Make no mistake, Amazon’s business is humming along. Prime is adding members by the truckload, more products are available with faster delivery rates, the Amazon Echo smart speaker is looking like the next killer product and there’s even some profit to show investors, thanks largely to the fat margins at AWS
But for a brand built on trust, there are an awful lot of loopholes, and sellers are wondering if their gripes will ever become so problematic that Amazon can no longer sweep them under the rug.
“Amazon is setting up an environment where people feel like they have to shortcut and cheat,” said Whaley. “The whole system is being manipulated, and people don’t know it.”
Yes. And this too mentioned by the article… "I received this item [free or] at discount in exchange for an honest and unbiased review."
There are many products I’ve seen touted where 80% of the “5-star” reviews are by “paid” reviewers.
Earlier this week I was shopping for an indoor antenna to receive OTA HDTV broadcasts, and nearly all “highly rated” products were swamped with these bogus reviews.
AMZN’s reviews used to be a great shopping asset, but Bezo has allowed them to become spam hype. Too bad. Baidu is coming.
<There are many products I’ve seen touted where 80% of the “5-star” reviews are by “paid” reviewers.>
This really irks me also, this will end up backfiring on Amazon
because it is obvious the practice is bogus and bogus doesn’t work in this day and age. These reviews are a total waste to everyone so it shoots a huge hole in the advantage that the review system offered to buyers on Amazon.
For popular products, you need to dig and analyze to find unbiased reviews. With some products, I find very useful information in the reviews. For instance, on which version of a router to buy, or under what circumstances a particular car battery tester is effective, and which rival product complements it.
Third party Amazon listings and reviews are pretty anarchic, and I imagine it would cost them a lot to clean them up, since it needs humans to do it.
They also go really cheap on customer and seller service. They seem to outsource it to cheaper countries, and they don’t give them much discretion to solve your problem, especially if you’re a seller. Their first response is, “I’m sorry you’re having a problem” with not much in the way of action to solve it.