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Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

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Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#231

Post by gowld »

ineedasername wrote: post #194
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…

guess at no point is Amazon actually harmed by this scheme Maybe not in the short term, but in the long term it could. There are already things I haven't purchased because the review contents just didn't seem right, lots of 5 star and 1 star, practically no 3 or 4 star. I can't be the only one, and the situation is only getting worse.

So? You not buying a product that you wouldn't have bought anyway if the reviews were honest, doesn't hurt the merchant.

What might hurt amazon ia if people who buy junk get mad and reduce overall Amazon shopping even for good products.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#232

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

maxk42 wrote: post #210

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…

Could you not pay full price for the first order then if you liked the food done the review and show them next time?

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#233

Post by joombaga »

pmiller2 wrote: post #191
joombaga wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they'll remove product ratings for a particular seller if enough people complain. That's a secondary use.

That's not relevant. You were talking about seller reviews, not product reviews before. Why are you trying to avoid the question? Do you think choosing a reputable seller is a "secondary" concern after choosing a product? If so, why?

> Why are you trying to avoid the question?

I wasn't trying to avoid a question. Sorry if I missed one.

> You were talking about seller reviews, not product reviews before.

I was actually talking about both types of reviews. Amazon will remove illegitimate product reviews if their existence is made known through seller feedback mechanisms, and seller reviews are one such mechanism.

> Do you think choosing a reputable seller is a "secondary" concern after choosing a product? If so, why?

Usually I'd pick the product first, then find a reputable seller. If there's no reputable seller, I may choose a different product, or choose a disreputable seller if I think their reputation is undeserved, or if I'm willing to take a risk to get the particular product. I'm not sure if that's what you mean by "secondary concern", but I wouldn't call it that. They're both considerations.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#234

Post by mariopt »

I got a similar paid review offer but I'm allowed to give any review rating I wish. Given that Amazon hasn't forced me to give 5 start to a product, it is a step in the right direction: If a product has few reviews, you give an incentive for buyers to post a review about a product they actually bought.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#235

Post by Buttons840 »

gleenn wrote: post #225
AlexITC wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

We really need a source on that. Why is it illegal for software on my computer to show me information I want? I happen to want comments related to the site I'm viewing to be shown in a side pane.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#236

Post by filoleg »

cafard wrote: post #192
jdmichal wrote: post #150

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.)

>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.

I am with you on this one. Not in the least part, because I don't think that the analogy the parent comment brought up is valid here at all (and I am saying that as someone who actually read that book they mentioned).

In the example the parent comment brought up, it even says "[...]throwing is an integral part of the design - it's meant to be there[...]". That throwing mechanic was an intentional addition to the game, to counter-balance people who constantly block. The only people complaining about it are those who don't understand the game well or early beginners (we are talking someone who never played any fighting games before at all). Every single person playing competitively understands that without throws, the balance would be completely off, and the game would become unplayable competitively. In fact, it would become a completely different kind of game altogether. And throws aren't some hidden feature, it is featured prominently in tutorials and all.

While with gift cards in exchange for amazon reviews, it isn't an intentional mechanic advertised as a feature of the service. Amazon doesn't come out and say "this is one of our core features, without it our service would go down the drain and become unusable." It is still against the rules, and I cannot think of any logical reason it is helpful for buyers in terms of making Amazon.com a better marketplace (aside from the cash gain to the customer writing the paid review, but that's just a personal gain and doesn't make the marketplace better).

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#237

Post by LoSboccacc »

voltagex_ wrote: post #193
hbosch wrote: post #81

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…

Sidenote: I couldn't find this by reverse image searching, but if you search the same description you can find it on AliExpress for ~30% less. If I had access to Taobao, it's probably less again there. I buy a lot of stuff from AliExpress - I'd love to be able to go one up the chain and find the factories that are building this stuff.

The factories will want to sell you pallets of the stuff.

What you want is the export agent, he will likely send a sample if you can produce a valid company profile

You will even pay reduced taxes for a sample, but make sure they have already a business relationship in your general area because they will have already done the legwork to certify the product and it'll clear custom straight away

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#238

Post by pishpash »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #232
maxk42 wrote: post #210

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…

Could you not pay full price for the first order then if you liked the food done the review and show them next time?

Or returned the $2 once the 1 star review was left.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#239

Post by handedness »

einpoklum wrote: post #229
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? :-(

Sure, but to be entirely fair, they do execute pretty well on some things where others either didn't, or still don't.

I'm happy to give credit where due, but as a zero-hassle way of ordering things, between their fakes, their absurd experimentation with insufficient packaging, their sub-par regional delivery networks, their broken review system, their clamping down on independent sellers across many categories, and about two dozen other things I could probably come up with, their star has fallen as far for me as their share price has increased.

They're entering their hydra phase and abandoning so much of what made them good to deal with before.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#240

Post by brendoelfrendo »

jdmichal wrote: post #218
cafard wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

But this is life, and there's not really a difference between "arbitrary rule system designed for a game" and "arbitrary rule system designed for 5-star reviews". They're both just "arbitrary rules", and some people are going to Play to Win. So what are you going to do about them?

This is what the guillotine was invented to solve.
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