Today I tried to leave a review on Amazon (from a mobile application) about a product that I bought at the beginning of the year, but which eventually stopped working.

I went to the app, scrolled my orders, clicked on the link with the purchased goods - and clicked on the button to leave a review.


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Having spent 5−10 minutes to write a review, I saw the following message:

Only verified purchase reviews (Amazon Verified Purchase Reviews) are allowed for this product.

So much time wasted! But I bought this item, Amazon knows this, and what is “confirmed purchase reviews”?

Please note that this message came only after trying to leave a review of 2 stars . What if I left a better review? Is this allowed?



Is it because it's the Amazon's Choice product they are promoting? Somehow, 2660 buyers were able to leave a review, but not me ...

Amazon and others manipulate the feedback system.

I often see on Amazon obviously fake reviews or replies. All the latest reviews on 5 stars in the sense of useless praise. For example, take a look at this product .

Scroll down to read reviews. Oh, I wonder: it looks like two or three people put 1 star, but the other 72 people are perfect 5.

Wait, are these people real? Let's look at the three most recent reviews:



Interesting! All three - Jeff R., Lauren Burlson and the Anonymous Amazon buyer - left feedback on this “Ultrasonic Insect Repeller, a set of six items,” and then they all left feedback on “Compression Socks for Men and Women”! Amazing coincidence!

What else did they buy?



Incredibly, the same three people (presumably purchased) simultaneously left reviews for three seemingly incomparable products on Amazon! What is the probability of this!?!?

But such a low-grade Amazon scam can be easily detected, prevented and removed!

And here I am - a person who is trying to leave an honest critical review. In 2018, I had 32 orders (often from several items). 41 orders in 2017. 56 orders in 2016. The history of my account dates back to 2006, when I bought the book Head First Java, 2nd Edition .

But my opinion is not allowed to publish on Amazon.

Waste of time

I would not be so angry if it happened for the first time. But for the last year I’ve been trying for the second time to leave a non-ideal product review on Amazon and get a response that the review “cannot be posted on the website in its current form” after I spent half an hour reviewing (with photos).

Last December I received a damaged Amazon Basics product:





And later he tried to warn other potential buyers about his problem:



But no! Amazon didn't miss it!

Although after talking to the support service, I was given a 30% discount, but I would prefer to pay the full price and receive the intact goods in time, rather than deal with support, stamps for refund, repacking, a trip to the return box or to the UPS branch, hoping to get a better product.

I thought that other buyers would want to know about the problem. But Amazon does not allow them to warn.

Instead, it allows a bunch of fake reviews mostly from bots.