Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon suspends popular electronics manufacturer for buying reviews

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 21 posts

Re: Amazon suspends popular electronics manufacturer for buying reviews

#13

Post by resoluteteeth »

odensc wrote: post #6
adamfeldman wrote: post #3

RAVPower, Vava, TaoTronics today – Aukey, MPow in May – these are all brands whose names I search for when buying electronics, because I've had mostly great experiences with their products. TIL they operate their own DTC sites (of course). Will give those a try next time.

My experience with RAVPower products has been great as well, but last time I ordered they literally put a card in the box saying "get a $35 gift card for giving us a 5-star review." I'm surprised it took this long for Amazon to do anything.

Half the third party sellers on Amazon are doing this now though.

Re: Amazon suspends popular electronics manufacturer for buying reviews

#14

Post by polka_haunts_us »

> When Nguyen bought a new charger from RavPower, she received an offer for a $35 gift card in exchange for an Amazon review. That kind of manipulation has been against Amazon’s rules since 2016, and Sunvalley’s statement suggests that’s also the reason why these brands were suspended.

Legimately don't remember the last time I bought a product on Amazon that I found for the first time on the site that didn't come with one of these. Kitchen gear, USB Cables, Knickknacks, Clothing, "Wanna leave a review for a 15 dollar rebate?".

I also got a free umbrella on a freelance site once for leaving a review for said umbrella. I didn't understand what the motivation was for the sellers and I really only found out after I had gotten the umbrella what the TOS Violation was, so I immediately mailed the appropriate Amazon email to report the violation. Naturally literally nothing happened. Umbrella has been nice enough though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Re: Amazon suspends popular electronics manufacturer for buying reviews

#15

Post by js2 »

adamfeldman wrote: post #3

RAVPower, Vava, TaoTronics today – Aukey, MPow in May – these are all brands whose names I search for when buying electronics, because I've had mostly great experiences with their products. TIL they operate their own DTC sites (of course). Will give those a try next time.

Anker and Pluggable have also been good brands for me.

Re: Amazon suspends popular electronics manufacturer for buying reviews

#17

Post by boredprograming »

I left a bad review for one of these company's products on Amazon a while back because it caught fire when plugged in.

Somehow they got my email address and keep sending me vaguely threatening untraceable emails to "reconsider" my review in exchange for gift cards.

Super shady. Glad Amazon is finally doing something

Re: Amazon suspends popular electronics manufacturer for buying reviews

#19

Post by bradknowles »

boredprograming wrote: post #17

I left a bad review for one of these company's products on Amazon a while back because it caught fire when plugged in. Somehow they got my email address and keep sending me vaguely threatening untraceable emails to "reconsider" my review in exchange for gift cards. Super shady. Glad Amazon is finally doing something

After one less than positive review, I found that Amazon gave them my home address. I stopped posting reviews after that.
Post reply on HN