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Amazon banned 600 Chinese brands for sketchy reviews
There are only a few online stores that can compete with Amazon. By sheer numbers, Amazon easily beats the nearest competitor in product selection. Tap or click here to avoid falling for this Amazon trick that will cost you money.
But with its massive size comes a few issues. Since it is one of the biggest online stores globally, criminals target its customers.
Another significant issue Amazon customers face is fake reviews. You can’t trust a product or seller without genuine reviews. Thankfully, Amazon has stepped up to clean out its site from known offenders.
Here’s the backstory
Amazon is no stranger to banning certain products or specific companies from its marketplace. Over the last few months, the retail giant has pulled several brands and products from its pages.
For example, earlier this year, Amazon banned mobile power bank company RAVPower after violating some policies. Tap or click here for details.
Amazon has strict policies to protect customers, but the most frequently broken policy is asking users for a review in return for gift cards or discounts. This practice has led to a sizeable fake review problem.
Amazon flexing the ban hammer
Removing companies or products that violate policies is an ongoing battle, and Amazon recently took a swing at hundreds of them. The company said that it had banned at least 600 Chinese brands from trading on the platform.
Amazon is banning over 3,000 sellers and their offending accounts permanently. The various bans came over the last five months, and Amazon is adamant that account holders knew what they were doing was wrong.
The biggest reason? To no surprise, it was the act of knowingly facilitating fake reviews or review abuse. Amazon allowed (although somewhat frowned upon the practice) incentivized reviews in the past but ultimately did away with it being acceptable in 2016.
It is nearly impossible to know who all the banned companies are, but Chinese company YKS said that Amazon seized $20 million of its assets in July.
How to spot review abuse
It is relatively easy to see when a product has fake reviews or reviews written for compensation. Here are a few things to watch for when looking at Amazon reviews:
- Reviews seem insincere, with over-the-top language.
- A review makes no sense in relation to the product.
- Some openly state that they wrote a review simply because the company asked them.
- Reviews seem like they were copied and pasted from others.
If you are unsure about a product, the seller, or the review, there is a handy website and browser plug-in that you can use. Here is how to spot duds with this new secure shopping browser.
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Tags: Amazon, customers, Fake reviews, online stores, policies, reviews, shopping
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