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I think Amazon should employ a hundreds of everyday people to review products full time. When you list a product on Amazon, you have to pay 10-20 of those Amaz

I think Amazon should employ a hundreds of everyday people to review products full time. When you list a product on Amazon, you have to pay 10-20 of those Amazon Employees to review the product at arms length. Say each reviewer is given 2 hours for each product, before you can list a product on Amazon you have to pay $2 x 20 x hourly rate. These should be the only reviews. Or you can sell your product with no reviews.

eugeniub 7y ago
This would work for maybe 5% of products. This is no way to review the durability of a product, or review how it performs for specific tasks, e.g. swimming shampoo, internal computer component, sleeping mask, etc.
- jay_kyburz 7y ago
  I think even a lay person would be able to make some good observations about any product. Then across hundreds of employees you could start to build specialized teams. But also, you don't want people to be too close to a range of products so they can be somewhat objective. For example is swimming shampoo a real thing? or is it just normal shampoo that costs more? Here is Australia there is a range of over the counter pain killers, all the same brand, all with the same active ingredients, but marketed at different kinds of pain, and at different price points. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36167011 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36167011
  - thecatspaw 7y ago
    And yet, there is a point to marketing pain killers for different pains: placebo
    - ProZsolt 7y ago
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeadOn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeadOn
101404 7y ago
Too expensive for most products. Simply limit "review rights" to users who have made a certain amount of purchases, are already subscribed for a certain amount of time, etc.
- FalconSensei 7y ago
  Also limit review to be written X time after the product arrives. So many useless reviews that just said they received it and they are going to try it later...
  - wccrawford 7y ago
    Those reviews always amaze me. And the people who answer one of the questions with "I don't know", too. Why did they bother typing anything at all? My theory is that some people can't imagine that people aren't talking specifically to them. You see them in chat rooms answering every question as if it was posed them to directly, even when it was obviously directed at someone else.
    - rcxdude 7y ago
      In the case of amazon questions, this is a lot to do with how amazon handles them. If a new question is asked, amazon will sometimes send emails to people who have bought the product with the question. It's quite easy to see how someone could think this is directly addressed at them.
- sk5t 7y ago
  Why do you feel the process would be too expensive for most products? That is, let's say the review process might cost the merchant $5,000 on a one-time or biannual basis or whatever--does that seem like an unreasonable charge to take reasonable care that the products offered on the marketplace are authentic, of good quality, etc.?
  - onetimemanytime 7y ago
    I'll bite: Honest reviewer says that product works fine...for the first week or month. Wait for a year before allowing them to sell? Not doable especially on millions of new products. Maybe reviews should be limited only to certified buyers or only those should be added to stars /rank.
j-c-hewitt 7y ago
They do, but it's not a job nor is it compensated except by delivery of the products. It's called the Amazon Vine program. There is also something called the Early Reviewer Program which is different. Sellers opt in to the ERP for new products. People who participate in the reviews sometimes get a tiny incentive from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help https://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202094910 https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
- luckylion 7y ago
  ... and for some reason, Vine pretty much means "all the stars, all the time", so that's not "testing", that's just buying a 5 star review from a "verified" account. It's essentially an ad, not a review.
  - j-c-hewitt 7y ago
    I don't think most people who aren't Vine reviewers are happy with how it works ('cause they get free stuff). I have seen Vine reviewers leave bad reviews, and I know because I've been yelled at over it.
    - luckylion 7y ago
      Yeah, it's not 100%, but it's far north of 95%. When I see Vine reviews, they are pretty much always 5 stars, even on products that have very mixed reviews from verified purchases. When I view the Vine-member profiles from those reviews, it's 20-30 five star reviews for every 1 star review. I can't remember ever having seen them give 2, 3 or 4 stars. My impression is: you pay, you get 5 stars. They buy a product themselves and didn't like it, you get 1 star.
      - j-c-hewitt 7y ago
        That's rather how a lot of Amazon reviewers are. Vine-rs are also now the only group of reviewers that can officially review products for free. Naturally when you are getting something for free, it's hard to really take value into account. A lot of 2-star $100 products might be "5-star" if you pay $0. That's something Amazon recognizes in its own policies towards normie non-Vine reviewers.

