People read online reviews and are influenced by them when shopping online. No surprises there. The stats, though, are astounding, though. We didn’t realize that product reviews were this influential. According to Forrester, 71% of online shoppers read reviews; making it the most widely read consumer-generated content. Marketing Experiments Journal conduct a test of product conversion with and without product ratings by customers. Conversions nearly doubled, going from 0.44% to 1.04% after the same product displayed a five-star rating.

But, how far should we trust online reviews? In a recent undercover investigation by Daily Tech, they found that 20% of Internet sites that review computer hardware were accepting money in exchange for their “opinions”. Where’s the trust in that?

Most savvy consumers know that illegal pharmacies online are plentiful. However, at a time when con artists are getting sneakier in their practices, it's getting harder to gauge fake merchants from the real ones. There are some tell-tale signs, though and here are our hints and tips for those of you buying prescription drugs online.

Searching for drugs:
Only go to sources you trust to find online pharmacies. Some of those sources include:
- Consumer review sites, such as consumerreports.org or consumersearch.com
- Government sites.
- Specialized search engines for health products, such as healthpricer.com, Rxaminer.com or DestinationRx.com.

Despite their popularity, general search engines and general comparison shopping engines are not created to filter out rouge merchants.

Shopping for prescription drugs.
Rule of thumb: make sure your online pharmacy experience reflects that which you would experience at a local pharmacy. This means:
1. That they clearly display their pharmacy license information and are represented by real pharmacists. They should include a tel number for you to call them if you have any concerns.
2. That they take the time to learn about you – ask for your doctor’s information, ask for your prescription, ensure that you truly need the medication.
3. That they provide a secure site to process your credit.

Welcome to the “HealthPricer Post” blog brought to you by HealthPricer. This is our forum for opening up discussions on the topics we feel passionate about and share with you our views.

HealthPricer gives online shoppers access to trusted health products from responsible merchants online. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make that happen. In this blog we will share our experiences, provide hints and tips, add our voice to discussions that are taking place and bring you our view on our areas of expertise. The opinions expressed on this blog are those of HealthPricer solely and not endorsed by any merchant, partner, investor or other affiliate.

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