I received this post at a discount in return for an unbiased review
October 3, 2016 2:54 PM Subscribe
Amazon has banned 'incentivized reviews' which were provided in exchange for receiving products for free or at a discount. An update to the customer review policy was posted which says that the banned reviews "make up only a tiny fraction of the tens of millions of reviews on Amazon" while independent analysis has shown that incentivized reviewers are much more likely to write positive reviews.
This policy change does not apply to Amazon Vine which is a similar review program run by Amazon itself.
Well, banning incentivized reviews was always going to be easier than policing the mountains of junk they sell from third-party stores.
posted by The River Ivel at 3:07 PM on October 3, 2016 [14 favorites]
posted by The River Ivel at 3:07 PM on October 3, 2016 [14 favorites]
i really appreciate it when buyers leave reviews like "after i purchased this item i was offered a $5 gift card for leaving a 5 star review, this review i am leaving right now is neither positive nor negative, just thought ppl should know that all these 5 star reviews might not be real" or similar, not just because i will now know not to buy the item but also because i now know how little it would cost to buy the favour of the average american.
posted by poffin boffin at 3:15 PM on October 3, 2016 [43 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 3:15 PM on October 3, 2016 [43 favorites]
Goodreads is really, really, really bad for this nonsense of "I received an ARC (advanced review copy) in exchange for a balanced review"plus inevitable 5-star review. GR is owned by Amazon & I'd love if Amazon would crack down beyond their own immediate brand and go for the GR incentivised reviews too.
posted by kariebookish at 3:57 PM on October 3, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by kariebookish at 3:57 PM on October 3, 2016 [17 favorites]
The last time this topic came up, I was complaining about how I bought a bad can opener on Amazon largely because all the compensated reviews had bumped up the average rating. Since then, I left a bad review of the bad can opener and then got a response from the seller offering me a full refund of my $5 or whatever, plus another bad can opener.
So I refused a bribe of $5 and a bad redundant can opener. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am a true American hero with all my integrity and shit.
BTW, I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but that was a pretty bad can opener.
posted by ernielundquist at 3:58 PM on October 3, 2016 [73 favorites]
So I refused a bribe of $5 and a bad redundant can opener. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am a true American hero with all my integrity and shit.
BTW, I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but that was a pretty bad can opener.
posted by ernielundquist at 3:58 PM on October 3, 2016 [73 favorites]
Not the same but I strongly dislike the post-sale hassling by vendors for you to leave a (hopefully positive) review. Especially when I, the vendor, and everyone else should know and realize that a useful review is not something you can write 24 hours after receiving the product!
posted by H. Roark at 4:00 PM on October 3, 2016 [24 favorites]
posted by H. Roark at 4:00 PM on October 3, 2016 [24 favorites]
I work for a company that sells a lot of product through Amazon and other ecommerce sites.
We have never used these third party services although we have been pitched them many times. Quite frankly, everything that I have seen has been pretty suspect.
However, we have frequently used Amazon Vine and similar programs. In fact, Home Depot required us to put a dozen items that they carry in store through their equivalent.
I do not see these programs as being as problematic as the third party ones for a few reasons.
First, the purpose of Amazon Vine and the like is to get more reviews on an item - particularly a newly listed item. Very few consumers are willing to buy an item that has no reviews so these services help provide some context for the item. Conversely, the third party services that I have seen are more about boosting the ratings of your items - often by bribing the reviewer as poffin boffins described. The reviewers who participate in Amazon Vine get the product whether or not they give it a post review.
Which brings me to my second point, Vine reviewers are brutal. In my experience they are harsher than people who actually bought the item. If there are any issues with a product, you can be certain that they will be called out. I think that this has a lot to do with the subjectivity of value. That is to say, if someone buys a doodad for $50, even if they are unhappy with that purchase, they thought it was worth $50 at the point of purchase. Whereas a Vine reviewer may never have purchased the doodad because they think that such a thing could never be worth $50 and that is reflected in their rating of the product.
posted by nolnacs at 4:01 PM on October 3, 2016 [9 favorites]
We have never used these third party services although we have been pitched them many times. Quite frankly, everything that I have seen has been pretty suspect.
