17 ms·

It does not address my latest issue with reviews -- the reviews don't apply to the actual item in question. Looking for a copy of "Don Quixote," the first 5-sta

by 5555624 10y ago

It does not address my latest issue with reviews -- the reviews don't apply to the actual item in question. Looking for a copy of "Don Quixote," the first 5-star review discussed two different translators -- neither of which was the translator for the edition in question. Most of he reviews were for other translations of the book. This is not limited to books, either, as every now and then I see a review for a different model number of a piece of equipment I am looking at.

ben1040 10y ago
That or customers write reviews for things like the way the product was packed, or the shipping method that brought the product to their door. Not only does it not have to do with the product, but same SKU is often sold by multiple sellers. So your packing/shipping experience will differ depending upon whether you bought it "sold by Amazon," "sold by $COMPANY and fulfilled by Amazon," or "sold and shipped by $COMPANY." A rating for a book shouldn't be affected by the fact that one buyer ended up buying it from some rando third party retailer who fulfilled the order by packing it poorly and sending it media mail.
- FireBeyond 10y ago
  Right, I really wish when you clicked "Write a review" Amazon would explicitly ask: "Is this review about the product or its packaging / delivery to you?" and that the latter would then leave the review with the seller, not the product.
Amezarak 10y ago
Books are a huge dumpster fire in general. Amazon is full of mass spam from extremely low quality editions of books printed by print-on-demand companies. There are literally hundreds of editions of some public domain books which are all "republished" POD works or sometimes even just Wikipedia articles on the book. And Amazon will show all the reviews together, so you buy based on the reviews of a reputably published version of the book, and instead get an awful quality POD book or even just two pieces of laminated paper with a printout of a wikipedia article.

by 5555624 10y ago

ben1040 10y ago

That or customers write reviews for things like the way the product was packed, or the shipping method that brought the product to their door. Not only does it not have to do with the product, but same SKU is often sold by multiple sellers. So your packing/shipping experience will differ depending upon whether you bought it "sold by Amazon," "sold by $COMPANY and fulfilled by Amazon," or "sold and shipped by $COMPANY." A rating for a book shouldn't be affected by the fact that one buyer ended up buying it from some rando third party retailer who fulfilled the order by packing it poorly and sending it media mail.

FireBeyond 10y ago
Right, I really wish when you clicked "Write a review" Amazon would explicitly ask: "Is this review about the product or its packaging / delivery to you?" and that the latter would then leave the review with the seller, not the product.

Amezarak 10y ago

Books are a huge dumpster fire in general. Amazon is full of mass spam from extremely low quality editions of books printed by print-on-demand companies. There are literally hundreds of editions of some public domain books which are all "republished" POD works or sometimes even just Wikipedia articles on the book. And Amazon will show all the reviews together, so you buy based on the reviews of a reputably published version of the book, and instead get an awful quality POD book or even just two pieces of laminated paper with a printout of a wikipedia article.