Just how do you review a Guide? 

EBay has a very small section on this in their Help section.  Read it first. 

I find that reading other people's guides when blogging, then asking them to read yours for comments and suggestions is a good way to get started on your way to becoming a helpful Guide and Review writer.  After you have read a few you will get the hang of it.  You must have 5 feedback points before you can vote on a guide.

Helpful or Not?

My criteria for if a Guide is helpful or not is based on how much effort the person spent on the Guide, how helpful it will be to me or to someone I know and how well written the Guide is.  Several Guides I have rated as helpful solely on the writing and effort the person took to get their message across and thier knowledge of the subject. 

While the Guide might not be useful in my life today there is the chance I can pass it on to someone in my family or a friend or just "save" the knowledge for the future.  For instance, one was written on clipping animals nails - I passed this on to my sister who has a baby rabbit and she is using the hint - so of course I rated it as helpful.

If I cannot vote the guide helpful, I simply do not vote.  you do have that option.   Please do not give a no vote just because the guide is not to your liking or that you can not use the information or have had a bad experience with the writer.

If you find that you'd like to comment on the guide, you can hit the user ID and contact member.   Most reviewers are happy to get advice and make improvements or additions to thier guides.  Please be helpful and not critical.  State your critism in a positive way.  Instead of "the guide looked stupid", say "the guide could be improved in appearance by using the heading tool or adding pictures".

If the pictures are hard to see, refer the writer to this guide about taking pictures for use on eBay - Camerajim's Guides to Picture Taking for eBay

I would definitely search the Guides and Reviews before spending big bucks on an item. 

A Guide should give you the general information on features and a Review specific information on the product you are considering buying.  If the Review or Guide simply says this is a good product - is that helpful?  I think not.  I like to see what the person thought of the features, what research they did (after all if it's already done, it will save you some time) and how easy it is to use the camera, what they found to be bad about the camera or product and so on. 

You can find Guides on just about everything. 

There are no guidelines on what topics may be covered by a Guide - so share your personal knowledge, insights and gifts.  If you stamp collect pass on information on buying stamps on line, if you are a retired Healthcare Professional, share some of your health care knowledge or if you sew quilts, pass on helpful hints about selecting material or quilt pattern, but be sure to state this is not indicated to be medical or technical advice, simply your own experiences and what has helped you.

Rating Guides and Reviews

You must have 5 ratings before you can rate guides and reviews, so read a few and see how they were rated, then write one of your own.  Start out with reviews of your favorite movies and books before you move on to the next step - writing your own guide.   

So if you find the Guide helpful, funny, or just informative in a general way - vote it Helpful.  Take your time in considering the Guide Not Helpful.  I have not yet rated a Guide Not Helpful, because all information is useful, maybe not today, but in the future. 

It would be best if you only review Guides that you are interested in to avoid having to vote Not Helpful because it doesn't interest you or apply to your life. 

Pencil and Pad Icon

Have you seen the pencil and pad icon behind someone's ID along with the About Me icon?  Did you know once you reach 100 helpful votes on your Guides or Reviews you will get a pencil and pad icon it beside your name? 

So get out there and help someone get thier icon!  And get one of your own.

Thank you for reading my guide.  If you enjoyed my guide or found it helpful, please let me know by voting.  If you need someone to review your guide - drop me a line and I'd be happy to do it. 

If you have any questions or comments or if you did not find my guide helpful, please let me know why by contacting me through the link below.   I'd appreciate your comments on improving my guides.

http://blogs.ebay.com/buggal1989/entry/Post-Comments-to-My-Guides-and-Reviews-Here/_W0QQidZ35422019