Same. I also rely on them to learn about new products or products that I would not have known about otherwise.

Exactly! There are plenty of products that I have now and adore that I would have never been remotely interested in if I hadn't read random reviews for them.

Good reviews can influence my decision to buy something but I'm also aware that it is very easy for a company to place their own positive reviews to urge sales. As far as video reviews here it's nice to actually see the product but I do often wonder if the reviewer bought the product or was that given to them in exchange for a review which I would assume would be positive.

As reviewers, we are not required to promote products for Eden; so please do not worry, we definitely will not write fake reviews -- we are a very honest bunch of reviewers here.

@ Mr Happy1948: You seem to be referring to the way other sites such as Amazon operate their reviews where you never know if a company rep is adding reviews to boost the product's rank. As you are a new member, I understand your concerns, but I would like to explain to you how things are different here at Eden. First of all, all reviews from members who received the item for free in exchange for a review are clearly marked per FTC regulations. You will see this at the bottom of the review in pinky-purple letters.

The instances where the customer bought or acquired the toy on their own, you will see:

"This content is the opinion of the submitting contributor and is not endorsed by EdenFantasys.com"

Then there are times where the reviewer did what is called a "Buy Out" which allows them to buy their items at a 30% discount in exchange for reviewing every item they got with that discount. Then you will see this after their review:

"This product was provided at a discounted price in exchange for an unbiased review. This review is in compliance with the FTC guidelines. "

Finally, there are the reviewers who received the item free of charge from Eden in exchange for an UNBIASED review. In those cases, you will see this after the review:

"This product was provided free of charge to the reviewer. This review is in compliance with the FTC guidelines. "

Another nice feature here on Eden is member profiles where you can go read about the member (provided they filled it out - you did not publish your own profile, for example). You can even hover over their avatar and see about them, including the number of reviews they've done, discussions they've posted and forum posts they've made. This is handy in checking out the person and seeing if you think they were a plant from the company to add positive reviews. However, just reading the style of reviews here should tell you that we have a huge amount of honest, unbiased reviewers. I invite you to check out the reviews and notice that all are included, the positive and the negative reviews.

And the same thing I explained above applies to video reviews, so you know if the item was given to the reviewer for free. Given the number of them I have seen, I have to think you haven't explored the site very much or you would notice that there are indeed many that describe failures. There is no reward or punishment on here for the opinion you hold in your review. If you bought the item at Eden, then you will get points for your reward, regardless of how you rated the item; it's automatically done and no one reviews the review to determine if credit is given or not. You can even submit reviews for items Eden carries that you bought elsewhere (though you won't get credit for it in the form of points). And all the reviews of new members and any member under a certain rank have to go through the editing process which assures the info is accurate and spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes are corrected. There is something else editors do and that is scan those reviews for plagiarism! The member who plagiarizes has their review deleted and their account banned.

Furthermore, we have a comments section at the end of every review where you can ask questions or leave any comment you like. If you thought someone didn't own the toy, or gave a dishonest review, you can mention that and you can also report them to the company! Out of all the sites I've ever seen reviews on, including sex reviewer blogs, nothing comes close to how Eden handles reviews, nor is there anywhere else on the Internet that has such a deep archive of sex toy reviews. Because even if they no longer carry the item, the reviews to it are still accessible to anyone! (And I haven't even mentioned the huge amount of info in the forums, too!)

I hope you explore and ask questions. You will discover a treasure trove of helpful reviews and people willing to answer questions and share knowledge on just about anything, but especially on sex and sexuality. Welcome and come explore!

I go by what the other people who have used the item before say before just grabbing one up and trying it. even though everyone has their own opinion on certain things you should always check out a review before purchasing items.

Reviews are a great way to get feedback! I have a good idea about what I want and what I'm comfortable purchasing but when I'm on the fence, a good review helps me an informed decisions. For instance, I waited and waited to purchase an Aslan harness. The reviews were so good and reassuring that I was willing to fork out the money. The harness was GREAT quality and has been used multiple times. I don't think I would have made the purchase without the honest feedback of other Eden Community members.

Reviews are a major factor in my buying decisions

The fact this site had such great reviews on each product was what brought us here and kept us as customers. Sadly, some of the more eloquent reviewers seem to be "gone" from the scene with the point system change. Eden is still a great site, with a very competitive price structure as we can see, and thus the reviews still make it a great place to shop for toys, lingerie, whatever.

That says it all.

There have been too many super critical (and valid points made) reviews about products, for anyone who really reads the reviews to think people were padding their comments to get more toys. Honest reviews seem to be the real staple here, and it's a very valuable part of this site.