I recently bought an office chair on Amazon. Today I got a postcard saying that I can get $30 for giving a review on Amazon with a picture. OK, so it is the chair that I bought, that seems up and up. But there’s a few things making me suspicious. First, There’s a note on the postcard saying, “Attention: For your account security, please to not directly attach pictures of this letter when you leave product review.” Seems like they don’t want anyone to know that the review was solicited. Second, in order to redeem the gift, I have to email an address that is just [email]@outlook.com. Not related to amazon. Third, $30 seems like a lot for a product review. Do you all feel that this is on the up and up?
Sounds really scammy to me.
It’s against Amazon policy to “buy” reviews in any manner. Most likely, the seller wants to conceal the soliciting.
Now, if they claim they need your Amazon login and bank card to properly credit the $30…
Textbook review scam. You’ll never see the $30.
I got something like that the other day and trashed it after a brief glance. It promised me $30 off my next Amazon order in exchange for writing a review of a product I bought six months ago, but (a) it was not from Amazon, so I question how they’d be able to offer the discount; and (b) it was clearly attempting to buy a good review.
Assuming it’s legit(BIG assume), you’d probably get a discount code.
I’ve twice been offered a refund in return for a 5 star review(this was before using Prime) that resulted in returning the item and reporting to Amazon.
Review scams typically involve paying for potentially inflated reviews (with products, refunds or things like Amazon gift certificates); I haven’t heard of any consumer who participates being harmed by giving out an e-mail address, though you could be setting yourself up to get a flood of ads for crappy items or come-ons for actual scams that could cost you money, like “you have won this valuable item from a legit company, send us compromising personal details”.*
$30 seems high, but if it’s a company just getting off the ground or making a new product, it might be worth spending for a dozen or more 5-star reviews that spur additional sales.
*I keep getting e-mails announcing in the header that I’ve won a tool set or other big-ticket item from Harbor Freight. They get deleted with prejudice.
Thanks for all the confirmation. Threw the card in the trash.
You could always ask for a $50 discount in return for not notifying Amazon about this breach of their rules.
I responded to one of those cards once, and it was a scam, but Amazon (and their other customers) are the ones being scammed, not you. I provided a true review of the product, though it’s pretty pathetic that “does exactly what it claims” is worth five stars, and they sent me $50 or whatever.
That then got me invited into a group to review items in exchange for receiving the item for free. That was much more risky, as I had to purchase the items ahead of time, and then count on getting reimbursed later. I did maybe five things, and got reimbursed for all.
I made sure to be very particular in choosing what to “buy”, because I didn’t want to have to lie in a review, so I skipped anything that looked too good to be true, or like there was no way it would work. Several of the items were genuinely good, and I still use on a regular basis.
Then Amazon had a big crack down on review buying, and kicked lots of companies off Amazon, including the one I was getting stuff from. It’s a shame the company felt like they had to buy reviews, because at least the stuff I got was good.
So anyway, no way to know if this particular offer is intended to scam you for a free review, or if they’ll actually send the money. If you do post a review, they’ll probably ask for your Paypall or similar information. Not the password, just the necessary information to send you a payment.
It definitely violates Amazon’s terms of service.
I bought an el cheapo Android tablet on Amazon and the seller offered to send me a case for it if I posted a review. Seemed pretty harmless; I don’t think they insisted on a 5-star reivew.
Did you get the case?
I think I’d post an honest review of the chair, plus a pic of the postcard (with your identifying info blacked out). If I were chair shopping I’d appreciate your review of your whole shopping experience, and I might be fine with receiving and tossing the postcard if the chair’s good.
It seems scammy enough that I don’t think redeeming the gift is likely to work or worth trying.
I don’t think this is correct. You can just remove the review any time you want. The scam is paying for reviews, not suckering people into leaving them for free. I’ve done it before and got paid.
Yes, they sent me a case after I posted the review. Works fine.