Online merchant rankings and ratings are certainly one way to persuade more people to spend money on the Web, a fact that most retailers know. But shoppers need to keep in mind that ranking services pay lip service to heavyweights and need to be checked for how they pay their rent. It wouldn't hurt to read each site's frequently asked questions section either, although we know how painful that can be. For the cautious soul who absolutely has to know as much as possible about an online merchant, this is the best site we've seen. Each company gets a 1 to 100 grade on those issues, then is ranked against its competitors.
Categories follow the most popular industries, such as books, toys, brokerage firms and apparel.
Car dealers and airline ticketing aren't reviewed here. The most revealing information we found, however, was that Amazon ranked first if in three categories, beating out Wal-Mart in general merchandise and eToys in toys and games. Oh, and it's first in books. Frankly, we didn't know whether to classify BizRate as an e-commerce rating service or a comparison shopper because it does a little of both and makes some money off consumers as well. That said, we'll focus on the ratings because they are upfront with viewers who bother to read their disclaimers.