Showing posts with label consumer reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consumer reviews. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

What is Your Car Worth?

Hi All,

In the library world, one of the more popular and useful Reference Desk resources is the ever-popular (and well-used) Kelley Blue Book! Users have access to a whole multitude of resources on the KBB.com website - click here for the link. And, too boot, the site is free!  Read on for more information about the resources and tools available on the site.

On the sites' homepage, users can Price New/Used Cars, Check Your Own Cars' Value and See Reviews and Ratings of cars.

There are also links for Cars For Sale, Links to Car Awards and Top 10 Lists and a link with Research Tools For Prospective Car Buyers.

One of the best features of the site is the Car Review section. Users need to enter the zip code so that KBB can personalize the information they present - but once that is done users face a very helpful part of the KBB site. At the top of the page is an article titled (at least for now), 'Class of 2016: New Cars Ready to Roll'. Toward the bottom of the article, users see pictures of various cars - which are linked to an article and (sometimes) video of the car chosen.

Beyond that feature though, users can find cars that meet their specifications by using a set of drop-down menus.  Options on these menus include the 'Make', 'Model', and 'Year' (limited to either 2014 or 2015 at this time) of the car they are interested in.

Once the user finds a car of interest, various car topics are displayed. In the narrative are sections titled, 'You Might Like This Car If...' and 'You Might Not Like This Car If...' and 'What's New In 2015?'.  Interesting and clever way to present the information.

On the side of the page are tabs for the user to learn more about the car.  Tabs include 'Pricing', Compare Car with Other Cars, Photos/Videos, 5 Year Cost to Own, Specifications, KBB Expert Review, Consumer Reviews, Ratings and Rebates/Incentives.

Whew...that's a lot of information to digest!

So there you have it...an unbiased website dedicated to new and used cars...and the information is free, timely and the site is easy to get around!  Awesome!!

Finally, we have the hard copy of the Kelley Blue Book at the Reference Desk.  We keep the last few months or so of the books so users can see the price change (if any) of a particular car over the several months or so.

Good luck finding your new or previously owned car!

Regards,
Stu

Friday, July 29, 2011

Epinions - Lots of Reviews By Users

Hi All,
There are many websites on the internet that evaluate products and include product reviews. One of the better ones that I've found is Epinions.com. You can visit this product review site by clicking on this link.

So, what makes this site so helpful, you ask? Good question! when you visit the site, you'll be able to click on tabs on topics as varied as cars, books, movies, music, computers & software, electronics, gifts, home & garden, kids & family, office supply, sports, travel and more.
There is also a search box where you can type the name or model number of a product and get reviews of the item.

In addition, when you find an item and see the review you have some options. You can view the details for the item (size, weight, color, overall ratings and more. In addition, you can compare prices of the item from different 'brick and mortar' stores and 'online retailers'. Finally, users have the option to visit either the brick and mortar store or the online store and actually purchase the item online.

Users can also enter their zip code to see if there is tax and shipping if and when you purchase the item.

What makes the site so unique are the user reviews. You should realize that user reviews come from eBay, Buy.com/Marketplaces, Amazon.com Marketplace and many other consumer websites.

Users can also subscribe to a particular item to have future reviews of the product sent to them via email - which is a very helpful feature.

Some examples of searches that I did for this blog entry included blenders, laptops, saxophones,
diaper change organizers and a copy of 'Casino Royale' by Ian Fleming. Great stuff!

Here are some links from Epinions.com that might help you get a bit more familiar with the site.

Join Epinions.com by using this website: http://www.epinions.com/register/
Got questions about the various parts of Epinions, use this URL: http://www.epinions.com/msg

Enjoy the site, hope you find the products and reviews that you need!

Regards,
Stu