Company Review: ChickAdvisor

ChickAdvisor is a Canadian company based out of Toronto, ON. The focus of the website is user-generated product reviews. The website is free to join, although they do host paid-ticket events a few times a year. ChickAdvisor runs a product review club which is also free to join, however it is suggested you become an active member before applying to join the club.

ChickAdvisor has a rewards points system that gives you points for active participation, such as posting a review, adding a new product to the database, commenting on a forum post, etc. There are also badges you can earn for specific actions such as a certain amount of reviews within a product category (Cosmetics, Skincare, Food, etc.) or posting product images.

Posting product reviews is easy, just search the product you're looking to review, give it a star rating, write a quick (or detailed) review and post away!

The major issue I have with ChickAdvisor lies within their product database. The database is overloaded with multiple entries for the same products, products being named slightly different things while still being the same product (eg, Revlon Colourstay Foundation vs. Revlon Colourstay Face Makeup). There is no option to "Report" or "flag" a duplicate entry, so they tend to run rampant and it's hard to decide which entry to put your review under.  I wish they would add this feature in the future to help declutter the database. Another issue is there is no quality standard for the reviews, so you occasionally will see spam-esque reviews.

As far as the Product Review club, I have received a few items such as a Vichy facial care duo, a 6-pack of Zevia soda and a SoftLips cube lip balm. ChickAdvisor sends out full-sized items, or coupon vouchers for the full sized item if it is too cost-prohibitive to ship. Their only expectation is that you post an honest and unbiased review of the product on their website.

I have been a member of ChickAdvisor since 2014 and it is my main source of product reviews, since I trust the users on that site to be unbiased more than any alternatives. It is a great resource for people interested in giving and getting product reviews, but it is not the best source for receiving products to review.