However, we have frequently used Amazon Vine and similar programs. In fact, Home Depot required us to put a dozen items that they carry in store through their equivalent.
I do not see these programs as being as problematic as the third party ones for a few reasons.
First, the purpose of Amazon Vine and the like is to get more reviews on an item - particularly a newly listed item. Very few consumers are willing to buy an item that has no reviews so these services help provide some context for the item. Conversely, the third party services that I have seen are more about boosting the ratings of your items - often by bribing the reviewer as poffin boffins described. The reviewers who participate in Amazon Vine get the product whether or not they give it a post review.
Which brings me to my second point, Vine reviewers are brutal. In my experience they are harsher than people who actually bought the item. If there are any issues with a product, you can be certain that they will be called out. I think that this has a lot to do with the subjectivity of value. That is to say, if someone buys a doodad for $50, even if they are unhappy with that purchase, they thought it was worth $50 at the point of purchase. Whereas a Vine reviewer may never have purchased the doodad because they think that such a thing could never be worth $50 and that is reflected in their rating of the product.
posted by nolnacs at 4:01 PM on October 3, 2016 [9 favorites]
in case anyone else was wondering it appears that amazon vine is not in fact a 6-second meme-ready video review of a product.
posted by poffin boffin at 4:13 PM on October 3, 2016 [40 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 4:13 PM on October 3, 2016 [40 favorites]
I don't know about you guys but I'm still waiting for MetaFilter to write the glowing review of me that I paid five bucks for years and years ago
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:14 PM on October 3, 2016 [47 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:14 PM on October 3, 2016 [47 favorites]
Anker once sent me a replacement Bluetooth keyboard and asked me to consider updating my review, but they didn't ask that it be updated to five stars or fail to reference the problems with the original keyboard or any of that, which actually impressed me enough that I've bought other Anker-branded products. (It was still not a great keyboard, but it was cheap and the main problem with the original was more an issue of my accidentally getting sent the German model.) I feel pretty okay with that kind of thing. And with Vine, so long as the Vine program continues not to punish people for leaving negative reviews.
But when people know they won't keep getting free stuff if they don't say something good, they stop being reliable, and I'm surprised it took Amazon this long to make a fuss over it. A lot of cheaper products, the reviews of new stuff are absolutely useless for exactly this reason. (Small household goods and phone accessories being particular areas I've noticed.)
posted by Sequence at 4:16 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
But when people know they won't keep getting free stuff if they don't say something good, they stop being reliable, and I'm surprised it took Amazon this long to make a fuss over it. A lot of cheaper products, the reviews of new stuff are absolutely useless for exactly this reason. (Small household goods and phone accessories being particular areas I've noticed.)
posted by Sequence at 4:16 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
ReviewMeta wrote a post so compelling that they killed their cash cow.
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 4:25 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 4:25 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Despite the name DoctorFedora is mostly OK.
posted by biffa at 4:28 PM on October 3, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by biffa at 4:28 PM on October 3, 2016 [7 favorites]
On the one hand - Amazon is moving a lot of schlock from sketchy vendors; I've bought some, and get annoyed at the "PLEASE REVIEW SOON" followup emails.
On the other - receiving a free book for a review is very, very common in publishing, and I'd rather that practice not end. There is, imho, a difference between "product has all its parts and functions as expected, five stars" and "contents of this book moved me to tears and made me rethink my life choices, five stars."
A book review comparable to other product reviews would be "this book had color pictures as described, the margins were big enough to hold without covering the text, and none of the pages fell out, even after multiple re-readings."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:30 PM on October 3, 2016 [8 favorites]
On the other - receiving a free book for a review is very, very common in publishing, and I'd rather that practice not end. There is, imho, a difference between "product has all its parts and functions as expected, five stars" and "contents of this book moved me to tears and made me rethink my life choices, five stars."
