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Could Amazon face liability for tagging refunded orders as Verified Purchases?
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Date: February 21st, 2018 3:54 PM Author: onyx spot Original thread: http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899610&mc=2&forum_id=2
Here are two reviews for items that I returned: https://i.imgur.com/2jmzSVX.png (refund completed on February 16th, but after I left the review) and https://i.imgur.com/MvCkriq.png (refund completed on January 29th)
Here's Amazon's policy on the Verified Purchase badge: https://www.amazon.com/gp/community-help/amazon-verified-purchase and https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=202076110&qid=1519244993&sr=1-1
My theory is that Amazon manipulates product ratings with the Verified Purchase badge when it's applied to 5-star reviews of products for which the purchaser/reviewer was refunded. |
Date: February 21st, 2018 3:56 PM Author: Appetizing elastic band (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35454165) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 4:13 PM Author: onyx spot also, here's the Customer Review policy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201749630 (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35454322) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 4:15 PM Author: Underhanded Rough-skinned Area You should definitely consult a lawyer about this. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35454334) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 5:14 PM Author: onyx spot I guess there are two possible causes of action: one under state consumer fraud statutes and the other under federal securities fraud statutes. The latter is impossible because shareholders haven't suffered any harm & even if they did, there's no reason to believe it was because of fraudulent reviews.
Prevailing on a consumer fraud claim requires proof that the return/refund status of a Verified Purchase is a material fact that Amazon omitted with intent that others rely on that omission in determining whether to purchase the product reviewed. I think it'd be difficult to prove, but not impossible -- especially since Amazon has been aggressively investigating fake reviews by posing as customers & trying to purchase reviews. It's the intent behind those actions that reveals Amazon's true goals: Increasing sales. Amazon doesn't give a damn about the quality of the products it sells, it only cares that its customers are buying them. Amazon seems like the good guy by going after both the sellers who buy (or attempt to buy) fake reviews and the authors of those reviews. However, Amazon only does so to divert attention away from itself -- Amazon is just as complicit in manipulating people to buy junk. |
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Date: February 23rd, 2018 12:44 AM Author: Magenta lascivious haunted graveyard (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35467241) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 4:22 PM Author: umber duck-like institution Your first review is negative. What the problem?
Your second one is positive and then you returned it - why? seems like a pretty unusual scenario. |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 5:19 PM Author: onyx spot The first review is negative and I received a refund after I made the review (but on the same day of the review). Imagine that I work for a competitor of the item listed.
The second review is positive and was written *after* I received the refund just to test out whether I could leave a review after returning the product and receiving a refund.
This shows that the Verified Purchase badge is essentially meaningless. Most people can't be bothered to write detailed reviews and those who do are more than likely being compensated. Therefore, the star rating + Verified Purchase badge is pretty much the only useful information you can get from a review. |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 5:49 PM Author: Odious native mexican what if they just say in their FAQs that verified purchase products may have been returned, and they can prove they make a good faith effort to police all sorts of fraudulent reviews including people who buy and return products and give them 5* (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455202) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 6:30 PM Author: onyx spot I don't think it matters whether they make a good faith effort to police reviews because I think the intent of their policing is to conceal the extent to which they deceive customers. Amazon is basically a buy-it-now product-focused eBay that customers have been manipulated into trusting. Amazon started out as a retailer and discreetly morphed into a fulfillment service. It's so easy to fall for the fulfilled by Amazon/ships from and sold by [third-party seller] trap because those items are displayed next to "ships from and sold by Amazon.com" items. Items shipped from and sold by third-party sellers can even be eligible for Amazon Prime shipping, which makes it even more difficult to detect. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455432) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 6:34 PM Author: Odious native mexican "I think the intent of their policing is to conceal the extent to which they deceive customers" -- how do you prove this?
