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Ask HN: An Amazon vendor wrote me a letter asking for reviews

by AndrewLiptak on 3/12/21, 9:46 PM with 14 comments

This was a deeply uncomfortable moment earlier today: I got a letter from the owner of a vendor who sells on Amazon — I purchased something from them a month ago — writing that reviews were crucial to getting notice, that it was hard, they had kids to feed, and they'd invested tens of thousands of dollars in their business, and asked for a positive review.

On one hand, I get it: the churn of online selling is brutal, and I can understand where they're coming from. On the other, reaching out to me via mail (physical mail, not email!) is definitely against Amazon's rules for their sellers.

I emailed them to tell them how uncomfortable their letter made me, and asked them to delete my info from their databases. Should I report them to Amazon?

  • by jvm_ on 3/12/21, 9:59 PM

    Amazon is brutal, 1% defect rate. 1.75% gets you a 72 response window before they shut your account. So, 2 bad orders per 100 and your out of business. You basically live in fear of bad reviews and cases being opened against you. Defects are opened a-z claims or feedback with 1 or 2 stars.

    If your lively hood is under that constant pressure to perform, I can see why they'd request feedback that way.

    Just explaining their side.

    I'd just ignore it, it's someone trying to survive.

  • by devenblake on 3/12/21, 9:57 PM

    Do they really have kids to feed? If so, who can blame them?

    Or it could be scummy marketing technique.

    If it's the former you could significantly worsen someone's financial situation. If it's the latter you could stop a couple letters of scam mail. An easier solution would be to knock a couple stars off your review and go no further; if they continue the spam someone down the line won't be so merciful.

  • by quickthrower2 on 3/13/21, 12:22 AM

    Feedback is probably enough. I don’t think the person is being evil they are just misinformed about how to run a business. Customer is first and keep sob stories for friends or family. They should politely ask/remind people to leave genuine reviews, not sob story but I get why desperate people do that.

  • by cm2012 on 3/16/21, 3:48 AM

    People click products with reviews on them.

    Products with reviews convert to purchase better.

    The Amazon algo favors products that gets clicks and purchases.

    Very few people will leave reviews for products without being asked.

    All of your competitors solicit reviews.

    Therefore, if you don't solicit reviews, your product languishes at the bottom of the search results page, regardless of quality.

  • by airhead969 on 3/13/21, 12:27 AM

    It's up to you. If there's no bribe, is there any moral hazard in committing honesty rather than buying-into hard-luck story sympathy exploitation?

    Many glowing 5-star items are 99% fake, built with bribes. These items are then recycled with new junk by changing the pics, name, and description.

    Try https://fakespot.com to analyze items for potentially-fraudulent reviews.

  • by bradknowles on 3/13/21, 6:54 AM

    The one that got me was when I left a bad review for a product, and then a few days later I got a letter from them offering me a coupon, but only if I would remove the negative review.

    Amazon gave them my name and address.

    I don’t do reviews for any products anymore.