A book review comparable to other product reviews would be "this book had color pictures as described, the margins were big enough to hold without covering the text, and none of the pages fell out, even after multiple re-readings."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:30 PM on October 3, 2016 [8 favorites]
It was fun while it lasted. Our non stick frying pans are still ok. The essential oils still smell fine.
posted by fixedgear at 4:36 PM on October 3, 2016
posted by fixedgear at 4:36 PM on October 3, 2016
whenever i buy anything on amazon (sorry!) I look for the phrases "fair review" or "provided in exchange". If they come up and the review looks compensated, I won't buy the product - period. I just assume the reviews have been compromised.
posted by lalochezia at 4:41 PM on October 3, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by lalochezia at 4:41 PM on October 3, 2016 [7 favorites]
Not the same but I strongly dislike the post-sale hassling by vendors for you to leave a (hopefully positive) review. Especially when I, the vendor, and everyone else should know and realize that a useful review is not something you can write 24 hours after receiving the product!
These and the constant pestering from companies that I otherwise have a business relationship with to PLEASE TAKE OUR SURVEY FOR NO COMPENSATION probably make up > 50% of the traffic to my otherwise spam-free email account.
I'm having a hard time taking issue with the people who review for pay. Why should they perform uncompensated labor for either a company or total strangers considering buying a product?
posted by indubitable at 4:44 PM on October 3, 2016 [5 favorites]
These and the constant pestering from companies that I otherwise have a business relationship with to PLEASE TAKE OUR SURVEY FOR NO COMPENSATION probably make up > 50% of the traffic to my otherwise spam-free email account.
I'm having a hard time taking issue with the people who review for pay. Why should they perform uncompensated labor for either a company or total strangers considering buying a product?
posted by indubitable at 4:44 PM on October 3, 2016 [5 favorites]
receiving a free book for a review is very, very common in publishing, and I'd rather that practice not end.
It doesn't look like the practice will end. Amazon says, "Book authors and publishers may continue to provide free or discounted copies of their books to readers, as long as the author or publisher does not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review."
Authors who curate their own ARC lists may need to make minor changes to the wording of their agreements with readers, just to make sure everything is clear. It's interesting that they mention "author or publisher" but not third-party ARC list curators, although the ones I know are currently trying to think through how this will affect them, to make sure they're on the right side of the policy.
posted by mittens at 4:59 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
It doesn't look like the practice will end. Amazon says, "Book authors and publishers may continue to provide free or discounted copies of their books to readers, as long as the author or publisher does not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review."
Authors who curate their own ARC lists may need to make minor changes to the wording of their agreements with readers, just to make sure everything is clear. It's interesting that they mention "author or publisher" but not third-party ARC list curators, although the ones I know are currently trying to think through how this will affect them, to make sure they're on the right side of the policy.
posted by mittens at 4:59 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
Thank god. One of the last times I tried to shop for something, I went in all, "I'm about to get a cast off, what products will get all the dead skin off me ASAP", and instead wandered into a bunch of products highly rated by people who were like, "I didn't really need an exfoliating sponge, but since they sent me one for free, I figured why not. It's soft and is a nice color, so I'll definitely keep it around." I ended up not buying anything, so I guess this is a smart move by Amazon.
posted by gueneverey at 5:18 PM on October 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by gueneverey at 5:18 PM on October 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
Why would you do this for money? Well, okay. I like money.
Writing reviews can be a bunch of fun if you're in the right mindset. If you sell me something that says what it is on the box, I'm usually cool with it. If you sell me something great, well, you're getting four or five loosely written paragraphs* about why your product changed my life and why it could change yours.
*may have been influenced by mind-altering substances. Who gives a crap anymore? Why am I typing in tinier fonts? Noooooo.
posted by Sphinx at 5:18 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Writing reviews can be a bunch of fun if you're in the right mindset. If you sell me something that says what it is on the box, I'm usually cool with it. If you sell me something great, well, you're getting four or five loosely written paragraphs* about why your product changed my life and why it could change yours.
*may have been influenced by mind-altering substances. Who gives a crap anymore? Why am I typing in tinier fonts? Noooooo.
posted by Sphinx at 5:18 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Goodreads is really, really, really bad for this nonsense of "I received an ARC (advanced review copy) in exchange for a balanced review"plus inevitable 5-star review. GR is owned by Amazon & I'd love if Amazon would crack down beyond their own immediate brand and go for the GR incentivised reviews too.
Yep, it's especially annoying when a book hasn't received enough "honest" reviews to balance out those "bribed" 5-star ones. I get offered ARCs at least a couple times a month and so far I've refused them because of the unspoken expectation of a perhaps undeserved great review.
