10 Point Inspection Checklist

Before recommending products to our readers we put the products through our 10 Point Inspection Checklist.

Even though this is a long process that requires hours of our staff’s time, we believe this comprehensive process helps us provide the best recommendations for our readers.

Here is our 10 step inspection process for evaluating products:

1. Quality

We look at the build quality and quality of the materials used to manufacture the products.

2. Recalls

We review the recall history for products and ensure the issues have been addressed properly in the current available versions of the product.

3. Certifications

We check what certifications are standard for the product types and vet the products to see if they have these certifications.

Some examples are:

  • FTC (The Federal Trade Commission)
  • FDA (Food and Drug Administration)
  • AAFCO (The Association of American Feed Control Officials)
  • USDA (The United States Department of Agriculture)

4. Customer Reviews

To get an in-depth look into customer satisfaction, we review customer reviews and gather feedback on how they liked the products and how they fared in the long term.

5. Ingredient Analysis

Our team takes a look at the ingredients composition of the products and look for healthy beneficial ingredients and also detrimental toxic ingredients that may harm your pet.

6. Price

Price is an important part of picking the right products that suit your budget. We compare price points and evaluate the value that is being provided at any given price points.

Just because a product is cheap doesn’t make it great and because it’s expensive doesn’t make it not great. We cross-evaluate price and value to make sure we are recommending the best overall products for all budgets.

7. Manufacturer Reputation

Reputation can be very telling in the quality of products produced by an individual manufacturer. We take a look manufacturer’s reputation and keep that in mind when we are evaluating products.

8. Customer Support

Hopefully you don’t need customer support, but when you do, it’s a live saver. We check that the products we recommend have sufficient customer support to solve any potential issues.

9. Complaints

Our team review complaints filed against manufacturers to see what kind of issues are being reported and what a manufacturer has done to address any potential issues.

10. Return Policy

We take a look at the manufacturer has a return policy and how it compares to others in the space.