Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#161

Post by hourislate » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:23 PM UTC

When purchasing anything on AMZN, never trust the reviews.

Buy only name brand but shop around, they have become expensive. Try to give others your business at the same time. I intentionally buy from companies like NEWEGG or RockAuto even if AMZN has the same price and 1-2 day shipping. I also try to buy directly from companies (ex: thorne) if possible even if I have to wait, why give your all your business to AMZN and make these companies pay them a fee.

AMZN has enough business, we need to support everyone else.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#162

Post by newsbinator » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:27 PM UTC

thrwn_frthr_awy wrote: post #132

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…

I wrote a negative review for a projector recently. The projector was so bad and had such good reviews I questioned this directly in my review. I later got a direct email (not an amazon message) from the seller asking if I would take down the review if they refunded me and let me keep the projector.

How did you proceed?

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#163

Post by pm215 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:28 PM UTC

pavon wrote: post #160

skept wrote: post #114

I had a very similar experience last month. I ordered this toaster[1]. When I received it I noticed that in their user manual they were offering a "gift" in return for an Amazon review. Although to be fair they didn't explicitly demand that the review had to be positive. I submitted this 4-star review [2] to Amazon: I received the toaster not too long ago. It looks just like in the advertised pictures and works fine.…

The thing you have to know about Amazon is that they combine all the reviews for all sellers of the same product (to the extent that Amazon thinks it is the same product). As such, reviews aren't an appropriate place to leave feedback about a seller, and leaving your review up would have been misleading. The reviews are only supposed to be about the product. You can leave feedback for sellers by clicking on their nam…

If the thing about reviews-for-vouchers was in the user manual though then it really is related to the product, not the seller...

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#164

Post by robotnikman » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:30 PM UTC

mancerayder wrote: post #108

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…

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.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#165

Post by martamorena918 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:31 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #120

toxik wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... and give away $20 gift cards to people who leave 5-star reviews!

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 hundred dollars net loss (compared to working my job instead). So yeah, give me a 1000$ coupon and I am game!

For the same reason, I rarely return items I buy if they are in the under 50$ category, or write negative reviews for products that suck. It's just a waste of time, considering time is the most precious resource, and it is also money. I often write positive reviews for products that amaze me (doesn't happen too often), but here the product gave me so much value that I am willing to spend my time for this.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#166

Post by wpietri » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:31 PM UTC

smokey_the_bear wrote: post #155

dheera wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone I know made easier money by listing Amazon-available products on eBay and selling them there for higher prices. They didn't even need inventory, they just got them with Prime shipping after a purchase on eBay. People are stupid. On eBay before buying stuff I always ask the seller if they can beat the Amazon price - 5% cashback that I get on Amazon, or deduct CA sales tax in their price if the product is avail…

I bought a book on ebay because it was backordered on Amazon. I was pissed when it arrived two months later in an Amazon box.

I feel really bad about how much I'm laughing at this. My sympathies!

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#167

Post by wpietri » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:34 PM UTC

hbosch wrote: post #109

whimsicalism wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won't pop back up with 12k 5 star reviews immediately? I'm honestly shocked by this comment - warning sides aside, paying for reviews should cause a ban. I am as unconvinced by this argument about "popping back" as I am by people who say that raising taxes is useless because people will just hide their money.

> They won't pop back up with 12k 5 star reviews immediately? No, they will pay for those and have them soon enough. Even the OP says the product was sitting at >4,000 reviews at time of purchase and now is over 12,000. The reviews are easy to come by, of course. I am not pointing out that the seller here is right by any means. I fully agree that paying for 5-star reviews is reprehensible and unethical, and it's simi…

Your notion of "consumer literacy" is a treadmill.

Hoping individuals will solve this won't work, because the malignant vendor has a much stronger incentive to find new ways to cheat than individual consumers do to figure out those cheats and take countermeasures.

The proper level to solve this at is higher up. Platforms and regulators in specific.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#168

Post by wpietri » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:35 PM UTC

newsbinator wrote: post #162

thrwn_frthr_awy wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a negative review for a projector recently. The projector was so bad and had such good reviews I questioned this directly in my review. I later got a direct email (not an amazon message) from the seller asking if I would take down the review if they refunded me and let me keep the projector.

How did you proceed?

I would have been very tempted to take the refund and then put up another bad review, adding on about the bribe.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#169

Post by ben174 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:36 PM UTC

Buttons840 wrote: post #39

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…

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…

Alter your review after the reward has been issued.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#170

Post by throwaway0a5e » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 10:38 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #93

rsync wrote: post #48

Now I remember ... The previous review practice that outraged me was when someone here at HN was producing very detailed analysis of LED bulbs (spectral analysis, etc.) and proving that lots of bulbs on Amazon had CRI and color temperature ratings that were way off . He then described how he posted that in some reviews and they were all taken down. Which is to say, crummy LED bulb on Amazon with an inflated CRI canno…

Amazon doesn't give a shit. Amazon only wants to sell more stuff, so of course it's going to take down objective negative reviews and whistle-blowing accounts of review payola. This is a regulatory problem. If Amazon was a corner hardware store it would have been fined multiple times and the owner might well have been jailed by now. But thanks to the magic power of Internet leverage and the fact that only giant tradi…

>This is a regulatory problem. If Amazon was a corner hardware store it would have been fined multiple times and the owner might well have been jailed by now.

If this were a corner hardware store nobody would shop there and they would be out of business.

I second what the downvoted comment said. Not everything is a nail to be hammered with more laws. I find it very hard to believe that existing laws regulating advertising cannot be used to solve this problem.