As far as Amazon is concerned, I rarely review anything anymore after a bad experience I had when my review kept being deleted until I removed a certain negative statement. It seemed like the protest was coming from the vendor so the next time I bought the product in question I used a different vendor. There were no more problems with the product.
posted by fuse theorem at 5:29 PM on October 3, 2016
Yep, it's especially annoying when a book hasn't received enough "honest" reviews to balance out those "bribed" 5-star ones. I get offered ARCs at least a couple times a month and so far I've refused them because of the unspoken expectation of a perhaps undeserved great review.
As far as Amazon is concerned, I rarely review anything anymore after a bad experience I had when my review kept being deleted until I removed a certain negative statement. It seemed like the protest was coming from the vendor so the next time I bought the product in question I used a different vendor. There were no more problems with the product.
posted by fuse theorem at 5:29 PM on October 3, 2016
I've been an avid Amazon shopper for several years and have noticed the spurious reviews with healthy disdain. Glad to see them go because like some others I've avoided buying products if the reviews seem largely promotional.
posted by a halcyon day at 6:13 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by a halcyon day at 6:13 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
Goodreads! oh lawdy me. I left one short brutal review of a book whose portrayal of female characters was so unrealistic and distasteful I didn't make it past page 71, and all I've ever gotten since is a hassle from fanboys of the author who are shocked - shocked I tell you! - that somebody might find fault with their precious. Apparently, having a vagina disqualifies me from critiquing military science fiction.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 6:29 PM on October 3, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 6:29 PM on October 3, 2016 [10 favorites]
I'm glad to see it getting banned, I nearly got burned last year when I was buying a sous vide device. The one that cost 30 bucks less than an anova and had great reviews was tempting till I looked online at forums and such and saw a lot more unflattering reviews.
posted by Ferreous at 6:40 PM on October 3, 2016
posted by Ferreous at 6:40 PM on October 3, 2016
But there's no proof of quid pro quo here, right? As I understand it, there's no enforcement mechanism, they just give you stuff in exchange for an honest review, which could be bad. It's quite possible all these reviews could be genuinely positive and uninfluenced. How is this any different from when we allow a business to give a member of Congress a gold paperweight, or a politician $200K for a speaking engagement, in exchange for their honest and unbiased policy work?
[/mild sarcasm]
posted by chortly at 6:51 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
[/mild sarcasm]
posted by chortly at 6:51 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Now I want a way to easily find out which version of a particular item Amazon sells the most of. Which 4-pack of Mason jars do my fellow Americans deem best - not by stars, but by sales numbers?
posted by Auden at 7:01 PM on October 3, 2016
posted by Auden at 7:01 PM on October 3, 2016
Well, banning incentivized reviews was always going to be easier than policing the mountains of junk they sell from third-party stores.
No kidding. I got burned on a bunch of 3 compartment plastic leftover/lunch boxes. The lids don't hold and the compartment doesn't keep the foods seperate. Turns out these are known problems but the distributors just open thousands of different amazon shops and close the ones with the bad reviews and likely fake the good reviews in the others.
This now pretty much stops me now from buying from unknown shops which is partly amazon's loss and partly mine.
posted by srboisvert at 8:02 PM on October 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
No kidding. I got burned on a bunch of 3 compartment plastic leftover/lunch boxes. The lids don't hold and the compartment doesn't keep the foods seperate. Turns out these are known problems but the distributors just open thousands of different amazon shops and close the ones with the bad reviews and likely fake the good reviews in the others.
This now pretty much stops me now from buying from unknown shops which is partly amazon's loss and partly mine.
posted by srboisvert at 8:02 PM on October 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
But there's no proof of quid pro quo here, right? As I understand it, there's no enforcement mechanism, they just give you stuff in exchange for an honest review, which could be bad.
Except not really, because that's not how people work. I think it's natural that even on a subconscious level someone is more inclined to review something they get for free, because everyone likes free stuff. Also, if you didn't actually spend your own money on something, you're going to be more inclined to overlook certain flaws, because it's free.
