So the shelves are wonderful. The reason for the rating is the god-awful packing materials and box it arrived in. The bookcase was sandwiched between 2 extremely cheap styrofoam ‘sheets’ that completely disintegrated as I removed it from the box- which was no easy task as it was literally jammed in. As I opened it, all sorts of styrofoam, screws, shelves, and rubber stickers came tumbling out loose everywhere. There were NO instructions and getting the base on was very difficult. However, it wasn’t that hard to figure out how to assemble it and it looks great and is sturdy. But I will never order from this company again the packing and initial impression of the experience was horrid. I still have styrofoam all in my hair and ‘stuck’ to the walls and couch near where it was assembled. :(.