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.
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!
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 asked how deep I’d need to dive, and for how long, to verify the dive light’s claim.
Let’s see what they say.
Oh, and I asked where they wanted a review to appear.
Maybe the person is reading this thread, time will tell.
ie, they might say ’ if you do not dive, then say that, but you can still review functions, quality, ui, price, reputation, waterproofness in a bathtub, etc ’
I feel the average Amazon flashlight customer could actually benefit from a BLF member review. It could help them separate the crap from the garbage. As long as the company doesn’t say it must be a 5 star.