Amazon: No More Incentivized Reviews
Heads up Amazon shoppers!
Have you ever been shopping on Amazon and clicked to read the 5-star product reviews only to find that many reviewers received the product FREE in exchange for an honest and unbiased review? As of October 3rd, Amazon announced that they are now prohibiting incentivized reviews unless they are facilitated through the Amazon Vine program (see details on this program below).
Hopefully, this means that reviews now left on Amazon will be from customers who purchased the product and are leaving an honest review – not from customers who received the product FREE or by businesses who pay for fake reviews. Please note that product reviews made prior to this policy change are only being retroactively removed if they are excessive and don’t comply with Amazon’s prior policy.
*Go here for more details regarding this policy change.
What is Amazon Vine?
Amazon Vine is an invitation-only program. Vine Voices are selected based on several criteria, but primarily on the helpfulness of their reviews as judged by all other customers and by their demonstrated interest in the types of products that are featured in the program. Customers who consistently write helpful reviews and develop a reputation for expertise in specific product categories are most likely to be invited into the program.
does that mean no more Snagshout ?
That appears to be the case. Such a shame too; it was a great way to try out new products.
Yes!! This is a great change!
Sorry, didn’t mean that as a reply to you.
I just noticed their FAQ changed so you don’t need to write that it was received with a discount. Maybe they are just changing their business model.
Same here!!!
I hope not. That’s the main reason I just renewed my Amazon prime. Which they didn’t even notify me of the renewal even though I had the settings notification on!
I didn’t get notified either–just saw the $99 charge on my credit card! 🙁
Me too! So unexpected, thankfully I had the money in there at that time to cover it.
Awesome!!!!
YES! So thankful. It makes looking for products so much harder when the reviews are flooded with five star “I got this for free” reviews. I just wonder how they can really enforce it; companies will probably find another workaround..
I agree. Every time I bought an item that had great reviews thanks to all the supposedly “honest and unbiased” opinons, it turns out to be a total piece of crap.
YAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀
Right??? “Honest and unbiased reviews”…
That’s why when I read reviews, if I see “I got this for free in exchange of an honest review,” I just skip it. And there’s too many of them, literally flooding the pages. Sometimes it’s just hard to find a real review.
I skip them, too, as well as Vine reviews. I was contemplating buying a product that had tons of great Vine reviews. It was one of those rare occasions that I couldn’t get a better deal than MSRP anywhere but so many people had gotten it free. It was infuriating.
Companies will work around it for sure. I’ve received many emails from the sellers I’ve bought from offering incentives for leaving 5 star reviews. I’ve even received snail mail offering Amazon gift cards for a 5 star review. I have stopped buying from sellers that have a majority of good reviews because of giving the product away or offering other incentives. I even return every product I buy from sellers that contact me asking for a review in exchange for an incentive.
YES!!!!! Finally!!! I hope it really does stop. I feel like I can’t trust Amazon reviews anymore.
Feel the same..
Does that mean no more AMZ Review Trader?? I love that review system!
Those sites are a good way to get banned. That’s what happened to me. Amazon told me I was “attempting to manipulate reviews” and that was the only clarification they gave me. I always tested things out (generally, things I knew a lot about), left an appropriate rating and disclosed I received for free. Since I followed the stated rules and was banned, to me, this new release is “saying”… we aren’t saying you can’t review free or discounted items, but if you do and it’s not through Vine, we’ll ban you.
It totally made me sad when I was banned, puppy dog eyes for a week. However, it is a business and they aren’t making money on shipping out free stuff. Also, people that leave fake or cheesy reviews are irritating. Amazon doesn’t have time to sift through it all and neither do customers.
WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!
Won’t be shopping with Amazon anymore. I like my free stuff.
Well, if you’re getting the stuff for free then it isn’t exactly “shopping,” is it?
😂😂😳 you have a point! 😂😂😂
I love FREE, but also LOVE honest reviews and this will NOT stop me from buying on Amazon, in anything… I will probably buy more because I will know they are REAL reviews!
I did do my shopping on Amazon(full price and all)
I am a huge fan of BzzAgent and Smiley360 where I do get items for free to try out. As a marketing person, this is a great method of word of mouth. I have always left honest opinions on the products I have received but I can see where people may be skeptical about it as well.
I’m also a bzzagent, and definitely have posted honest reviews, sometimes not very positive, while getting free products to try. 😉
I’m new to BzzAgent, but so far they are good. Been with smiley360 for years…i wonder what these companies will do now?
great news!!!!
