On one hand, they want more and more sellers and try very hard to grow FBA, because
1. having outside sellers trying to market new products offsets the cost of market research and development to those sellers (instead of doing the work in house)
2. competition between sellers drives the prices down, which drives prices up
On the other hand, they need to police sellers and try to keep reviews honest, or they risk losing customers' confidence.
My guess is, the first objective (many sellers) is more important than the second one (honest reviews), so they will probably not enforce this new policy very aggressively.
> so they will probably not enforce this new policy very aggressively.
I don't know about that. I left one of those "in exchange for my honest review" reviews without using _that_ exact language, and they refused to post it. I had to re-submit with the right phrase pasted in.
The language I used in the original review was even more upfront about receiving the product for free and my review procedure. So I'd guess that they will enforce something broadly across the board and then be kind of tone deaf about the way they enforce it.
I think a big part of the problem with reviews is, when you're looking for something to buy, _and_ you're a savvy buyer, you generally want the product to fulfill conditions X, Y, and Z. If you receive it for review, you are generally only looking to fulfill condition X, and _maybe_ Y. For example, you'd probably never think, "oh, I should test this bluetooth transmitter from the back seat of my carpooling minivan" if you work from home all day.
That you didn't think of condition Z and still gave the product five stars will probably piss off somebody somewhere, but really, people with special conditions or who are aware of specific issues with that kind of product should be researching _within_ reviews, not just taking some random reviewer's five stars as a green light. They should be asking product questions. They should be contacting the manufacturer directly if they buy the product and they think it sucks. But they almost never do those things.
I agree there are dishonest reviewers, but I think Amazon's goofy review system--in which 3 stars == failure, and 4 stars == "think twice," is really the perfect setup for that kind of situation.
I'm not saying those paid for reviews are good. I think they are worthless, for many of the reasons outlined in the article (vendors select reviewers that only leave 5 stars) and in your comment (professional reviewers don't "need" the product they are reviewing and therefore don't even know what qualities to look for (even if they were inclined to be completely honest)).
But what I am saying is, Amazon needs new sellers... and new sellers need reviews.
On one hand, they want more and more sellers and try very hard to grow FBA, because
1. having outside sellers trying to market new products offsets the cost of market research and development to those sellers (instead of doing the work in house)
2. competition between sellers drives the prices down, which drives prices up
On the other hand, they need to police sellers and try to keep reviews honest, or they risk losing customers' confidence.
My guess is, the first objective (many sellers) is more important than the second one (honest reviews), so they will probably not enforce this new policy very aggressively.