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Reuters reports that in the first ever suit of its kind from Amazon, the online retailer has sued four websites to stop them from selling fake, positive product reviews. The suit accuses Jay Gentile of California and websites that operate as buyamazonreviews.com and buyazonreviews.com, among others, of trademark infringement, false advertising and violations of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Consumer Protection Act. Amazon says the defendants are misleading customers, and through their activity generating improper profit for themselves and a "handful" of dishonest sellers and manufacturers. Amazon says the defendants have caused reviews to be posted on its website intermittently, through a "slow drip" designed to evade its detection systems, at a typical cost of $19 to $22 per review. "While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon’s brand."
Mark Collins, the owner of buyamazonreviews.com, denies Amazon’s claims and says the site simply offers to help Amazon’s third-party sellers get reviews. Collins defended his business, writing that his website operates as a “middleman,” connecting sellers with buyers willing to write reviews. The sellers provide reviewers with discounted items. But he said there are no restriction on the type of review they can post. “We are not selling fake reviews. however we do provide Unbiased and Honest reviews on all the products,” Collins wrote. “And this is not illegal at all.”
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Friday April 10 2015, @05:48PM
Usually I read the one star reviews first, just to see what exactly people are complaining about. Now, often the one star reviews are because the moron who purchased the product is simply trying to use it for the wrong purpose, but sometimes they point out specific flaws or limitations. I'll work my way through the review list, keeping in mind that something may be faked, but in general you should be able to get a sense of whether the product is for you or not. Of course, if it is a bigger ticket item, you should be doing more research anyway and maybe buying it from a source that specializes in that item (like buying a camera lens from B&H Photo rather than off Amazon).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheRaven on Saturday April 11 2015, @09:25AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @06:32PM
That's true, and companies pay people six figure salaries to work out just how to control public perception (a whole lot more of this goes on than people generally realize) of products. If it's a big ticket or important item, you want more than a few Amazon reviews to make or break your purchase decision.