Vine Reviewer asking compensation
A Vine reviewer left us 1 star rating with review.
I reached out to the reviewer as to why they felt our product had issues.
While I was reaching out to the customer to explain the product details / ingredients etc. The reply I got back is to compensate them retail value of the product, to change the review.
NOTE: I already reported the reviewer to Amazon.
My question if someone can help:
1. What do I do with the review now as the Vine reviewer does not sound genuine to me.
Thanks
Vine Reviewer asking compensation
A Vine reviewer left us 1 star rating with review.
I reached out to the reviewer as to why they felt our product had issues.
While I was reaching out to the customer to explain the product details / ingredients etc. The reply I got back is to compensate them retail value of the product, to change the review.
NOTE: I already reported the reviewer to Amazon.
My question if someone can help:
1. What do I do with the review now as the Vine reviewer does not sound genuine to me.
Thanks
30 respuestas
SEAmod
Hello @Seller_4CkBUgsvkzYcs
That sounds shady on the surface. Did you open a Case when you reported this to Amazon? If so, please provide the Case number and I will see about making an escalation given the circumstances.
Thanks, Susan
SEAmod
Hi @Seller_4CkBUgsvkzYcs
Thanks for your replies and the additional information.
I looked at the customer's community profile and read some of their other reviews. To me, the reviews are sincere and well written. They give 5 star reviews, so they are not rating products in a willy-nilly fashion. You have an opportunity to take their feedback and ponder whether you can make changes that would improve the product.
You should reply to their last message within the next 23 hours because you are required to do so. It would be a violation of your seller code of conduct for you to send a gift card, so I would be clear that doing so is not possible. You might thank them for an honest review and tell them you are going to take their evaluation and see if you can improve your product. Doing so is up to you.
If you access the linked help page, you will get some valuable information. This is just one paragraph which I have excerpted from that page.
- If you decide to ask a buyer to leave a review, you may not ask for a positive review or ask for reviews only from buyers who had a positive experience, nor may you ask customers to change or remove their review, or attempt to influence the review. For example, you may not offer any compensation for a review, including money or gift cards, free or discounted products, refunds or reimbursements, or any other future benefits.
Thank you for selling on Amazon and thank you for visiting the seller forums.
Susan
Seller_4CkBUgsvkzYcs
The reviewer still asked me money to change the review.
I am not giving any gift cards as the customer in this case is misusing the system and I do not want to be a party to that
SEAmod
Hi @Seller_4CkBUgsvkzYcs
I agree that the reviewer replied to your question of how could you make it right with their own suggestion of payment in the amount of the product. The buyer's reasoning was that they need to pay income tax on the value of the product. That was naive of them.
I am pleased you reported it to community-help@amazon.com. They are the team that needed to know. The review itself is not in violation of the Community Guidelines.
Thanks again, Susan
Seller_4CkBUgsvkzYcs
The review may not be in violation but it could very well be used to scam the seller and I was been scammed here by a customer who does not deserve to be a Vine reviewer.
Amazon would not allow sellers to get paid reviews, who allow scammer customers
Seller_rI7BZIczK8iAC
Excellent answer, even if the OP honored it with a thum down....
Seller_gDktQSA1WFw4Y
the Vine, -Free product for review program should never stated! thats amazon's mistake!
Seller_4CkBUgsvkzYcs
As expected no one from Amazon replied to my email as suggested and the review which looks a scam to me stands and I have t struggle to reach a decent rating levels.[Moderator edit: removed post containing off topic and inappropriate content]
SEAmod
Thanks @Seller_rI7BZIczK8iAC
It means I lot to me that you posted the reply as you did. I do my best to educate sellers so they may be successful selling on Amazon. But many of them have their own ideas about how Amazon should manage sales on Amazon.com.
Seller_iwGyJUWC4pcve
Those so called free items for reviews sure add up. I had to pay extra 31k in taxes this year just on those free items. CPA can not write it off due to it is a gift, and the gov wants their cut. Even if the product is destroyed for the review, you still have to pay in taxes, the full value of the product, coupons do not count. they add up and put you in a higher tax bracket.
Seller_u9jaqtgv74PHA
I found your listing and read the reviews of all. Actually all of them have pointed out the same issues but the others gave you 4 stars instead of one.
I think what you can do now is to work on your listings. Your original(main) listing did not give customers enough information to continue read the rest of the parts....... You have A+ contents under but customer will not find it. (I almost miss it, too.).
Your listing did not give customers ideas of what your product look like? what't the size of single serving? (no scale to compare) How to use the product? (including the proper temperature to dissolve the powder)
There is one way to fix the damage..... By creating Videos.
You need the real people to show your product, let customers know what they will get before pay for it Let them know how to use your products. If the product portion is smaller than competitors', you let them know. So they will not feel disappointed and give you negative reviews.
Clear communication is the key.
Seller_keSnEDesLFVwv
This is borderline criminal activity, specifically extortion. I would proceed accordingly, reporting the actions to the appropriate federal agencies.
Amazon has appropriated the right to proceed ( or not ) with any civil action against fraudsters, and we sellers signed away that right when we joined. But you still have the right to protect yourself from criminal activity.
Seller_TBS3wt1Auoij3
Amazon should delete the review, since it's clearly an extorsion. The reviewer should be investigated for his/her other 5 star "well written" reviews to see whether it started at a lower rating, then changed to 5 star, which would be a clear indication of extorsion as a behavior of the reviewer. He/she then should be banned from vine and to review anything else.
This is very simple, I'm surprised why Amazon doesn't do the right thing.
But I'm sure Amazon isn't going to help us sellers. I have a buyer extorting me by filing returns then A to Z claim all on the same day, which is a clear violation of Amazon's own 48 hours wait policy to file A to Z. I refunded right away, but still got an ODR and got the "account at risk of deactivation" banner. - I'm just venting, since all my appeals failed-I don't think any real human actually looked at the context of the case, it's all AI generated canned response; and no mods responded to my forum post any more...
UNFAIR!
Seller_UbCHPaoYRj58L
The Vine program seems to be poorly managed actually. The sellers are doing their part by paying Amazon for access and also footing the cost to send the products for review. I truly wish someone would kick Vine reviewers in the pants to fulfill their part of the program and post an actual review of the product they received for free. Did I say it should be a positive review? No I did not.
Seller_xqwT83Ouy7TJs
How do you contact a Vine recipient? Are you FBM?
