Earn products by reviewing? Suggestions/Comments

iazybandit

iazybandit

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So I have been thinking of ways of unloading accessories that I have accumulated for review to make room so that I may bring more reviews to our users but at the same time, make it enjoyable for everyone. Originally, we had a raffle but not many people were interested in it whether its due to financial obligations or no one liked the prize itself.

So this is what I had in mind. To help bring in user submitted reviews to the site (since we dont have much), I was thinking of setting up a system of some sort where each review that you post is worth 1 point. It can be accessories, hardware or games that you have purchased or even products you received from us! As you post reviews and build up points, you become eligible for products.

For example, post 5 reviews and you are eligible for an item within that points range. Interested in something from the 10 or 15 points range? Just post more reviews. Once you acquire enough points/reviews, just request a product from the list of available products and we'll send it. Once you qualify for a product and you request it, your points will start all over (0) and you would have to build up your points again if you want another product.

Obviously, you can not just post a review that is 3 or so paragraphs long. The reviews must be helpful and/or detailed...so no cheating. Any reviews that do not meet the requirements will not be eligible for the point.

As for shipping products to you, we would have to think of a way where it would cost you nothing but at the same time, would not cost us anything as well. Some ideas and suggestions would be donations on our homepage (can be any amount via PayPal) or ordering from one of our many affiliates. Of course, if we are unable to cover the costs of shipping, we will have to find another way. I have an idea in mind but would like to avoid that option if possible.

Now, all this is still in the process of being worked on and thought out completely. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to post your thoughts. We would like to hear what you have to say.
 
Sounds like a good idea. This would probably encourage me to write some reviews. I don't have any ideas for no cost shipping though...
 
It seems like a good idea, but one catch I see is only having one or two of each item.

Let's say I've got my eye on some 10 point accessory, so I start writing reviews, by the time I accumulate the points necessary, someone else has already claimed it, and there's nothing else I wanted in the swag bag.

Shipping costs are a necessary evil. Until your site starts pulling in money it's something you'll have to eat. We send out 15-20 DVDs per month roughly to our reviewers, and it's out of pocket until we can get in the black. Eventually the site will make enough to cover shipping/web expenses, but until then, consider it a labor of love.

FYI, don't let Google catch you trying to entice people into clicking their links on your site. That's a good way to get cut off.
 
[quote name='eshbums']It seems like a good idea, but one catch I see is only having one or two of each item.

Let's say I've got my eye on some 10 point accessory, so I start writing reviews, by the time I accumulate the points necessary, someone else has already claimed it, and there's nothing else I wanted in the swag bag.

Shipping costs are a necessary evil. Until your site starts pulling in money it's something you'll have to eat. We send out 15-20 DVDs per month roughly to our reviewers, and it's out of pocket until we can get in the black. Eventually the site will make enough to cover shipping/web expenses, but until then, consider it a labor of love.

FYI, don't let Google catch you trying to entice people into clicking their links on your site. That's a good way to get cut off.[/QUOTE]
Good point. Any suggestion as to how I can fix the problem with the claiming of product? As stated, I would like users to submit reviews on their own free will not and not because they're doing it on incentives.

See, with DVDs its usually the same price unless you ship multiple DVDs the price will be higher due to weight. With the accessories, weight fluctuates and prices vary. there are some accessories that pretty heavy such as speakers and all-in-one accessories that can probably cost as much as $8 and if shipping internationally, it would be more.

Good point about Google. I'll have to edit that.
 
[quote name='iazybandit']Good point. Any suggestion as to how I can fix the problem with the claiming of product? As stated, I would like users to submit reviews on their own free will not and not because they're doing it on incentives.

See, with DVDs its usually the same price unless you ship multiple DVDs the price will be higher due to weight. With the accessories, weight fluctuates and prices vary. there are some accessories that pretty heavy such as speakers and all-in-one accessories that can probably cost as much as $8 and if shipping internationally, it would be more.

