Dooyoo want a change? (ciao.co.uk)

Member Name: wendz86

Product:	ciao.co.uk
Date:	21/10/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pays a reasonable amount, can redeem for lower amounts

Disadvantages: Hard to navigate, doesn't pay as well as Dooyoo

After a while of being on Dooyoo you can't help but notice that a lot of people are also members of Ciao. I am a member of Ciaos surveys but hadn't ever looked at the reviewing part before and a few days ago I decided to give it a go.

Ciao is quite similar to Dooyoo in the fact that it is a site that you can post and look up reviews on various products and services. If you are looking for a review on an item all you need to do is type the product name into the box on the home page. You can also search through products using the different categories listed on the left. Then when you search for the prouduct it will come up with a number of sponsored links which usually are the product for sale. Underneath these are a list of products that match what you searched for. You can then click on the user reviews link below the product name to come up with a list of reviews. You can also click on the compare prices tab if you want to see where to get the product cheapest. This is one of the things that is different to Dooyoo, as there isn't this option on here.

At the top of the page of the list of reviews it shows what the average opinions are in terms of how many stars they give it and its qualities. this is good if you don't want to trawl through lot sof reviews to find out the overall opinion. You can click on the reviews to read.

If you want to write reviews as well as read them you will need to join the site. All you need to do is fill in a few simple details and then you are all joined up. To write a review is quite similar to Dooyoo. You have to search for the product and then select write a review. Then you just have to write the review and rate the product.

To earn money on the site you need to write a review on a product that has got £ signs next to it. If it has one £ star it you will get 0.5p for every person who gives you a positive rating, 1p for for two £'s and 2p for 3£'s. I think this is quite poor compared to what you get for Dooyoo. On Dooyoo you get 50p for writing the review where as you get nothing for that on Ciao. The positives of this are that people who write bad reviews obviously won't get anything which means people are less likely to churn which sometimes happens on here. It does mean though that it takes longer to earn money.

It is also harder to track how much money you have earnt as you don't find out till the next day. It would be better if you could see how much money you had earnt from people rating you. It is a nice surprise though in the morning when you log on and see how much you earnt the day before.

You can redeem for money on a lower amount that Dooyoo. This can be from £5. They only sort out the money transfers once a month though so it looks like it is better to redeem at the end of the month. I do like the fact it goes straight into your bank account so you don't have to go into the bank to pay a cheque in.

I don't really like the layout of the site and although I joined a few days ago I am still not quite used to it. It doesn't have the same nice layout and ease of Dooyoo. It is hard to try and find out who has rated you and it is generally not easy to find products etc. I find the pages can be very cluttered as well.

Overall I think Ciao is a reasonable site for looking up reviews and posting them as well. I don't think it pays as well as Dooyoo though and I find it difficult to navigate around. I will keep using it but I am not a convert.

Summary: An OK review site