That is great news. I had been doing the free or reduced priced reviews but stopped when I realized how much I hated those when I was looking for legitimate reviews. Even if you’re being honest about your experience, which i always was, the cost factor does play an important role. When I’m spending my own money on something I have higher standards. The excitement of receiving something for free clouds your judgement. This is just my humble opinion based on my own experience
I am part of a group, and in my reviews I always say if I would have purchased this full price or not because I too think that is an important factor.
FINALLY!!!!!! This is awesome news for consumers😀
I am part of an amazon review deal site, but I always write honest stared reviews. The site never makes you post 5 stars or anything like that. I have posted 2 stars reviews before. But, I guess maybe not all are like this? I’ve never had to fabricate anything.
I never was even aware of this lol.. so people got items for free to write good reviews on the products?
Yup. I had no idea it was such big business, though! I noticed the many, many (many, many, many!) reviews that were posted in exchange for a review, and I’ve had sellers request a review after I’d purchased an item (which I thought was kind of tacky), but I didn’t realize there were so many companies that did this! Or people willing to jump through the hoops they require! I love giving my opinion, so I signed up with one company, but they required a video review. I did it, but they rejected it because I wasn’t in it (it was for dog food!). That was my first and last review for a product.
I’m a part of at least 7 different review sites i hope they won’t close down. It’s the biased reviewers/unhonest reviewers that have ruined it for the ones who are actually honest
Exactly. I also find it ironic that Amazon is cutting all incentivized reviews, unless they’re coming from its own Amazon Vine company. XD Oh well. Hopefully the review sites will be able to develop some kind of workaround.
Vine members are invited to join because of their detailed, helpful, uncompensated reviews that were already in place, so that makes sense to me. No, I’m not a Vine member lol. I know many people are completely honest. However, I think some people will give about anything 5 stars, probably in hopes of it looking favorably & getting chosen for more products. It does get old trying to sort through to find “honest” reviews, on one item after another.
that’s not always true, there are MANY people in Vine that never bought a single thing on Amazon, nor did they post reviews prior to joining Vine.
Wow, I did not know that, thanks. I stand corrected. I wonder how they choose people then? Definitely biased by allowing their reviews, knowing that.
I think you can still get free things but you don’t need or have to review it if you don’t want to atleast that’s what the emails I have been getting have been saying.
I’ve done this a time or two, however I was totally blatantly honest in my review. I mean, why wouldn’t I be? I already got the free product…. no reason whatsoever to lie…
Well, this is the same as bloggers receiving free stuff to write reviews.
It’s not the same because bloggers don’t lie and say a product is good when it isn’t. I have seen plenty of bloggers say a product isn’t worth it or doesn’t work.
It is the same.. these Instagram women are promoting fit tea and crap and it does nothing. They get $10,000 to promote. reviewers aren’t getting money. I just think some people are little butt hurt they didn’t get free things
I agree about the bloggers and popular Instagrams getting paid a lot to promote products but sellers do pay for the reviews in the form of gift cards and other ways.
YAY! I have been so disappointed in Amazon lately with all those reviews, this helps my outlook for sure!
Am I cynical for noting that you could pay a buck and get the item?
I was also a reviewer that never left fake reviews! I kind of take exception to the assumption.
I just started about a month ago and I always spend so long on my review and dont fake it. Sucks for the people who enjoy doing these types of things and don’t fake crap
YES!!! I stopped shopping on amazing because of this. I want honest reviews and many of them weren’t
I don’t doubt that most people leave the most honest feedback they can, but humans are subject to cognitive biases whether we like it or not. Reciprocity bias is real.
Great change in policy. Thanks for the heads up!
Nope people weren’t being honest a lot of times you were made to leave a positive review or not to leave one at all. Sellers required a positive review.
Idk what sites you were on but all the ones I was on said leave an honest review. They never once asked for a positive review…
This never happened to me – ever. This may be site specific but I never had a requirement to leave a positive review.
It’s not always review sites. It’s the sellers themselves contacting the buyer offering incentives for 5 star reviews.
This great news and a smart decision on Amazon’s part.
I have had a couple of instances where I’ve gotten trial products and I felt pressure to do a survey very quickly… too soon to be able to give the item a proper trial and in some cases before I needed the product (for something seasonal or for an occasional need). Although I’ve never gotten an Amazon freebie, I’ve often seen 5-star reviews where the person would say “I got it in the mail today and it looks great!” And then say they received the item for free or at a discount. I’ve often wondered if some of the companies had a ridiculously short timeline for the reviewers as well… So they wouldn’t have a chance to give it a proper trial.
