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Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

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Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#91

Post by sneak »

Fnoord wrote: post #82
sneak wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This just allows them to sell your name+email+phone+address to Google et al. State mandated doxxing. This is why I have a burner phone number, throwaway domain/email, and special alias for food delivery that needs my home address.

..but then they still have your home address in their archive of PII. Which is bad enough (wasn't Dominos or New York Pizza hacked the other day with PII getting leaked?). I barely ever read spam (and receive it mainly on one of my older e-mail addresses but it does end up in the spam filter). I barely ever receive spam on my phone number. I won't say never, cause it has happened, but probably like twice a year or so…

Every street address is public. All houses order food. Nothing private is disclosed.

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#92

Post by OJFord »

kadoban wrote: post #78
OJFord wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure the line is that they need it in case of problems during delivery. Couriers always want it for that, or trying to ensure there aren't problems (for them) like missed deliveries by texting you to say they're delivering today or whatever. I don't really have a problem with that in general, but yeah I don't want to deal with random third party sellers. Also in my experience when there's a problem with the item…

Couriers do say that, it seems, but have you ever experienced them using it? I never get anything at all, unless I look up the tracking online. Doesn't matter if the package is on time or if it disappeared somewhere in Alaska or if it got delivered 2 streets over, total radio silence.

Yeah, all the time. Very rarely for a problem (my building is slightly awkward so they do sometimes call because they're stuck at lower ground level and can't get in) but routinely 'delivering your package today between 1pm and 2pm' or whatever, then often 15min before.

This is in the UK though, obviously can't and I'm not claiming it's the norm everywhere.

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#93

Post by DoubleGlazing »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #71
DoubleGlazing wrote: post #56

I've stopped buying 3rd party seller items because of this. Now, I'll only buy items sold directly by amazon. For example, I bought a little portable projector last Christmas. In the box was a big bar of Swiss chocolate and leaflet offering me a tripod in return for a five star review. The projector wasn't as good as the description made out. It wasn't terrible, just not as good as they claimed. So I left a three sta…

> But..... the seller reappearance with a different name. They had the same product range and descriptions. But don’t they loose all their reviews, which they clearly care so much about?

They were chucked off the platform only to return and start from scratch again. I feel they may have been one of the few settlers who pushed Amazon a bit too far with their behaviour.

If Amazon was on the ball they would use all that fancy AWS AI stuff to spot when banned sellers reappear.

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#94

Post by DoubleGlazing »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #85
DoubleGlazing wrote: post #56

I've stopped buying 3rd party seller items because of this. Now, I'll only buy items sold directly by amazon. For example, I bought a little portable projector last Christmas. In the box was a big bar of Swiss chocolate and leaflet offering me a tripod in return for a five star review. The projector wasn't as good as the description made out. It wasn't terrible, just not as good as they claimed. So I left a three sta…

Only 3rd party sellers are allowed in India due anti-competitive/eCommerce regulations, Couple of years ago I left a negative review for an item when the seller/manufacturer who failed to uphold their warranty statement as described in their product listing calling out the false statements in the product listing. The seller reached out to me on LinkedIn, Out of frustration I blocked the seller on LinkedIn. I still fe…

So Amazon is basically a type of eBay in India?

You're right about the whole phone number masking thing. It's pretty simple to implement these days, so any platform that doesn't do it is probably not all that concerned about looking after their customers. There's a taxi ordering startup here in Dublin where I live that has only 10 employees and they use phone number masking, if they can do it then there's no reason why Amazon can't.

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#95

Post by DoubleGlazing »

Chris2048 wrote: post #79
DoubleGlazing wrote: post #56

I've stopped buying 3rd party seller items because of this. Now, I'll only buy items sold directly by amazon. For example, I bought a little portable projector last Christmas. In the box was a big bar of Swiss chocolate and leaflet offering me a tripod in return for a five star review. The projector wasn't as good as the description made out. It wasn't terrible, just not as good as they claimed. So I left a three sta…

> but..... the seller reappearance with a different name. They had the same product range and descriptions. I wonder how they are able to do this so fast?

I'd say because Amazon doesn't care.

If a seller pushes the boundaries a bit too much and Amazon is forced the ban them, they really don't care if they sign up again using a different name.

If the seller has a strategy worked out on how to get good reviews quickly then they can keep repeating this process safe in the knowledge that they're making money and Amazon are making money as well.

