[2][3] Initially, in 1996, ResellerRatings began as a hobby to help consumers, but over time it was developed into a SaaS platform with large retail customers including Zappos, HomeDepot, Newegg, and others.

ResellerRatings provided alerts whenever it determined that fake customer reviews were being posted on behalf of a merchant.

[9] Later, merchant terms of use in regard to attempts to limit what a customer could or could not say online, became a central issue with merchant Kleargear.com in Palmer v. Kleargear.com, when Kleargear.com charged its customer, Palmer, $3,500 for writing a negative review that it claimed violated its terms of sale.

ResellerRatings played a role in this when reviews began appearing on the site, illustrating KlearGear's history of customer issues.

[10] The Kleargear.com issue was an important catalyst for the Consumer Review Freedom act of 2015 (S. 2044), to negate any such unreasonable terms of sale which attempted to penalize customers for stating their opinions.