Item reviews

These are reviews, or ratings, that are placed with items. They are intended for customers to share item-specific findings on the website, with the aim of informing other customers. When a customer writes a review (also called a critique), it must comply with the guidelines below. There are some exceptions, which we will mention on a case-by-case basis.

An item review is about an item, a customer review is about you as a partner. Want to know more about customer reviews? Check out this page.

An item review relates to the customer's experience with the item. It is not permitted to write item reviews if you are a partner or bol employee who wants to write reviews about items you sell yourself. Purchases and subsequent item reviews made in a personal capacity are not included here.

Reliable reviews help customers make their choice. That's why bol only accepts reviews from customers who actually bought the item.

We check the order history as soon as a customer clicks the review button. After this check, the review receives the label 'has bought this item'. This label on the item page provides extra trust for new buyers.

There are two ways customers share their experience:

• On their own initiative: via the button on the item page or in their order history.
• Via an invitation: we send an email to customers who have given permission for mailings.

Our systems determine which items receive an invitation. To prevent misuse, the exact logic behind this remains confidential. We never look at previous scores. We mainly approach customers who write reviews more often. This way, we keep the platform fair and transparent for everyone.

1. Describes why they like or dislike the item and mentions comments or remarks in a positive or negative sense. Keep in mind that a review should be valuable to other customers; try to be concise but complete.
2. Write the review in understandable and correct Dutch.
3. Limit the review to your own experience with the item.

1. Opinions or statements that do not relate to your experience using the item, for example, because you have never used the item.
2. Only comments about the price, shipping of the item, and/or the selling party via bol.
3. Swear words, racist remarks, diseases, or grammatical distortions thereof.
4. References, whether or not through URLs, to other websites.
5. Mentioning discounts, commercial promotions, campaigns, or price differences compared to other (bol) partners or (online) stores.
6. Sponsored reviews, or offering compensation for writing a review. For example, by temporarily providing the item for free, giving a discount, or offering a gift card.

Due to strict legislation, item reviews have been disabled for selected item groups. Simply put: By law, no reviews may be written for these item groups. For customers, this looks like this:

• They do not see a review block on the item page for these items,
• They do not see a 'write a review' button on the account page for these items,
• They do not receive an email invitation to write a review for these items,
• They do not see reviews for these items on the item page.

For the selected item groups, no claims may be made about the use and effects of these items. Therefore, item reviews have been disabled for the item groups below.

In some cases, it is not possible to leave a review:

• The item was not bought via bol.
• The customer has already written a review for this item.

Reviews are not immediately published online. We first verify the origin and content of the text. We check if the customer actually bought the item via bol. We perform this verification ourselves or together with our ecosystem partner Bazaarvoice. Usually, a review is online within 24 hours. Sometimes this takes up to 3 days. The date next to the review is the day it was written.

Systems automatically check the text against our conditions. If rejected, a manual check often follows. We reject a review if it:

• Is not about the item.
• Contains inappropriate language or swear words.
• Mentions prices or discounts.
• Contains links to other websites.
• Contains photos, personal data, or advertising.
• Is not written in Dutch.
• Seems dishonest or fraudulent.

If a review does not meet these criteria? It will be archived with the reason for rejection.

Sometimes we perform additional checks. We do this randomly or after a report from another customer. This means a review can still be taken offline later. This happens, for example, if the text is only about the delivery time and not about the item itself. This way, we keep the information relevant for all buyers.

Bol reserves the right to remove item review(s) from the website at any time, without further notice. Including, but not limited to:

1. If one or more of the (what we prefer not to see in a review) guidelines described above have not been complied with or bol has a reasonable suspicion of this. All of this is explained in our review conditions.
2. If an item review relates to the item content included with the item that was incorrect at the time of purchase. To avoid confusion, bol may choose to remove item reviews that conflict with the correct item content.
3. When an unusual pattern has been detected by automatic detection methods, a review may be automatically rejected and/or subsequently removed from bol.

Bol has the right to change guidelines regarding item reviews. We will post a revised version of these guidelines on the website as soon as possible.