Now, that may not be true for every single person, but it's true enough for me to completely ignore these reviews. The only exception is that I do appreciate the people who take a bunch of photos or videos of items because that can be useful.
But seriously, this just doesn't add any value to Amazon, and in fact, it's a big negative, because I use to find Amazon reviews very helpful, and now I have to wade through these compensated reviews, so I'm glad to hear that Amazon is putting a stop to this.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:10 PM on October 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
Except not really, because that's not how people work. I think it's natural that even on a subconscious level someone is more inclined to review something they get for free, because everyone likes free stuff. Also, if you didn't actually spend your own money on something, you're going to be more inclined to overlook certain flaws, because it's free.
Now, that may not be true for every single person, but it's true enough for me to completely ignore these reviews. The only exception is that I do appreciate the people who take a bunch of photos or videos of items because that can be useful.
But seriously, this just doesn't add any value to Amazon, and in fact, it's a big negative, because I use to find Amazon reviews very helpful, and now I have to wade through these compensated reviews, so I'm glad to hear that Amazon is putting a stop to this.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:10 PM on October 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
Not the same but I strongly dislike the post-sale hassling by vendors for you to leave a (hopefully positive) review. Especially when I, the vendor, and everyone else should know and realize that a useful review is not something you can write 24 hours after receiving the product!
Ugh, yes, this is getting super annoying. I didn't mind when it was a really rare thing, and I only got a follow up email once (especially when it was something straightforward like microfiber cloths), but I got 3 emails in a couple days from the person I bought an ankle wrap from, and it's like, I've hardly had a chance to use this thing. One email, a week or two after I buy something actually could encourage me to review an item, but more than one email guarantees I won't review this.
I'd love it if Amazon would let me opt out of seller follow up emails completely.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:11 PM on October 3, 2016
Ugh, yes, this is getting super annoying. I didn't mind when it was a really rare thing, and I only got a follow up email once (especially when it was something straightforward like microfiber cloths), but I got 3 emails in a couple days from the person I bought an ankle wrap from, and it's like, I've hardly had a chance to use this thing. One email, a week or two after I buy something actually could encourage me to review an item, but more than one email guarantees I won't review this.
I'd love it if Amazon would let me opt out of seller follow up emails completely.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:11 PM on October 3, 2016
I'd love it if Amazon would let me opt out of seller follow up emails completely.
I set up an email filter to send emails containing "@marketplace.amazon.com" straight to trash.
posted by entropyiswinning at 10:06 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
I set up an email filter to send emails containing "@marketplace.amazon.com" straight to trash.
posted by entropyiswinning at 10:06 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
Finally. Some genius at Amazon figured out that destroying their review system to sell 1% more shit (and pissing off every customer who bought the garbage) wasn't worth it. Now if they would only do the same for third party sellers -- if I wanted to buy dodgy shit with high shipping costs I would be on ebay in the first place.
posted by benzenedream at 10:59 PM on October 3, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 10:59 PM on October 3, 2016 [6 favorites]
indubitable: Why should they perform uncompensated labor for either a company or total strangers considering buying a product?
If the system works, the compensation is the benefit you get from others' reviews of products you are considering buying. Writing a review of a product you bought is, as they say, paying it forward. Shoehorning this idea into capitalist dogma is difficult, as we can now see.
posted by merlynkline at 12:55 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
If the system works, the compensation is the benefit you get from others' reviews of products you are considering buying. Writing a review of a product you bought is, as they say, paying it forward. Shoehorning this idea into capitalist dogma is difficult, as we can now see.
posted by merlynkline at 12:55 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Vine reviewers are brutal. In my experience they are harsher than people who actually bought the item.
As an Amazon buyer - absolutely agreed - and the corollary of this is that a product or book with multiple positive Vine reviews is usually worth checking out.
As an occasional Vine reviewer: In the past Amazon (UK) used to send Vine reviewers email news letters telling them about upcoming offers and usually with some stuff that clearly met my criteria of "I'd like that!" (those products usually were snapped up very rapidly). More recently they have stopped sending me notifications and I have to bother to look on the site for what is there [checks now] ...rabbit repellent, ink jet cartridges (with insufficient details on their compatibility) and 5 competing brands of staplers (I did once review one of these) . Plus about 250 books - but none that look sufficiently interesting to invest many hours in reading and the providing a fair review. I am not sure if I have dropped off some kind of marketing demographic cliff or if marketing people are just using Vine less frequently.
posted by rongorongo at 1:13 AM on October 4, 2016
As an Amazon buyer - absolutely agreed - and the corollary of this is that a product or book with multiple positive Vine reviews is usually worth checking out.
