Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/19/this-sleazy-amazon-marketplace.html
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Um, this is how Amazon works, it’s the business model that Bezos came up with.
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I think someone at Amazon must be aware of LPL, I can’t find the product on the site.
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I got one of those cards in a set of headphones I ordered from a different seller. Now they don’t get any review from me.
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I think I got one of those on something, but assumed it didn’t work or had to be activated or whatever.
Anyway, unsurprising shit products are influencing their reviews.
Also, @beschizza and @frauenfelder Have been holding out on me not point out he’s not just a lock picking lawyer - but a gun owning lock picking lawyer.
Since viewing some of the videos posted here, youtube has suggested more, including gun locks that mount on weapons. Thus far my favorite fail is the one that has a small cable that is supposed to hold an AR-15 to a wall, but goes through the trigger guard - which is made to open by pushing a detent, and defeated using a Lego person. (Moral of the story - don’t design locks for firearms if you know nothing about them.)
My Favorite win is this giant 9lb, $375 pad lock of hardened steel that took over 60 rounds of 5.56mm and 40 rounds of armor piercing .308, as well as 20 rounds from a .50bmg before the shackle failed. It would probably be easier to destroy what ever it is attached to than the lock itself.
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It’s almost as though they could have made a product that was twice as good if they weren’t bribing people for half the price.
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I regularly get ads on Facebook for retailers that promise their product will be free on Amazon by sending an Amazon gift card for the full price. I’m not sure what the scam is, but others have said it is a method of paying for positive reviews. And there are FB groups of would be “reviewers” (I forget what they call themselves) that sketchy retailers visit and offer free products to in exchange for positive reviews - I read a sob story on a forum by one of those “reviewers” who’s Amazon account had been caught by Amazon for his fraudulent reviews looking for advice on how to complain to Amazon that he didn’t do anything wrong… :-/
For all that, for all the scams I know of, I still find myself drawn to the star rating of products and books. Fake reviews work. And I’m part of the problem by falling for them.
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Fame has really changed the Binging with Babish guy.
Yup, I think that’s it! I must have been looking at the wrong category or something? Looks like it’s still listed as #1 on “Drop Slot Safes”.
If you’re an LPL fan, you know that almost every one of these key lockboxes is complete trash. My SO works as a pet sitter, and so many people use those things. You can open some of them with no tools at all.
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“Multiple use is ineffective.” Oh my god, this is the best sentence ever!
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You should check out DemoRanch & Edwin Sarkassian’s videos on lock destruction as well. Much the same formula.
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Yelp did something similar but less sleazy, I suppose.
They would pay out $5 for a review that included a photo when they first got that digital reputation extortion machine going.
leverage them hustlers hustling, I guess.
Yeah, this is super common practice. Ive has items that arrived with a link to the amazon review for that item and promised a discount for giving a positive review. I recently had to procure a lost power supply replacement. The company said they’d ship me one for free if I left a positive review. It’s actually a good item, so I did, but it was definitely extortionate and weird.
I also still look at the reviews, especially the one and two stars. It’s the best gauge of quality, IMO. If they’re all about packaging, shipping or the person was just misusing it entirely, I don’t feel as worried about the quality, but if they’re consistently pointing out the same issue (“quit working after XX months“, “handle made of plastic and snapped off”, etc.), I avoid it. 4-star reviews are useless unless there are 1,500 or more.
Yeah, I had a Chinese Bluetooth earbud company give me a refund and told me to keep their product after I gave their active noise reduction earphones a middling review because they didn’t actively reduce noise. They asked me to “revisit [my] experience” in my review, which I did, by leaving the star rating and original review intact but adding an addendum saying they had great customer service. Months later Amazon deleted the 1,200+ reviews for the product and locked down the product page from receiving any reviews at all. The company must have been doing a lot of sketchy stuff to actually get Amazon to notice and do something.
(1,200+ reviews should be a red flag. Real products by major companies with nationwide marketing sometimes only get dozens of reviews, so a no-name Chinese import is unlikely to have over a 1,000 legit, organic reviews,)
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Was it iClever, by chance? I got a speaker from them a few years ago at a steep discount and they made the same offer when I gave it a bad review. I told them I wouldn’t change it, but they refunded me, anyway. It was such a piece of crap.
That actually reminds me, some dad responded to my review contradicting me because he bought one for his son who loved it. Ok, whatever dad!
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Different brand, but who knows, it could be owned by the same people. I also think a lot of the direct sales Chinese companies have the same MO, though.
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