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Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

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Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#321

Post by Mistletoe »

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…

Almost every single item on Amazon and everywhere else is 4.5 stars. No matter how terrible. I can see one star after one star helpful review but it will still be 4.5 stars for items that just fall apart and are obviously defective. The sellers just game the reviews until they get to that magic 4.5.

Goodhart's Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

Luckily Amazon will take back anything and they are eating massive return costs from me for not having working, non-gamed reviews.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#322

Post by csnover »

xnyan wrote: post #303
csnover wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a hardware engineer, but my understanding is that a USB device isn’t supposed to draw that much current without performing either negotiation or sensing. Including a note that the user must use a 1A charger suggests that the device is violating the USB spec and will try to pull 1A no matter what. It then makes me worry about what other power safety systems are absent, since it’s a device with a lithium batter…

What is the specific unsafe condition are you worried about? I don’t know everything but I did evaluate consumer tech for Underwriters Laboratories to IEC 60950 and 62358. I think your caution is commendable but nothing you’ve described is inherently wrong. USB is just a connector. When the product said it needs 5w (I assume you mean 1A @ 4.8-5.1Vdc) by itself means nothing without more information. One really obviou…

The specific unsafe condition I am worried about is that the power management electronics lack any sort of fault protection, and this ends up causing a shock, burn, or fire.

I have a hard time imagining a situation where a wearable with a USB charging port is designed so cheaply that it only works with specific USB chargers, but still includes over-temp, over-volt, over-current, etc. protection.

Needless to say, there is not even a suggestion of this thing being either UL or USB-IF certified.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#323

Post by jnsie »

bigbubba wrote: post #299
runawaybottle wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 1 star review that loves the product but hated the way it was shipped. Someone needs to write a textbook on the pathology of those people.

The customer paid not only for the product but also for the service of having that product delivered to them. Asking them to restrict their review to only one aspect of what they paid for does not seem reasonable.

It does if they are on a product page reviewing a product and not, say, reviewing Amazon’s service.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#324

Post by rubyn00bie »

bigbubba wrote: post #299
runawaybottle wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 1 star review that loves the product but hated the way it was shipped. Someone needs to write a textbook on the pathology of those people.

The customer paid not only for the product but also for the service of having that product delivered to them. Asking them to restrict their review to only one aspect of what they paid for does not seem reasonable.

I think the comment is more directed at folks who, and I noticed this weird behavior the other day myself, post tirades about the cardboard box being slightly damaged (while the goods and packaging inside are completely fine). These in particular are more akin to saying:

"hey this protective outer barrier did it's job, had a scratch on the shipping label, and successfully protected the contents. The contents were IN PERFECT CONDITION, 1 star review!!! CONSUMER RIGHTS!11!11!!1 REFUND NOW DAMAGED BOX"

The real weird part though; is how the outer packaging regardless of the quality of what is inside the box (their actual goods purchased) dominates their reviews. It's like a whole subculture, or something, I can't even begin to understand. The internet never ceases to to amaze me for the sheer breadth of absurdity one can find.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#326

Post by intricatedetail »

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…

So if a seller does something sketchy they ask customer to ask the seller if this is true? Wow.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#327

Post by olyjohn »

bombcar wrote: post #295
chordalkeyboard wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You used to be able to find forums and similar for almost anything; When google removed the option to search discussion boards I knew the internet was changing and the changes were going to be bad. Google discussion search was the most powerful tool to find real world information. You could put in the model number of some product you knew nothing about (e.g. a camera or boat motor) and discussion search results wou…

I have a very few left (like the one linked above) that I consider very precious to me. The biggest loss has been car forums for me - they still exist but the posting volume is way down

And all the Photobucket images that are now gone, because the person hosting the forum was too cheap to self-host. RIP amazing, archived, sorted, searchable information.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#328

Post by shawnz »

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 the scope of that is too large to work well (based on seeing previous attempts at similar extensions).

Limiting the scope to just product reviews could make the idea a lot more feasible. Since you would be putting yourself directly in the purchasing path it might be easier to monetize the extension too.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#329

Post by daniel-cussen »

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…

Funny I just submitted a thread about how stars are no substitute for regulation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25463251

What is a star, really? I believe the concept comes from hotels, where there would absolutely be a star system with integrity where every score was possible. Now it's just theater to pretend your service allows consumer choice.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#330

Post by lovemenot »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #324
bigbubba wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The customer paid not only for the product but also for the service of having that product delivered to them. Asking them to restrict their review to only one aspect of what they paid for does not seem reasonable.

I think the comment is more directed at folks who, and I noticed this weird behavior the other day myself, post tirades about the cardboard box being slightly damaged (while the goods and packaging inside are completely fine). These in particular are more akin to saying: "hey this protective outer barrier did it's job, had a scratch on the shipping label, and successfully protected the contents. The contents were IN…

The behaviour you describe would be considered normal in Japan. There it's not a sub-culture. Pretty much any Japanese buyer would consider the packaging as part-and-parcel. And they'd complain in case of defective packaging, regardless of its functional impact.
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