Good point about Google. I'll have to edit that.[/QUOTE]

Give them away in a contest, or if you have a stable of regular submitters, just ask them what they would be interested in and ship them off. You've got a pretty slick site, and having writers that are just writing to gain freebies may not pay off in the long run (normally we ask reviewers to write 5 reviews before we start shipping them free movies).

I certainly see your point on the shipping of speakers vs. a box of DVDs, that could get pricey, especially internationally.

It's a great idea, and certainly a nice perk for those submitting reviews to you, but it just seems like a headache to manage a whole point system.
 
If you ever start this I'd be interested - I've written some reviews which can be found in the link in my sig.
 
[quote name='eshbums']Give them away in a contest, or if you have a stable of regular submitters, just ask them what they would be interested in and ship them off. You've got a pretty slick site, and having writers that are just writing to gain freebies may not pay off in the long run (normally we ask reviewers to write 5 reviews before we start shipping them free movies).

I certainly see your point on the shipping of speakers vs. a box of DVDs, that could get pricey, especially internationally.

It's a great idea, and certainly a nice perk for those submitting reviews to you, but it just seems like a headache to manage a whole point system.[/QUOTE]
I tried doing a raffle but that didnt go well..about 3-4 people entered but not enough people so I refunded money and ended it. I dont have any review submitters, thats why I'm doing this. I would like to have people post. I dont know why people dont post reviews.

Any suggestions as to what type of contests? I'm open to all suggestions. I figured that managing and keeping track of how many reviews there are would get a little frustrating and complicated.
 
It took us a long time to get a good steady review staff, and for the people that we thought were committed to it, we send them boxes of movies about once a month. Our core group that started our site had about 100 reviews in the database before we started recruiting other people.

Gaming is even tougher. We tried to cover it for a while, but it was so hit or miss that we dropped it altogether. There are a few companies out there that would provide review copies on a regular basis, but as small as we were we weren't getting the AAA titles.

Honestly, unless it's for a charity, I'd never enter a raffle.

We ran a contest based on forum posts last year I think. We put together prize packages (autographed movies, some XBox games and some PC games) and every post counted as one ticket. Then people spent their tickets on what drawing they wanted to enter. Our forums were lighting up for a while, but eventually they quieted down again, and it was a complete pain in the ass to manage - now we're strictly "send an email to this address to enter" contests from here on out.

It takes a special type of person to actually write reviews consistently, which is why we value all of the ones we have, and throw them a lot of titles that we'd rather keep ourselves.

Keep your stuff in a closet, and once you have some people that write for the love of writing and not to get swag, THEN you send them a goodie box.
 
[quote name='eshbums']It took us a long time to get a good steady review staff, and for the people that we thought were committed to it, we send them boxes of movies about once a month. Our core group that started our site had about 100 reviews in the database before we started recruiting other people.

Gaming is even tougher. We tried to cover it for a while, but it was so hit or miss that we dropped it altogether. There are a few companies out there that would provide review copies on a regular basis, but as small as we were we weren't getting the AAA titles.

Honestly, unless it's for a charity, I'd never enter a raffle.

We ran a contest based on forum posts last year I think. We put together prize packages (autographed movies, some XBox games and some PC games) and every post counted as one ticket. Then people spent their tickets on what drawing they wanted to enter. Our forums were lighting up for a while, but eventually they quieted down again, and it was a complete pain in the ass to manage - now we're strictly "send an email to this address to enter" contests from here on out.

It takes a special type of person to actually write reviews consistently, which is why we value all of the ones we have, and throw them a lot of titles that we'd rather keep ourselves.

Keep your stuff in a closet, and once you have some people that write for the love of writing and not to get swag, THEN you send them a goodie box.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for all these suggestions and comments. I really appreciate it. What if there was like a contest on who does a great job at reviewing/is more helpful? In the end, I'll make a poll and there would be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and according to those, winner would get prizes?
 
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