No it was usually 2 weeks deadline and if it was like facial it’s atleast a month… you could always update your reviews.
It depends on the company how long they give you. I once received a product from Amazon and then was contacted by the seller (not Amazon) a day or two after receiving the product saying that if I reviewed their product, they would give me another product to try. The item was decorative window film that required installation… and was kind of far down on my DIY list. Not to mention that I’d want it installed for at least a month before reviewing, since window film can peel away over time. Well, the company only gave me a short period of time and they also asked me to submit my review for “approval” before they’d give me the trial product. This was dishonest on many levels to me. I didn’t accept their offer.
I agree there. I’ve even gotten the emails asking to review before I get the product. Or last christmas season I would got some stuff and leave it for little gifts, like stocking staffers. Or like you said, without time to test it. I get mad at those. I write a review and say that I haven’t tried the product but am writing the review so I quit getting harrassed by the seller. Those actually get the most helpful votes! Lol
I’m glad to see this new policy on Amazon.
I am actually really glad they are doing this. I rely on amazon reviews and really question reviews that are given for free items.
So happy to hear this!!!!!
Maybe they should stop reviews unless they are verified. I could review whatever the heck I feel like and lie.
Exactly
Has anyone given several negative reviews, yet still qualify to continue receiving free/cheap product? I think there’s an unspoken expectation that the reviews will be leaning towards the positive. I personally get much more excited about a so-so product I received for free, rather than one I spent time reviewing and paying hard-earned cash for.
Yes I have given many negative and still got stuff. They want honest reviews but fake ones (atleast most companies)
I have left plenty of negative reviews and still continued to received discounted products. I was always fair.
All my product reviews were brutally honest, I would never do them in the 2 day turn around time most do, I would really study the product and use it. If I hated it, I gave 1 or 2 star reviews, sometimes just 1. Some people are biased I will admit that, but I try to be objective, thorough and reasonable. I’m crushed.
I would spend 7-9 days usually. If it was something like nail vitamins I would give a before and after. This really makes me sad because I just started and because I really enjoyed helping people and sellers. I never once was told to give a 5 stars. Never once got offered money or gift cards.
Finally!!
Finally!! I hate all those products that have “free or discount rate”. I literally close the tab after I read that. I have such a hard time shopping on Amazon because of these “5 star” reviews. They’re all so fake to me.
Not “all” are fake. When I get my product I don’t immediately review it. I wait 7 days or more. Actuslly, they send me a “reminder email” saying you must review such product. So you can’t place everyone in the all category. If I don’t like the product I state and why.
Like I said, fake to me.
I’ve done some of the incentivized reviews – always truthfully. But, even I realize my review was biased toward being more positive because I didn’t pay for the item. It’s unavoidable. I’m glad to see this change. I count on Amazon reviews to know whether I should buy products or not. There are other ways to receive free products. Lots of companies rely on social marketing campaigns instead.
Heck, yeah! I don’t do incentivized reviews, but I don’t see any way in which price *isn’t* factored into the (unpaid, uncompensated) reviews I write or the opinions I have about products. To me, the bottom line is almost always: was it worth it (i.e., the price I paid or the effort I made to get a deal)? Low prices/freebies are exciting! If they weren’t, sites like this wouldn’t exist–and there wouldn’t be a slew of blogs and YouTube videos dedicated to clearance finds and dollar store hauls. I *love* my recent hauls from my favorite store but would I be in love with–or even purchase–said items if they weren’t deeply discounted? No.
I’m upset about this because I’m a reviewer on Kick and Trader. I don’t get everything free. Actuslly, I have received very little for free. I do get a discount buy it’s not a major discount either. I don’t give 5 stars if the product of NY awesome in my opinion. I’m a reviewer that goes into details, pros, cons, how it works, how to make it better, what exactly I wanted it for and would I recommend it and why. I’m so sick of the reviews that post “good” or “what I expected”. What’s so good about it or what exactly different you expect and why. I buy a lot off Amazon and look at all reviews. Hopefully, there will be another way for “good reviewers” to continue.
Great news, thank you!
You’re welcome!
I’ve written plenty of incentivized reviews, but mine are always honest. If I don’t like something, I write that I don’t like it, and I do *not* give it a 5-star review just because I got the item for free.
As an example, a couple of months back I got a Project Mc2 doll with hoverboard toy. The doll was pretty cool but my kids couldn’t get the thing to work as advertised (they couldn’t get the doll to stay on the hoverboard, for example) and, despite both of my kids being in the recommended age group, both of them just had trouble getting the clothes to go on properly, etc. The doll did not get a good review from me based on watching them play with it, because why would I not give *honest* feedback in exchange for getting something to product test?
