Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#221

Post by annoyingnoob » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:45 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #201

annoyingnoob wrote: post #102

Amazon is sealing its own fate here. I don't want the AliExpress experience, which is what Amazon offers now. I know where to find cheap products and bad information and I don't need Amazon for that. I find it odd that Amazon clings to bad vendors over long standing customers. They are no longer the most customer focused company, if they ever were. What does it say about your company when your company abandons its go…

or the range of customers has simply broadened and includes way more casual shoppers now who like to buy from third party vendors rather than wanting a sort of premium experiences, after all AliExpress is pretty damn popular. I personally for example have always ordered mostly cheap stuff from Amazon without high expectations and for convenience, and when I want to buy something where I want to be 100% sure I go to t…

Thats cool, Amazon does not have to want me as a customer. Its opening opportunities for competition. Customers like me made Amazon into what it is today, I've had an account since at least 1999. Amazon set my expectations and then failed to live up to them over time.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#222

Post by gowld » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:45 PM UTC

robotnikman wrote: post #164

mancerayder wrote: post #108

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…

The best place to find reviews it seems is through subscription paid independent reviewers. Consumer reports is one that comes to mind (they are also non-profit), as well as rtings. If you are looking for reviews for more niche products though, your pretty much on your own when it comes to finding out if its good or not.

"non-profit" just means there are no investors. It doesn't mean management isn't taking home money for running the operation.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#223

Post by handedness » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:46 PM UTC

> I've chatted with an Amazon rep on the issue, and to their credit they seemed to take it seriously and "noted the report violation against the seller"

I was deliberately scammed by a seller, and the wave of bad reviews they received after I purchased made me think I was not the only one with whom they dealt dishonestly. I contacted Amazon and received a similar reaction the author of the article received, except they were even more explicit in telling me they were going to shut the seller down over it. They seemed to take it very seriously, but I was still skeptical anything would come of it.

That was months ago, the seller is still around, and is still getting terrible reviews.

Amazon has come a long way on a lot of fronts, but in terms of being customer-focused they are so much worse than they used to be.

Edit: I also ordered something that died during the warranty period. Manufacturer/seller (one in the same) was utterly worthless. Wouldn't respond to a single inquiry. They released a revised version, emailed their customer list, and I responded saying I'd buy it if they hadn't already demonstrated that they were so dishonest.

They asked me to place a paid order on the new model, email them the receipt and the link to my 5-star review, and insisted they would directly PayPal me my purchase price afterwards. (Of the new, less expensive version. Not the original I paid ~2x for.) They also refused to honor their warranty and send me another one, or even just mail me the cheaper replacement model as a compromise. They just had to get a 5-star review out of the whole deal.

I put all this into a review and it was promptly deleted by Amazon.

At this point, I consider 4-star reviews the new 1-star.

I have a few more stories like this from the last year or so. I used to be a very vocal supporter of them, but I'm increasingly developing a visceral hatred for them.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#224

Post by gowld » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:46 PM UTC

ortusdux wrote: post #181

mancerayder wrote: post #108

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.

How would you prevent review fraud?

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#225

Post by gleenn » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:47 PM UTC

AlexITC wrote: post #212

ortusdux wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Having written several browser extensions, I have been thinking on building another one for people to comment on any website. Which ends up being useful for 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…

I think a similar add-on went to court and was deemed illegal. Sorry, can't cite my source. I think it's a pretty common idea but falls flat quickly once you realize there isn't a reliable way to mass vet reviews

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#226

Post by gowld » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:51 PM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #206

topkai22 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of a game isn't to win, its to have fun. A certain character may disrupt the mechanics of the game that are the most fun to a subgroup of players. To take it to an extreme, let's say a character is introduced to a fighting game and this character will win as soon as the "A" button is pressed. Now whatever fun people were doing to win in the game before is gone. In order to win, you just have to pick this su…

Well, with game you have to be careful to distinguish between behavior unintended by developers and intentional design. The Street Fighter series has had any number of opportunities to "fix" behavior that some players consider "cheap" or an exploit. Developers have kept them in. If using those moves deprives another player of fun, that doesn't mean it shod be removed. There is always a winner and a loser, and someone…

That why it's not fun to play a game using a third party's rules. Fun games have rules approved by the players.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#227

Post by stevage » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:51 PM UTC

I hate it when people give 1 star reviews for something other than the product quality. I'm glad the review was rejected.

It sounds like the review should have been 3 or 4 stars ("fine but not amazing").

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#228

Post by gowld » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:52 PM UTC

martamorena918 wrote: post #165

jrockway wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something about how the human brain works that makes us hate this. It happens in games a lot; the community will complain that a certain character is broken and that they hate playing against it... but won't actually go play the character themselves to exploit the brokenness for their own gain. Seems silly to me. (Buying reviews might actually be illegal though, so that's a strong argument to not do it.)

This has nothing to do with unwillingness to exploit. If you would get a 1 million dollar coupon by leaving a 5 star review, almost everyone would do it (except perhaps billionaires). The thing is: Everybody has a price, but what that price is, is always different. The less money I have, the more incentive I have to take advantage of these schemes. For me, the effort of earning 20$ this way would make this a few hund…

You post on HN, so obviously you have plenty of free time that could be given to help your fellow shoppers and quality merchants.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#229

Post by einpoklum » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:52 PM UTC

handedness wrote: post #223

> I've chatted with an Amazon rep on the issue, and to their credit they seemed to take it seriously and "noted the report violation against the seller" I was deliberately scammed by a seller, and the wave of bad reviews they received after I purchased made me think I was not the only one with whom they dealt dishonestly. I contacted Amazon and received a similar reaction the author of the article received, except th…

> Amazon has come a long way on a lot of fronts

You mean, the various fronts in the struggle for world domination? :-(

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#230

Post by rossdavidh » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 11:52 PM UTC

There is a general principle, that a metric which is used to determine [important decisions, e.g. pay, promotion, sales, etc.] will soon cease to be a reliable metric. If your neighbor tells you that a product is good, they probably really think that, because not enough people go to your neighbor to ask their opinion, to be worth spending $$ to change your neighbor's opinion.

Amazon ratings, quite a long time ago, became way to influential to be a reliable metric, because the incentives to game it or outright pay for a better rating are too high. Oddly, by aggregating many opinions just like your neighbor, it becomes LESS reliable than if it were just a single data point.