Epinions - What happened to the site?

I used to use epinions for consumer reviews. Now I only see sale ads. Did epinions change to esales or something? Do you know of any other site for consumer reviews of stuff (in this case, computers)?

Huh. Interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epinions

Bought by shopping.com then ebay then shut down the user content in 2014. I hadn't been there in years so it was a surprise to me, too. My strange memory of that site was writing a review about an HP printer and then forgetting about it until they emailed me that they were sending a check for $10. I had no idea but apparently they paid you based on the number of views and helpful votes and ad clicks your reviews got.

I assume that Amazon and the like have trounced them. Why go to a third party site when reviews are right there?

My main destinations for recommendations on what to buy are The Wirecutter (http://thewirecutter.com/) and The Sweethome (http://thesweethome.com/). I've had good luck with the stuff I've bought based on their recommendations. Note they aren't evaluating for "the cheapest" but rather "the best." They do take cost into consideration but it's secondary to quality and functionality.

Thank younfor the links and the education. I liked that site ober Amazon because Amazon can feel clunky in some situations, and since I couldn't buy from Epinions, I felt like it was more honest.

DrBoost wrote: Thank younfor the links and the education. I liked that site ober Amazon because Amazon can feel clunky in some situations, and since I couldn't buy from Epinions, I felt like it was more honest.

I've felt that Amazon has some of the most honest reviews out there. Amazon is just the marketplace, not the product.

They've seriously cracked down on paid reviews that aren't marked as such. Also look for "Amazon verified purchase" as that eliminates a lot of the free product for a review content.

Thanks folks.

I was mostly adding the "why leave the site" comment as to people's thought processes and why epinions failed. I do think that it's nice having an outside source for reviews and suggestions. One that - theoretically - makes money independently of its specific product suggestions. The sites I linked to make money using referral links, so they do make money if you buy the product but it's not dependent upon what specific product they recommend if that makes sense.