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Amazon Merchants Continue to Find Ways to Cheat

posted by martyb on Saturday November 25 2017, @05:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the trying-to-sink-the-other-guy's-boat-so-yours-will-float dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Amazon Merchants Continue to Find Ways to Cheat

Mike Molson Hart, who sells toys on Amazon.com Inc.'s marketplace, realized earlier this month something was amiss. His company's popular disc-shaped plastic building set, called Brain Flakes, had dropped precipitously in the ranks of Amazon's best-selling toys as the critical gift-giving season approached.

He visited the product page on Amazon.com and suspected he was the victim of "sniping," when one merchant sabotages another by hiring people to leave critical reviews of their goods and then voting those reviews as being helpful, making them the most prominent feedback seen by shoppers. Freelancers in China and Bangladesh willing to do this for $10 an hour are easily found online. Even though the toy has a 4.8 star rating out of 5 based on more than 1,100 reviews, shoppers first see a string of critical one-star reviews and many may get scared away.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 25 2017, @09:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 25 2017, @09:05PM (#601496)

    Posting from a toy phone? They have already taken your brains!