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"Why would a product change even be allowed they're different products." Because Amazon has chosen to allow that, for reasons which probably have to do with mo

"Why would a product change even be allowed they're different products." Because Amazon has chosen to allow that, for reasons which probably have to do with money. The comments here indicate a surprising degree of naivte on this issue i.e. "I head to email jeff@amazon.com about this" - as if after 20 years of operations Amazon isn't 100% aware of all of these issues. Of course they know what's going on. In detail. If Amazon were some old, big, dumb company with slow moving ops, barely competent staff, then we could write all this off as lack of operational competence - but it's not. Amazon is actually a very well run and operationally competent company from top to bottom, and Bezos is a hands-on leader, intimately involved. Folks: Bezos knows exactly what is happening. Since they haven't made very small adjustments which could help fix a variety of these issues, it's not due to 'lack of will' - it's a choice that Amazon has made. Amazon wants lots of 5 star fake reviews by unverified sources or they would just get rid of them, which they could do, instantly, by sidelining reviews with no purchase, for example. Among a variety of other things. It's unbelievable the level of hagiography that goes on with these 'industry leaders' that we build up like Jobs, Zuck, Bezos, Welch etc. - especially when we have issues waiving us right in the face. I accept that business at scale is 'making sausage' and there will be unpleasant things. Factory workers can't make $80K (probably). We inherently lose some privacy on social media. There will be some fake reviews and fraud no matter what. Surely. But the scope and level of chicanery, combined with the fact these companies haven't made obvious changes proves they are complicit and it should definitely weigh into how we think of these companies and individuals. FYI people can do 'good stuff' and 'bad stuff' at the same time. Bezos and Zuck can build/fund schools for kids at the same time they are doing totally unscrupulous stuff, it's not a paradox. Fraud, fake reviews etc. is a problem not dealt with remotely enough by Amazon, this is obvious and the fault/concern is theirs, and it's Jeff Bezos - as founder, owner, CEO world's richest person to do it. Literally the richest guy in the world is gaining this wealth in part by promoting tons of counterfeit goods with fake reviews - 2019.

NotSammyHagar 8y ago
I don't think the top people at amazon are aware of the issue or think it's so severe. spam in different forms is very difficult for even the most advanced companies to fix. look at gmail putting good email in spam or spam sneaking through to regular email. it keeps happening. spam comments on forum postings. amazon is facing another version of the spam problem in fake reviews, fake products, etc. it obviously competes against their agility to have more spam detection vs making it easier for people to sell stuff there.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  Fraud and fake reviews are a major strategic concern, it has been since the start, i.e. for 20 years. Leadership is intimately aware of the problem. There are many easy things they could do to reduce fraud, #1 being only allowing reviews from actual purchasers, or at least now allowing the others into the rankings. As mentioned on this thread, there are 3rd party companies that do a decent job at detecting the crap reviews. This means either Amazon is incompetent, and is not even capable of basic filtering, or they are competent and complicit. It's the later. Yes, there will always be spam and fraud, but not remotely the levels we see on Amazon. It should be relatively rare. As it stands, it's pretty easy for a regular person simply to go on Amazon and literally find fake products. This is totally unacceptable. They are trying hard not to find the spam and fraud.
lugg 8y ago
> Because Amazon has chosen to allow that, for reasons which probably have to do with money. Yea.. that, nor the tirade that follows comes close to answering my question. I also suspect your thinking and reasoning are incredibly misguided. While Amazon isn't stupid they aren't nearly as money focused as you seem to believe. What I suspect but do not know for sure is that their reviews were/are a massive part of their business model. Acting as big SEO signals and including a number of nice benefits when it comes to sales and marketing. What we are likely looking at now is friction at scale. Amazon has unleashed a large amount of Alibaba trash into the market in order to compete with a very real competitor, hell sales/revenue wise Amazon is the underdog. We will likely see moves to clean up reviews. So in the end I guess you were right "duh money" but it's a bit more nuanced than that and far from direct.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  "they aren't nearly as money focused as you seem to believe" If by 'money' you meant 'profit' - then yes, they re-invest. But Amazon is very deeply 'money focused' - they are a low margin business, growth oriented, they have innumerable competitors - everything is accounted for. "What I suspect but do not know for sure is that their reviews were/are a massive part of their business model." We can suspect a lot of things, but ultimately, what we know with certainty is that they are willful participants in tons of fake reviews. They 100% know about it, and 100% allow it to happen because there are several alternative paths for them to choose. They are complicit, by choice. I suggest they would just rather have the fake reviews, than the cost and burden of higher business friction. They've calculated that the fake reviews are net better than hunting them down.

NotSammyHagar 8y ago

I don't think the top people at amazon are aware of the issue or think it's so severe. spam in different forms is very difficult for even the most advanced companies to fix. look at gmail putting good email in spam or spam sneaking through to regular email. it keeps happening. spam comments on forum postings. amazon is facing another version of the spam problem in fake reviews, fake products, etc. it obviously competes against their agility to have more spam detection vs making it easier for people to sell stuff there.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
Fraud and fake reviews are a major strategic concern, it has been since the start, i.e. for 20 years. Leadership is intimately aware of the problem. There are many easy things they could do to reduce fraud, #1 being only allowing reviews from actual purchasers, or at least now allowing the others into the rankings. As mentioned on this thread, there are 3rd party companies that do a decent job at detecting the crap reviews. This means either Amazon is incompetent, and is not even capable of basic filtering, or they are competent and complicit. It's the later. Yes, there will always be spam and fraud, but not remotely the levels we see on Amazon. It should be relatively rare. As it stands, it's pretty easy for a regular person simply to go on Amazon and literally find fake products. This is totally unacceptable. They are trying hard not to find the spam and fraud.

lugg 8y ago

> Because Amazon has chosen to allow that, for reasons which probably have to do with money. Yea.. that, nor the tirade that follows comes close to answering my question. I also suspect your thinking and reasoning are incredibly misguided. While Amazon isn't stupid they aren't nearly as money focused as you seem to believe. What I suspect but do not know for sure is that their reviews were/are a massive part of their business model. Acting as big SEO signals and including a number of nice benefits when it comes to sales and marketing. What we are likely looking at now is friction at scale. Amazon has unleashed a large amount of Alibaba trash into the market in order to compete with a very real competitor, hell sales/revenue wise Amazon is the underdog. We will likely see moves to clean up reviews. So in the end I guess you were right "duh money" but it's a bit more nuanced than that and far from direct.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
"they aren't nearly as money focused as you seem to believe" If by 'money' you meant 'profit' - then yes, they re-invest. But Amazon is very deeply 'money focused' - they are a low margin business, growth oriented, they have innumerable competitors - everything is accounted for. "What I suspect but do not know for sure is that their reviews were/are a massive part of their business model." We can suspect a lot of things, but ultimately, what we know with certainty is that they are willful participants in tons of fake reviews. They 100% know about it, and 100% allow it to happen because there are several alternative paths for them to choose. They are complicit, by choice. I suggest they would just rather have the fake reviews, than the cost and burden of higher business friction. They've calculated that the fake reviews are net better than hunting them down.