Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#51

Post by ljf » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

ogjunkyard wrote: post #40

ljf wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've totally given up on amazon, it is now impossible to know if what you are getting is of any quality - I wanted a good kitchen knife - but wading through the reviews and search was so painful. In the end I went to John Lewis and bought by price - hoping that gave me a good idea of quality and so far I am damn happy, which is far more than I can say for my last 20 or so amazon purchases.

I'm in a similar situation for the most part. If I remotely care about the quality of the item, I'm not buying it from Amazon. Otherwise, if pretty much any brand will suffice (such as dog waste bags), I might still pick it up on Amazon, but I have already chosen not to renew my Prime subscription based on the major drop in quality of sellers.

For a while I did that (my wife still does) but for any low value stuff it is nearly always cheaper on ebay or Aliexpress - there is literally no benefit to me buying from amazon any more.

My wife still buy a huge amount from there though, but returns a fair amount.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#52

Post by Buttons840 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

willhslade wrote: post #44

Buttons840 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leave a 5-star review, get your $20. Resell the item on Amazon for $10 less than what the original seller was selling for. Earn $10 dollars profit. Repeat for other such products. Earn more profit. Make a blog about your antics; earn more profit, and help others profit the same way. Exploit the system until Amazon has to fix it. EDIT: I guess at no point is Amazon actually harmed by this scheme. However, the companie…

I’ve been party to this scheme incidentally and the antenna I bought mentioned that they would only honour one purchase for a discount.

But how many products/companies are doing this? If there's 500 different products/companies offering $20 gift cards for 5-star reviews you can milk that for awhile and spread the word to others who are also in on the scheme.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#53

Post by DoofusOfDeath » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

I'm frustrated that most of the really well-paying positions in my area of specialization are with companies like this.

TL;DR

Sometimes Amazon, Facebook, or Microsoft posts a job opening with very special skill requirements, which I probably satisfy. And sometimes I'm actually tempted to apply. But (fortunately) I always get a reality check regarding what kinds of business practices I'd be working to facilitate. Suddenly the grass on my side of the fence looks a lot greener.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#54

Post by morganvachon » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:54 PM UTC

dheera wrote: post #36

ilamont wrote: post #16

I purchased the same webcam for my high school sophomore in September 2020, as school restarted (all online for him). The box contained a $20 "gift card" if I emailed proof of my 5-star review. It looks identical to the one I received (including the email address). Only the reward is different. I didn't try to write a review, I notified customer service in an attempt to report the seller. I documented everything incl…

What I would do is write the 5 star review, get the gift card, and then edit the review.

Interesting take, and who would the seller complain to about the modified review? Amazon? "Yes Amazon, we paid this customer $20 for a five star review against your policy, and they changed the review to be more honest after they got our money!"

The only problem might be if Amazon decided you were affiliated with the scammy seller and penalized your account or blocked you from buying.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#55

Post by joombaga » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:55 PM UTC

pmiller2 wrote: post #8

Karunamon wrote: post #2

This is an entirely reasonable stance. A given product could have n(bignum) sellers. A review telling me that a seller is doing shady things tells me nothing about the product. Amazon told him to go review the seller in the appropriate section. What's the problem?

The problem is that product reviews are right up front on the product page. Seller reviews are 2 more clicks past that, effectively hidden.

They'll remove product ratings for a particular seller if enough people complain.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#56

Post by ardy42 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:55 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #47

ardy42 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think it's reasonable to expect that a single reported case is going to result in visible action. (competitors/griefers can easily abuse this). In this case it's quite reasonable to expect prompt, visible action. The grefier problem is easily solved with a modicum of due diligence by Amazon. All it has to do is conduct an investigation to confirm the complaint, which is as easy as ordering the item in quest…

You're not saying Amazon needs to spend $20. You're saying Amazon needs to buy one of every product on Amazon that gets a complaint.

> You're not saying Amazon needs to spend $20. You're saying Amazon needs to buy one of every product on Amazon that gets a complaint.

Amazon, being one of the largest and most successful companies in the world, can afford to do that and then some. Yeah, it won't be exactly $20, but it will still be a tiny amount for a company that size.

I mean, "inspecting the products you sell for compliance" shouldn't be an optional thing, but a basic function of a retail business.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#57

Post by rytis » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:56 PM UTC

ljf wrote: post #30

PaulHoule wrote: post #10

There is a basic problem that if you see an obvious problem with a product listing on AMZN but you didn't buy the product they could care less. Sometimes the listing is obviously a scam, sometimes it is is just something that could be better: somebody is selling a box of assorted TTL ICs for $30 which were ill chosen for any use than testing your logic tester. (e.g. with $30 of quad-NANDs you can build a lot) In the…

I've totally given up on amazon, it is now impossible to know if what you are getting is of any quality - I wanted a good kitchen knife - but wading through the reviews and search was so painful. In the end I went to John Lewis and bought by price - hoping that gave me a good idea of quality and so far I am damn happy, which is far more than I can say for my last 20 or so amazon purchases.

Amazon is still ok, but you have to know exactly what you're after. For example, if you want "kitchen knife" that's a no go. if you want "robert welch kitchen knife" there's a chance that it's cheaper on Amazon, but not by much, if at all. In other words, as a search platform to find items it doesn't work anymore, as a place to buy, sometimes. That's just my experience lately.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#58

Post by nyxtom » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:56 PM UTC

I wonder if anyone has done any analysis on marketplace diversity for a given product. One of the absolute sore points of buying anything on Amazon is when you run into the issue where the product clearly looks the exact same yet there are seemingly dozens and dozens of brands all with hundreds of 4-5 star reviews.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#59

Post by 0-_-0 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:58 PM UTC

dheera wrote: post #36

ilamont wrote: post #16

I purchased the same webcam for my high school sophomore in September 2020, as school restarted (all online for him). The box contained a $20 "gift card" if I emailed proof of my 5-star review. It looks identical to the one I received (including the email address). Only the reward is different. I didn't try to write a review, I notified customer service in an attempt to report the seller. I documented everything incl…

What I would do is write the 5 star review, get the gift card, and then edit the review.

...with a picture of the bribe offer

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#60

Post by Xamayon » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 8:58 PM UTC

api wrote: post #15

For certain types of products Amazon is degenerating into a virtual big-box warehouse store, one of those places where you basically have this giant pile of crap to sift through.

Hundreds of which are actually the same one or two re-badged items at hugely varying prices or quantities, burying any real results which might exist.