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[Joe]

Amazon reviews have gone to shit.

These "free product in exchange for honest reviews" gimmick has taken over every product department I've searched over lately and they should probably to do something about this.

Amazon's wealth of reviews is one of the great things about the shopping experience they provide.

If even a single review has any variation of the phrase: "I received this product free of charge in exchange for my honest and unbiased review" then I will not purchase that product.

At least the companies are being open about it but it just seems so "scammy" and shady.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Hey, this happened on GAF but with tickets for the new Fantastic Four movie.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

I saw many of those disclaimers while looking for exercise stuff on Amazon. It's really shitty.

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

There are content mill providers that ask people to write reviews on Amazon and other marketplaces for a few bucks a pop. They don't even have access to the item, they're just given a list of positives they must touch on and the rest is up to them.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Amazon simply needs to add an option to identify the review as such.

Then you should be able to view only reviews that don't have that option selected

Furthermore, Amazon could go a step further and on an account level allow you to ignore those reviews [i.e. never see them, all overall product reviews ratings only calculated by non-endorsed reviews etc.]

Amazon of course will never do this until/unless they identify decreased sales from the perception of their reviews being less indicative of the products quality

 

[BronsonLee]

Hey, this happened on GAF but with tickets for the new Fantastic Four movie.

I feel like those who got free ticket to review the movie got the worst deal of all

 

[Admiral Woofington]

If amazon could point these out so I can ignore them then whatever. But until then I only focus on the negatives.

 

[BennyBlanco]

more importantly how do I get free shit for writing little 3 paragraph reviews?

 

[ThankYouDaletech]

How do I do this how do I get free stuff in exchange for telling people about the free stuff I got.

 

[Trojita]

I fucking hate this and the vine reviews.

Amazon needs to fix some shit.

1: Allow us customers to filter out Vine Reviews
2. Allow us to filter all "Didn't buy from Amazon" review
3. Fix your fucking product assimilation. If I want a review on a Blu-ray, don't show me reviews of the DVD's. Sometimes they combine two products that are different kind of models. They even have combined the reviews for two completely different supplements together.

 

[DJ_Lae]

I would totally be a shill if I got sent stuff for free, although I agree that there should be a filter.

I bought an Anker USB hub the other month that was a lightning deal, and it was hard as hell to find any real feedback on it as a huge chunk of the reviews were all people wanking over their free review samples. I peeked around afterward and they seem to shill a shit-ton of their products that way. It's seedy.

 

[dork]

Amazon simply needs to add an option to identify the review as such.

I thought they are identified? It says something along the lines they are part of the review program and they didn't pay for it?

 

[Jaladinozozo]

You think you're mad about this as a customer?

Image from the point of view of a seller on Amazon.

There is no way to compete and launch new products any longer unless you give away 100s of free units first for reviews.

Amazon Policy and TOS completely allow this as well and are probably never going to do a thing to change it. Why would they? They still make money from the "free" product (they get their fee cut no matter what) and then they make even more money if your product page gets popular.

I know for a fact Amazon even colludes with certain large 3rd party vendors that engage in this kind of activity in the excess of 1,000s of reviews being from free/promotional products

 

[Joyful]

amazon reviews for pills of any kind are basically unreliable
they need stricter rules for sure

 

[Trojita]

I thought they are identified? It says something along the lines they are part of the review program and they didn't pay for it?

The review mentioned in the OP a lot of times aren't part of the vine program.

 

[PSYGN]

It is disgusting. They are wanting people to give good reviews. Free stuff is always harder to criticize when it's not your job to. Hell, you'll probably want more free stuff and you'll be thinking that if you slam it in your review then you won't have another bone thrown your way. At least that's how I imagine how the freebie junkies think.

I notice I tend to read the longer 3 to 4 star reviews more and skip the 5 star reviews at first. 3 or 4 star reviews tend to be realistic and often match my odd situations as to why they knocked it down a star or two.

 

[ThankYouDaletech]

For real guys, I want to be part of the problem. Where do I sign up, I'm broke but I still need objects.

 

[diffusionx]

I've been a member of Vine for years. My thoughts:

1. The queue is not loaded with riches. Amazon changed the service a year or two ago and it's terrible. I have barely found one thing worth a damn since then. Right now, in my queue, is a bunch of stupid garbage I have no interest in. I've seen treadmills and speaker systems and stuff but there aren't many of those out there.

I guess I can be a good Amazon soldier and get something I don't want and review it but I also don't want to clog my home or landfills with this stuff.

2. I honestly can't get excited to give a five star review over a USB hub, or an ethernet cable, or a sample of dog treats. And if I get a USB hub for free, I plug it in and it works, what review am I supposed to give it? If I got a videogame (I've maybe gotten two videogames over the years), I'll review it like I would a game I paid for.

 

[liquidtmd]

Last time this happened to a Gaffer it was a handjob and he ended up leaving a $65 tip