Shopping can be the ultimate let down. If you’re lucky, you might guess correctly and buy a product that performs well, holds up over time and is backed by great customer service. Then again, you might not. Wize.com provides a wealth of product information, user reviews, and comparison pricing all in a single location. Like many similar sites, Wize aggregates customer ratings and reviews from a variety of sites such as Amazon.com and presents the information in a uniform 0-100 color-coded rating system making it easy to spot potential winners. Wize also applies several calculations to make the ratings more valid such as weighting “expert reviews” a bit higher than feedback from average folks. (Scroll down for screen shots)

What you can use it for:

• Purchase a riding lawn mower that actually cuts grass
• Ferret out customer service issues with a particular brand or company
• Find the lowest price on a Nintendo Wii for “the kids”
• Ask and find answers to specific product questions

Pro’s:

• Comprehensive product database (over 75k products as of 1/08)
• Good range of content sources for reviews
• Reasonably reliable rating system (product manufacturers cannot pay to improve rankings)
• Great user interface, filtering system, and color-coded ratings

Con’s:

• Products with minimal reviews can get ranked incorrectly
• Little to no product descriptions, just photos

Web Site: Wize.com

Alternatives:

• Summize
• MySimon
• PriceGrabber
• BizRate

Company Info:

• Launched in: September, 2006
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Minneapolis, MN
• Founders: Doug Baker

Rating: 4 out of 5 (superb)