Amazon's Rating System

[John K Jordan]

Between us we probably buy from Amazon 5 times a week. I've never given a review, and as I think about it, I can't remember the last time I got a review request....

I've seen some review requests soon after I reviewed something. Probably an algorithm triggers it.

Lots of 3rd party sellers include a card requesting contacting them directly if unsatisfied in any way, posting a review if happy. These inserts used to often ask for 5-star reviews but not lately - perhaps Amazon suggests they don't.

[Michael Schuch]

Amazon reviews are know to be manipulated by sellers paying review companies for bogus positive reviews.

I use the FakeSpot (FakeSpot.com) browser add in which analyzes the authenticity of the Amazon reviews, displays them within the page of the item and rates the seller feedback:
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It helps a lot sorting out the clutter of Amazon reviews. I still read several of the negative reviews when researching an item to see if there is a problem with the product or just stupid users.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

My wife ordered some treats for the dogs. Described as extra large, etc. Well they arrived and were the exact same size and package that I could buy at Dollar Tree for $1. Four rawhides a half inch round and 4 inches long. So she gave a bad review. and the next day it was gone. So she gave another bad review with pictures. That one disappeared even faster. She kept putting the bad review up another 2 days and after about 5 days of this, every time she tried to write a review the computer said something about that feature was not accessible. So she wrote to Amazon, complete with pictures. Amazon gave her some form e-mail about how some reviews may be blocked due to libelous content. So instead she wrote a review that sounded nice, but contained the pictures of the product with a ruler and the Dollar Tree package side by side and said how wonderful these treats were, just the right size for tiny dogs, were consumed and gone in just a few minutes, etc. Last we checked that review was still up.

[Brian Elfert]

I wonder what criteria FakeSpot uses to decide a review is fake? How many legitimate reviews get marked as fake.

I give very little credence to positive reviews and always look at the one and two star reviews. Sellers aren't going to post fake bad reviews. I suspect that some of the competition will post fake bad reviews on competitive items.

[Richard Hart]

My wife ordered some treats for the dogs. Described as extra large, etc. Well they arrived and were the exact same size and package that I could buy at Dollar Tree for $1. Four rawhides a half inch round and 4 inches long. So she gave a bad review. and the next day it was gone. So she gave another bad review with pictures. That one disappeared even faster. She kept putting the bad review up another 2 days and after about 5 days of this, every time she tried to write a review the computer said something about that feature was not accessible. So she wrote to Amazon, complete with pictures. Amazon gave her some form e-mail about how some reviews may be blocked due to libelous content. So instead she wrote a review that sounded nice, but contained the pictures of the product with a ruler and the Dollar Tree package side by side and said how wonderful these treats were, just the right size for tiny dogs, were consumed and gone in just a few minutes, etc. Last we checked that review was still up.

Only online source I`ll use for the dogs is chewy dot com. And they have a really good live chat and fast shipping.

[Richard Hart]

I wonder what criteria FakeSpot uses to decide a review is fake? How many legitimate reviews get marked as fake.

I give very little credence to positive reviews and always look at the one and two star reviews. Sellers aren't going to post fake bad reviews. I suspect that some of the competition will post fake bad reviews on competitive items.

That's the advantage of my being a pessimist! I go right to the one_star reviews.

[Ronald Blue]

Only online source I`ll use for the dogs is chewy dot com. And they have a really good live chat and fast shipping.

We get dog food from Chewy. Automatic monthly shipment. They have good customer service. The rawhides come from Amazon but they are from an American company and made in America. There is no way of knowing where or what the source of many "imported" rawhide treats is. It does matter too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Dick Strauss]

So, I posted a review on Amazon about my last purchase. My review was rejected because I guess you can't mention the seller or anything to do with shipping. If a seller promises two units and only ships one, I think that is important for others to use. So I tried leaving another review that didn't include the words sellers or shipping. Let's see if it gets by the filters.

I'm doing less and less business with Amazon because you can't trust the products being shipped are authentic or that the reviews are unbiased and actually relate to the product advertised.

