Brilliant Marketing Technique or Unethical and Misleading?

[Luv Bunnies]

I needed a good lint brush to get rabbit fur off my clothes and furniture. I searched Amazon, looked at the various features of each brush and read the reviews. I found one that got mostly 5-star reviews. People raved about how well it picked up fur and lint and how easy it was to clean and use again. I bought one for myself and one for my sister who also has pet rabbits.

When the brush arrived, I found that it worked well to pick up fur. It comes with a self-cleaning case. You push the brush in and pull it out and it comes out clean. The fur collects at the bottom of the case so you just pull off a little cap and dump it out. My sister and I both agreed that it's hard to get the brush into and out of the case. You have to really push and pull hard. I never write Amazon reviews, but if I did I would give the product 4 stars, not 5.

Last week, I got a postcard from the seller. It said they wanted my feedback on their product, and they would give me a $10 Amazon gift card for filling out a questionnaire. It sounded like a good deal and I feel that I do have valuable feedback about my experience with the product. So I went to their website. They asked for my Amazon order number to verify that I had purchased the product. The next instruction said to go to the Amazon website, write a positive review of the product and select the 5-star rating. Then it said to take a screenshot of my review and upload it so they could see it. After they verify that it's posted on Amazon, I would receive my $10 gift card.

I did not post a review. As I said earlier, I would not give this product 5-stars and I'm not willing to post a review that I don't believe in. I cannot be bought, but I know a lot of people can. So now I'm wondering how many of the 5-star reviews are honest, or just written by people who wanted the gift card? Basically, they're paying people for 5-star reviews. Is this unethical? Dishonest? Brilliant marketing technique? I bought the product based on the reviews. It's a good product. I've been generally happy with it, but I'm not willing to give it 5 stars when I don't feel it's warranted. This is the first time I've encountered this. Is it a common practice?

 

[GoingSince1990]

Unfortunately fake reviews are a very common problem on Amazon. Be very suspicious when you see many 5 star reviews of an off-brand product, all short and with similar wording. And the $10 bribe is against Amazon rules; you should report the offer to Amazon who will take action against the seller.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...llers-tactics-cash-bribes-which-a8989631.html

 

[barkley]

i don't know if it's common with amazon but we did a private rental of a place on trip advisor a few years back and when the owner contacted us afterwards to coordinate the deposit refund we were offered a 'bonus discount' off what we had paid for the daily rate added to the refund in exchange for a review that met certain criteria. i felt it was deceptive and even though i would have given a fairly positive review i opted not to leave one at all.

with amazon i've taken to ignoring the star rating and paging through the comments if it's a product/vendor i'm unfamiliar with. this is b/c i had a terrible experience with a vendor christmas before last and when i started researching them on amazon i found that they actually had an overwhelmingly negative history but for some reason amazon keeps lining those reviews out (but you can still read them, it just cancels out the negative impacting their feedback score). amazon repeated wrote 'delivery issue is not vendor's fault', 'failure to provide product is not vendor's fault'-well, amazon was not the one fulfilling the items or shipping them so if that vendor had years long issues (akin to taking fraudulent orders and refusing refunds) i don't know why they continue to do business with them-i just peeked on amazon, and they are still doing it. amazon shows 4 stars/90% historically positive but it's pages upon pages of complaints with over 40% negative just for this month.

 

[sam_gordon]

I needed a good lint brush to get rabbit fur off my clothes and furniture. I searched Amazon, looked at the various features of each brush and read the reviews. I found one that got mostly 5-star reviews. People raved about how well it picked up fur and lint and how easy it was to clean and use again. I bought one for myself and one for my sister who also has pet rabbits.

When the brush arrived, I found that it worked well to pick up fur. It comes with a self-cleaning case. You push the brush in and pull it out and it comes out clean. The fur collects at the bottom of the case so you just pull off a little cap and dump it out. My sister and I both agreed that it's hard to get the brush into and out of the case. You have to really push and pull hard. I never write Amazon reviews, but if I did I would give the product 4 stars, not 5.

