4-star review = bad?

If I am largely neutral on a purchase - say a kiddie necklace for my fSiL - I just don't leave a review. But when we're talking bigger purchases, I consider the quality of the product, shipping speed, cost, and communication with the seller, if any. For example - it's funny that I just saw this because I wrote a rating-related question earlier - I just left my first rating that was less than a 5. I did so because the title blatantly called the earrings I had chosen "colorful" and they were described as "colorful" in the item details. There were several greens, several yellows, a blue...ugh, was so pretty. The ad said "what you see is what you get". I dropped $120 on these suckers!

I get the package and they're so much paler compared to the photo. I felt kind of ripped off. I gave them a three star because I felt that for the cost, they should have been truer to the photos and ad. I noted that I would take them outside to see if that made them pop more and that if they didn't, I personally felt the image had been altered slightly.

The seller jumped on it and said she mentioned that the product would not be identical to the photo but her ad said "what you see is what you get"... And we never spoke, I saw them, liked them, bought them. I had no reason to think that such a vibrantly displayed product was actually going to so thoroughly disappoint.

I took photos of the earrings against my hand, dangling, in the shade, against solid oak, on a solid white piece of paper; under natural sunlight and under false light. None came close to the vibrancy shown in her own images and I took them at almost the exact same time of day she says she took hers. I showed them to my fiance and his mother and both said that they didn't live up to the pictures and that they appeared to have been tampered with a small enough amount to make them appear brighter than they are.

The seller really wants me to take the review down, enough so that she basically said to return them, but I can't do that because I don't have other earrings to wear to my wedding atm. I can't return those until/unless I find others. I didn't say hers were ugly; they're certainly better than no earrings at all. But they definitely aren't what I paid for and I feel that the review should remain because she'll likely try to sell them again anyways and I doubt she will change the photos. For that cost, I consider that a serious problem.

On the other hand, I gave a 5 to a bracelet that was 1.5 inches too large. I misinterpreted the item details and her idea of "adding wiggle room" came to 1.5 inches extra. lol Still a pretty piece and I'm taking it to a jeweler to have it re-strung tomorrow.

Dishonesty and/or failure to communicate are sure ratings downers for me. And I'll even give you wiggle room on quality because it's not like I can do any better. xD

/r/Etsy Thread