Amazon Reviews for products?

[kelly622]

I noticed when I read Amazon reviews there are a lot of folks that have received the product free or discounted in exchange for an honest review. Has anyone ever done this? And if so how do you go about doing it. Seems like a great way to try products of interest.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I noticed when I read Amazon reviews there are a lot of folks that have received the product free or discounted in exchange for an honest review. Has anyone ever done this? And if so how do you go about doing it. Seems like a great way to try products of interest.

No idea, but I see so many of those disclaimers I've started discounting those reviews--not totally, but I factor that in when I see a ton of 5-stars from people who didn't pay full price for it.

 

[MomToOne]

From what I've read, if the folks that do this get a reputation for giving a lot of neutral to bad reviews for the products they are given to review, then they will stop getting offers to review new things. They can give a neutral/bad one here and there, but not many. So I think there is a conflict of interest that will cause their reviews (either consciously or unconsciously) to be higher. So I discount those reviews completely now. I wish Amazon would give a way to filter them out - the way they are today, they are actually causing me to NOT consider products I might otherwise. If I look at a product, and the first two pages of reviews are completely filled with 4 and 5 star reviews with the "I received the product free/at a discount for a review" statement, then I just move on to the next product. It takes too long to find the legitimate reviews that I will use to decide if I want it or not. And it's made the "sort by rating" option at Amazon worthless many times now.

Of course, I learned this because I was initially interested in getting free stuff too But in the end, the evaluation of personal ethics questions + amount of work involved was not worth the upside of a few free/cheap items I probably really don't even need...

(ETA: I don't discount the "Vine Voices" reviews, since the Amazon method of picking reviewers seems more trustworthy than the other companies, and they reportedly don't stop giving offers to review if the reviews are negative. But it's hard to get chosen for Vine Voices - from the sounds of things, Amazon picks you, you don't apply.)

 

[DisneyMandC]

I noticed this recently when purchasing a small household item on Amazon. Anyone know how you get invited to do this? I would love to do it.

 

[scard192]

No idea, but I see so many of those disclaimers I've started discounting those reviews--not totally, but I factor that in when I see a ton of 5-stars from people who didn't pay full price for it.

I have a FitBit Alta and have noticed SO many reviews for screen protectors and bands for the Alta that are 100% 5 star. I really want a couple more sets of bands but don't want to pay the price for the genuine ones. was trying to figure out which products are really unbiased and paid full price for the product.

 

[Praying Colonel]

For example, I saw a link to an Amazon deal on a GoPro competitor. It has 13 reviews so far. My quick scan indicated all 13 had the disclaimer OP mentions. (12 of the 13 are 5-star reviews.) If I were in the market for a camera like this, I wouldn't buy this one until I saw at least a few more 5-star reviews from people who weren't given the camera.

 

[MomToOne]

I noticed this recently when purchasing a small household item on Amazon. Anyone know how you get invited to do this? I would love to do it.

Just google "amazon free products for review". There are lots of articles and companies that come up.

Google is your friend

 

[Albort]

I do it for one company after i bought an item from their amazon store. I have so far received an iphone 5 case, a lightning cable and 2xiPad keyboard. one of the keyboard and lightning cable are done as an appreciation though and not a review. I have gotten offers for others but i dont own those devices... (iPad pro keyboard)

 

[Belle0101]

I won't knock getting free merchandise, everyone likes getting something for free, but like other posters, the " ... honest opinion in exchange for free ... " reviews are turning me off from that specific item (whatever it is that I'm looking at).

For example, I was looking at supplements for my dogs and the one listed as the "#1 Best Seller" has multiple reviews with the "free in exchange for" disclaimer. I clicked on some of the reviewer's names and the majority of their reviews carry that disclaimer. That implies to me, they are only doing reviews for items that they can get for free. I can't trust that they weren't biased.

I've also read on Amazon's forum that Amazon is quietly purging reviews of products of this nature and revoking reviewing privileges. If you visit the Amazon forums and search for "coupon clubs" you can read more in depth about it.

(The exception for me being Vine reviews as another poster also pointed out.)

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I signed up to do this through a company. You have to apply to the company to review their products (either for free, or a discount on the item, or they pay you, depending on the company). I reviewed 2 things...an online book trilogy and a dog training collar. I was honest in my reviews...both got 3 stars from me, with detailed info about why that score. No other offers to review items, in over a month. Guess most of those companies really don't want people giving honest reviews.

