Sudden increase in sample for review requests
Hello
We only sell FBA, our own cosmetic products, and only communicate with customers if contacted via Amazon. We have a sudden daily request from all marketplaces for free samples for reviews via Amazon customer messaging. They are very similar in wording. We now have a standard reply:
“We are not able to to send you a sample. It is a violation of Amazon policy for a seller to offer a third party a financial reward, discount or other compensation in exchange for a review of their product. This will lead to the immediate blocking of our account.”
We report the message to Amazon each time.
My question is, does Amazon do “Mystery Shopper” type activity, of which this could be one test? I ask because the increase is marked and each message is quite similar (bot like).
Thanks everyone
2 replies
Seller_d3a0Z0Y4lpNX2
That is excatly what I am going to ask. does anyone offer goods for review?
becoz it is pretty hard to get a review though,our store is very new one.and hard to get a review. or even a sales.and even doesnt have a buy box for over two month now. so, means no Ad available for any item.
What should I do now ?
Seller_KKcTTZzy6Jd6Q
Well… To answer your main question, yes Amazon does do this but not in the way you’re thinking, there are programs you can apply for (such as VINE, early Reviewer, etc.) that work in similar ways to mystery shoppers, however they are all opt-in and some have costs involved.
For those messages, just report and flag as no response needed, as you correctly highlighted, it is against Amazon’s policies to provide goods, discounts, money, etc. in exchange for reviews… EXCEPT through the Amazon VINE program, which is very strictly regulated: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/vine/
