4 ms·

I reviewed books regularly on Amazon years ago and made it into their top 10,000 reviewers list. Ever since then, I regularly get emails from Amazon sellers ask

by kgodey 5y ago

I reviewed books regularly on Amazon years ago and made it into their top 10,000 reviewers list. Ever since then, I regularly get emails from Amazon sellers asking me to review their products. Before Amazon introduced the "verified purchase" system, they would offer to send me the product, now they ask me to buy their product and they'll refund me on PayPal. I still get a few emails every week, even though it's been years since I reviewed anything and I'm now reviewer #1,263,485.

2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
There's a top 10,000 reviewers list? That sounds like a problem to me. It should be called top 10,000 users to bribe for reviews.
- kgodey 5y ago
  Yup, here it is: https://www.amazon.com/review/top-reviewers https://www.amazon.com/review/top-reviewers. Edited to add: I think it takes into account how many people vote your reviews as helpful. I got a lot of helpful votes because I received books weeks or months before they were released (I had a book review blog) and would post reviews on the release date so they would be one of the first reviews up.
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
    To me that proves Amazon entices and enables this fake review bs. They give fraudsters everything they need without explicitly saying it.
  - weasel_words 5y ago
    I wouldn't think this even possible?!? 24k+ reviews! https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AENQAO4BXMO72ZH6AXVD4JVRWX6A/ref=cm_cr_tr_tbl_hof_name https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AENQAO4BXMO7...
- everybodyknows 5y ago
  Skimming a hundred or so reviews from first few of the 10,000, every review is five stars, posted at rates of ten or more per week. So to the fakery professionals, it’s an industry leaderboard. To you and me, who have need to spot fake reviews, it’s a singularly valuable sample of what to be on guard against. So thanks, Amazon, for clueing us in to just how rotten your system really is!
smsm42 5y ago
If Amazon cared, it'd be trivial I think to make a bunch of honeypots which would get such emails and penalize the sellers that do stuff like that. But that's a big "if".

by kgodey 5y ago

2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago

There's a top 10,000 reviewers list? That sounds like a problem to me. It should be called top 10,000 users to bribe for reviews.

kgodey 5y ago
Yup, here it is: https://www.amazon.com/review/top-reviewers https://www.amazon.com/review/top-reviewers. Edited to add: I think it takes into account how many people vote your reviews as helpful. I got a lot of helpful votes because I received books weeks or months before they were released (I had a book review blog) and would post reviews on the release date so they would be one of the first reviews up.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
  To me that proves Amazon entices and enables this fake review bs. They give fraudsters everything they need without explicitly saying it.
- weasel_words 5y ago
  I wouldn't think this even possible?!? 24k+ reviews! https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AENQAO4BXMO72ZH6AXVD4JVRWX6A/ref=cm_cr_tr_tbl_hof_name https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AENQAO4BXMO7...
everybodyknows 5y ago
Skimming a hundred or so reviews from first few of the 10,000, every review is five stars, posted at rates of ten or more per week. So to the fakery professionals, it’s an industry leaderboard. To you and me, who have need to spot fake reviews, it’s a singularly valuable sample of what to be on guard against. So thanks, Amazon, for clueing us in to just how rotten your system really is!

smsm42 5y ago

If Amazon cared, it'd be trivial I think to make a bunch of honeypots which would get such emails and penalize the sellers that do stuff like that. But that's a big "if".