Refund for a review - Scam?

Of course you’d meet the disclosure requirements when posting a review. But not everybody does, and the temptation is obvious.

and from that Buzzfeed article linked above:

If you buy it and they refund your purchase, you got a free product, which violated Amazon’s terms — because people give higher reviews to free stuff than to stuff they’d honestly be willing to buy, pay for, and evaluate after using.

Of course you wouldn’t do that. It’s one of those “moral hazard” kinds of situation.

I have received more than 2 review invitations from brand S, not sure if they require me to order from amazon in order to receive the review unit, probably yes.

People started doing Amazon reviews as full time jobs, That is what ruined it, Why would they give a negative review if its there job?

Mind you in general i think people give honest review on lights that are reviewed here even if they are free.

In the past I’ve been offered discount codes from 50 to 99% for this purpose. Cannot understand why they didn’t go this route in your case.

Scam? Probably not.

Ethical? Questionable.

TOS Compliance? Probably a violation.

I would lean towards not doing it. If they wish, they should better sponsor them off-amazon and include your reviews in their page once it’s up.

I already did a review for S (and will again, if they ask me - please contact me again! :wink: ). But I’m honest in my reviews, so they cannot expect a 5 star review if the product is not that good.

Heres brand T asking for amazon reviews …

:wink:

Had three similar offers more than a year ago. I did one. Got refunded via PayPal for the light bought on Amazon.

It didn’t feel right. It seemed to me the harder I tried to be impartial the harder it was to actually achieve it.

I mean if your main motivation is free lights, I wouldn’t want to read or watch that review anyway. I no longer read many reviews at all. They all start with that line, “other than getting to keep the light, I was not compensated in anyway for this review”. Or “Acme sent me a light for review” which is usually followed by the first quote.

If a light peaks my interest, I buy it, try it and then decide to sell it on or give it away. Hundreds of 5 star reviews on a truly crappy product doesn’t lend itself to my trusting reviews on legitimately good products.

The give me free lights for review mentality does nothing positive for the flashlight forums and communities.

My 5 star review of reviews is over.

I think the review is for this forum not for Amazon.

But it makes that they want an Amazon review and that is the reason why they ask me to buy it on Amazon.

If this is the case I will not do it

it is probably legit - or rather, they will probably reimburse you.

one thing to ask or watch out for though is, do they refund immediately, or after they ‘review’ your review?

i had one situation where they wanted to review my review before reimbursing, which can lead to dishonesty, though i liked the light and the review was ok.

i didn;t like that, but i have not been offered any after that, though.

also they may not say that up front.

Thorfire was good about reimbursing immediately.

even if they reimburse properly and do not review your review, it is still semi unethical.
though i have 5-6 lights from doing that.

none were good enough to keep using day to day
i have FW3A for that. now that is a good light!

wle

From brand T :wink:

Ive done one of these reviews. They are legit. I didnt hesitate to call out the negatives in my review.

fishy!

i think they apparently get more brazen all the time

i never saw one just say it needs to be 5 stars and here is a $10 bribe

the only thing unstated here is, do they give the bribe before or after the ‘’review’’ is approved?

wle

According to Amazon, reviews are not allowed (will be deleted) if they are:

I’ve had companies give me 90+ discount (rebate, actually), and think they’re acting within the TOS.

There are lots of reviews on Amazon that state that they were given the product for free or at a discount for review. AFAIK, those don’t get deleted. So, as long as the seller/manufacturer is discounting or giving me the product (specifically before I write the review), not actually paying me for the review, I don’t feel like I’m violating the TOS. And I never shy away from negatives on the review, regardless of how much I paid.

I’ve had offers as the OP describes. It always felt a little unethical to me, and I didn’t do them.

At the very least, I think the reviewer should make it clear in the review that he got the light for free. But that would probably violate terms-of-service. So, yeah, it just somehow feels unethical. It’s probably common, though.

I would not call it a scam if you are wondering if you will really get your money refunded. Most likely you will have to give a very good opiion of the light though.

However, this sort of thing is unethical. They are paying you to provide a favorable review. That gives them better placement in Amazon’s results when someone searches there for a flashlight, or whatever.

I had the same thing happen to me Amazon "Verified Purchase" Reviews

I decided it was not worth prostituting myself for the sake of receiving a flashlight.

YMMV

Good article regarding this sort of thing This Amazon Customer Has Received Hundreds Of Free Products In Exchange For 5-Star Reviews

Yep.

i also realized i was reviewing and getting lights i didn;t really want or need

if one came along that i actually wanted, i might consider again

(but some of them, like a wuben 26650 light, i might have wanted if it had a better UI but i didn;t know that til i got it)

if there were no ‘’quid pro quo’’ vis a vis approved review

wle