Amazon Bestseller status meaningless, can be bought for dollars

boing
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[Read the post]

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So he achieved “best-seller” status by choosing a category with little sales activity. So what?

We already knew about that trick.

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This doesn’t surprise me. On my kindle for android app, easily half the books on the early bestseller list (say, up to number 50) have been ‘bought’ for… $0.00.

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A book made entirely of footnotes? No wonder it’s a bestseller.

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What’s amazing is that there are actual pre-existing sales categories where, despite the tens of millions of books for sale, apparently there are no books being sold at any given time, since three copies puts one at the top of the charts.

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The religion category has a bestseller made entirely of cross references.

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Walked away, came back ten minutes and one epiphany later to say that I saw what you did there.

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It’s useful, so they say. 'Tis oft-referenced in chain letters (but of marginal utility).

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I think this article may have the opposite of it’s intended effect. Rather than being more offended that one can pay companies thousands of dollars to aid in earning “best seller status”, such a status now seems as easy as using “this one weird trick,” and I’m more inclined to want to try it myself.

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Categories about Touts, bookies, and OTB get a lot of consideration in the betseller’s list.

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We?

This post must be at least six characters.

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6?  

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Nice. 

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That’s actually a pretty good deal, the Useless box costs $40.

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I heard Tarantino bought all the copies.

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To be fair, the intended effect of the article was to increase skepticism towards the best seller tag on Amazon, not to disuade people from messing with it…

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­Us?

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Damn your oily hide, @tropo. Damn it I say!!!

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tried going to the source link on my phone, got redirected to an infinite loop of spammy ads for a porn app

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Did “we”?