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Apr. 10th, 2021 03:37 pmThere’s a supply shop owner back in the area I used to live south of here, and he has a 5-star rating at his shop with hundreds of reviews even though he only opened 2 years ago and the shop is tiny with not a lot of variety in supplies.
I checked out his shop via the pictures people took of his place and put on Google Maps. Not only is the shop dirty and messy, he breaks down inks from several big name manufacturers and sells it with his own printed labels. It’s obvious enough I can see it in the pictures. His friends probably didn’t realize people looking at the pics would be able to tell.
Breaking down ink is unsafe because most people break the seal on the legit ink bottle, water it down with tap water, and put it in a non-sterile bottle.
That’s a big no-no.
And if the manufacturers found out he was doing that, they’d not only pull his ability to buy, they’d sue him.
So I started reading the reviews and looking at the names and pics.
This dude has a HUGE family, and they all gave him 5-star reviews. I looked up the family on Facebook, and all the other reviews made sense once I looked at the names of the family friends.
Shit like this is so frustrating.
I’m antisocial, don’t have a huge family, and I wanna do the ethical thing of not asking friends to review me. I want organic reviews from people who have actually used my shop and liked it.
But something like 1% of the people who use and like your place will leave reviews while most of the people who don’t like how things went leave a bad review.
I’ve even got 2 regulars who have been coming to my shop for years who had never left a good review before and during the pan/demic they left 1-star reviews because they didn’t like that we were being so safe and were only letting 1 customer in at a time with a mask on. They still come in and buy from me, but they won't change their reviews.
I *could* ask friends and family to review me. I could PAY for reviews if I wanted, but that just feels wrong and like I didn’t earn them.
But when everyone else is winning with bad practices, it’s hard to stick to your guns.
This is why I’ll never be super successful and a billionaire. I want to earn stuff the right way and not screw anybody over 🤣
My whole family is like this.
I checked out his shop via the pictures people took of his place and put on Google Maps. Not only is the shop dirty and messy, he breaks down inks from several big name manufacturers and sells it with his own printed labels. It’s obvious enough I can see it in the pictures. His friends probably didn’t realize people looking at the pics would be able to tell.
Breaking down ink is unsafe because most people break the seal on the legit ink bottle, water it down with tap water, and put it in a non-sterile bottle.
That’s a big no-no.
And if the manufacturers found out he was doing that, they’d not only pull his ability to buy, they’d sue him.
So I started reading the reviews and looking at the names and pics.
This dude has a HUGE family, and they all gave him 5-star reviews. I looked up the family on Facebook, and all the other reviews made sense once I looked at the names of the family friends.
Shit like this is so frustrating.
I’m antisocial, don’t have a huge family, and I wanna do the ethical thing of not asking friends to review me. I want organic reviews from people who have actually used my shop and liked it.
But something like 1% of the people who use and like your place will leave reviews while most of the people who don’t like how things went leave a bad review.
I’ve even got 2 regulars who have been coming to my shop for years who had never left a good review before and during the pan/demic they left 1-star reviews because they didn’t like that we were being so safe and were only letting 1 customer in at a time with a mask on. They still come in and buy from me, but they won't change their reviews.
I *could* ask friends and family to review me. I could PAY for reviews if I wanted, but that just feels wrong and like I didn’t earn them.
But when everyone else is winning with bad practices, it’s hard to stick to your guns.
This is why I’ll never be super successful and a billionaire. I want to earn stuff the right way and not screw anybody over 🤣
My whole family is like this.