At Newegg, we strive to provide our customers with the information they need to make an informed purchase. It is no secret that information on the web can be confusing at times. This is why we want to take time to explain our product review content guidelines and procedures.
What are Product Reviews?
If you have browsed on Newegg.com, Newegg.ca, or any of our other owned web properties, you may have come across a product review. For Newegg, this is defined as a customer’s or user’s written review of a specific product we offer for sale. An example of a product review can be seen below.
What is a Product Rating (a.k.a. Egg-Rating or Egg Score)?
A product’s egg-rating, also referred to as a star rating, is the numerical representation of the overall average of all customers’ and users’ scoring for that product. Below you can see what an egg-rating looks like on a product pages as well as other prominent placements throughout our websites.
For Newegg’s scoring system, one egg (or star) is the lowest score a product can receive, and five is the highest.
How is a Product’s Rating Calculated?
A product’s egg-rating is calculated based on the aggregate average score that all customers and users have given it. This overall score is first calculated by taking a straight average of all ratings provided by customers and users, then, using standard rounding logic, the value is rounded up or down to the nearest integer. Once this is complete, the value is then displayed in the product review section of the product page and its corresponding egg-rating symbol (as seen above) is prominently displayed throughout the website.
The specific product rating that a customer has provided is calculated in the same way, but is only displayed next to that customer’s review and only for the item they have reviewed.
Can Anyone Review a Product?
Newegg acquires products’ reviews from five different sources. Each of these sources uses real humans who have interacted with the product and tested its features and functionality.
Customer Reviews
Shortly after purchasing a product from any of our websites, all customers receive an invitation via email to review the product and rate their experience shopping on our websites. A customer’s decision to participate in this review process is fully voluntary and does not involve any compensation, awarding, gifts, or any other incentives. If a customer chooses to review a product as well as their purchasing experience some of the common questions they are asked are:
- Would you be able to describe the product’s features in a very detailed and specific way?
- Can you include something about the product that you would have wanted to know before you bought it?
- On a scale from 1 – 5 (one being the lowest score and five being the highest) how would you rate your product?
- Would you buy this item again?
- Would you recommend this item to a friend?
Once the customer has completed their review of the product they have purchased, they can choose to submit it, and Newegg’s staff will review its content for publication on our website. If the content complies with all Newegg content guidelines, it will be published on our website.
Manufacturer, Seller or Newegg-Incentivized Reviews
Manufacturers, sellers, or Newegg may ask customers to leave a review in order to:
- Complete a rebate
- Receive a free physical or digital gift
- To receive a gift card
The requirements to receive the incentive are solely up to the manufacturer, seller, or Newegg, though a disclosure is required within the review content itself.
Eggxpert Reviews
Newegg Inc. maintains a list of experts who are known for their experience and knowledge of specific industries, products, and technologies. Newegg’s decision to include individuals in the Eggxpert Program is 100% by selection only. We do not automatically add experts to the program, and we are not currently accepting applications for this program. Additionally, these individuals are not employees of Newegg Inc. but are external third parties who work with us to review products we sell. In order to be selected, each individual must go through a review process as well as a testing phase that proves to Newegg they are an expert in their field and not just an above average user. Outside of Newegg, this is often referred to as a “sampling program”.
With this network of Eggxperts, Newegg works with brands and vendors to provide products that are thoroughly analyzed, tested, and reviewed. Reviewers are not compelled to provide high review ratings or positive wording in any way. These reviews are intended to give brands honest feedback on their products’ performance as well as to provide our customers with expert information about the functionality and features of the products they are viewing.
After Eggxperts have finished reviewing the product, they are to submit their review on the Newegg website. If the review complies with our websites’ content guidelines, it will only be added to the specific product that was reviewed on our website.
Syndicated Reviews
Newegg’s product offering is vast. In order to provide our customers with the most comprehensive shopping experience, we sometimes leverage syndicated product reviews to relay any necessary or relevant information about a product to potential buyers. These syndicated reviews are thoroughly curated prior to being published on our site. Below is a list of criteria that each syndicated review must comply with in order to be published on any of our websites.
- The review’s content must comply with Newegg’s content guidelines
- The review content must not have been incentivized in any way
- The review must have come from the manufacturer’s website and not from another retailer
- The review’s destination must be known and verified
- The review must have come from a verified customer
When reviewing syndicated product content, Newegg does not:
- Exclude any bad or negative reviews as long as they abide by our content guidelines
- Selectively choose only reviews for specific products based on pricing, popularity, or brand authority
- Edit, adjust, or tamper with review content in any way
- Show favoritism towards any one user or manufacturer
- Limit the number of reviews received or published on our websites
If you wish to see reviews from the manufacturer’s website, you are able to filter out these reviews on some product pages by choosing “Mfr. Website Reviews”. This will show you only external reviews about the product. Please keep in mind that while these reviews can at times be reflective of a customer’s shopping experience, this does not necessarily reflect on Newegg’s customer service or online shopping experience.
What are Newegg’s Review Content Guidelines?
Restrictions on content
Newegg may, in its sole discretion, at any time, remove or deny content for any reason, including, but not limited to, when the content contains any of the following:
- Prices and availability can change very quickly, so please leave such information out of your review.
- Hyperlinks/URLs.
- References to other stores/resellers.
- Comments on products that were either physically damaged or misused.
- Replies to existing customer reviews; please do not attempt to initiate discussions here.
- Comparisons to competing brands or products of competing brands.
- Criticism of Newegg’s service or the service of our operations partners. (UPS, Paypal, Sellers, Shipping, etc.)
- References to aftermarket procedures or installation techniques not mentioned specifically in the original product documentation (overclocking, hacked drivers, tweaking/modding, etc.)
Prohibited content
You are prohibited from posting content on the Site that is:
- Offensive or abusive;
- Obscene, pornographic, or otherwise objectionable;
- Illegal;
- False, fraudulent, inaccurate, or misleading;
- Derogatory, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, hateful, or embarrassing to any person or entity;
- Violent or threatening, or promotes violence or actions that are threatening;
- Infringing the rights of others, including, but not limited to patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, trade dress, right of privacy, or any other proprietary right;
- Intending to cause harm, damage, or otherwise interferes with the Site and our services;
- Violating any of our policies;
- Violating any local, state, federal, or international laws;
- Injurious to third parties; or
- Contains software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of “spam” or unsolicited commercial electronic messages.
Newegg has strict content guidelines for the publication of any content on our website. We do not and will not accept any content that violates these guidelines for any reason. If content is found to be in violation of these guidelines it will not be published and will be removed from our systems immediately. For further information on our content guidelines, please review this section of our Policy and Agreement page.
Vendor Communications
All communications with customers must be courteous, relevant, and appropriate. Unsolicited communications with Newegg customers, communications other than necessary for order fulfillment and related customer service, and emails containing marketing communications of any kind are prohibited. In addition, asking for review removal, review manipulation, or offering incentives for a review is not permitted. Using any customer’s Personal Identifiable Information (PII) in a public response is also prohibited.