Kindle Case Maker May Have Bribed 5-Star Reviews on Amazon
Kindle Case Maker May Have Bribed 5-Star Reviews on Amazon
Posted 01/27/2012 at 8:08am
| by Paul Lilly
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How much trust do you put into those 5-star reviews on Amazon, or glowing reviews on any e-commerce site, for that matter? Smart online shoppers know to thoroughly research a product before forking over part of a payday, but when a $10 Kindle cover boasts a 4.9 rating out of nearly 5,000 reviews, would you really be suspicious of shenanigans in a sample size that large? Perhaps you should be.
An investigation led by The New York Times exposes why user reviews can be problematic. More specifically, it's the abuse of the user review system that's a problem. According to the article, a company called VIP Deals was offering a rebate on Amazon.com last month on a 'Vipertek' brand premium slim black leather case for the Kindle Fire, effectively bringing the $60 list price down to $10. One of the user comments tipped off that something foul might be going on.
"I would have done 4 stars instead of 5 without the deal," a user posted.
A representative for VIP told NYT in an email that it was "totally off base" in suggesting the company was offering kickbacks in exchange for positive reviews, but interviews with other customers suggested otherwise. They said that the product shipped with a letter indicating VIP would issue refunds in exchange for writing reviews. The letter didn't outright ask for 5-star ratings, though it strongly hinted at it.
"We strive to earn 100 percent perfect 'FIVE-STAR' scores from you!," the letter said, according to NYT.
Just like not all merchants would sink to that level, not all customers are willing to be bribed for positive reviews. One of the users wrote on Amazon that "This is an egregious violation of the ratings and review system used by Amazon." The problem is not everyone is as ethical, and one shopper even jumped on his case, saying VIP's payback model "is not a scam but an incentive."
Amazon has since removed VIP's products from its websites, which included cases and stun guns.
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jedisamurai
January 27, 2012 at 12:06pm
Reviews on Amazon are a lot more complicated than a lot of people realize. I'm a top 1500 reviewer for Amazon and part of their Vine Program which sends me review items for free. I never write reviews based on price unless it's extremely relevant to the cost/performance ratio, in which case I always base my reviews on the ORIGINAL price.
That said, writing negative reviews of popular products or overly positive ones of products that are not well liked is an easy way to get hammered with negative feedback that reduces your ranking.
All that said, the reviews are extremely useful when making purchasing decisions, because they are a strong indicator of product reliability and general usefulness.
dgrmouse
February 16, 2012 at 11:09am
By your own admission, popular products and overpriced products are not subject to the same criticism that cheaper and less popular products are. This is evidence of a corrupt system, whether or not you realize it.
user0101
January 27, 2012 at 11:30am
You can't have reviews without crap reviews.
Even the best reviews can turn out to be crap.
That's how this world works.
Some are worse than others though. Gog.com is flooded(!) with 5 star reviews being based on "my favorite childhood game" and NOTHING do to with the game itself! (Shakes fist!!!)
Even if a web site spent a lot of money to review every review and those reviews had to meet specific terms in order to be posted, crap reviews would still happen. People will always find a way to abuse it. But, it could be minimized sure and that's quite nice.
mattman059
January 27, 2012 at 10:22am
I hate 5 star reviews...90% of the time they're like "OMGZ T3H PRODUCT RULEZZ!!!" and i equally hate 1 star ratings because of "OMGZ T3H PRODUCT SUXXXX!!!!!" I usually hover around the 2-3 star range, and compliment that with reviews from other sites.
Phrish
January 27, 2012 at 8:49am
The way I research a product is by looking at the low star reviews. I don't just go by the star rating, but actually read the reviews. I might touch on a couple of the 5 star "longer" reviews to see WHY they like it so much, but I concentrate on the low star reviews to determine 1) is the reviewer knowledgeable and succinct and 2) can I live with the product's drawbacks?
I never go by overall star score alone. I get into the nitty gritty of the writeups. Then again, I admit I'm different than the average American... I read. MaxPC readers typically fall into my category... 'yall are my people!!! =)
That all said, though, it would be nice if all reviews were accurate and well written. Buying stars is a drawback, as is the simple phenomena of clueless rubes writing reviews like "Good product. Does what it says. I like red." Gotta get into the context of the review.
JohnP
January 27, 2012 at 5:58pm
One star reviews in Amazon inevitably are because the object was broke in shipping, arrived late, the user could not figure out how to use the damn thing, or that the unit broke within a week or two. All of these are totally useless to me as a buyer as probably 90% of the problems here are PEBCAK. Its the recommended reviews that I like the most...
win7fanboi
January 27, 2012 at 9:56am
While I agree, I also see the value in having the star rating without a comprehensive review. Unless you write comprehensive reviews yourself for every product you buy you can't expect everyone else to have time to do that. If I like a product, I will usually write a brief review. Doing that verses not reviewing a product is a better option IMO.
Eoraptor
January 27, 2012 at 9:32am
That's the problem out... there's way too many people out there who don't know to do things like that, or who don't have time to do a thorough review of each product that they buy.
You'll also notice that when you do hear of these scams, they are almost always on low-end products where people are generally less inclined to dig deep before a purchase. After all, how likely are most people to go to the third page of reviews on a set of nine-ninety-five earbuds with four or five stars? It's a margin-stuffing business.
What we need is consumer awareness pushes AND more dedicated comment-scanning by website providers. As the article points out, amazon should have been on top of any comment that purported "I gave them a star for cutting me a deal"
Supall
January 27, 2012 at 8:17am
Yay for Amazon! Although, a little money back for a review? Rebates ought to work that way!
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