And unfortunately, a lot of the product testing and stuff was a way for me to make extra money, since I can’t work and I don’t qualify for any sort of assistance programs. Even if all I was getting was a free toy, hey: free toy, right?
So for every bad reviewer out there who was gaming the system, there’s a good reviewer out there who was working to make the reviews actually matter. Thanks, you bad reviewers, you’ve ruined it for everyone.
I can only hope that this doesn’t negatively affect bzzagent or smiley360.
Can anyone explain to me why I leave honest reviews for items that I bought from Amazon, no cursing or bashing, but they say you don’t follow their guidelines and won’t post the review? For example, I bought screen savers that the seller says lifetime warranty for any reason you can get a replacement and the one I had started peeling off within a month. I emailed them and asked for a warranty replacement and they said it was on the way but I never got it. I emailed them about 3 weeks later and they said it was sent and they would send another though. A month goes by and still nothing. So I wrote a review that I felt their warranty was no good because I never got their 2 shipments and wouldn’t recommend them and Amazon denied my review!
I’m having the same problem. I take my reviews very seriously. I wrote a very lengthy review complete with pictures describing how a product I purchased was a complete scam. This was a very expensive product and Amazon refused to post my review. A few weeks later, I noticed the product had the “Amazon’s Choice” banner on it. I really feel there is something fishy going on with this product and its ties with Amazon. I wish I could find another place to post the review because I feel something fraudulent is going on with this product. I think I need to contact some kind of consumer agency.
Hmm I’ll have to check if the company I bought from has the banner. I have seen some pretty bad reviews published and mind just stated the experience that I had!!
Amazon users, by way of purchase, pay for all the advertising, coded algorithms, referral fees, sponsored products and so on. It really makes your head spin but Amazon is there to make money. Even this recent banning of reviews makes fiscal sense. “Amazon uses the fair market value (FMV) of products as non-cash, taxable payments to Vine Voices for their services.” This means that Vine members pay taxes on the things they review. I would imagine the sellers also pay to have their products put into Vine or Amazon benefits in some way.
Yay!!!!!! This drives me absolutely nuts!! I’m so glad that something is being done about it!
Awesome news. The whole “free item in exchange for an honest and unbiased review” is a little ridiculous. Part of knowing if an item is a good value and actually worth it is putting down your own hard earned money for it. Whenever I come across these type of reviews they always sound like something out of a community college marketing 101 text book. Jennifer says “This really makes me sad because I just started and because I really enjoyed helping people and sellers.” C’mon girl, you’re bummin’ cuz it’s cutting into your freebies!
JC, freebies? I been a reviewer for 2 different sites for over a year. I have received 3 FREE products (lavender oil, a shower cap, and felt pads are exactly what I got for free). Everything else I have received at a discount from 20 to 80% off the original price. My Amazon credit card bill will prove that. I get boxes daily of stuff I purchased and will miss that. So some of reviewers actually like doing this and aren’t upset over losing “freebies” as you say. We are honest people that like to get a discount as I’m sure you do to. There are “honest” reviewers and unfortunately the dishonest ones ruined it for us.
I am hoping to see a prime renewal offer!! Mines has run out and I think $99 is a lot of money since I don’t utilize the tv portion of Prime. I love it for the free shipping! 🙂
There is nothing inherently wrong with incentivized reviews. Do you think movie critics pay to see the films they review? And you forget that incentivized reviewers typically earn that privilege by garnering votes writing non-incentivized reviews.
A person that has not spent their hard earned money is more likely to give the product a higher review. When I am looking to purchase a product on Amazon I am looking for something that is going to last me a long time. I see a lot of high rated incentivized reviews from people who have not even fully tested out the product. I purchased a corset and an incentivized reviewer gave the corset a high rating even though they noted that they hadn’t even tested the product because they just had back surgery! I don’t want to see reviews like that contributing to the overall rating of the product, I want to see people who had before and after results. People who saved up to buy the product and put meaning into the purchase; not someone who received it free and will probably toss it in a week. So that is why it can be wrong.
Why can’t Amazon only allow reviews for people that actually purchased item through website. I get an email from other companies asking me to review my prior purchases. Seems like it wouldn’t be difficult to connect the two.
