TERMS FOR SUBMISSIONS AND PRODUCT REVIEWS (TERMS OF SERVICE):

Reviewboard Magazine believes in a hands-on, real world evaluation of a product or service.  We like to keep our testing limited to testing that an actual consumer could do in their home.  To achieve this we use a combination of skilled editors, our lab, experienced field professionals, and Internet research (existing consumer opinion) to establish baselines for comparative analysis.   Using these baselines as a starting point we then test products and services in the real world, often taking products home with us and testing them out with our families and friends.  If there is an NDA or Embargo in place we test your product in-house with the security of the product as a priority.   We are committed to giving our readers solid, valid information about your product, whether good, bad or ugly.  We will try and work with your company in the event of an issue with a product.  We will contact the media relations person that sent the product and give them a heads up.  We will then contact support and walk through the various stages of that portion of the evaluation.  If we don’t have a problem we may fabricate one simply to judge how your company handles  support issues, often following it all the way through.

Your product is judged on Functionality, Looks, Availability, Price Point, Reliability, Support, Existing Consumer Opinion and resale value.  Resale value is a very important part of the review, and gives us a good method to judge how your price point compares to the products real world value.  Consumers resell the products they no longer use on eBay and other auctions, in newspapers, and to their friends.  Having this information allows them to have the peace of mind that when they are finished they can get a portion of the money spent back to help with the next best thing.  The final part of the process is award consideration.

Venues for Product Reviews:

Your product may be reviewed online at Reviewboard.com and/or in eBook form.  Online, your product might appear in a standalone review, a ranking chart, product comparative or main feature.  All comparative or standalone reviews are handled by our Reviews Department, and roundups and features are generally handled by the features department.

Product Comparisons (roundups) are generally considered features and are evaluated once or twice a year.  We will only rank products that are currently shipping in any comparison or chart we may have.  Preproduction or Beta products are covered in short, standalone reviews.  We do not rank or grade pre-production products, instead it is an article about the promise of the product and how exciting it is to work with the new features.

Submitting Products:

By submitting products to us for review you and your company agree to allow us to complete the entire review process.  You should get to know your beat editor, pitching your product as early as possible is always good.  Editor’s will sign a non-disclosure agreement provided the document has the product’s name, the date the NDA expires, and standard escape clauses that allow us to report the information that is in the public domain or that we discover independently.  If your NDA does not have these standard clauses we do not authorize any of our staff to sign them, or we may include an addendum that covers them.  Please note that if the embargo date changes we will drop the product from our lineup and either push back coverage or not cover it at all.  If you would like a beat editor list email submissions at Reviewboard dawt com and request one.  Please include your company name, your name, phone number, the product(s) you represent, and the pitch.  We will not give out lists of the beat editors without this information.  All products that are shipped to us must be shipped to our Kenosha, Wisconsin address, and all emails coming from our publication will be coming from a @reviewboard.com email address.   If you ship product to any other address, or correspond with any other email you do so at your own peril because you are not speaking to our staff member.  If you need to verify a shipment, please email submissions at Reviewboard dawt com with your questions.

ALWAYS INCLUDE A TRACKING NUMBER when shipping a product to us.  Our shipping and receiving department uses this number to track the package and make sure our beat editors get the product without issues.  Without a tracking number we cannot guarantee that your product will get reviewed, or even received by our reviews team.  It is your responsibility to provide tracking information and if you fail to do so we will refuse to be liable for anything you ship to us, regardless of any written agreement to the contrary.

We will not return products because there are typically several opportunities to explore with any product line and each department might want turns with the item. However, in rare cases our editors will sign evaluation agreements, provided they include and you understand that we need to complete our product review. Once we allocate the resources to evaluate your product or service we need to know in writing that we will be able to complete the review.  We will at no time agree to accept liability for any product you send to us. IN ALL CASES BY SUBMITTING PRODUCT FOR US TO REVIEW YOU AGREE to abide by our terms of service and understand that at ALL TIMES THIS SUBMISSION POLICY WILL SUPERSEDE ANY WRITTEN AGREEMENT if there is a conflict.  By submitting product for review you and your company agree to indemnify Reviewboard Magazine, its owners, heirs, staff and assigns from any liability associated with the use of your product, including but not limited to its loss, destruction or even sale.  You agree that this policy is as binding as if you had executed this agreement in person and you have full authority to do so.

AWARDS:

Beat editors meet once a month to discuss products and services that are reviewed.  Products are put into a nomination pool and considered for awards later in the year from that pool.  We announce our awards during the Holiday season.  Consumer awards are based on surveys that we do once or twice a year polling our users. You will be notified in August if your product is going to receive an award so that you will have time if you desire to use the award logo in sales literature for the holidays.  Logo rights and usage fees do apply.

The Awards we have are: Product of the Year, Editor’s Choice Award, Consumer Choice Award, Reviewboard Select Award, a Decade of Excellence award, and the Reviewboard Best Buy Award.