As an occasional Vine reviewer: In the past Amazon (UK) used to send Vine reviewers email news letters telling them about upcoming offers and usually with some stuff that clearly met my criteria of "I'd like that!" (those products usually were snapped up very rapidly). More recently they have stopped sending me notifications and I have to bother to look on the site for what is there [checks now] ...rabbit repellent, ink jet cartridges (with insufficient details on their compatibility) and 5 competing brands of staplers (I did once review one of these) . Plus about 250 books - but none that look sufficiently interesting to invest many hours in reading and the providing a fair review. I am not sure if I have dropped off some kind of marketing demographic cliff or if marketing people are just using Vine less frequently.
posted by rongorongo at 1:13 AM on October 4, 2016
Tell me though, what's worse - compromised review by people who got the item for free, or 1-star reviews of a product that's perfectly fine but Amazon fucked up the delivery somehow and people are using the product review to complain about the courier?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:12 AM on October 4, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:12 AM on October 4, 2016 [11 favorites]
And here I was all ready to do an askmefi asking how to become of those guys people just send free shit to.
posted by kanewai at 2:17 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by kanewai at 2:17 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
My favorite Amazon pages are the ones where there's a zillion product reviews with a pronounced inverted bell curve in the ratings (lots of 5s, lots of 1s, little in between), a lot of glib "SUCKS" and "IT BROKE" negative reviews, a lot of glib "GREAT" and "WORKS EVERY TIME" positive reviews, and one incredibly long, detailed review rated "most helpful" that explains basically that as long as you assemble it according to the instructions rather than how you might think it should be, it works great and lasts forever.
posted by ardgedee at 2:24 AM on October 4, 2016 [15 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 2:24 AM on October 4, 2016 [15 favorites]
Well, banning incentivized reviews was always going to be easier than policing the mountains of junk they sell from third-party stores.
Over the last year or so this has turned into a real problem and has caused me to order less from Amazon. You'd think they would realize that having lots of suspect stores selling junk might be a problem, but I guess as long as they collect their percentage they don't care. I've had things not arrive, and a utensil turned out to be a poorly made copy of the real item.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:07 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Over the last year or so this has turned into a real problem and has caused me to order less from Amazon. You'd think they would realize that having lots of suspect stores selling junk might be a problem, but I guess as long as they collect their percentage they don't care. I've had things not arrive, and a utensil turned out to be a poorly made copy of the real item.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:07 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
There's a service called FakeSpot which analyses Amazon and Yelp reviews to spot fake reviews - perhaps Amazon just needs to buy their technology?
posted by Stark at 5:50 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Stark at 5:50 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Nthing Fakespot which is great. I wish there were some way to integrate the two, which is essentially what Stark says :)
There's just so many products at Amazon - I was looking for a glass screen protector for my new phone, because the one I used for my old phone doesn't have a newer model. There's something like 1300 to choose from. Entering them all into Fakespot isn't really a constructive use of time...
posted by getawaysticks at 6:59 AM on October 4, 2016
There's just so many products at Amazon - I was looking for a glass screen protector for my new phone, because the one I used for my old phone doesn't have a newer model. There's something like 1300 to choose from. Entering them all into Fakespot isn't really a constructive use of time...
posted by getawaysticks at 6:59 AM on October 4, 2016
I find the review system is also messed up by people who don't understand how it's supposed to work as well. If your review states that your new blender is a piece of steaming crap, why the hell did you still give it four stars?! Does an appliance have to chop off your kids' fingers and run away with your spouse before you go below three?
