Massive cleaning operation underway on Amazon right on the eve of Prime Day on June 21 and 22. Last Wednesday, the products of the Chinese brand RavPower were removed from the platform. In recent months the same fate had befallen the (apparently) appreciated Aukey and Mpow. Chargers for smartphones, power banks and dash-cams among the products most offered by these brands. A few days after the last removal, the same fate falls to Vava, which deals with dashboard cameras, and TaoTronics, which sells headphones, audio and smart devices for the home. In the case of the latter (RavPower, Vava and TaoTronics) there is one element in common: they are controlled by the same parent company, the Chinese SunValley.
Why products disappear from Amazon
But why are these products suddenly disappearing from Amazon? For several reasons, of course, but most notably the old five-star bogus comment story. As with fake likes, comments, views or followers for social media accounts, there are platforms specializing in buying and selling fake reviews for Amazon’s product pages. All obviously always positive and sometimes even with a certain level of refinement, that is, with photos and comments that are minimally articulated. Often the users who lend themselves to these operations actually purchase the product in question, which the intermediary platform reimburses them via PayPal, effectively giving them away. And thus resolving the agreement. Other times they are also paid for the review, around 20 euros each. But obviously the more positive comments a brand orders, the more you save on the package.
The RavPower case
The reason for the removal has not been explained, also because for Amazon it is not exactly comforting to have to confirm that the system of false reviews, despite the efforts, is still alive and well and able at least in part to influence the algorithms of the platform and ultimately beat the choices and purchases of users. In fact, there is talk of a violation of the rules of the giant. But it all started from an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, in which the journalist Nicole nguyen it again detailed the system of fake reviews and inflated comments. For example, RavPower offered gift cards worth 35 dollars to every buyer of one of its products: a credit to be collected, however, only after having documented having written and published a positive review of the product on Amazon. A manipulation of the rules for years now in the crosshairs of the group founded by Jeff Bezos, who recently left the chair of CEO Andy Jassy to focus on his space adventures. In the end there is no other way than to get rid of the products of certain brands, thus hoping to teach a lesson to all those who use these external platforms capable of mobilizing, thanks to the orchestration of groups dedicated to this trade, tens of thousands of bad faith reviewers. And pump up the product rating.
The current status on Amazon Italy
At the moment, in fact, the search for Aukey branded products does not return any precise results, limiting itself to proposing similar brands and devices. Something instead comes out relative to Mpow, like some models of headphones. Nothing compared to the just banned RavPower nor does the platform provide the products of TaoTronics or Vava in response.
A few days ago, Amazon responded to the new flare-up of commentary controversy with a long post explaining that “Product reviews are an important part of the shopping experience, as they help customers in their purchasing decisions and provide partners with sales a way to differentiate their products from other similar items. We have more than 300 million active customers and over 1.9 million sales partners around the world, most of which are small and medium-sized businesses representing the majority part of the physical products sold in our stores. On behalf of our customers and sales partners, Amazon innovates relentlessly to only allow reviews of authentic products in our store. ” However, the problem exists. The giant explains that over the years it has developed sophisticated systems to identify unfaithful reviews (false or incentivized). In 2020, over 200 million of them were removed before they were displayed, 99% of which were unearthed by the platform’s artificial intelligence.
Social networks in Amazon’s sights
Then Amazon targets social platforms, guilty in its view of offering “hospitality” to groups that coordinate actions of this type. “Due to our continued improvements in detecting fake reviews and the links between buyers and sellers, we have seen an increase in attempts to carry out this business outside of Amazon, particularly on social media – they write from Seattle -. it is clear that this is a very broad battle, involving the whole sector, and that we need to work together to make progress quickly “. Translated: Facebook & co, close those groups. For example, in the first three months of 2020 Amazon reported over 300 groups to social media, but it took 45 days to delete them. In the first three months of 2021, a thousand groups were reported, but the situation has improved: only five days to take them out.
However, “it is critical for social media companies to invest properly in proactive controls to detect and eliminate fake reviews before anyone reports the problem to them. Consumer protection will require joint work to ensure we leverage our unique knowledge, collaborate and stop. fraud attempts and fake reviews before they have a chance to impact consumers. ” Of course, Amazon adds that it has initiated a large amount of lawsuits against those who bought, favored and made the fake reviews. But stronger collaboration is needed to prevent these networks of counterfeiters from ceaselessly feeding the thriving commentaries off the platform.
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