I publish the occasional product review here at GreigInSydney but I’ve not to date made any statement around the hows or whys of them – and I believe I owe it to my readers to be up-front.

Let me set some background: I’m comfortably middle-aged, next stop retirement. My reputation and ethics are more important to me than a few shekels from advertising impressions. You might have noticed that advertising is conspicuously absent here – and the same principle applies to my approach to product reviews.

So how does a review come to find its way here? Honestly, it’s a mixture. By far the bulk of them are me finding a product I like and deciding to review it. (Remember this all takes place in my own time, so I have to be personally ‘interested’ enough in the product to review it and publish my results). Occasionally I’ll be approached by a vendor and asked if I’d like to review their product, and if it appeals to me and I respond in the affirmative, a sample is provided.

The review you read is my genuine opinion. Where I have a relationship with or access to the vendor I typically provide them a pre-publication opportunity to correct any factual errors, but that’s all. Those who approach me for a review are made aware of this before we proceed. No, I don’t pull my punches – and it’s actually illegal here in Australia to “mislead by omission”.

I *will* admit that I don’t review products I don’t actually like / have an interest in. This is less me abiding by the old adage “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” and more about not wanting to burn my precious time and generate negative energy on something I have no particular interest in. Please DON’T take that to mean that if it’s not mentioned here I don’t like it. It’s more about my personal interest in something, my access to it, its relevance to me, and the time it will require to undertake a meaningful review – and an in-depth review can take QUITE a lot of time to produce!

Largely because of the time required I generally won’t review something that’s already been reviewed to death (what’s the point?).

I will declare in the review where the product was sourced from. Software is typically from the vendor or their disti, but hardware can be a loaner for the duration of the review, a freebie they don’t want back, or something I’ve purchased myself (whether through an official channel or the likes of eBay).

If I’m lucky I can coerce the hubby to take some awesome photos of it…

Of course as a visitor here you get the final say. Comments are open although moderated, but provided you’re not posting something looking like spam i’ll approve your challenge to my objectivity or findings.

I may yet revise this policy, but I’ll be sure to let you know what I’m up to. Again, transparency and credibility are of critical importance to me.

Reference

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC): Managing online reviews

– Greig,

4th April 2018.