211–220 of 499 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eww. Meanwhile someone is out there saying "I refuse to support Amazon, I buy stuff on ebay even if it costs a little more."
Isn't it great when somebody's ethics are seen as an arbitrage opportunity by somebody else? It's almost like that whole "voting with your wallet" idea is incorrect.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wrote a negative review for glass that broke by itself in the fridge 5 times (out of 6 pieces). Amazon removed it. I asked why and was sent a link by a bot-like sender. Some months back I gave a so so review on AirBNB and had it removed. I asked why, I was sent a link and cut and pasted guidelines. Responding using Reason led to being completely ignored. Then I discovered a reddit subgroup where hosts tell each oth…
I wonder if there is a way to fund and scale a service that uses a browser addon and separate database for reviews. People already use Honey for discounts, Keepa for historic pricing, and fakespot for fake reviews.
And, while I like the idea, there are two main details preventing me from pursuing it:
- Moderating content provided by users is exhausting/costly. - I see no other way than ads to fund it, while it can potentially work as a paid app, it won't work until there is enough content (the chicken-egg problem).
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…
>All it has to do is conduct an investigation to confirm the complaint, which is as easy as ordering the item in question and confirming it contains the offer reported by a single customer. The number of humans available to perform daily investigations versus the total number of products sold makes this most decidedly not "easy". The easiest thing to do here would be to simply return the item because the seller cross…
Only if you're taking the blinkered tech mindset that employing people to do anything is hard. Amazon employs 1.2 million people [1], and has people employed that literally touch every single physical items it ships at least once. Every time you contact them you talk to one of their thousands of customer service agents. It's totally easy for an organization like that to staff a compliance department to investigate policy violation complaint.
[1] https://www.yahoo.com/now/amazon-projects-strong-holiday-sal...
I'm seeing similar things everywhere. I stood in line for a food truck a couple years ago that offered a promotion "$2 off your order if you show us your 5-star review of our truck on [site]." Obviously, you have to do this before you even order your food so I was intensely put-off by this. I gave them a 5-star review with no comment, received my discount, then after I tried the food I edited the review to 1-star wit…
I've also seen 1 star reviews that are exalting reviews.
But my all time ongoing pet peeve is how recommendation engines especially on video streaming and video game series use numbers and star systems that are not based on any other human's input. Not a critic, not a user score, just an algorithm's confidence score on similarities.
Amazon exists to increase shareholder profits. The reviews are not exempt from that. They exist to encourage customers to buy things and to increase sales volume. When Amazon was up and coming against a lot of other competitors it was relatively more important that reviews provide a good signal for customers. Now that they are more hegemonic, that is less important relative to facilitating increased sale volume, and…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have to assume you meant the Amazon product with the url suffix "dp/B087NN41JH/". This seems to be the highest reviewed result for search term "webcam", at least on my page. Here on HN, we have a savvy audience that understands the problem on Amazon with counterfeits, fakes, and low-quality items. I don't usually have this problem myself, because I go out of my way to buy things from sellers that I recognize, such…
They won't pop back up with 12k 5 star reviews immediately? I'm honestly shocked by this comment - warning sides aside, paying for reviews should cause a ban. I am as unconvinced by this argument about "popping back" as I am by people who say that raising taxes is useless because people will just hide their money.
So sellers are doing a sort of "money laundering" of product listings, placing new items, descriptions, and photos over an existing item.
I've shifted quite a lot of shopping to eBay after Amazon shifted their focus to being a marketplace.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you've never read it before, I highly recommend reading David Sirlin's Playing to Win. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw/ Specifically the chapter "Introducing... the Scrub" discusses exactly this sentiment. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/introducingthe-scrub > In Street Fighter, the scrub labels a wide variety of tactics and situations “cheap.” This “cheapness” is truly the mantra of the scrub. Performing a throw on some…
If you are applying this to computer games, I see your point. If you are applying it to 5-star reviews for $20, then I disagree. (Luigi Barzini mentions an Italian book on card-playing--written, I think, by a clergyman--that begins "Always try to see your opponents' cards." He was trying to point out the light value to that Italians assign to official rules.)
Seems similar to how hackernews doesn't allow calling people "paid shills". The review doesn't have any evidence or proof attached. Perhaps reporting the seller to Amazon is a better approach.
Hacker News is also not in the business of selling products. A marketplace operator has different duties than a link aggregator - and calling someone names is different than posting evidence.
The basic idea being that you share a handle between all 3 places, so it's easier to determine the trustworthiness of the reviewer -- both in terms of identifying fake/paid reviews and figuring out whether the reviewer's standards match your own.