Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
1–10 of 184 posts
Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#2Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#3If it can be gamed for profit, it will be gamed.
> The tactics include pummeling rivals’ listings with overly positive or negative reviews, and repeatedly clicking on links to products they want boosted to trick Amazon’s algorithm into ranking them higher in search results
Amazon is seemingly coming to this realization very late. The downfall of many search engines has been the inability to deal with the tricks that subvert their ranking systems. If you take any external signal as an indication of popularity, it will be manipulated.
The overly positive reviews is an interesting spin on this manipulation; it creates seeds of doubt when a product looks like it's been overly reviewed. The "fake review" is easy to pick out.
[edit: formatting]
Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#4My (anecdotal) experience with dodgy sellers was this: I bought something that didn't work correctly, I left a review. The seller contacted me and offered money direct to paypal, bypassing Amazon. They did so by attaching an image with the offer to the ticket.
I wasn't comfortable with that kind of interaction, so I informed Amazon. Lots of copious apologies from Amazon, and I assume the company was "fired". But the company just changed their name slightly and are still selling the same items.
Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#5If it can be gamed for profit, it will be gamed. > The tactics include pummeling rivals’ listings with overly positive or negative reviews, and repeatedly clicking on links to products they want boosted to trick Amazon’s algorithm into ranking them higher in search results Amazon is seemingly coming to this realization very late. The downfall of many search engines has been the inability to deal with the tricks that…
They've surely realized very early on, they've just been trying very hard to be hush about it. Can't blame them, much as I dislike them.
Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#6>Amazon in recent weeks also has deleted thousands of suspect reviews,
That's a drop in the ocean. But it's not reviews and brushing, the real issue is fraudulent and counterfeit products. I don't even trust Amazon to buy books anymore.
Just like craigslist, facebook, and countless other things, once something gets to be too big, it gets co-opted by bad actors and the risks outweigh the benefits.
edit: highly recommend this Reply All episode about Amazon, brushing, and counterfeit goods: https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/124
Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#7If it can be gamed for profit, it will be gamed. > The tactics include pummeling rivals’ listings with overly positive or negative reviews, and repeatedly clicking on links to products they want boosted to trick Amazon’s algorithm into ranking them higher in search results Amazon is seemingly coming to this realization very late. The downfall of many search engines has been the inability to deal with the tricks that…
They've surely realized very early on, they've just been trying very hard to be hush about it. Can't blame them, much as I dislike them.
Well that's fair. Realized AND acted on a problem vs. just realizing the problem. It unfortunately has to hit them in the public eye before they are willing to really start addressing the problem.
I further contend there really is no solution. It's a war of escalation. We've seen it play out with SEO and search engines over the years. You can still "game" Google, but it's a lot harder to do it, the barrier to entry is a lot harder than it used to be when you could just list your site with a link farm. I am guessing that Amazon is in a similar war.
Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
They've surely realized very early on, they've just been trying very hard to be hush about it. Can't blame them, much as I dislike them.
Well that's fair. Realized AND acted on a problem vs. just realizing the problem. It unfortunately has to hit them in the public eye before they are willing to really start addressing the problem. I further contend there really is no solution. It's a war of escalation. We've seen it play out with SEO and search engines over the years. You can still "game" Google, but it's a lot harder to do it, the barrier to entry i…
Maybe the current state of affairs is despite significant efforts to combat it. That would explain some of the silence on all these complaints, since "we're doing everything we can and it's still happening" is more embarrassing than "we know it's happening and we're looking into it."
Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#9If it can be gamed for profit, it will be gamed. > The tactics include pummeling rivals’ listings with overly positive or negative reviews, and repeatedly clicking on links to products they want boosted to trick Amazon’s algorithm into ranking them higher in search results Amazon is seemingly coming to this realization very late. The downfall of many search engines has been the inability to deal with the tricks that…
[deleted]
Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak
#10(Please hold your pitchforks) Since a lot of these scams come from Chinese sellers, I wonder if Amazon could talk to the Chinese government about interfacing with their new social-credit system... you can't sell on the platform if your score is below XYZ, and reports of fraud affect them directly.
Obviously this would lead to a lot of sellers mysteriously relocating to other countries, and there would be a lot of patsies set up to take the credit score hit, but it's all about defense-in-depth right?