what does amazon say in response to that site you sent me that validates the reviews. why are "amazon's choice" items getting horrible scores on that site and they do nothing about them? they clearly dont give a fuck to genuinely police these reviews |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:05 PM Author: onyx spot That's the kind of thing that would need to be proven through discovery and analyzing their data on returns of items with reviews bearing the Verified Purchase badge. That Amazon refers to it as a badge rather than a tag is insightful, too. A badge implies authority, and Amazon hasn't been bashful in suggesting that reviews with the Verified Purchase badge are more authoritative/trustworthy than those without it. The biggest piece of information missing is how the number of reviews bearing the Verified Purchase badge affects the total sales of an item. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455636) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:17 PM Author: Odious native mexican good points. you should sue these bastards (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455718) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:13 PM Author: onyx spot Also, there's no reason why search results shouldn't include whether the product is shipped & sold by Amazon.com, fulfilled by Amazon, or shipped & sold by a third-party -- they currently bury that information on the product's page itself. It's difficult to find and I guarantee most people don't even notice it's there, which is precisely the intent. I think you used to be able to filter by seller, but they quietly got rid of that option. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455694) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:16 PM Author: Odious native mexican ljl first thing i look for bc that tells you the return policy. btw, do you distinguish between s&s by amazon and FBA? it's the same return policy, so i dont care.
isn't clicking on prime eligible or "Free Shipping by Amazon" on the left side a good proxy for avoding all the garbage that's s&s by third party?
but yeah, this shit is totally buried to the average moron on amazon. it's fraudlies. how how is there a legal cause of action? |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:20 PM Author: onyx spot Amazon offers seller-fulfilled prime: http://blog.appeagle.com/amazon-seller-fulfilled-prime
and yes, I distinguish between shipped & sold by Amazon.com and fulfilled by Amazon, because most of the counterfeit junk is fulfilled by Amazon |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:45 PM Author: Odious native mexican isnt it all counterfeit junk? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455899) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:59 PM Author: onyx spot now it is. Amazon appears to be cashing in on roughly 20 years of goodwill by downsizing its retail operations and increasing its fulfillment and order brokering services. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35456049) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 8:03 PM Author: Odious native mexican it's been like this for 3-5 years, hasn't it? their search engine is utter fraudlies. remember when xo made fun of me about the watch battery? if you search for something very specific, it should give you only the 3 relevant results. it shouldnt start giving you toasters if you're searching for kitchn knives. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35456095) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 8:09 PM Author: onyx spot amazon genuinely does not give a fuck about their customers. they only care about making sales. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35456150) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 9:24 PM Author: Odious native mexican how long until people catch on? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35456788) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 5:46 PM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455186) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 5:48 PM Author: Passionate flatulent stag film tsinah is what people are talking about when they say they hate white males. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455198) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 6:34 PM Author: Odious native mexican yes amazon hates white males bc they're not stupid minorities who can just be tricked into buying garbage (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455453) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:07 PM Author: onyx spot https://www.wsj.com/articles/will-they-search-for-that-chinese-learn-art-of-hooking-americans-on-amazon-1513539380 (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455647) |
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Date: February 21st, 2018 7:43 PM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35455883) |
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Date: February 22nd, 2018 1:09 AM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35458573) |
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Date: February 22nd, 2018 7:38 AM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35459198) |
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Date: February 22nd, 2018 9:02 AM Author: onyx spot we need some scholarship here (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35459489) |
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Date: February 22nd, 2018 11:21 AM Author: Odious native mexican (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35460342) |
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Date: February 26th, 2018 7:41 PM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35494148) |
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Date: February 23rd, 2018 12:42 AM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35467233) |
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Date: February 26th, 2018 2:50 PM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35491852) |
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Date: March 29th, 2018 4:43 PM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35718786) |
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Date: March 29th, 2018 4:52 PM Author: jade ticket booth national security agency Has anyone alerted the SEC to amazon’s securities fraud? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#35718862) |
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Date: November 14th, 2018 1:08 AM Author: onyx spot (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#37228713) |
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Date: November 14th, 2018 1:40 AM Author: Magenta lascivious haunted graveyard (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899651&forum_id=2#37228813) |