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.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Virindi on Sunday November 26 2017, @11:37AM
Worse yet, the reviews don't tell you who the seller was, so unless the reviewer says, you get no information. Quite often you will see reviews like "received counterfeit product!!" but no mention of from whom.