Global online marketplace, Amazon Inc., in a bid to put a stop to false feedback have published its updated rules in its Customer Service section that state one can now only submit five non-Amazon verified purchase reviews each week, starting on Sunday. However, the change applies to most products and is part of efforts to clamp down on people selling positive comments, BBC reports.
“The change makes a lot of sense. There has been a massive clampdown on fake, bogus and heavily influenced reviews recently,” said Patrick O’Brien, Retail Analyst at Verdict Retail.
According to Amazon, while direct compensation for reviews had never been allowed, there was an exception – reviewers could until last month post a review in exchange for a free or discounted product as long as they disclosed that fact.
Now, that has changed. Such reviews can appear on the site only via Amazon’s own program, Vine.
BBC continues to report that the online marketplace also reserves the right to restrict reviews of certain products to users who have bought it via the site if “unusually high numbers” of reviews are submitted in a short period of time.
“Amazon’s review system is very impressive in terms of the volume of reviews there, it’s far superior to those of competitors. The new rules will make it very difficult for people who are trying to make money by selling fake reviews. It does show Amazon is taking this matter seriously,” said Mr O’Brien.
source: BBC News and Amazon