My mother recently purchased an item that she didn't receive and recruited me to help her resolve the issue. When looking up the third party seller I found reviews for this problem merchant stating that consumers weren't receiving their products and (like her) being provided completely fake tracking numbers. But there were people claiming that they never received their order and still rating the seller with two, three, four, or even five stars.
posted by dances with hamsters at 7:17 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
My mother recently purchased an item that she didn't receive and recruited me to help her resolve the issue. When looking up the third party seller I found reviews for this problem merchant stating that consumers weren't receiving their products and (like her) being provided completely fake tracking numbers. But there were people claiming that they never received their order and still rating the seller with two, three, four, or even five stars.
posted by dances with hamsters at 7:17 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
A member of my extended family would rate an appliance that chopped off her kids' fingers four stars because she's so programmed to give approval and make everything ok all the time. She thinks there's someone on the other end of the review who handcrafted those plastic forks and will not sleep tonight because she mentioned that the tines broke off in her mouth. She also reviews many products simply because she keeps getting emails asking her to review them (have to make the people sending those emails happy!) so that's why you're getting those emails - sometimes they work. I don't know how many reviews are from people like her but they certainly skew the ratings. Maybe they're offset by people rating everything one star because the $2 USB cable didn't make them instantly happier, richer, younger, and more charming.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:25 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:25 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I once bought a sleep mask on Amazon that was recommended on a Christmas gift list on Pinterest. It turned out to be everything the couple of *thousand* reviews said it was: an excellent mask. So I wrote a glowing review myself. And then I got an email from the company thanking me for the review and telling me another free mask was on its way to me. I guess that's one way of ensuring my review doesn't change.
posted by Dragonness at 9:06 AM on October 4, 2016
posted by Dragonness at 9:06 AM on October 4, 2016
I wish I could find it now, but a few years ago someone blogged about an Amazon review they'd found for a smoke alarm. It was along the lines of:
Two weeks after installing this smoke alarm, it went off in the middle of the night. My family all evacuated safely and were able to call the fire brigade. After the fire was extinguished the fire fighters said that the toxic gasses in the sofa that was burning would have killed us all in our sleep if it wasn't for the alarm!posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:26 AM on October 4, 2016 [9 favorites]
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
litera scripta manet, I far prefer the hassling please review mails to the ones that you get after anything less than a 5 star review. I just got another follow-up today for a bluetooth receiver I gave 3 stars. Either third or fourth one begging for some sort of engagement and follow-up that they can use to goad me into a change. I would write back you could fix the broken shit I specifically called out in the review, perhaps if it wouldn't just increase the efforts at convincing me.
It's so tiresome it makes me just not want to review things, which I suspect is part of the point and why Amazon won't fix it.
posted by phearlez at 10:03 AM on October 4, 2016
It's so tiresome it makes me just not want to review things, which I suspect is part of the point and why Amazon won't fix it.
posted by phearlez at 10:03 AM on October 4, 2016
I find the review system is also messed up by people who don't understand how it's supposed to work as well. If your review states that your new blender is a piece of steaming crap, why the hell did you still give it four stars?!
I see this so often in the other direction too. I normally check 1 star reviews the most because that's where you will find the "Broke 2 days after I got it.", but man a lot of people have some really weird/high expectations for their toasters.
"Product works great and perfectly as advertised. It is built of quality materials and very durable. I then tried to make a soup dumpling in it, and it broke." 1 out of 5 stars.
"Toaster works perfectly, but I prefer my toaster oven's versatility. Single use appliances make no sense to me." 1 out of 5 stars.
posted by mayonnaises at 10:14 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
I see this so often in the other direction too. I normally check 1 star reviews the most because that's where you will find the "Broke 2 days after I got it.", but man a lot of people have some really weird/high expectations for their toasters.
"Product works great and perfectly as advertised. It is built of quality materials and very durable. I then tried to make a soup dumpling in it, and it broke." 1 out of 5 stars.
"Toaster works perfectly, but I prefer my toaster oven's versatility. Single use appliances make no sense to me." 1 out of 5 stars.
posted by mayonnaises at 10:14 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Not directly related to receiving products for reviews, but the reviews for the BIC Cristal For Her Pens are always worth reading.
I have taken to reading reviews before I buy anything at Amazon, and ignoring both stars and anything that says "this is awesome!" without giving details about what makes it awesome.
