You are exactly right, and for a business owner there are some other pretty awful forces at work as well. People will tend to avoid products that have zero revi

You are exactly right, and for a business owner there are some other pretty awful forces at work as well. People will tend to avoid products that have zero reviews and people are more motivated to review short-term product failures than long-term successes. So, it is in their best interest to create review incentives. Of course, some review incentives are better than others (personal notes telling you how valued a review is and how much they will help with any problems vs. "here's $5, give me some stars").