Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#431

Post by LargoLasskhyfv » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 3:56 AM UTC

Raed667 wrote: post #45

valuearb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for a startup that sold a food product direct, with a significant part of sales on Amazon. We decided to switch our standard size from 12 packs to 8 packs to better fit our customers consumption habits. But on Amazon that meant creating new listings for new SKUs, abandoning hundreds of positive comments/ratings on each 12 pack flavor SKU, which would crush sales for a while. So instead we let inventory run o…

There must be -somewhere- an acceptable delta to keep your listing while doing legitimate edits. The line should be somewhere in-between: 1- changing the package size from 12 to 8 2- changing a german car oil listing, to a horse accessory and then a toy drone

A "diff" view for the product description like in version control systems, and the revievs sorted according to the time the change in product description happened, and not some commingled ratings which have nothing to do anymore with the product.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#432

Post by LargoLasskhyfv » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 4:51 AM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #43

ricardobeat wrote: post #27

I had this problem literally half an hour ago. Looking for power strips, and the top rated one (average > 4.5 stars) thankfully has customer pictures showing extremely flimsy connections and soldering, a huge fire hazard.

I had a power strip catch fire. Posted photos and the seller tried desperately to get me to take them down. Monetary offers transitioned to creepy comments about my social media activity to try and freak me out.

Brennenstuhl? Da brennt der Stuhl! (There the chair is catching fire!) Had this many years ago, but not via Amazon, may have been a case of fake product, though. OTOH I came across reviews of this brand many years later, also on Amazon, stating similar. So either they are faked much, or their brand name is program.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#433

Post by LargoLasskhyfv » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 5:16 AM UTC

throwaway894345 wrote: post #132

Does anyone know of an alternative to Amazon that addresses quality and environmental issues (ideally something that isn't trying to sell me the latest hot garbage from whatever country is willing to trash the environment and enslave its citizens for a quick buck)?

https://www.manufactum.com ?

The real site is manufactum.de nowadays a daughter of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_GmbH , the last remaining general catalog/online retailer, like Sears once was in the US.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#434

Post by FireBeyond » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 7:01 AM UTC

sgerenser wrote: post #395

FireBeyond wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're wise to do so. People believe (speaking of photography / video YouTubers) that Apple generally doesn't give pre-release or demo units to users (except the "inner circle", shall we say - Daring Fireball, etc.). Odd, then, how a whole bunch of photography vloggers, the vast majority of whom made absolutely no mention of loaner / demo units, promotional consideration, etc, all got launch day Mac Pros. "Much antic…

As long as they were actually loaners and not just given to the vloggers I honestly don’t see much of a problem. The vast majority of magazines, for example, would do reviews based on products loaned from the manufacturer (with Consumer Reports being a notable exception). While all else equal a review from someone who shelled out their own money seems more trustworthy, I wouldn’t write off a review just because the p…

> I wouldn’t write off a review just because the product was loaned.

Neither would I. I _would_ be skeptical of the motivations, be they vanity or otherwise, of a review that _does not disclose_ it as a loaner.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#435

Post by Moru » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 11:49 AM UTC

steelframe wrote: post #245

dan-robertson wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even for non-counterfeit books, I’ve often got shit quality print-on-demand versions with plates that look like an inkjet printer running low on ink and with the letters having fuzzy boundaries.

For books I've gone from buying on a Kindle to Kobo+OverDrive which I use to check out e-books from the library. But I'm one of those freaks who actually prefers e-ink devices over dead tree books.

So instead of dead tree books it's better with dead ecosystem electronics? :)

Have you seen what they do in China too get those rare earth minerals needed for electronics and batteries?

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#436

Post by quercusa » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 4:15 PM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #415

wyclif wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I'd never heard this before. Do you know of any sources for vintage Pyrex?

EDIT: I just found out that one of the ways to distinguish the earlier, borosilicate Pyrex is that the earlier versions are labeled in all-caps: PYREX.

The new stuff is also noticeably greener (e.g., look down the side of a measuring cup so you are looking through as much glass as possible).

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#437

Post by mrxd » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 10:40 PM UTC

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #427

mrxd wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree. I’d also add that people love to trash brands that produce substandard producers. Negative word of mouth spreads easier for more recognizable brands, and the company’s need to protect their reputation provides a level of assurance that doesn’t exist for anonymous producers.

I disagree partially. Depending on the size of the corporation holding the brand, and thus available capital, it may be chump change for white/greenwashing via advertisement campaigns, cross media product placement, lawsuits, and employing whole armies of "reputation management* trolls...err professionals flooding any site with positive comments, burying anything else.

Word of mouth is person-to-person, not online or media. Brand marketing is also different from product marketing.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#438

Post by Out_of_Characte » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 5:18 PM UTC

paulryanrogers wrote: post #9

Out_of_Characte wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that reviews aren't content. a review is implicitly understood as an opinion of someone without ties to the company and of someone who actually owns or have 'reviewed' the product. In the case of amazon I think ownership of a product should be mandatory to leave a review.

While this can help the seller can so radically change the listing that it doesn't always stop review hijacking. As I understand it they sell something simple and cheap then repurpose the listing for something else entirely.

Strange that something like this is possible, I've always believed that the likes of amazon/ebay had better fraud detection. changing listings seems like an obvious door to fraudulent behaviour. Being able to track packets around the world nowadays should also help detect fake customers for the sake of reviews. (Since the quantity of legit adresses is better known than the quantity of shady adresses.