Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#461

Post by awiesenhofer » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 1:45 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…

> Fakespot helps somewhat it seems...

Which is unfortunately still Chrome-only...

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#462

Post by delecti » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 1:51 PM UTC

mixmastamyk wrote: post #385

delecti wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was the listing mislabeled? Because otherwise I'm not sure what your complaint is. You bought in bulk, without a bulk discount, and got a larger quantity of an item at a worse unit price. If your review was politely informing people that the price was bad, then you're not really reviewing the item, because you like the item.

I didn't buy it, there was no point. Buying items by the case online should be significantly cheaper than a single purchase at convenience retail. The truth hurts I suppose. They should be interested in the information however, because it cost them and continues to cost them sales among the clueful.

"I didn't buy this because..." is _also_ not a product review. I can't even fault them, they had good reasons for not allowing your post.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#463

Post by entropea » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

It doesn't really matter, you're still going to shop there anyway. They're making hand over fist in cash, the absolutely insignificant amount of people who even care don't really matter and are offset by new happy customers every single day, why change anything at all?

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#464

Post by b0rsuk » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:55 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #434

b0rsuk wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Portal, the game by Valve, has some rabid fanboys. I only played it this year because my computer was unable to handle it. I was disappointed with how easy and short the game was. Style over substance for someone who enjoys Baba Is You or Riven. Anyway, the first several negative reviews read like this: "Are you seriously looking for a negative review? Come on! The game is amazing! Buy it!" I hate the people who don'…

> Portal, the game by Valve Published in 2007. > I only played it this year Portal is to a great extent a tech demo for its unprecedented "portal" rendering. This enabled some very 3D puzzles of a style that gamers hadn't seen before. Of course it's going to look a little pale in 2020, although you'd hope any original bugs were fixed.

Sharpshooter fallacy: shooting a rifle at a barn and painting a bullseye around the biggest cluster of hits.

"Portal is to a great extent a tech demo" (therefore it shouldn't be judged as a game)

Yet Portal is sold as a game in its own right. Riven was released in 1997 and is still a delightful intellectual challenge today, with nothing really like it. It's very much the opposite of modern games with a built-in GPS system telling you where to go. Riven is clunky, pixellated, but integrates good puzzles and a well thought out world in a way I haven't seen anywhere else. It was also a technical feat at the time.

Like I said in my Steam review, I believe Portal popularity comes from the fact it's a puzzle game attractive enough to draw people who don't play puzzle games.

Baba Is You is going to be a classic 20 years from now, despite its ugly graphics. In hands of anyone else, it would be just a gimmick, like Portal. But the idea was masterfully executed.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#465

Post by geekraver » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 3:56 PM UTC

I have pointed out both paid and bait and switch reviews (where the seller uses a cheap product to be able to use a farm for fake “verified purchase” reviews then changes the product). Never been rejected, but maybe that’s because I review product too. Amazon seems to bump up positive reviews though so I suspect not many people see mine unless you’re like me and explicitly focus on reading negative reviews first.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#466

Post by goatcode » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 4:13 PM UTC

chrismcb wrote: post #348

goatcode wrote: post #46

"Amazon does not accept product reviews based on anything except the product" would be a more accurate title. There is another way to review sellers - perhaps this would be a better place for reviewing a seller.

And yet half the reviews seem to be about shipping or something

Hm, they may be rule lawyering, then... preferring certain sellers over others, and applying the rules in an inconsistent way to benefit favorites while squishing people they have something else against. All this is speculation on my part, of course, but wouldn't surprise me if accurate.

TIL Amazon comment regulation is apparently run by reddit mods.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#467

Post by mancerayder » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 4:23 PM UTC

GordonS wrote: post #180

mancerayder wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Does Amazon notify you when they remove one of your reviews? I've done numerous reviews over the years and have never got such a notication, but your comment has me wondering if my reviews are still there!

That's the other nefarious thing. I would never had known the Airbnb review was removed if I didn't go back and check. And I started to doubt my own memory!

Amazon did notify me my review got yanked.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#468

Post by hunter2_ » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

will_pseudonym wrote: post #412

hunter2_ wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a lawyer but I think in the US, you have the right to remain silent. I don't think a law can compel anyone to publish anything. Might be the first amendment.

It looks like there is a law against companies writing contract clauses barring you or penalizing you for writing a negative review, but I don't know if there is a law that bars companies from deleting truthful, non-libelous reviews. Seems like a basic loophole to me that should have been covered in the Consumer Review Fairness Act. > Whether your summer plans include replacing your air conditioning, installing new f…

That seems more applicable to situations where the person leaving the review is doing so elsewhere, that is, posting it somewhere that the entity being reviewed is not connected to the hosting of it and therefore cannot trivially get it deleted/prevented; in such situations the entity being reviewed might try to compel the reviewer or the third party host to delete/prevent it, and the CRFA makes it illegal to do so. I haven't read it enough to say for sure, though.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#469

Post by lemoncucumber » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 4:42 PM UTC

chihuahua wrote: post #372

lemoncucumber wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A decent free option for reviews is Wirecutter from the New York Times. I've yet to buy anything that they recommended that was outright bad, and they have a surprising breadth of categories that they review. They make money through affiliate links, but they claim that the writers/reviewers have no knowledge of which companies have affiliate relationships with the Wirecutter so it doesn't bias their picks.

I used to think Wirecutter was useful, until I saw their recommendation for "the best bike rack" (for carrying bikes on the back of a car). They insisted that the best kind of bike rack is the type that is attached to the trunk lid using nylon straps and hooks. That's the cheapest kind, but also the worst by far, from my own experience and also just common sense. If $100 bike racks that scratch your car and have the…

I just checked and it looks like they now recommend hitch-mounted ones as their top picks. And they have a whole section about the pros and cons of different types of racks. So it looks like they revisited the category and improved their reviews.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#470

Post by devchix » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 4:48 PM UTC

I've made it a principle to leave accurate, detailed, and positive reviews on Amazon for products I really like. I think I've mostly given up, I don't think they can move the smallest needle if the environ is so deeply poisoned. The only honest and constructive feedback commerce site I still use and participate in is King Arthur Flour, probably because the stake is so small. I mean, how many reviews for a $18 bread pan can one flog? It reminds me of Goodreads, before Amazon. The larger question though, is whether or not high-trust systems can ever scale, or even be extended to cover an adjacent domain.