Most product reviews are written by people who never read the reviews.
This site does the opposite.
For every product covered here, I go to the listing and read the customer reviews — with particular attention to the one- and two-star ones, which are where the recurring problems live. Then I write up what buyers complain about repeatedly, why it seems to happen, who it happens to, and whether anyone found a fix.
Sometimes there is a fix. A reviewer works out that a lamp keeps breaking because its head falls onto the floor, and someone else mentions they taped the base down and never had the problem again. That kind of thing never makes it into a product description, and it rarely makes it into a normal review roundup either. It only shows up if somebody actually reads the reviews.
How I work
- I read a sample, and I say so. Each article draws on roughly forty of the written reviews a listing surfaces, from across the rating range, or on around a hundred low-star reviews when the article is specifically about problems. That is a slice, not a census, and every article says so at the top. Star percentages are the retailer’s own published figures, not mine.
- No quotes, no names. I summarise what reviewers report in my own words and cite each one by rating, month and helpful-vote count, so you can find it on the listing yourself. I don’t reproduce review text and I don’t name reviewers.
- I haven’t used the products. I don’t own a dog, and I haven’t slept under any of the projectors. What I bring is the reading, not the testing, and each article opens by saying that.
- The bad goes in with the good. If a product has a safety complaint, it goes in the article, even when it would be more comfortable to leave it out.
- No sponsored posts. Nobody pays to be covered here, and no manufacturer sees an article before it goes live.
- I tell you who should skip it. Most products are good for someone and wrong for someone else. Saying which is more useful than pretending everything is a ten out of ten.
How this site is funded
Through affiliate links. Read The 1 Stars is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you click an Amazon link here and buy something, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Every article that contains such a link says so at the top.
That is the only way this site makes money. It does not change what I write: the products I cover are chosen for how much their reviews have to say, not for how well they pay, and the negative findings stay in.
See the Privacy Policy for what the site does and doesn’t collect.
Contact
Corrections, questions, or product suggestions: cjswoaos777@gmail.com