My other Amazon reviews, for things that I have ordered and paid for, I reviewed the exact same way. I have over 500 reviews on there, and about 50% are 5 stars, 20% 4 stars, the remaining 30% is broken up over 3/2/1 stars. I do the company reviews too...if I get more than one email asking me for a review, I knock a star off. If they send another email asking me to change the review, I'll change it...and drop another star. I had one company ask me why I was disappointed in their service, but not ask for a change in the review (it was a shipping issue...they stated a ship by date and two weeks went by before they even tried to ship the item...it was something DH needed for a training class the next month, and I couldn't afford to buy it anywhere else); they apologized, refunded the shipping charges and gave me a 25% discount on the product (refunded the 25%). They also sent two codes, one for a free product, the other for a 25% discount on the next purchase from them, with no expiration date. I upped their star count by one, and gave them props for trying to fix things.

 

[dhardawa]

(ETA: I don't discount the "Vine Voices" reviews, since the Amazon method of picking reviewers seems more trustworthy than the other companies, and they reportedly don't stop giving offers to review if the reviews are negative. But it's hard to get chosen for Vine Voices - from the sounds of things, Amazon picks you, you don't apply.)

I'm a Vine member and this is 100% accurate. There is no benefit whatsoever in giving an item a good review. Amazon wants honest reviews. I've been doing Vine for many, many years.

I get so many non-Vine offers to review stuff and the majority I just delete because they're for junk made in China that is about Dollar Tree quality.

 

[klo1335]

www.amzreviewtrader.com is the site I've signed up for. I've gotten a couple items but not too many. They give you a discount code on the site for the product and then you buy it through amazon. Then you review it and attach the link of your review to the reviewtrader site.

 

[Hikergirl]

I do this and I always give an honest review. I still get offers to review products every other day. I don't do them all because I have no interest but I have done a bunch. I will also say that alot of the items seem to be new to Amazon and that is why there won't be a ton of reviews that are from people who bought the product full price.
My last product was a snorkel tube, but I'm late with my review because I haven't actually tried it yet. I will not be allowed to get another product until I do my review.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I have been offered unsolicited reduced prices for products from sellers when I have purchased products from them in the past. I always ignore the emails. I don't trust Vine reviews or reviews from anyone who received a product for free or at a discount. Sometimes most, if not all, reviews for products are from Viners or those receiving discounts. I will not buy these, so this strategy often back fires for sellers.

 

[Luna81]

I do this through amzreviewtrader dot come. I leave honest reviews. And have gone back and updated reviews when things break a month later.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I have noticed that people are doing this on Target now too and it's annoying me. I have the same feeling as a lot of you- I almost entirely discount the "I received the product in exchange for my honest review" ones. It's frustrating because I'm so dependent on reviews to understand the type of product I'm getting before I buy. I recently bought a fruit infusing water bottle off of amazon but had to dredge through so many reviews to find the ones that were from people who actually bought the product.

 

[dhardawa]

I have noticed that people are doing this on Target now too and it's annoying me. I have the same feeling as a lot of you- I almost entirely discount the "I received the product in exchange for my honest review" ones. It's frustrating because I'm so dependent on reviews to understand the type of product I'm getting before I buy. I recently bought a fruit infusing water bottle off of amazon but had to dredge through so many reviews to find the ones that were from people who actually bought the product.

It's on Walmart too. Not sure if it's disclosed or not though.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've been noticing this more and more lately. I usually pay pretty close attention to reviews both good and bad in order to filter out "fluff" if you will but I agree with others would be nice to have a filter for that (though I doubt businesses would want you to filter them out). I doubt that people would list it in every review they did but it would be nice to know if they actually would have bought the item or paid full price if they hadn't gotten for a discounted price or for free.

The only website where I feel I can actually trust their reviews when they got something for a discounted price or for free is ironically Goodreads (which just so happens to have been bought by Amazon back in 2013 though it's been around since 2007). It's a website dedicated to books and let me tell you people who read books (or e-books as is quite common nowadays) that they got for a discounted or free (which is usually the case) in exchange for an honest review don't seem to hold back much on their review which I'm really glad for. If it sucked they'll let you know, if they felt the full price isn't a good value for the book produced they'll let you know. If they loved it they'll let you know.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Saw this today and thought of this thread:

Paying for reviews outright has always been against the rules, and Amazon has gone so far as to sue sellers caught doing it. To get around the restrictions, companies often send free or discounted products to reviewers, which has been permitted so long as reviewers disclose that the transaction had taken place.

The inflated reviews have taken a toll on consumer trust, and so Amazon has finally decided to do something about it. The updated Amazon Community Guidelines includes the caveat:

“[C]ontent and activities consisting of advertising, promotion, or solicitation (whether direct or indirect) is not allowed, including... Creating, modifying, or posting content in exchange for compensation of any kind (including free or discounted products) or on behalf of anyone else.”

http://gizmodo.com/amazon-finally-b..._source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

 

[Albort]

i think they were starting to crack down... the review place that i was reviewing has been asking for reviews to NOT be posted on amazon... before, they wanted to post on every amazon site (ie amazon.com, amazon.ca, etc)