I don’t know how people got lucky enough to get free products, I never did. But I’m glad to see it’s going away. I was looking for toys for my son and found lots with 5 stars, only to read that everyone got them for free. The real reviewers who bought it, gave it one star… I don’t buy anything from Amazon that has all the highly rated reviews that are from people who got a product for free. I also don’t get the hype over Amazon, the prices aren’t *that* cheap and they keep raising the price of free shipping, it used to be $25… You know who has free shipping at a cheap price? ToysRUs and BabiesRUS, spend $19, get free 2 day shipping. I haven’t bought anything from Amazon in nearly a year.
“Free in Exchange For” reviews are like checking trip advisor for hotel reviews where the consumer got the hotel stays for free. It would effect your opinion whether you realized it or not.
I can understand that for many, they love being able to get the free of discounted items. That’s not something I’ve ever done, but it IS frustrating to be looking for an item Amazon, either as a gift, or for yourself and see review after review saying they got the item for free or at a discounted rate for an honest review. Because I am sure that SOME of those reviews are honest, but a large majority of them are just really quick “Great product! I love it, I’m not sure how I was able to (whatever) without it!” it really makes you doubt spending your money on it, and I move on. It really does make me question the quality, honesty and actual product. And it makes it far, far harder to find the good products, because they end up on page 3 or 4 or 5, while the cheaper ones with all these reviews are on the first page.
I LOVE Amazon, absolutely adore them and I’ve saved a ton of money on there, and we also have Prime but I do hate those reviews. They might be real, but I really have to doubt it usually.
This is great news!!!! How can I be sure it’s an honest review? I mean I have received free things in exchange for review but when you see an item with 100 reviews and 80 got it for free I can’t help but have doubts if they are really honest and if it’s worth buying the product.
Yup–if 80 percent of the reviews are incentivized, I won’t buy the item because I simply don’t trust the review. I figure if the product was good enough, it wouldn’t need to be incentivized.
Not true. A lot of times these are new products/companies trying to market and get their product out
Sure. But I don’t think incentivizing reviews is good marketing. There are other, better ways, and I choose to spend my money on those products.
I’m a huge Amazon fan and have been for years. I am extremely leery of inauthentic reviews. This change should be exciting, but it seems that many of the review sites will still be offering free or discounted items. The recipient is no longer obligated to leave a review, and if they do, the disclosure statement is no longer required. When searching for reviews on products before, I would look for the words “discount” or “exchange” to determine which ones were possibly inauthentic. Now, that won’t be an option. What may seem like a positive change could have unintended, negative consequences.
Also, Fakespot (https://fakespot.com/) is a good way to quickly analyze reviews.
When you look at the reviews filter by “Verified Purchase”, if the purchase is not verified then that means that they received it for free. Only people that paid money for the item will show as a verified purchase. Hope this helps!
Not true–I have posted reviews for products I’ve purchased that I didn’t buy through Amazon on occasion when I felt the review would be helpful. I have never received incentives to do so; I simply felt strongly that a review would be valuable for others.
Verified purchases don’t always weed out reviews that were in exchange. Not sure why. Also it sometimes weeds out authentic reviews. Thanks, though!
I find it so odd that perks think getting something for free means you wouldn’t give an honest review. I got something for free through bzzagent and yesterday left a 2 star review. Why would a person like just because they are testing a product? Don’t you realize most savings blogs get products for free and then do posts on the product?
What I want to know is what sites do you all visit where you can test out free or discounted items? I feel like I am missing out.
Snagshout is the website I use the most, but there are a lot of others out there. I’m not sure what other sites will do after Amazon’s policy change, but I just received a notification from Snagshout that they will be continuing their program. I would recommend them, it was fairly easy to sign up and there’s a good amount of deals available.
BzzAgent and smiley360
Soooo, I was just emailed by one of the incentivized review sites that moving forward they will still be giving out free things. Only, now, you don’t have to say in your review that the item was given in exchange for your honest opinion because, technically, they aren’t requiring you to review it on Amazon specifically. 🙁
I got a lot of products for free in exchange for reviews. But before applying to review an item, I always read reviews and chose the product carefully. So most products that I picked were indeed great. I was always honest and when I left 1-2 star reviews, the seller and the moderators of the reviewer Facebook groups made sure I got a lot of “not useful” votes on those reviews, to push my review at the bottom of the list and ruin my reviewer ranking. Most of them are shady people who only care about getting free stuff and would never pay full price on those items, so they couldn’t care less that other people really on their reviews to make a purchase. I eventually gave up because of this. For almost everything that I buy (and not just from Amazon) I rely on Amazon reviews, but they haven’t been reliable in a while. So this is great news to me.