Amazon sellers are bribing users for ‘five star’ reviews

By Zahid H Javali

Amazon sellers are giving discounts, and extended warranties to buy ‘five star’ reviews on the ecommerce site. Therefore, not all products which have hundreds and thousands of ‘five star’ reviews could be genuine. The customers are advised to go through the comments, ask their friend circles, and do some due diligence before making their purchases. Claims of fake products, wrong quantity, or damaged products are also quite prominent. However, such claims can be resolved by the Amazon customer care. However, despite media reports in the US, the website has done little to prevent such nefarous vendor practices. The simplest they could do is to have a ‘bribery’ hotline where the moment they get proof of such a bribe, they can immediately remove such sellers from their site.

We found two instances where sellers were bribing our reporter with cashbacks of Rs 100 for buying a product for Rs 249: One was a SWAB plastic measuring cups and spoon set, and another was a Wazdorf 2-in-1 steel kitchen knife. The vendor inserted a printed white paper with the packaging like the one above. You have to Whatsapp the person who will give the link that you need to click to give a ‘five star’ review. Before you hit the ‘submit’ button on Amazon, you have to take a screenshot of it and send it to the seller on Whatsapp as proof. Within a day, we got Rs 100 cashback into our wallet during the sting operation.

Was the product truly ‘five-star’ worthy. It scored at best 3 point rating, as we found that the blades were not sharp enough to chop fruits, such as guavas. There was also the fear that it might break at the hinges when used against such heavy-duty items. While we gave the vendor a ‘five star’, we also highlighted this fact in our review. The vendor had no problem with it. Yet, we asked the seller if he would replace the item if the item broke within six months of the purchase, and the vendor agreed. But no one knows if he would come good on his Whatsapp agreement. In another instance, the manufacturer of the Dr Vaku Oximeter was offering an extended warranty in exchange for ‘five star’ reviews.

While this practice of freebies offered by Amazon sellers was first reported in the US where Amazon is based, nothing much seems to have been done to root out this practice, although the company claims otherwise. A policy change in 2016 highlights the fact that Amazon began discouraging incentivised reviews. However, much more needs to be done. We have found that Amazon’s machine-learning practices have actually prevented genuine reviews from showing up. This journalist has had a first-hand experience where his book review never went up despite repeated mails to customer care over several months.

The Los Angeles Times reports that almost 60% of reviews are rigged in this manner. While the three products we came across were not bad products, they certainly did not deserve five stars. At best, they could score 3 or 3.5 points, because there is always room for improvement, particularly when you are not a known brand. More importantly, we need to test the product for atleast three months to know their true worth. However, we have coe across some users reporting that they were paid for a crappy product as well.

Bribing customers for a ‘five star’ rating to be the ‘Amazon’s Choice’ is a dishonest practice that needs to be shunned. Amazon should weed out this practice by ensuring a level-playing field through a single window reporting policy where the customers should easily be able to complain about any bribe offer they receive from the seller, and Amazon compensates the shoppers for the tip. Only a reward system by Amazon will prevent people from biting the cashback/discount/gift/warranty bait set by the sellers.

If you are in the market for shopping on sites like Amazon, experts advice that you should go with the product with the maximum ratings, as that will certainly cut out the ratings given by the fake reviews. Another option is to stick with known brands rather than opt for complete unknowns. Also check out some of the reviews, particularly the recent ones, as they usually give you a general idea of the product and its quality.

UPDATE (Sept 26, 2020): Amazon sellers of small-priced products who are relying on positive reviews to make profits through volumes have resorted to another trick. Today, we received a call from a person claiming to be the manufacturer of a Lumony hand press manual juicer priced at Rs 229. He offered to pack two units instead of one for a ‘positive review’ on Amazon.

UPDATE (Sept 10, 2020): We received one more cashback offer of Rs 50 for purchasing an Amazing Mall stainless steel S-hook set for Rs 229. Here’s their bribe offer on a pink slip.