I have always found it best to ignore the good reviews and instead look at the negative reviews to identify patterns of complaints.
If there is a pattern of failure ,quality, or issues and its not worth dealing with I wont buy the product. Also if the issues are common among vendors or products then I go with the cheapest. Why pay more if they are all crap or just as risky to buy and it sets a more accurate expectation of the product.
I also typically ignore the negative reviews complaining about the package arriving damaged or late as that can happen with anything as long as I don't need it by a certain date.
I also look for customer pictures of the product if available.
Yeah I have seen that as well and should have clarified that is a possibility. However to avoid that I also look at the middle reviews and avoid the reviews with no or little explanation. However, I avoid the top reviews at all cost which typically is just the manufactures product description anyways.
It also depends on the cost of the product and the PITA it would be to return if defective on how deep I go into looking a the low to mid range reviews.
If there is a pattern of failure ,quality, or issues and its not worth dealing with I wont buy the product. Also if the issues are common among vendors or products then I go with the cheapest. Why pay more if they are all crap or just as risky to buy and it sets a more accurate expectation of the product.
I also typically ignore the negative reviews complaining about the package arriving damaged or late as that can happen with anything as long as I don't need it by a certain date.
I also look for customer pictures of the product if available.