Comments on: Amazon Verified Purchase reviews: Fact versus fiction

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:56:56 +0000

In reply to K Taylor.

K, I suspect that policy is in place to prevent the site from being overrun with bogus reviews and spammers. But no matter what the reason, Amazon won’t suffer if it sells a few less books because of this policy.

I’m not sure why anyone would be embarrassed about not buying from Amazon — in fact, many wear that as a badge of honor. They don’t like the retailer so they don’t give it their money. Not spending money on that site doesn’t mean you can’t afford to. It says you choose not to.

Consider directing your reviewers to Goodreads, instead. It’s owned by Amazon, but there’s no spending requirement for reviews.

Sandy

By: K Taylor

K Taylor — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 19:44:09 +0000

To me, the biggest issue with reviews is that Amazon discriminates against anyone who hasn’t spent $50 on their platform in the last 12 months. Several people who raved about my father’s book told me they were blocked from reviewing it because they didn’t meet the sales quota. Amazon is stupidly cutting off its nose to spite its face: blocking reviews blunts sales from which AMAZON makes the bulk of the money! Not to mention they’re pissing off and embarrassing those they’ve blocked by implying they’re too poor to meet the grade. Sales-shaming isn’t a term, but maybe it should be.

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 00:24:06 +0000

In reply to Helene D.. No. You are because you're the one making the purchase. Sandy

By: Helene D.

Helene D. — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 22:52:00 +0000

If I buy something from somebody’s Amazon Wish List, will THEY be considered as having made a Verified Purchase?

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Sun, 14 Mar 2021 18:01:06 +0000

In reply to Candy.

The 4th link at the end of this article isn’t working, but when it was, it said that yes, authors can review books by other authors. Can you think of a reason why that would be banned? I can’t. What happened to you is frustrating but from what I can tell, not all that unusual. Did you push back?

Sandy

By: Candy

Candy — Sun, 14 Mar 2021 11:53:31 +0000

Purchasing the book from Amazon is no guarantee your review will be published. I recently wrote a review and got an email saying it wouldn’t be published, followed by a long list of reasons, none of which applied to what I’d written. Others have told me Amazon now blocks authors from reviewing other author’s books. That appears to be why my review wasn’t published.

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 22:41:30 +0000

In reply to Christa Nardi. You're welcome! Sandy

By: Christa Nardi

Christa Nardi — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 22:24:26 +0000

Thank you!

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 16:01:33 +0000

In reply to Christie. You're welcome! Sandy

By: Christie

Christie — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:55:18 +0000

In reply to Sandra Beckwith.

Thanks for responding! You’d think they’d have a standard answer for that for all customer service reps. But what you say is true, I’ve run into similar problems like the one you mentioned with other companies as well.
Great info, thank you!