When Reviews For Products Are Bad Thing
- Image via CrunchBase
Question: Why is Amazon so popular?
Got it?
Answer: The reviews!
That’s right people who are looking for a particular item are looking at the reviews and Amazon is one of the top companies that reviews can be ‘trusted’. Search for a product and you see great deals but you see the rating system and the comments. The obvious choice is to check out the reviews…right?
Well, going across my Google Reader a headline caught my eye over at Gizmodo: Belkin Rep Pays For Positive Reviews of Belkin Products on Amazon
I couldn’t believe it – specially as I sat looking at my Belkin wifi router by my television. I clicked on it and could not believe the story:
A Belkin representative has been caught offering money to anybody who posts a 100% positive review of certain Belkin products on Amazon.com and other e-retailers. The bozo even used his own name.
I literally laughed out loud. It wasn’t some type of PR stunt as I intentionally thought because as I read I saw:
The request was filed by one Mike Bayard, and a quick Google search and perusal of his LinkedIn profile reveals him to be a Belkin representative in charge of sales to e-retailers
This will in the end hurt Belkin products. I would guess to say that they will probably take a 10% hit from this incident. In a financial crisis as we currently are in people need to trust in companies and in this situation – the trust is gone.
What do you think?
I can understand his logic, but he MUST have experienced a backlash if (evidently WHEN) he was found out. But is this REALLY misleading?
Companies will pay bloggers to talk about a particular item or marketing strategy. Isn’t that the same but in a different context?
Ryan Maxwell
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ryanmaxwellhhk
Is that first question a real question? I mean seriously Ryan, because that’s like PAYING hip hop bloggers to up HHK’s status. While it might be a good idea you are still cheating the public.
It’s one thing to pay for support but to go to a 3rd party (Amazon) to try to gain positive reviews is completely unethical.
[...] Monday I posted about a story that was breaking about a Belkin representative paying for positive reviews on Amazon. Well, as it turns out there is now more to the story than meets the eye. A Beklin Wi-Fi Router [...]
[...] by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginOn Monday I posted about a story that was breaking about a Belkin representative paying for positive reviews on Amazon. Well, as it turns out there is now more to the story than meets the [...]