Last week, I got a postcard from the seller. It said they wanted my feedback on their product, and they would give me a $10 Amazon gift card for filling out a questionnaire. It sounded like a good deal and I feel that I do have valuable feedback about my experience with the product. So I went to their website. They asked for my Amazon order number to verify that I had purchased the product. The next instruction said to go to the Amazon website, write a positive review of the product and select the 5-star rating. Then it said to take a screenshot of my review and upload it so they could see it. After they verify that it's posted on Amazon, I would receive my $10 gift card.

I did not post a review. As I said earlier, I would not give this product 5-stars and I'm not willing to post a review that I don't believe in. I cannot be bought, but I know a lot of people can. So now I'm wondering how many of the 5-star reviews are honest, or just written by people who wanted the gift card? Basically, they're paying people for 5-star reviews. Is this unethical? Dishonest? Brilliant marketing technique? I bought the product based on the reviews. It's a good product. I've been generally happy with it, but I'm not willing to give it 5 stars when I don't feel it's warranted. This is the first time I've encountered this. Is it a common practice?

Does the postcard say you have to give a 5* review to qualify for the GC or just "give a review"? Either way, I'd do an honest review on Amazon, take the screen shot and send it to them with a note saying "Here's my review that you asked for. I expect to receive my GC by 'x' date. If I don't I will inform Amazon that you are bribing customers for 5* reviews, which is against their policy." You have absolutely nothing to lose.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I needed a good lint brush to get rabbit fur off my clothes and furniture. I searched Amazon, looked at the various features of each brush and read the reviews. I found one that got mostly 5-star reviews. People raved about how well it picked up fur and lint and how easy it was to clean and use again. I bought one for myself and one for my sister who also has pet rabbits.

When the brush arrived, I found that it worked well to pick up fur. It comes with a self-cleaning case. You push the brush in and pull it out and it comes out clean. The fur collects at the bottom of the case so you just pull off a little cap and dump it out. My sister and I both agreed that it's hard to get the brush into and out of the case. You have to really push and pull hard. I never write Amazon reviews, but if I did I would give the product 4 stars, not 5.

Last week, I got a postcard from the seller. It said they wanted my feedback on their product, and they would give me a $10 Amazon gift card for filling out a questionnaire. It sounded like a good deal and I feel that I do have valuable feedback about my experience with the product. So I went to their website. They asked for my Amazon order number to verify that I had purchased the product. The next instruction said to go to the Amazon website, write a positive review of the product and select the 5-star rating. Then it said to take a screenshot of my review and upload it so they could see it. After they verify that it's posted on Amazon, I would receive my $10 gift card.

I did not post a review. As I said earlier, I would not give this product 5-stars and I'm not willing to post a review that I don't believe in. I cannot be bought, but I know a lot of people can. So now I'm wondering how many of the 5-star reviews are honest, or just written by people who wanted the gift card? Basically, they're paying people for 5-star reviews. Is this unethical? Dishonest? Brilliant marketing technique? I bought the product based on the reviews. It's a good product. I've been generally happy with it, but I'm not willing to give it 5 stars when I don't feel it's warranted. This is the first time I've encountered this. Is it a common practice?

Unethical and misleading and against Amazon policy. But you need a little more proof before you do anything about it. Write your honest review and see if you get the $10 gift card or not. If not, you have them red handed and report it to amazon.

 

[RamblingMad]

You're being manipulated. I worked for a company that would post fake reviews for their products. They posted both good and bad intentionally. You want people talking about your product. This was done by their social media marketing department. It's a strategy. They'd also do this for their YouTube ads as well.

You're basically being paid for a good review.

 

[SteveH]

I've had a few offers like that, I consider it very unethical. I've reported 2 of them to Amazon, though I don't think they did a thing. I to use FakeSpot.com at times and I'm a bit shocked at the results I get.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Regardless of one's feelings on the matter it is something that should be reported to Amazon for review of the seller's practices.

Below is Amazon's rules on reviews, I've bolded the pertinent aspect to your situation.

Customer Reviews help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

Customer Reviews should give customers genuine product feedback from fellow shoppers. We have a zero tolerance policy for any review designed to mislead or manipulate customers.

We don't allow anyone to write reviews as a form of promotion.

The following are types of reviews that we don't allow and will remove:

• A review by someone who has a direct or indirect financial interest in the product.
• A review by someone perceived to have a close personal relationship with the product's owner, author, or artist.
• A review by the product manufacturer, posing as an unbiased shopper.
• Multiple negative reviews for the same product from one customer.
• A review in exchange for monetary reward.
• A review of a game in exchange for bonus in-game credits.
• A negative review from a seller on a competitor's product.
• A positive review from an artist on a peer's album in exchange for receiving a positive review from them.