eugeniub 7y ago

This would work for maybe 5% of products. This is no way to review the durability of a product, or review how it performs for specific tasks, e.g. swimming shampoo, internal computer component, sleeping mask, etc.

jay_kyburz 7y ago
I think even a lay person would be able to make some good observations about any product. Then across hundreds of employees you could start to build specialized teams. But also, you don't want people to be too close to a range of products so they can be somewhat objective. For example is swimming shampoo a real thing? or is it just normal shampoo that costs more? Here is Australia there is a range of over the counter pain killers, all the same brand, all with the same active ingredients, but marketed at different kinds of pain, and at different price points. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36167011 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36167011
- thecatspaw 7y ago
  And yet, there is a point to marketing pain killers for different pains: placebo
  - ProZsolt 7y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeadOn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeadOn

101404 7y ago

Too expensive for most products. Simply limit "review rights" to users who have made a certain amount of purchases, are already subscribed for a certain amount of time, etc.

FalconSensei 7y ago
Also limit review to be written X time after the product arrives. So many useless reviews that just said they received it and they are going to try it later...
- wccrawford 7y ago
  Those reviews always amaze me. And the people who answer one of the questions with "I don't know", too. Why did they bother typing anything at all? My theory is that some people can't imagine that people aren't talking specifically to them. You see them in chat rooms answering every question as if it was posed them to directly, even when it was obviously directed at someone else.
  - rcxdude 7y ago
    In the case of amazon questions, this is a lot to do with how amazon handles them. If a new question is asked, amazon will sometimes send emails to people who have bought the product with the question. It's quite easy to see how someone could think this is directly addressed at them.
sk5t 7y ago
Why do you feel the process would be too expensive for most products? That is, let's say the review process might cost the merchant $5,000 on a one-time or biannual basis or whatever--does that seem like an unreasonable charge to take reasonable care that the products offered on the marketplace are authentic, of good quality, etc.?
- onetimemanytime 7y ago
  I'll bite: Honest reviewer says that product works fine...for the first week or month. Wait for a year before allowing them to sell? Not doable especially on millions of new products. Maybe reviews should be limited only to certified buyers or only those should be added to stars /rank.

j-c-hewitt 7y ago

They do, but it's not a job nor is it compensated except by delivery of the products. It's called the Amazon Vine program. There is also something called the Early Reviewer Program which is different. Sellers opt in to the ERP for new products. People who participate in the reviews sometimes get a tiny incentive from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help https://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202094910 https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

luckylion 7y ago
... and for some reason, Vine pretty much means "all the stars, all the time", so that's not "testing", that's just buying a 5 star review from a "verified" account. It's essentially an ad, not a review.
- j-c-hewitt 7y ago
  I don't think most people who aren't Vine reviewers are happy with how it works ('cause they get free stuff). I have seen Vine reviewers leave bad reviews, and I know because I've been yelled at over it.
  - luckylion 7y ago
    Yeah, it's not 100%, but it's far north of 95%. When I see Vine reviews, they are pretty much always 5 stars, even on products that have very mixed reviews from verified purchases. When I view the Vine-member profiles from those reviews, it's 20-30 five star reviews for every 1 star review. I can't remember ever having seen them give 2, 3 or 4 stars. My impression is: you pay, you get 5 stars. They buy a product themselves and didn't like it, you get 1 star.
    - j-c-hewitt 7y ago
      That's rather how a lot of Amazon reviewers are. Vine-rs are also now the only group of reviewers that can officially review products for free. Naturally when you are getting something for free, it's hard to really take value into account. A lot of 2-star $100 products might be "5-star" if you pay $0. That's something Amazon recognizes in its own policies towards normie non-Vine reviewers.