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I recently purchased a set of full ear headphones with boom microphone from Amazon. From a 'five star' reviewed product and vendor. It came with a printed piece

I recently purchased a set of full ear headphones with boom microphone from Amazon. From a 'five star' reviewed product and vendor. It came with a printed piece of paper in the box from the vendor offering a $15 gift card if I left a five star review for the product and then sent a screenshot to the company. Such shady behavior. The headphones are only average quality.

rStar 5y ago
this has been going on for years. amazon benefits, so they allow the practice.
oh_sigh 5y ago
I got one of those once, and wrote a review saying that this seller is paying for 5 star reviews and even though the product seemed fine, be wary of 5 star reviews. Amazon removed my review as going against the terms of service.
- zentiggr 5y ago
  Until Amazon has financial liability for fake/paid reviews, they will never go away.
- avidiax 5y ago
  Maybe leave the standard glowing 5-star review, plus a picture of the headphones with the card visible.
paulpauper 5y ago
As many have already mentioned in prior discussions, 5-star reviews are meaningless and Amazon does not care.
whoza 5y ago
I had a similar experience in April. I reported the seller to Amazon, including lots of evidence (links to reviews by other buyers complaining about the same thing, etc.) They assured me that they would take care of it, but the product is still available and it seems that nothing has changed.
- ilamont 5y ago
  Yep. Widespread problem, as noted in this submission and thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25459434 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25459434 Once again, the good guys (customers and honest sellers) lose out while the bad guys win, with no repercussions.
frumper 5y ago
I had a similar event happen with a product that cost $11.99 and they offered a $10 amazon gift card if I reviewed it. I did like the product and left a review, and they emailed me a gift card a week later. I was quite surprised. How does the business side of that work?
- avidiax 5y ago
  Easy, don't put that notice in every box, and don't expect that everyone that receives the notice would bother filling it out, and maybe once you are winding down that product, start delaying or just not sending the gift cards. You only need to keep ahead of the other items in the same product category in terms of average score and review count. That's public information, so it's pretty clear how many of these gift cards you need to give out to top the category.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  Lose money for the first several months, and then print money after you have thousands of 5 star reviews and a first page Amazon listing.

rStar 5y ago

this has been going on for years. amazon benefits, so they allow the practice.

oh_sigh 5y ago

I got one of those once, and wrote a review saying that this seller is paying for 5 star reviews and even though the product seemed fine, be wary of 5 star reviews. Amazon removed my review as going against the terms of service.

zentiggr 5y ago
Until Amazon has financial liability for fake/paid reviews, they will never go away.
avidiax 5y ago
Maybe leave the standard glowing 5-star review, plus a picture of the headphones with the card visible.

paulpauper 5y ago

As many have already mentioned in prior discussions, 5-star reviews are meaningless and Amazon does not care.

whoza 5y ago

I had a similar experience in April. I reported the seller to Amazon, including lots of evidence (links to reviews by other buyers complaining about the same thing, etc.) They assured me that they would take care of it, but the product is still available and it seems that nothing has changed.

ilamont 5y ago
Yep. Widespread problem, as noted in this submission and thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25459434 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25459434 Once again, the good guys (customers and honest sellers) lose out while the bad guys win, with no repercussions.

frumper 5y ago

I had a similar event happen with a product that cost $11.99 and they offered a $10 amazon gift card if I reviewed it. I did like the product and left a review, and they emailed me a gift card a week later. I was quite surprised. How does the business side of that work?

avidiax 5y ago
Easy, don't put that notice in every box, and don't expect that everyone that receives the notice would bother filling it out, and maybe once you are winding down that product, start delaying or just not sending the gift cards. You only need to keep ahead of the other items in the same product category in terms of average score and review count. That's public information, so it's pretty clear how many of these gift cards you need to give out to top the category.
missedthecue 5y ago
Lose money for the first several months, and then print money after you have thousands of 5 star reviews and a first page Amazon listing.