We will have another one on board by April ;)

An issue I have with AD (and I've already spoken with them via email about this) is regarding 'reviews'. From an ethical perspective, essentially offering someone a sale price on an item in exchange for doing a review on that item is a bad idea. You would never presume to do this with a publication/journalist, but for some reason it seems that this has been done many times (and continues to be common practice) with hobbyists. Putting the aside the issue of inherent bias due to money invested and desire to buy the product, the biggest problem with this is gross misrepresentation of a 'sale price' as a 'review opportunity'. I'd like to hear what others have to say about this (since I've already heard from AD).

You would be surprised how common this is everywhere, incl journalism. Very hard to find true reviews anywhere... Do you really believe what Motortrend says about a new car review??...

That's actually where these forums are in fact very valuable. You get experiences and opinions from real users, who actually paid for the product.

Here is why we do it.

when investing in a new product it is good to get honest open feedback of a product. These products typically are not cheap we distribute and to give someone the product for free simply does not work, we did this once and the guy ran off with the unit and we never heard a word back!

The idea is that end users get the chance to hear from other end users what they think about the product. This then feeds interest and then dealers know if the product is worth selling it also gives us a good representation of expected issues or concerns.

If by offering the product at typically import cost to someone is an issue then they dont have to take the offer up. But so far in 7 years of doing this we have had nothing but good feedback, however if that policy is now negatively accepted we simply will stop offering this to Canreefers.

Bottom line if you dont like it we wont do it.

+1

Motortrend (and other journalists) do not have to pay to review things. They aren't usually given things free of charge either. They are given 'review units' that are returned after the review is completed.

I completely understand that it wouldn't often work (except with low cost items) to just 'gift' items to hobbyists for review. I also understand the worry about someone taking the product and running. But I suggested what I feel is the right way to do it (taking a deposit, then giving the option to purchase or return after the review, split shipping costs) and was told that I should essentially just read someone else's review.

I've had some experience in this industry with review units and the ones I have seen were provided free of charge to select bloggers/reviewers. They are a marketing write off for the manufacturer etc.

I've done some automotive writing and reviews and in that case the car companies usually give me a car for a week or so to drive and review. Cars are big ticket items so no give aways there. There were a couple I would have loved to keep :)

I understand the theory, the issue is cost, believe it or not distributors have the tin margins, and to give a product away that then comes back effectively second hand that can not be sold is a huge loss, where as giving someone the opportunity to have something they may not be able to afford in return for as best as possible an unbiased review is a two way positive deal.

Distributors in this industry do not have the luxury to give away products even if it can be written off or seen as a marketing plus point. I wish we could just give out units, but it just can not be afforded.

Sadly nothing in life these days is free. So we offer a middle ground, nobody is making that reviewer take up the offer of course ;)

100% agree, manufacturers often will give away products, but as a distributor if the manufacturer wont play ball we try and find a way to still get a review so everyone is happy.

I totally agree, giving some one a discounted product to review when they are ready to replace the current model isn't the best practice. Not saying all of those reviews are bias but we all know no one likes admit they have spent their hard earned money on a piece of junk even if you got a deal on it.

AD, do you always try to get exclusive right on product distribution in Canada? If you can enlighten me those products that would be great. Thanks