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I recently got an email offering 50% off a seller's products if I left a good review. This is happening on all marketplaces, not just Amazon. The only way I see

I recently got an email offering 50% off a seller's products if I left a good review. This is happening on all marketplaces, not just Amazon. The only way I see to truly solve the problem is only allowing verified buyers to leave a review.

sombremesa 6y ago
Buyers also get brochures with their product offering gift cards and the like for 5-star reviews, though.
- gabereiser 6y ago
  Exactly. Crowdsourced reviews are easy to manipulate. On the other hand, a “review commission” isn’t practical either.
waynesonfire 6y ago
A verified buyer is nontrivial to determine. The purchaser could be under the influence and financed by the seller.
keeran 6y ago
Sellers generate fake orders for their products using real identities, actually send the product to those people, but leave a fake review in their name. I've tried raising the issue repeatedly with Amazon, but I've now given up and look forward to the random crap I get sent almost on a monthly basis.
- Firerouge 6y ago
  Where do I sign up to get free random stuff sent to me from Amazon review farmers?
  - ibraheemdev 6y ago
    Ideally you don't.
- ibraheemdev 6y ago
  Better idea: Only verified buyers who have been on Amazon for X amount of time (or some other process to gain trust) should be allowed to leave reviews.
  - Semaphor 6y ago
    I never experienced it myself, but I’ve seen reviews claiming they had a letter in their package that they’d get X currency if they leave a 5-star-review.
    - eythian 6y ago
      Sorta similar but different, I left a 3 star review for something (cheap headphones that were OK but not great), and got a few emails after it offering me credit etc. if I changed it to a 5 star review. I didn't, but did report it to Amazon (no idea if they cared at all.)
- PragmaticPulp 6y ago
  I don't get it. Why do they have to send real product to the person if they're not relying on the receiver to write the review? They could ship an empty box if they just needed a tracking number. If the customer isn't coming into the feedback loop, they don't need the product.
  - daveleebbc 6y ago
    Because Amazon itself is usually handling the storage and shipping -- you can't pay Amazon to store empty boxes in its warehouses. (With perhaps one exception: https://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Moving-Boxes-10-Pack-10MPK/dp/B00U62GPLK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=cardboard+box&qid=1613453694&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzQ0szMjFXWlowRzEyJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODkwMzMzUEs0ODJYMzNUNkVSJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4NDMwNzUyQkxVQUE4U1ZaVFNGJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ== https://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Moving-Boxes-10-Pack-10MPK/dp/B... )
grogenaut 6y ago
Forward this to amazon customer service.
- behringer 6y ago
  Do you honestly believe everybody but Amazon knows this is going on?
  - grogenaut 6y ago
    I did not say that. The people who work on this at Amazon read HN, but this article won't be their first exposure.
PragmaticPulp 6y ago
I received an Instagram ad offering reimbursement to buy a company's product on Amazon. I signed up with a throwaway e-mail account. They sent a step-by-step guide to go to Amazon, enter a specific search term, scroll until I found their product, purchase it, and then send them the receipt for reimbursement. They didn't ask me to write a review. They only wanted to generate the appearance of organic search traffic to their product.
- dheera 6y ago
  The problem really is us, the buyers, who won't purchase something that has zero reviews or only a few reviews. So in order to even make the first few sales they need to generate a bunch of fake reviews. This is extremely well known phenomenon especially in the Chinese market where it is also extremely standard to get a bunch of fake reviews to get the ball rolling on sales. Guess what, it happens in the US too. I don't endorse it, but the sellers are just doing what the buyers incentivize them to do.
- ThrustVectoring 6y ago
  Wonder whether they're scamming Amazon's visibility algorithm or if they're inflating "organic" metrics for fundraising or sale-of-business purposes.
- 0xB31B1B 6y ago
  do you remember the company name? would be interesting to try lol

sombremesa 6y ago

Buyers also get brochures with their product offering gift cards and the like for 5-star reviews, though.

gabereiser 6y ago
Exactly. Crowdsourced reviews are easy to manipulate. On the other hand, a “review commission” isn’t practical either.

waynesonfire 6y ago

A verified buyer is nontrivial to determine. The purchaser could be under the influence and financed by the seller.

keeran 6y ago

Sellers generate fake orders for their products using real identities, actually send the product to those people, but leave a fake review in their name. I've tried raising the issue repeatedly with Amazon, but I've now given up and look forward to the random crap I get sent almost on a monthly basis.

Firerouge 6y ago
Where do I sign up to get free random stuff sent to me from Amazon review farmers?
- ibraheemdev 6y ago
  Ideally you don't.
ibraheemdev 6y ago
Better idea: Only verified buyers who have been on Amazon for X amount of time (or some other process to gain trust) should be allowed to leave reviews.
- Semaphor 6y ago
  I never experienced it myself, but I’ve seen reviews claiming they had a letter in their package that they’d get X currency if they leave a 5-star-review.
  - eythian 6y ago
    Sorta similar but different, I left a 3 star review for something (cheap headphones that were OK but not great), and got a few emails after it offering me credit etc. if I changed it to a 5 star review. I didn't, but did report it to Amazon (no idea if they cared at all.)
PragmaticPulp 6y ago
I don't get it. Why do they have to send real product to the person if they're not relying on the receiver to write the review? They could ship an empty box if they just needed a tracking number. If the customer isn't coming into the feedback loop, they don't need the product.
- daveleebbc 6y ago
  Because Amazon itself is usually handling the storage and shipping -- you can't pay Amazon to store empty boxes in its warehouses. (With perhaps one exception: https://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Moving-Boxes-10-Pack-10MPK/dp/B00U62GPLK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=cardboard+box&qid=1613453694&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzQ0szMjFXWlowRzEyJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODkwMzMzUEs0ODJYMzNUNkVSJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4NDMwNzUyQkxVQUE4U1ZaVFNGJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ== https://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Moving-Boxes-10-Pack-10MPK/dp/B... )

grogenaut 6y ago

Forward this to amazon customer service.

behringer 6y ago
Do you honestly believe everybody but Amazon knows this is going on?
- grogenaut 6y ago
  I did not say that. The people who work on this at Amazon read HN, but this article won't be their first exposure.

PragmaticPulp 6y ago

I received an Instagram ad offering reimbursement to buy a company's product on Amazon. I signed up with a throwaway e-mail account. They sent a step-by-step guide to go to Amazon, enter a specific search term, scroll until I found their product, purchase it, and then send them the receipt for reimbursement. They didn't ask me to write a review. They only wanted to generate the appearance of organic search traffic to their product.

dheera 6y ago
The problem really is us, the buyers, who won't purchase something that has zero reviews or only a few reviews. So in order to even make the first few sales they need to generate a bunch of fake reviews. This is extremely well known phenomenon especially in the Chinese market where it is also extremely standard to get a bunch of fake reviews to get the ball rolling on sales. Guess what, it happens in the US too. I don't endorse it, but the sellers are just doing what the buyers incentivize them to do.
ThrustVectoring 6y ago
Wonder whether they're scamming Amazon's visibility algorithm or if they're inflating "organic" metrics for fundraising or sale-of-business purposes.
0xB31B1B 6y ago
do you remember the company name? would be interesting to try lol