OP it actually doesn't matter whether the seller is requiring a 5-star review in exchange for the $10 gift card because according to Amazon's policy offering any money in exchange for a review in general is against their policy.

 

[_19disnA]

I rarely use 'social media' as a means to decide on making a purchase. I tend to consider any online reviews with suspicion since you don't really know if they are genuine, written by the company who sells the product or simply a disgruntled buyer who complains about everything. Amazon is very reputable and I have purchased many items from them. To me they are mostly a 'storefront' where merchants can sell their items. For larger purchases, I always look around to compare prices and glance over the reviews to get a general sense of what people are saying. I am more interested in issues/quality problems with the product vs. if people do/don't 'like' the product. Good/bad reviews don't really have a significant impact on what I buy, so I don't get too wrapped in whether or not they are true. Getting paid to write a good review is underhanded at best and just wrong when done for dubious reasons.

 

[DLgal]

This is why I never even read the 5 star reviews.

No product is perfect.

Instead, I read the 2, 3 and 4 star reviews. I find that 1 and 5 star reviews are often over exaggerated claims that rarely seem likely.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Strangely enough, I opened up a clock radio today that I ordered from a third party seller on Amazon. They will pay $15 for a good review! That’s two in the same week. This is obviously becoming a thing!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Absolutely unethical!

And yes, report them.

 

[MillauFr]

Isn't most paid advertising on TV and radio the same thing? People get paid big dollars to convince buyers the products are the best even if they are not.

 

[Squirlz]

Isn't most paid advertising on TV and radio the same thing? People get paid big dollars to convince buyers the products are the best even if they are not.

But you know those are paid shills. We're talking about people trying to manipulate supposedly unbiased opinions.

 

[_19disnA]

TV ads are different since most people realize the movie star/sports figure/celebrity are getting paid to endorse the product. Companies think if we have a positive impression of their spokesperson, that will somehow translate into also liking the product. Wouldn't surprise me to find out they have never used the product. Online reviews should be from random people offering their honest opinions who are NOT associated with the company selling the product. Providing any kind of 'incentive' to post positive reviews is dishonest.

 

[wgeo]

In my opinion it's gotten pretty bad with Amazon reviews. I was looking for some pantry canisters yesterday and so many had incredible ratings, but when you read the reviews they were easy to identify as fake. They all said "verified purchase in United States" so I'm not quite sure what they are doing to get around it, but obviously many were written by the same person. The same mistakes that foreign speakers often make with English (not that I care if a reviewer is not from the US - but all these reviews said verfied US purchase). The reviews ended with phrases like "your satisfaction guaranteed" which obviously a person would never say on a review. So I put the url into Fakespot and every company got an F, and each one indicated that less than 10% of the reviews were reliable.

I hope at this point no one ever reads reviews on Amazon and assume they are anything other then completely fake.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Isn't most paid advertising on TV and radio the same thing? People get paid big dollars to convince buyers the products are the best even if they are not.

But you know paid advertising on TV is just that. It's not disguising paid advertising as a consumer review without disclosure that it's paid advertising.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I ordered an item from amazon that had a business card tucked inside the product offering a $5 Amazon gift card for a good review. I was very pleased with the product, so I did it and sent the screen shot. I got my gift card.

The place where I buy tires offered me 50% off my alignment the last time I got tires if I did a positive Google review and showed it to them before I paid. Again, I was very pleased by the service, so I did it and happily took my discount.

 

[Searc]

I ordered an item from amazon that had a business card tucked inside the product offering a $5 Amazon gift card for a good review. I was very pleased with the product, so I did it and sent the screen shot. I got my gift card.

The place where I buy tires offered me 50% off my alignment the last time I got tires if I did a positive Google review and showed it to them before I paid. Again, I was very pleased by the service, so I did it and happily took my discount.

How can you write a positive review before the work is even done?

 

[DisneyHardin]

How can you write a positive review before the work is even done?

I guess there was the chance that they would mess this one up, but I have been using that shop for years and have had nothing but positive experiences there.