I want to know: was it as described/advertised; does the color match the picture; did it break quickly; did it fit as expected; how good was the functionality. I don't care how long it took to ship (if I'm in a hurry, I buy "shipped by Amazon;" if I don't care if it gets here this month, I sometimes buy "$3 no shipping cost" items) or whether it fit the reviewer's lifestyle.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:59 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I have taken to reading reviews before I buy anything at Amazon, and ignoring both stars and anything that says "this is awesome!" without giving details about what makes it awesome.
I want to know: was it as described/advertised; does the color match the picture; did it break quickly; did it fit as expected; how good was the functionality. I don't care how long it took to ship (if I'm in a hurry, I buy "shipped by Amazon;" if I don't care if it gets here this month, I sometimes buy "$3 no shipping cost" items) or whether it fit the reviewer's lifestyle.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:59 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is great! I try to read a large number of reviews on stuff I'm buying on Amazon and I've noticed lately how abundant these types of reviews are. I get annoyed and I'll mark them "not helpful", so this is going to greatly reduce my research time when buying stuff.
posted by numaner at 11:49 AM on October 4, 2016
posted by numaner at 11:49 AM on October 4, 2016
There's a service called FakeSpot which analyses Amazon and Yelp reviews to spot fake reviews - perhaps Amazon just needs to buy their technology?
A combination of this, and slickdeals(which gets a fakespot link in like every thread) is the only way i buy random small things like battery banks and kitchen stuff online anymore.
If something is crap there will be a post in the forum very quickly, with an explanation why. Or someone will almost instantly get called out for shilling their own account/having a fake account/etc.
I'm surprised amazon didn't implement a better user vetting/reputation/rank system, but i always figured they were basically trying to skate the knifes edge between so much garbage everything collapsed and raking in those sweet fees/pageviews/conversions to additional purchases.
Finally. Some genius at Amazon figured out that destroying their review system to sell 1% more shit (and pissing off every customer who bought the garbage) wasn't worth it. Now if they would only do the same for third party sellers -- if I wanted to buy dodgy shit with high shipping costs I would be on ebay in the first place.
It still pisses me off that they barely police this system. Amazon marketplace, like offerup is to craigslist, is just a shitty version of ebay. It's shitty for buyers AND sellers. The only crappier system i can think of is etsy's opaque garbage(at least as of a year or two ago the last time i used it).
So many algorithm driven accounts, vague "like new" items with poor descriptions, and just bad pricing. Something goes out of print or production? every seller automatically kicks up to like $600 even when they're going for $20 on ebay.
Warehouse deals are cool though. I wish they'd just put in stricter rules for being a marketplace seller and keep those.
posted by emptythought at 6:40 PM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
A combination of this, and slickdeals(which gets a fakespot link in like every thread) is the only way i buy random small things like battery banks and kitchen stuff online anymore.
If something is crap there will be a post in the forum very quickly, with an explanation why. Or someone will almost instantly get called out for shilling their own account/having a fake account/etc.
I'm surprised amazon didn't implement a better user vetting/reputation/rank system, but i always figured they were basically trying to skate the knifes edge between so much garbage everything collapsed and raking in those sweet fees/pageviews/conversions to additional purchases.
Finally. Some genius at Amazon figured out that destroying their review system to sell 1% more shit (and pissing off every customer who bought the garbage) wasn't worth it. Now if they would only do the same for third party sellers -- if I wanted to buy dodgy shit with high shipping costs I would be on ebay in the first place.
It still pisses me off that they barely police this system. Amazon marketplace, like offerup is to craigslist, is just a shitty version of ebay. It's shitty for buyers AND sellers. The only crappier system i can think of is etsy's opaque garbage(at least as of a year or two ago the last time i used it).
So many algorithm driven accounts, vague "like new" items with poor descriptions, and just bad pricing. Something goes out of print or production? every seller automatically kicks up to like $600 even when they're going for $20 on ebay.
Warehouse deals are cool though. I wish they'd just put in stricter rules for being a marketplace seller and keep those.
posted by emptythought at 6:40 PM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
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(Full disclosure: Yes, I have reviewed stuff I bought on Amazon. In every case, it was stuff I bought, unprompted, with my own money.)
posted by sourcequench at 3:07 PM on October 3, 2016 [4 favorites]