This post may contain affiliate links. If a product or service is purchased using a link(s) in the post below a small commission may be earned.
Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 12:56 pm
header image provided by Pixabay
Being a product reviewer I tend to have a lot of emails or occasional direct messages via social media. Most times I check out the requests and either reply if I see i need to or just spam them..
Being that it’s a mixed bag my day to day requests vary. I usually remind most sellers that are working with Amazon that I can no longer post reviews. Nine times out of ten i get a sad reply or no reply. Other times I have a persistent seller who makes various requests. Today’s post is along the lines of the latter.
This isn’t new
I’ve touched on this subject a few times before. I posted a video on this exact topic a few weeks back. I figure it’s a good thing to share since some of you may want to try your hand at product reviewing and testing.
By far I try to be polite to the sellers and again clarify my situation. Most sellers understand but as I mentioned before some might keep at it asking me to open a secondary account.
First off this may be a violation of Amazon’s terms of service. Even if you create a new email address I have a feeling Amazon would still monitor the IP address the account is associated with. Again this is my opinion so I’m just going on my own thoughts here.
Most of the sellers want you to pay you back anyway so your product isn’t free. They claim it will be but if you pay for it by which ever means you use it’s still not free.
Then again is a “free” product really worth losing your account? I don’t think so.
A recent conversation
I had a very interesting conversation with an Amazon seller. The seller contacted me via Instagram direct message. Like usual they have the simple introduction sharing who they are and that they are a seller on Amazon. This DM had an added request for a 5-star review and of course, the product would be free but it would be paid back after purchase.
As usual I let the seller know that I am not longer able to post reviews to Amazon and that it’s a permanent decision on Amazon’s behalf.
Of course I get the reply of how sad this is.
Conversation screenshots
Here’s a few screenshots of this conversation.
This seller even went to the extent to try to school me in how I can try to cheat Amazon’s system. Again I am not condoning this at all. It’s more as information because if you’re banned from reviewing why would you even want to try this.
the message text
Text was copied from Instagram direct message
1) You should do some searching of your selected products before buying specific one.
Spend at least *10-20 minutes on searching* and after opening Product page read the descriptions, reviews details for more 5 minutes. You should like some review also.
The reason is that AMAZON algorithms is so strong and notices everything. So you should act like a *real and natural customer* (Natural customer always spend time on searching, he wonβt just go and immediately buy a product) right?
2) Try to share your Amazon profile link as less as possible, only *with trustworthy and expert people*… because of you know who ο (AMAZON of course).
Yes, Amazon will notice some traffic on your profile and then your reviews could be deleted.
3) Always share Screenshots of your reviews.
4) The next step to buy is just *add product in cart* with one or two similar products. *similar products* are available down below the product on the same page. Now *leave those products in the cart for at least 6-7
after doing first step (to act like natural customer)
then before proceed to checkout remove other products and buy your actual one.
5) Never ever immediately give review after just getting the product, *always wait for at least 7 days*,
And, you should give review in *reply to Email sent by Amazon* (They would eventually ask to submit review in their email after 5-6 days of shipment)
I just notced something
I just happened to notice that the seller requested me to share screenshots of a review before even purchasing a product.
Another thing I noticed was when the chat was happening these sellers must have this advice saved somewhere. The sender was posting them quickly so I assume they must have a seller interaction suggestions page. Or a group of sellers have suggestions they share among new sellers.
I also don’t understand why someone would jump through the hoops listed above to try to cheat the Amazon system for a seller to gain a higher search ranking. Who is going to add 7 similar items to a cart before removing most of them to make your final purchase? It’s not like your going to try to buy 7 types of USB hubs only to dump 6 of them. Come on.
I don’t know about you but that would set off a red flag for me.
I also like the comment of acting like a “Natural Customer”. What does that mean exactly? I don’t know people who try to buy similar products in bulk only to turn around and buy one out of the lot they placed in the cart.
What makes this even worse
What makes this even worse is that after this seller tried to school me in beating Amazon’s system she even suggested that I could get away with reviews if i opened a second account and followed the instructions she shared. I had to remind her that her request might violate Amazon’s terms of service.
For those of you who didn’t know Amazon sellers can be banned as well as buyers can. Again it amazes me at how some sellers are willing to ignore a sites terms of service just to make a profit. I also found it funny how the seller was trying to flatter me by saying I was a “professional buyer.”
Following that the seller even wanted to chat. I quickly shut that down. Many figure if you won’t work with them they might befriend you.
This morning this seller reached out to me again this time they wanted me to follow them. They even mentioned they’d give me a shout out. I was nice and said no.
Don’t fall for it
Don’t fall for these tactics. At times I wonder if these profiles are even Amazon sellers because they try to create a social media account like they are a general user. What I mean by that is that they have a variety of photos. Not just products.
Granted some clearly state that their profile or page is connected to a seller. That being stated they post products that they are featuring in their Amazon storefront and ask for reviews in select countries.
I also wonder how many of these DM’s are from people recruited to work with sellers. Sometimes sellers do that. They outsource their work to others.
Whatever the case may be don’t fall for it. I know the thought of a free product may be appealing but again if you have to pay for it it’s not “free”. Then again you are also putting your own account at risk.
If the seller is trying to instruct you on how to properly shop or asks you to open a second account beware. If they are willing to take these actions you know they aren’t an honest seller.