[Alex Zeller]

Amazon and me aren't on good terms. They stopped asking me to review products because I would split out the product and the delivery. When prime was 2 day delivery I would get most stuff I ordered within a week since I don't have prime (the wife does). But then all of a sudden it was 2 week+ for in stock items yet they would charge me immediately. To be fair they would state when the item would show up but I would still review that it took them over a week to actually ship it. The last thing I was going to buy was some shoes. This was over a week ago. The size I wanted wasn't in stock elsewhere so I was thinking about putting up with the wait. When I went back the estimated day was the last week of December to the first week of January. Yet if I ordered the color I didn't like (and other places had in stock) I would of had them right about now. I got sidetracked and when I went back suddenly the new date is the December. So I checked around and now other sites have them in stock. Amazon plays too many tricks so I don't even trust their reviews.

[Anuj Prateek]

That's strange. We place several orders every month. I get review requests for some but surely not all. I write reviews once in a while in bulk for some products, usually after several days of purchase.

Yes, Amazon prices keeps changing. In wishlist and cart, they will show a message about price change. There is a towing strap in my wishlist. It's price fluctuates by 10-15% every month.

[Larry Frank]

On bigger ticket items. I use camel camel camel to track price history on Amazon. It has saved me a bunch. They just built an Amazon distribution center near me and deliveries have improved. I have even gotten things in five hours.

[Jim Becker]

So, I posted a review on Amazon about my last purchase. My review was rejected because I guess you can't mention the seller or anything to do with shipping. If a seller promises two units and only ships one, I think that is important for others to use. So I tried leaving another review that didn't include the words sellers or shipping. Let's see if it gets by the filters.

I'm doing less and less business with Amazon because you can't trust the products being shipped are authentic or that the reviews are unbiased and actually relate to the product advertised.

There are seller reviews and product reviews. They kinda have certain expectations of what each is to contain and they do mention those requirements. They have them separated because order fulfillment can be by Amazon or by the vendor and they want that evaluated separately from the actual product.

[Bert Kemp]

Lets see we beat on Amazon, the post office, UPS and FedEx, who on the list for tomorrow LOL

[John K Jordan]

How do you leave a “seller review” for an item sold and shipped by Amazon?

I’ve recently had trouble with products shipped from Amazon with extremely poor packaging. In the last few months they are more often packing heavy things loosely in a box with just two or three of the inflated big bubbles which do nothing to prevent things from bouncing around in transit. Three metal cans of saddle soap in two different orders were so damaged the screw lids could not be removed or refastened without some major rework on my part. A 5-lb plastic container of a powdered horse supplement must have been so poorly packaged the tracking labeled it “undeliverable” by the USPS due to a broken container, probably leaking unknown powder everywhere. Amazon wouldn’t replace it or refund the money until they received it from the carrier which never happened. Finally they refunded the cost after a phone call.

While I can comment and contact non-Amazon shippers I can’t find a way to comment on the packaging or shipping of things Amazon ships from the warehouses. I use the Contact form and Chat and tell the agent about the poor packaging and they say they will pass it on. I suspect the employees are so pressured by the clock that no one cares - the poor packaging continues.

The best way I know to contact them is to ask for a return phone call. Each time the person as replace or refunded things that I couldn’t get resolved by going through the web interface.

Fortunately, the percentage of things lost or damaged is extremely small.

JKJ

There are seller reviews and product reviews. They kinda have certain expectations of what each is to contain and they do mention those requirements. They have them separated because order fulfillment can be by Amazon or by the vendor and they want that evaluated separately from the actual product.

[Jim Becker]

John, I can't find a way to do that independently, but I had one last week where I got the email requesting delivery reviews and I was able at that point to provide information about the seller. That was an interesting one...they claimed they couldn't deliver it, refunded my money, provided tracking from FedEX that seems to show it was delivered to my town (it was not). I credit them for reaching out early and saying "we can't deliver it" and just refunding the money, but that existing tracking information is "interesting". The name of the company was written in what I believe is Mandarin. But that wasn't an Amazon delivery. So I can't really answer your question right now and already deleted previous requests. I'll look closer next time I order something.