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#96

Post by gtyras2mrs »

DoubleGlazing wrote: post #94
Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only 3rd party sellers are allowed in India due anti-competitive/eCommerce regulations, Couple of years ago I left a negative review for an item when the seller/manufacturer who failed to uphold their warranty statement as described in their product listing calling out the false statements in the product listing. The seller reached out to me on LinkedIn, Out of frustration I blocked the seller on LinkedIn. I still fe…

So Amazon is basically a type of eBay in India? You're right about the whole phone number masking thing. It's pretty simple to implement these days, so any platform that doesn't do it is probably not all that concerned about looking after their customers. There's a taxi ordering startup here in Dublin where I live that has only 10 employees and they use phone number masking, if they can do it then there's no reason w…

Amazon does operate its own sellers but through joint ventures - but the link isn't openly acknowledged on the site.

The largest one is Cloudtail. Another is Appario.

Amazon just announced that they are parting ways on the Cloudtail joint venture.

https://www.reuters.com/business/amazon-end-relationship-wit...

https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/amazon-i...

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#97

Post by throwawaysea »

dkdk8283 wrote: post #20
throwawaysea wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s probably best to ignore reviews and just shop based on critical reviews or recommendations from friends. And even then it is better to purchase directly from manufacturers rather than risk getting counterfeits. I’m not sure what value middlemen like Amazon add other than fast delivery, which most people can live without.

Three star reviews are all you should read these days. It’s typically unbiased / unemotional and objective. 1 and 5 star reviews don’t tend to be reliable.

I had started doing this inadvertently with book reviews, but I think you’re right that this practice can apply to most products.

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#98

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

gtyras2mrs wrote: post #96
DoubleGlazing wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Amazon is basically a type of eBay in India? You're right about the whole phone number masking thing. It's pretty simple to implement these days, so any platform that doesn't do it is probably not all that concerned about looking after their customers. There's a taxi ordering startup here in Dublin where I live that has only 10 employees and they use phone number masking, if they can do it then there's no reason w…

Amazon does operate its own sellers but through joint ventures - but the link isn't openly acknowledged on the site. The largest one is Cloudtail. Another is Appario. Amazon just announced that they are parting ways on the Cloudtail joint venture. https://www.reuters.com/business/amazon-end-relationship-wit... https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/amazon-i...

Yeah they were violating the regulations with Cloudtail & Appario and with growing pressure they've no choice now.

But still there are loads of sellers claiming to be an 'Amazon Brand'[1] on their listing. If Amazon does have something to do with them, Then again it's a violation of the regulations.

Then, What about 'Amazon Basics' products[2]? I'm sure Amazon manufactures them.

The whole thing is messy and keeps changing according to the 'Mega Billionaires' fight to hold their position, But if this results in temporary consumer choice until one of them wins and we have to pledge our souls then it's fine with me.

[1] https://www.amazon.in/s?k=amazon+brand

[2] https://www.amazon.in/s?k=amazon+basics

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#99

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

DoubleGlazing wrote: post #94
Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only 3rd party sellers are allowed in India due anti-competitive/eCommerce regulations, Couple of years ago I left a negative review for an item when the seller/manufacturer who failed to uphold their warranty statement as described in their product listing calling out the false statements in the product listing. The seller reached out to me on LinkedIn, Out of frustration I blocked the seller on LinkedIn. I still fe…

So Amazon is basically a type of eBay in India? You're right about the whole phone number masking thing. It's pretty simple to implement these days, so any platform that doesn't do it is probably not all that concerned about looking after their customers. There's a taxi ordering startup here in Dublin where I live that has only 10 employees and they use phone number masking, if they can do it then there's no reason w…

It's good to know that small players care about Privacy in Dublin, Then again it's the small players who can; Trillions of $ doesn't come without hiding bones in the closet.

How much of it has to do with GDPR?

Re: Amazon third-party sellers reportedly hound customers who leave bad reviews

#100

Post by kadoban »

OJFord wrote: post #92
kadoban wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couriers do say that, it seems, but have you ever experienced them using it? I never get anything at all, unless I look up the tracking online. Doesn't matter if the package is on time or if it disappeared somewhere in Alaska or if it got delivered 2 streets over, total radio silence.

Yeah, all the time. Very rarely for a problem (my building is slightly awkward so they do sometimes call because they're stuck at lower ground level and can't get in) but routinely 'delivering your package today between 1pm and 2pm' or whatever, then often 15min before. This is in the UK though, obviously can't and I'm not claiming it's the norm everywhere.

Interesting. In any part of the US I've lived in, and with any shipping company I've ever used, they don't do anything like that. I wish they would.

I was supposed to get a delivery today, but it requires a signature and I was in the back yard when they knocked on the door. A quick text or call would have been great. Alas.

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