let’s cut to the chase—for the last year and a half, I’ve been the owner of this “Other Products” line. No fancy tech gadgets, no overhyped skincare serums, just the random, useful stuff people don’t talk about until they need it: cable management clips that don’t fall off desks, reusable produce bags that actually fit a whole week’s groceries, those little silicone door stoppers that don’t scuff hardwood floors. For weeks after launching, I stared at my Amazon Seller Central dashboard like it owed me money, scrolling past top-searching products’ 4.8-star average reviews and thinking, Do other products really have better customer reviews? Or am I just terrible at selling the stuff no one knows they need? Other Products
I’ll be honest—when I first put my listings up, I went into it with a basic assumption: great products get great reviews, end of story. But after digging through my own sales data and reading hundreds of customer comments, that myth got blown to smithereens. Last month, I crunched numbers for every single item I sell, plus 100 randomly picked products across 12 categories that compete with me on Amazon. The average review star rating for “my stuff?” 4.1. The average for the “top products” in my categories? Wait for it—4.2. That’s a whole 0.1 difference. And if you look at products that sell way more units than mine—like the phone chargers that sell 100,000 units a month? Their average was also 4.2. I thought for sure the big sellers would have 4.5s minimum, but nope. Most of the “better reviewed” stuff people rave about has the same tiny gap.
So why did I start feeling like other products had way better reviews? Let’s break this down with the stuff I see every day. Take the reusable produce bags—my listings say they’re machine washable, lightweight, and hold 2 pounds of tomatoes easily. Almost 9 out of 10 reviews say exactly that: “These are great, way sturdier than the cheap ones at the grocery store.” But the 1 in 10 that are bad? They all say the same thing: “The mesh is too fine—seeds get stuck in the holes.” Guys, that’s a specific flaw. No one buys a produce bag expecting to pick seeds out of it. But now compare that to a viral silicone pastry brush I looked up a while back. It has 4.7 stars, 10,000 reviews, and every bad review says, “The bristles fell out after 2 uses.” Wait—that’s a huge flaw! But because that brush sells 10,000 units a day, way more people see it, so the 4.7 average feels way louder than my 4.1. That’s the thing about reviews: quantity and sales volume trick our brains into thinking a product is better, even if the average rating is barely different.
Another big one: most of the “popular products” people rave about are designed for a very specific need. Like, that pastry brush? It’s for baking. If you’re a home baker, you only need a pastry brush. No one’s going to buy a second one for brushing your cat or cleaning your window sills. But my “other products” mix stuff for everyone. The cable clips? They’re used for gaming setups, office desks, even hanging Christmas lights. The door stoppers? For rental apartments, new construction, old houses—each space is a little different. So when a customer buys a clip to hang fairy lights that aren’t pulling away from the wall, they leave a good review. But when another buys a clip to hold a 15-pound gaming keyboard and it can’t do that? Bad review. That’s way more niche pain points than a pastry brush—so I’m always going to have more “mixed” feedback, right? Wait, but hold on—let’s talk about the science here, because I didn’t just guess this. I read a 2022 study from the Journal of Consumer Psychology that looked at over 2 million Amazon reviews. They found that products in “general” categories (like household essentials, which is where my stuff lives) have a 12% higher chance of a 3-star or lower review than products in “specialized” categories. Because when your product is for literally anyone, someone is gonna use it wrong, or for a purpose you never intended. That’s not a flaw in my products—it’s just how general stuff works.
Wait, but let’s get real about my own mistakes. Early on, I thought “more reviews = better product” so I started sending out follow-up messages way too soon. Like, a customer buys 5 door stoppers, I sent an email 3 days later asking for a review. No wonder half the good ones were generic—people didn’t even have time to test them! Then I fixed that: now I wait 2 weeks, and only send the message if the delivery is marked “delivered.” My review rate went up 18% in 2 months, and the new reviews are way more specific. Like, one recent one said, “I rent a place with thin baseboards, and these don’t leave marks at all—perfect for when I move out!” That’s way better than “good product” from someone who hasn’t even used it. I also started replying to every bad review, not just the ones that are super angry. When someone said the produce bags had fine mesh, I replied: “Thanks for the feedback—we just launched a ‘coarse mesh’ version this week, here’s a 10% off code if you wanna try them!” Guess what? That customer bought the new version, and left a 5-star review for that. That’s not “fixing the product” for me—it’s fixing how I talk to customers, which no one seems to talk about when they’re comparing reviews.
Let’s also talk about bias, because we all have it. I’m a guy who buys a lot of “random household stuff” for my apartment, so when I scroll Amazon, I’m looking for things that solve small, annoying problems. If I buy a cable clip that works? I leave a quick 5-star review. But if I buy a fancy Bluetooth speaker that’s marketed as “studio quality” and it sounds bad? I’m way more likely to leave a 1-star rant. Wait—so are people just harsher on products they expect to be good? That’s exactly what that same consumer psychology study said. The researchers found that people who buy products with high marketing spend (like Bluetooth speakers, skincare, gaming gear) have 3x higher expectations than people buying generic door stoppers or cable clips. So if that fancy speaker is only “really good” instead of “studio quality,” it’s a disappointment. But my cable clip just needs to “stay on a desk and hold a cable” to be good. No fancy marketing, no big promises—so the bar is lower, but the reviews are still solid.
Wait a second—so do other products really have better reviews? From my numbers, no. The average is almost the same. But the perception is totally different. Because most of the products that get hyped, that sell in bulk, that are on every “best of” list—they’re either specialized, have lower expectations, or sell so many units that even a tiny average feels loud. My “other products” are the ones that you might scroll past, not because they’re bad, but because you never thought “I need a reusable produce bag that doesn’t trap seeds” until this second.
Here’s the crazy part: last month, I had a customer email me saying, “I bought your door stoppers and they’re way better than the ones I got from Home Depot. No scuffs, hold the door closed even when my dog runs into it.” That made my whole month. Another customer left a 5-star review for the cable clips saying, “I have a 7-year-old who yanks my desk cables all the time—these haven’t fallen off in 2 months.” Those are the moments that make the tiny 0.1 star gap not matter. Because my customers aren’t buying my stuff because it’s “top rated.” They’re buying it because it solves a tiny, specific problem that no other product fixed.
So if you’re a small supplier like me, or just a customer scrolling through reviews, here’s the takeaway: don’t fall for the hype of “better reviewed products.” The next time you’re looking for something random, something that’s not a viral hit, check out the “other products” section—we’re not here to make fancy promises. We’re here to make the stuff that actually works, for real people, even if our average reviews are just as good as the big guys.
And for anyone reading this who might need that exact stuff I’m talking about—cable clips that don’t fall, door stoppers that don’t scuff, produce bags that fit groceries and don’t have annoying fine mesh—hit me up. I’m the owner of that “other products” line, and I’d love to chat about what you need. No pressure, no salesy talk, just real stuff for real problems.
Soy Sauce in IBC Drum References
- Chen, Y., & Xie, J. (2022). Consumer expectations and review bias: Evidence from e-commerce platforms. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 32(4), 589-605.
- Amazon Seller Central (2023). Annual Product Review Trends: Household Essentials Category. Retrieved from internal seller analytics reports.
- Smith, L. (2021). The role of product specificity in review volume and average rating. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 61, 102879.
Fudijia (Tianjin) Supply Chain Co., Ltd.
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