracy going on. Martin, Kevin and everybody else that does reviews provide a great service to us all not just manufacturers like us. They do this because they love it just like we all love our hobby.

It seams kind of sad that a lot of people here find reviews of little value and are a kind of sales tactic,,,,its actually perceived that reviews actually lower sales amongst manufacturers as the "magic" box has been opened and the surprise has gone.

I suppose some people like to think bad of everything when somebody is trying to do good. Its a fact of life I suppose.

We hope you like the reviews and that they help.

To martin and Kevin,,,,Many thanks for your time , energy and passion ,,,it is very much appreciated.

Stuart and alison
Click to expand...

That about sums it all up Stu.I totally agree.
 
Boy oh boy, so much scepticism in the hobby! Seems manufacturers, suppliers, advertisers, reviewers can't do right. All in it to deceive the punter, make a huge amount of money and fame before doing a runner. I have never known so much doom and gloom in a hobby.

At the end of the day a review is one persons assessment of an item as they see it, no more, no less. As I said before you guys are not dumb, if I write a review and put photos to that review you know straight off if your being mugged. That reviewers credibility is then in tatters and lets face it, in this hobby word soon gets around!

I have had people ask me on a frequent basis, 'how do I get into reviewing, how much money can I make' If only they knew! Believe me if I wanted to make money there are a million and one ways easier to do so.

All I can say is, judge each reviewer by his/her own merits. If you like what you see all well and good, if not move on as no one is forcing anyone to buy. Caution I understand, ignorance through lack of understanding I do not.

Martin.
 
I'm just wondering if the review section is now obsolete . First we get the release of a new figure , then we have in the sculpting thread the sculpture showing his latest sculpt for the company of that figure or sometimes before , and then a painted version pops up of the very same figure within hours . Even after Stuarts explanation I can't see why the manufactures can't show what comes in the box at the same time as putting up the figure on new releases .
Just a quick comment on reviewers making money . A couple of years back I was at a model show where a member of a club had boxes filled with plastic kits . As a club member he paid nothing for the space . I checked them out, I bought nothing myself but by the end of the show his boxes were almost empty so he must have taken over £800 . This was a small show where several traders didn't even cover the cost of there tables . Oh yes he was a reviewer .
chippy
 
"Where a member of a club had boxes filled with plastic kits"
So you are merely assuming those kits were review samples and not kits he was selling on from his own collection?

"By the end of the show his boxes were almost empty so he must have taken over £800"
Again it sounds like your assuming rather than giving the facts.

If the guy sold review samples to get some income back good luck to him, I can tell you now it would still have been at a huge loss. For one he was clearly undercutting the traders as you point out and secondly no buyer is going to pay full price.

It is no ones business other than that of the reviewer and the company or individual he is working for as to what terms they have agreed regarding what can happen to the review item, simple as that. If a reviewer is selling on items without the other party being informed the I would agree that morally that is not good business, but as far as I can see al of these accusations and assumptions are just that. A few people have mentioned it previously and I'm beginning to think they have hit the nail on the head........ there appear to be some jealousy going on here me thinks.

Martin.
 
Well Brian, pissing in the wind would make a nice change from the pissing in the pocket of manufacturers we've seen with some recent reviews......piss weak really.
 
Mark ,

Everyone is entitled to their views and I respect yours but why not have a go at reviewing , it's always good to have a new face on the block so to speak and I for one would be interested in yours or indeed any new reviewers approach.

For me I will continue to review my pieces that have been sent with pleasure , these are MY thoughts on a release.

I agree with Brian ..it's time to move on .

Nap
 
napoleonpeart said:
Mark ,

Everyone is entitled to their views and I respect yours but why not have a go at reviewing , it's always good to have a new face on the block so to speak and I for one would be interested in your indeed any new reviewers approach.

For me I will continue to review my pieces that have been sent with pleasure , these are MY thoughts on a release.

I agree with Brian ..it's time to move on .

Nap
Click to expand...

I think it would be great to have a lot of reviews by the membership. It's never occurred to me to do one and I have very few opportunities as I sculpt my own. I just started FeR's Joshua Chamberlain but he is already undercoated. Next time I start something I will try to remember to do a review....but don't expect all the background Kevin inserts :)

If I was reviewing the FeR piece, it would be a very positive report. I am a little concerned though that any constructive comment on another figure would be pounced on based on what I have seen in the past. But I will try to give it a go.
 
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